NAMASTE Giveaway!

You absolutely must check out Knit Purl Gurl's blog for a giveaway of a fantastic Namaste Hermosa bag! I was lucky enough to get a Namaste bag for Christmas a couple years ago (one that's no longer available). It's great, it's just not big enough anymore. Enter Knit Purl Gurl, with her awesome giveaway of the Hermosa bag: check it out! She's got a great blog, too.

Abby Offerman | A Dog Named Christmas

Abby Offerman | A Dog Named Christmas

Posted using ShareThis

Protein powder a-whey

Ok, sorry, I couldn't help myself. But you really must check out this delicious giveaway from The Healthy Everythingtarian, of some very interesting-looking Tera's Whey protein powder packets. I'm trying to bring more protein into my life, and these seem like a tasty way to try!

Thinking about life

I've been doing a lot of thinking about Life lately. I'm sure it comes from working on the brain tumors/pediatric tumors service for two months now. It seems so unfair sometimes, it seems so short. Other days, it seems so miraculous it makes me want to cry (and I do). There are days that are really hard, but you still come away feeling like a good doctor, that you helped people. And, there are days where nothing, absolutely nothing is right.

But every job is that way sometimes, isn't it?

I guess what these past months have got me thinking about, in my own life, is that it's going by fast. I'm growing up, things are going by me. I need to stop now and then and enjoy them. I need to stay in touch, with myself, my husband, my friends and family.

In the grand scheme of things, it can all be lost, so quickly. Even all this hard work, all this intelligence I work so hard to gather, this career I'm working so hard to build. I see it lost in people. The things you don't lose are the ones who love you, the ones who you love back. When you're lucky, you don't lose too much of yourself, either.

Orange Swirls

Orange Swirls by Raygungirl featuring Coach bags

Undergrad Fab Giveaway!!!

Please go visit the fabulous Undergrad Fab and check out her amazing HANDMADE and GOODIE-STUFFED handbag giveaway. It is gorgeous and funky and you seriously need this bag. So go see her blog and her enviable style, and her amazing sewing and designing skills. And maybe win that bag for yourself!

Chickdowntown Scarf Giveaway!

You must check out this amazing giveaway from Simple Elegance; a gorgeous Tolani scarf which looks like it was pulled directly out of the Mediterranean Sea. I want! I also want a million other things from Chickdowntown, the contest sponsor, so check out that website, too.

Slummin' it in scrubs

Slummin' it in scrubs by Raygungirl on Polyvore.com

So even when I can't get it together with my clothes (I woke up at 3 am this morning and could not get back to sleep for the life of me, so I dragged myself out of bed at 5:30, and was not feeling a big fashion day), I still like to bling it up a bit. My necklace is the Tiffany Eternal Circle necklace I bought when I went to NYC when I was 18 - I saved my money, and I think it was the only thing I bought that trip, but I loved it then and 11 years later I love it still. The earrings are CZs that my husband got for me over Christmas, and I feel sooooo Happy Housewife when I wear them, I love it.

My Dansko clogs are my best shoes ever, so comfortable that I've worn them for 36-40 hours at a time (thank you internship) and sometimes worn them while standing on one place for 12 hours at a time (thank you surgery rotation). I know Sally at Already Pretty has already attested to the magic of Danskos, and I have several other pairs in various styles, but these are my classics, the originals, and also the ones that really make me feels like a "doctor" - yes, I know that's silly. I also try to put on makeup and do my hair on these days; if not, I feel like a total slob, and the day usually just doesn't go well.

Etsy Favs

Image via CrunchBase

After talking to the loverly Undergrad Fab tonight, I had the thought to post some of my favorite Etsy sellers from time to time, as well as some of the quirkier ones.

My first post is a shop that I can't even remember how I came across, but as soon as I did, I knew it would serve me well, even though it's not my typical taste. It's A Well-Dressed Bullet, and they are a great little company in Ontario repurposing both new and used bullets into creative things. This is perfect for my dad, an ex-military man, hunter, and pen aficionado. I can also see a clay pigeon clock in his future, but that's another occasion perhaps. They have excellent and responsive customer service, letting me know right away that the order would not arrive in time for Father' Day (which I knew), and asking if I still wanted to place the order. Also, they offered to wrap it up, knowing it was to arrive as a gift. This was all convo'd back and forth as I sit here writing this post. They also do funky earrings, bolo ties, lights, keychains, and some amazing belt buckles, too. I've never seen anything else like it, check them out!

Finding my balance

Image via Wikipedia

I'm starting to realize that I need to plan how I want my life to be, in order to achieve those things. If I continually roll along behind the eight ball, then that's where I'll always be. I don't want to over-plan things, or become so rigid in my goals that I can't adapt to circumstance, but at the same time, it's time for me to figure out where I'm going in my career and take specific steps to get there. Same thing for my personal life. What do I want? Run a marathon? Establish a daily yoga practice? Become involved in charity? None of these things will happen if I just try to remember to do them once in awhile, I have to make a conscious choice, a conscious plan to do so. So; I'm not sure what that plan is yet, but I'm beginning to get some ideas in place. I know where I want to look for jobs, I know that I have a two year time frame in which to get one. I have to maximize that time in order to land one in which I can use the best technology to treat my patients, and provide them the best care that I know how. I have thoughts on this, and I'm starting to lay out a manner in which to act on them.

