Happy Turkey Day!



I hope you're surrounded by people that you're most thankful for! I know people make jokes about 2016 being a rough year, but all jokes aside, I've been thankful for so much this year!

I'm thankful for all things I'm fortunate to have and try to remember that not everyone is as fortunate. I'm thankful for the opportunities that I have been given to further my education and make my dreams become reality. I thankful for my little piece of the internet that allows me to express my creativity and share my aspirations with you all. I'm so thankful for my parents graciously taking me back in while continue my journey to medical school and I'm thankful everyday that I wake up to the present so I continue to plan my future!








Hope you guys have an amazing day, and when you get a moment between turkey and pie, look around and see all you have to be thankful for too!

Happy Wednesday!

I know everyone is excited to have a short week to eat, relax and spend with family for the Thanksgiving holiday! As the holidays quickly approach, and the weather turns cooler, I love to breakout more weather appropriate clothing items, and my Fur Vest and Duck Boots are at the top of the list.

In today's outfit post, I simply layered my faux fur vest over an old J.Crew sweater with some ripped jeans and threw on my Duck Boots! Cute, casual and warm!

Burr... it's chilly this fall!

Me doing what I do best lol!

Happy Tuesday Shoesday!
Fringe has been a major trend this Fall, and I got lucky enough to score these booties from Charlotte Russe on sale (and they're still on sale!)

In today's post, I styled them with a this Bell-Sleeve plaisely dress from Marshall's and a thick black choker, and when I head out, I'll also throw on my black moto jacket when it gets too chilly!

Don't mind our Little Bumble Bee, friend... bees are weirdly obsessed with me so I'm used to it!

Hope your day was filled with happiness, joy and gloss!

Happy Friday guys!

Yesterday, I completed my last day of clinicals for my Phlebotomy program, and I actually took (aced!) my final for it on Wednesday, so I'm officially done, so I thought 'd share my experience learning and performing venipuncture with you guys!

I really enjoyed the experience and personally love drawing blood and can't wait to enter the workforce and get some really good clinical experience under my belt. If you can handle blood, which if you're looking to enter the medical field, you will definitely have to learn to, I think Phlebotomy is a great way to gain some clinical experience, earn some extra money, and really get a feel for what it is like to work in the hospital or doctor's office.

The Course:
 I took my course through the college associated with a major hospital in my hometown. The college offered a 10 week course that would consist of 5 weeks in the classroom and 5 weeks of clinicals actually sticking and drawing blood on patients.

The Classroom:

For 5 weeks, I learned in the classroom about the technical procedure of venipuncture, basic anatomy, medical terminology and health and hazard safety. For me, the information that we learned in class was basic review for me and I barely struggled because I had already been exposed the to most of the information we were learning from my previous educational background of being a pre-med student for 5 years. What I did have difficulty with was the technical and hands-on part of learning how to draw blood. In class before we would be exposed to actual human flesh and blood, we practiced learning to stick on dummy arms... and I can say I struggled at times,


The arms we had in class were definitely a little worn and had a few track marks, so they didn't necessarily imitate the true experience of drawing blood, but the repetitiveness helped us becoming comfortable using a needle and learning the proper steps in the procedure.

Once we were all comfortable with sticking the dummy arms, we practiced on each other... yes, we had to be each others Guinea pigs and there was some fainting and blood spattered and spilled but we all survived. My first time ever, I was so nervous that when I found the vein and inserted the needle, I freaked out and immediately removed it and blood ran down my classmates arm! (But I was happy that I had successfully found a vein...)

Although I was nervous, it was great that we had the chance to practice on real people and get all our nerves out before going into clinicals with real patients that might not be so understanding about us making mistakes.

Clinicals:

The night before clinicals, I was anxious because I had no idea what to expect or how patients would react to my being a student... I was essentially worried that although I knew the anatomy, the order of drawing the tubes, and the medical terminology, that I would be no good and actually performing. My worst fear was hurting the patients. This fear truly resonated with me in that I felt in I couldn't perform venipuncture well, then maybe I wasn't cut out to go to medical school and perform more complicated procedures like surgery one day...

When I arrived at my first clinical rotation, my preceptor was great. She always wanted to make sure I knew I could ask questions and to make sure I felt comfortable, she even volunteered to let me stick her first thing in the morning before any patients arrived. Having a great preceptor, I believe is key to success in hands-on learning experiences like these. She really helped established my confidence and gave me use constructive criticism without making me feel incompetent. The comfort and confidence I learned in my first week stayed with me throughout my clinicals.

On the other hand, having a not so great preceptor can really shake your confidence and your ability to perform and just really make the experience difficult. In my third week of clinicals, I had a preceptor that although was knowledgeable and overall a nice guy, his teaching style was too aggressive for my personality. He would undermine and critique me in front of patients and essentially coerced me into using his method vs. what I had been taught in class. It was a difficult experience for me, and but it was important for me to not let him take the enjoyment and soil the experience of treating patients for me.

In healthcare, it's always important to not let upset patients or staff, make you forget why you are there... because you truly love helping and taking care of people! It was hard and sometimes emotionally and physically draining, but after each patient, I was always excited to see the next!

Overall, I love venipuncture and I'm glad it was a skill I learned now (apparently doctors and nurses aren't the best phlebotomist because they don't take specific course designed to teach it), and I believe if you can make a patient like you while sticking them with a needle and drawing tubes of bloods... you're golden! If anyone is looking to gain hands- on clincal experience or entry into healthcare that doesn't take , phlebotomy is a great field, and nowadays they even participate in more laboratory work if you're interested in what happens to the blood after it's drawn!

According to my pre-med advisor, when students ask what counts as clinical experience... he says anything allows you to get close enough to smell the patient... I definitely think getting bled on will count lol!

Hope this was helpful and feel free to leave any questions in the comments below!

If there was one color that I could say sums up Fall, it would be Burgundy so naturally, Number one of my fashion checklist for Fall was to purchase Burgundy booties, and now the chill of Fall weather has finally came with the arrival of November it was also time to breakout my Poncho Scarves. When blanket scarves and poncho scarves became really popular last year, I must have purchased ten (so be prepared to see more ;)).

This gray and burgundy scarf matched perfectly with my booties from Charlotte Russe, and I simply wore it over my gray cowl neck A-line knit dress.

Booties - Charlotte Russe

Poncho Scarf/ Earrings - Charlotte Russe

Happy Wednesday!

On today's post I'm featuring these cute colorblodck Mary Jane heels I purchased at Kohl's. I've always loved the style of Mary Jane heel and when I saw the colorblock gray design on these, I knew I had to get and the best part... they were on sale!



Gray also happens to be a staple color of mine, so I know I'll get a good wear out of them. In this post I styled them with my Dusty purple sweater and my gray skinny jeans. A purple combo for a chilly fall afternoon!

Heels- Kohl's

Happy Friday!

Hope you guys had a great week! My week has been pretty exhausting with clinicals but so fulfilling! When I'm completely finished with clinicals, I'll post about my experience as a Phlebotomist!

Now to my outfit:

Can you ever go wrong with camo or plum in Fall? Trick question, because you already know the answer is NO!

I've been sporting my camo jacket with everything, but today I decided to glam it up a bit and pair it with my plum faux leather pants and black suede booties.

Camo Jacket- Gabe's Plum Pants- Kohl's Bracelet Cuff- Charming Charlie Booties- Charlotte Russe Sunglasses- Kohls

Earrings- Charming Charlie

Thanks for visiting me and I hope you guys have a weekend filled with Happiness, Joy and Gloss,