Another beginning

I survived! The deed is done, the battle is fought, and the brave soldier has come marching home. My test is done, and now the third year of medical school begins.

I realize in my head that it's a little silly to wait "until a good time" to start on new goals, or even to think that beginnings (like New Year's, or the beginning of a school year) are necessarily "the time" to set new goals. But I guess at times like these, we're really looking to the future, and that brings to mind all these things we want to change and accomplish. So, on the brink of starting a new year, I looked back, looked ahead, and came up with a little something that I hope I can use to guide me through the next year.

Things to Be in the Coming Year:

1) Loving 

As a girlfriend, daughter, sister, friend

2) Consistent

Maintain a journal for once!

3) Unplugged

Stop wasting so much time on the Internet

4) Creative!

Keep on crafting

5) Active

Try to get exercise

6) Healthy

(especially since I'll be guzzling so much heavily sugared and creamed coffee)

7) Frugal

Watch that budget

8) Kind

In the sense that I need to be kinder to myself and stop being so negative

9) Tidy

Actually maintain cleanliness, not just in big cleaning purges

10) Punctual

Professionalism matters even more this year

11) Studious

Because cramming is the worst thing ever

12) Engaged

Show interest, get involved, ask questions

What about you guys? Are there goals or resolutions you have set for yourself? How do you go about sticking to them? 

Thanks for reading!

-Annie

Tape and Smartphones

Hi all!

Test day will be upon me very very soon. At this stage it's reached the point where I really just want it to be over and done with. Soon!

Just a quick post to show off what I do with some of my breaks. 

I assume by now that most of you are familiar with washi tape. I thought it was cute, but kind of silly to blow money on...but really, this stuff is super fun. :D

First, in the course of studying, I wanted bookmarks. It just so happened that I had rediscovered How About Orange (super-fun blog, highly recommended!) and found this tutorial for a heart-shaped corner bookmark.

Whipped up two super-quick with some notebook paper I had on hand. Unpleasant surprise: they didn't stay flat and folded as well as I had hoped. And of course they weren't exactly pretty. But with a little tape to hold things together...

Cute! Far from perfect, you can even see the notebook paper lines on the chevron one, although I do think it's cool that the lines almost matched the peaks. :)

It just so happens that I had recently found this tutorial for a washi tape-covered box, and even had one of those white necklace boxes just laying around. So when I had a mini-meltdown around lunch, I did this to cool myself off:

Prettified!

The rest of my possessions had better watch out, they're about to get WASHI'ED, muahaha!

Final note before I toddle back to my flashcards: did everyone else already know that there's a Blogger smartphone app? All you have to do is search Blogger in your app store and it comes up!

To tell the truth, I could immediately tell that there would be some problems with it. You don't have a lot of freedom in formatting on the phone, and I find typing on my phone downright annoying sometimes. But the reason why I got the app was that now, I can take pictures on my cell phone and immediately upload them and save as a draft! No more excuses! No more waiting until I've charged my camera or found the energy to connect my phone to the computer and upload photos!

Maybe this will up my posting frequency, who knows? I love technology, guys. :)

Welp, that's it for now! Until after Step 1, my friends!

-Annie