Medicine & Manicures

The Great Videographer Debate



To have one, or not to have one? That is the question.







Actually, it’s not a question at all. A wedding videographer is a must-have in my book and I want one… badly! 







This is one aspect of the wedding planning where Ryan & I are butting heads a little. He used to be totally against hiring a videographer, but he’s definitely warming up to the idea. Yes they’re expensive, but the way I see it, you will be able to relive your wedding and experience all those little details over and over again. I love photos (obvi!) but when I watch all these wedding videos (of complete strangers, I might add), I just love seeing the flow of everything and the overall energy of the entire day. I especially love the tear jerkers… oh, and when the grooms cry. You can’t beat that raw emotion!





The style of video is very important, and so is the videographer. Personally, I have no need for an hour-long video, we would never watch it. My ideal film would be a 15-20 minute cinematic-style movie that would highlight the very best parts of our day… And fun music is a must! I hear from so many people that your wedding day flies by, and that’s mainly why I want the video. And the memories are priceless, of course! The other cool thing is you get to experience your wedding from a totally different point of view, and I think that would be pretty awesome. When else in your life will you get to wear a beautiful white dress, have the day be all about you and the love of your life, be with all of your closest family & friends in one place, and to have your very own feature film? 







This is where I need your advice, M&M readers! To all of you married girls out there, why did you hire a videographer or choose not to? If you did, have you watched your video more than once or does it sit on your shelf gathering dust? If you chose not to, does a part of you wish you had that special video to commemorate your day? Was it a waste of money or worth every penny? This bride would love to hear your feedback so let me know your thoughts! 







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Black & Blush

LOFT paisley top (also comes in black) // Paige coated denim // Black blazer (similar)
Kendra Scott necklace // Tory Burch satchel // Kate Spade Sunnies // Corso Como heels
Bracelets: Loren Hope & Jenny Bird // Ring: BaubleBar (similar)
When it comes to clothing, I am always drawn to fun patterns and textures so I immediately fell in love with this paisley lace top when I saw it at LOFT. Even thought it’s technically still winter, this top is the perfect transition piece for spring because you can’t go wrong with the soft hue of blush. While it’s still cold, you can pair it with a simple black blazer for date night (V-Day, anyone?) or with a pair of white skinnies and wedges when it starts to warm up… which will hopefully be sooner than later!
I’m also still loving the rose gold Kendra Scott necklace that my friend Lindsay gifted me for Christmas. The soft peach color goes with literally everything and I know I’ll be reaching for it a lot this spring when it comes time to bust out the pastels and brights. Can y’all tell I’m so over winter? Ps. I got both of my bracelets through Rocksbox and it’s my favorite subscription box, hands down. If you still haven’t tried it, this is your official invitation- sign up here and use code kristinaxoxo for a free month!

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Linking with Laura & Erin.





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A Day in the Life of my OB/GYN Rotation


Happy happy Friday!! In lieu of the usual Five on Friday, this week I’m giving y’all a deeper look into my hectic OB/GYN rotation. Three weeks down and two to go! And basically I can’t think of five exciting things that I’ve done this week other than procedures at work. #lifeofaPAstudent. 












– Thursday, January 22nd – 





6:00am – Alarm goes off and I hate my life. Some say I’m a morning person, but not this early. Hit snooze and bury myself in my covers.











6:10am – Snooze goes off. Head to the bathroom and get somewhat ready. I don’t spend much time on my hair because it will get messed up under a scrub cap anyway. Mascara is a must though!











6:25am – Head into the kitchen and make breakfast. I have to make eggs every morning or I don’t function properly. You’d think with me getting up so early that I’d rather just grab a granola bar or something, but no. This girl’s gotta get her good start to the day!












6:35am – Make my lunch for the day. For today it’s a salad with spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and shrimp. In that order. I really hate making lunch in the morning and usually like to have something ready in the fridge, but oh well.












6:55am – Leave the house and commute 35 minutes to the hospital. I’m not a fan of commuting, but I am a fan of slowly sipping my coffee and having a little jam sesh in the car.












7:30am – Arrive at the hospital, change into new scrubs, and wait for my preceptor. I usually arrive 30 minutes before he does on any given day, but at least I don’t ever feel late!