Growing Up

For a variety of reasons, not least of which is the yearly changeover of residents in the residency programs, I am feeling a sense of nostalgia, of stock-taking, and a sense of the start of something new.

I'm now half-way through the specialty part of my residency and lately, I'm starting to feel like this is really what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm feeling like these are my patients and I know how to take care of them. More and more, I feel like I do a really good job of taking care of them.

I'm not trying to sound conceited because god knows I still struggle a lot with learning enough material, fast enough and well enough. But I feel like the taking care part, I've really got that down.

And it's also striking me that I'm a senior resident now; I'm one of the ones that people are going to look to for decision-making, not just for patient care, but for things like administrative and political issues that arise in the residency program and the department as a whole. It's gotten me started thinking about how I come across as a professional. These are things they don't teach us in medical school. These are things I haven't had time to even be aware of, as I was just trying to keep my head above water before. But now, in addition to being a caring technically competent doctor, you want me to learn leadership skills, business practice management, yikes!

The cool part is that this change excites me; I'm really looking forward to finding out who I can become now that I'm in a position of more power, and more respect (and now that certain other people are gone, but I think I did a pretty good job keeping that bit of drama out of things up until now, didn't I?)

Daily Wear 6/4/09

6/4/09 by Raygungirl featuring Old Navy

This was originally over a black jersey dress with cute black flats, but that all changed once it was cold and rainy this morning! It was a perfect cool-spring-day look, even though it has been and will be in the eighties the rest of the week. More running around through crazy clinics punctuated by meetings. It was comfy enough that I nodded off in my noon meeting (oops). The fact that I had no time to get any coffee or diet coke this morning AT ALL had NOTHING to do with that either, I'm sure. Let me tell you, that's far from my natural state.

So far polyvore is working out ok for me...the actual scarf I wore today is Target's Merona Paisley Jamawar scarf, but apparently it no longer exists on their website. I think mine is prettier. Maybe I'll take a picture of it separately and post it on its own. But you get the idea.

Daily Wear 6/3/09

Black, White and Red All Over by Raygungirl featuring Old Navy

I got it to work! (Sort of). So these are close to the earrings I wore...I got them from my sister Mary from a boutique in Minneapolis, and cannot find a picture (and polyvore won't let me link a personal pic, I don't think), but they look awfully similar, filigreed all the way through the center rather than just at the bottom. I loved it, I felt very put together. Lots of running around the hospital to see patients and to meetings as well. My only complaint was that the cotton got wrinkly by the end of the day.

AND! I am such a huge convert to Dr. Scholl's high heel inserts that Stacy London hawks on TV. I put them in these heels, and they give me better, more comfortable support than my flats, no joke. Give them a try, your feet will thank you :)

Why is it so damn difficult to take good pictures? I have been trying to get some good ones because I have put together some good outfits this week and it just isn't working. I need some serious help, here.

In any case, head on over to Blissful Style and check out her awesome giveaway. A mini laptop that looks like a designer clutch? I DIE. http://blissfullydomestic.com/blissful-style/giveaway-hp-mini-vivienne-tam-edition-from-intel/

Style Symmetry Giveaway!

You absolutely must head over to Style Symmetry and enter he fabulous 1000th post giveaway! Enter through May 31st, she has some amazing prizes! http://stylesymmetry.com/2009/05/20/the-1000th-post-giveaway/

Ok, the polyvore thing seemed like a good idea at the time but in practice it's a pain in the a**. So maybe I'll take headless photos. We'll see. I had on an adorable outfit yesterday involving a new silk scarf-as-belt and gold carved bangle from my sister, undergradfab.blogspot.com and it is not recorded. :( Oh well, just have to wear it again!!

Sharp-Dressed Doc

I've really been getting into the daily-wear blogs lately, and the fact that my fabulous sister is behind Undergrad Fab certainly doesn't hurt my interest. She, my other wonderful sister and my mom all got me some fantastic accessories for my birthday this year that I am just dying to play with to start mixing up my wardrobe a bit. And I really would like to get some feedback on all of these things, it's just....

I get sort of a weird feeling about posting photos of myself everyday all across the interwebs. At least on facebook, I can control who sees what and when. But, keeping in good mind that I have patients and future employers who do use the internet, I think it's more prudent to post in the style of polyvore. So I'm going to try that for awhile and see how it goes. I'm not always going to promise that this will be a "daily" wear thing, either...lord knows I'm lucky if I remember to do everything I have to do, let alone extraneous things. But I want to try it and see how it goes. I'm open for any thoughts and opinions!

Things A Boutique Owner Sees: Giveaway Giveaway Giveaway

Check out this awesome necklace giveaway from Things a Boutique Owner Sees: Things A Boutique Owner Sees: Giveaway Giveaway Giveaway