8:15am – Scrub in and start our c-section. This patient had to have one because her baby had breech presentation (butt down instead of head down). The NP working with us was my doctor’s first assist, and I was second. He made the incision, went through a couple layers, got the baby out, and handed it to me. I suctioned her mouth and nose and handed her off to the nurses. Getting the baby out is quick, but then you gotta put everything back together. After delivering the placenta, the doc sutured everything back together and I got to throw a few knots during the process. Next came my favorite part, getting to close! During my first c-section I only got to do a little suturing, but this time I closed her whole incision and was very excited when I got compliments on how “pretty” it looked! My work here is done 🙂 









This is the how we close the c-section incision (and this technique is generally used a lot in surgery). It’s called the running subcuticular and basically you run the needle back and forth very superficially so that the [absorbable] suture brings the skin together underneath and it makes a nice clean line.


via










9:00am – Change out of scrubs and head to the office for business as usual. The morning is filled with complete physicals, pap smears, postpartum visits, hysterectomy post-ops, and of course the routine OB visits. I’m definitely seeing some improvement in my pelvic exams & paps these days. That sounds so weird, right?!?






12:15pm – We’re done seeing patients for the morning and it’s time for lunch. Free lunch, that is, thanks to the lovely pharmaceutical sales reps. Today’s rep brought some yummy Greek food from Zoe’s Kitchen (so I didn’t get to eat that salad that I worked so hard on this morning). She talked about Qsymia, a newer weight-loss drug that has been approved by the FDA. My preceptor had actually told me to research it a few days ago, so it was cool to actually know what she was talking about and I got to learn a little more about the medication.












1:00pm – We jump in the car and head to the hospital for another c-section. Two in one day… yes!! This was a 36 year old woman having her 6th child and it was also breech presentation. This time I got to first assist (whoop whoop!) and got to get my hands in there a lot more. My doc made the incision and I helped him pull apart the fat and muscle. Once he cut the uterus and broke the water, it was time to get the baby out. I had to push down on the mom’s stomach and we had ourselves another baby girl! I got to close again and I have to say that c-sections have been my favorite surgery so far.











2:00pm – We’re back at the office with all rooms full of patients. The afternoon was business as usual. 










5:15pm – Wrap up seeing patients and finally head home. All in a good day’s work! 









5:45pm – Get home, chill out, and catch up with the roomies. We love sharing our clinical stories, except Jeff doesn’t care to hear about the OB ones too much. Can’t blame him. 









7:00pm – Make dinner… naked burrito it is! Oh, and Sarah & I shovel down some poundcake that Jeff brought home from work. Did I mention how much I love sweets?





8:00pm – Do a little blogging. I don’t get to enough theses days!!









8:45pm – Shower so I don’t have to in the morning then do a little studying and log patients. That gets old very quickly, but it will be great to have a giant spreadsheet of everything I did my clinical year. 









10:00pm – Call Ryan and then head to bed. Trying to fall asleep a little earlier each day so I don’t feel like death in the morning (but I still do). Good night!


















And of course, I’ll leave your with yet another medical funny. Oh, and one last thing- I finally got to assist with a vaginal delivery this week and I have to admit it was pretty cool! Gross, but cool. I’ll spare you those [very graphic] details but all I have to say is that when I have a baby some day, no one… and I mean no one except the doctor and nurses will be going down there. The little babies sure are cute though!









I know this post was super long, but if you made it here to the end, thanks for letting me share my experiences with you! I’m so ready for this weekend and can’t wait to sleep in, catch up on shows, and clean up my disaster of a room. TGIF y’all!







Linking with Amanda & Christina.







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Pattern Play


Old Navy turtleneck (now only $7!) // J.Crew Factory herringbone vest // J.Crew wool skirt
Polka dot tights // Tory Burch bag // Kate Spade sunnies // Nails: Essie Bahama Mama
J.Crew necklace, old (like this one too!) // Sam Edelman booties (similar here)

Stripes, herringbone, and polka dots. Who knew I’d ever mix this many patterns? I was basically looking for an excuse to wear these super fun new tights so I paired them with some of my favorite winter staples. This striped turtleneck is my go-to for vests (and this one is on super sale right now). You could easily dress this wool skirt up with some heels and a fun top, but for this daytime look I threw on the vest and some booties to keep it more casual. 

I love layered looks for the fall and winter, but this girl definitely has some spring fever… what about y’all? I’m dreaming of bright colors, maxi dresses, and Jack Rogers (and hopefully a vacation with my  boy in May!). We’re officially halfway through the week and I’m excited for a blogger date tonight with my girls Joey & Meghan. Happy Humpday!

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Train Rides & Bridal Showers

It’s Monday and we’re back to the grind (well, those of us
who aren’t lucky enough to have a 3-day weekend, that is). Another great
weekend in the books and it was just as busy as the last. It feels like I
haven’t got to be lazy in forever and my mission for this weekend is to just
lounge around and be lazy. We’ll see how that goes! I have lots of fun things
to talk about so let’s get to it!
After a long day in surgery on Friday, I headed home to Charlotte on the good ‘ol Amtrak train. This was my very first train experience and I was pretty pleased. Driving my car home would have been cheaper than my ticket, but I really needed those hours to catch up on schoolwork so it was well worth it. I had some weird vision in my head about trains and it was completely different (maybe I have Harry Potter to thank for that). It actually looks like a plane inside, but much roomier… and you can get away with having two seats to yourself, not too shabby! As soon as I got home, I got ready and Ryan & I went to see American Sniper. Highly recommend!! However, the ending was a little too abrupt for me… I thought it needed a little more explanation.

Saturday morning was spent with my lovely MOH and lots of pretty white dresses. This week, we headed to Ladies of Lineage and I have to say that I was much more impressed compared to Winnie Couture. I felt that the quality of the dresses was higher and they were actually more reasonably priced!  And… I may have found the one y’all! I have appointments at a few more places (because this girl’s gotta be sure) but if I don’t find something that blows this one out of the water… I may have found my dress! 
Saturday night we went out for some good eats for Charlotte Restaurant Week. We met my old roommate Whitney and her fiancé Chase at Fahrenheit. I’ve written about it a few times before, but it’s a cool rooftop restaurant with American cuisine and great city views. They just got engaged over Christmas so it was super exciting to catch up and talk about the craziness that is wedding planning. I’m so happy for them and cannot wait to see them tie the knot in October!

Sunday was a very special day as we got together and celebrated Katie’s bridal shower. It was held at Charlotte Country Club and could not have been more beautiful. It was so great to be with all of my best girlfriends and shower Katie with lots of amazing gifts for the home. It also got us super excited for her bachelorette party coming up in March. NOLA, here we come!! 

The room was absolutely gorgeous!

Katie with her bridesmaids

I feel like this weekend flew by way too fast and it was so
hard to leave Ryan and head back to Raleigh. Today starts my third week of my
rotation, so I’m basically halfway done. Still no deliveries yet so let’s cross
our fingers for this week!
Linking with Biana & Meghan for weekending.



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Friday Five: What’s On My Mind

I don’t know about yall, but I’m so glad that it’s finally Friday!! I feel like I don’t do anything exciting during the week anymore because I’m either working, studying, or being too tired to do anything else. However, weekends mean I get to do fun things and I’m so ready to see Ryan and my besties! Here are five things that are currently on my mind:

One // What’s on my mind the most lately? I’m so over the cold, that’s all there is to it. Sure, it’s fine around the holidays but once Christmas is over, I’m ready for spring time. I’m also over the darkness. Going to work in the dark and getting home after dark gets old.. on top of the fact that it has been foggy and rainy all week. I need some sunshine in my life, people!!

Pretty much the story of my life in the winter time…

Two // My engagement ring is a little big at the moment and I was going to get it sized, but think it may be best to wait until summer since fingers tend to shrink in the winter time. I’ve heard of the ring “snuggies” but they just didn’t look too comfortable, and then I came across the Ring Noodle on Amazon. If you have any rings that are too big or just waiting to get one sized like me, I highly recommend these! They have a curve to them (unlike the basic snuggie) and I don’t even feel like it’s there!

What it looks like on my hand… not too bad!

Three // I’m having Bachelor withdrawals. For now, there is just no way I can commit 2-3 hours per week to this cheesy but super addicting show (plus, I’m not that crazy about “Prince Farming”). I do miss it though! All you Bachelor fans be honest- should I catch up on the past two shows when I get a chance or is this season mediocre?

Four // I’m so excited for not one, but two date nights this weekend with my handsome fiancé! We’re going to see American Sniper tonight (at 10pm, let’s pray I don’t fall asleep). It looks like an amazing movie and I’ll be back with a full report on Monday. We’re also meeting my old roommate and her new fiancé for restaurant week on Saturday to catch up and enjoy some good eats.

Five // I’m taking my very first train ride today on the good ‘ol Amtrack! My weeks have been super busy and like I said before, I don’t get too much accomplished at night because I’m just beat. With me going to Charlotte these back-to-back weekends, I thought it would be a good idea to use that travel time to do something productive, so hopefully I’ll feel all caught up on life when I get back on Sunday!

I hope everyone has a great weekend- I have another busy one on the books and am most excited for my friend Katie’s bridal shower!! May will be here before we know it and I’m so excited for all the upcoming wedding festivities!
Linking with Christina & Amanda.



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