Helllooooo 2013!

Time definitely flew since the last post. It’s already almost 2 weeks into 2013, and I’m finally getting a chance to sit down and reflect and think about stuff whatever it may be.

But here’s the recap since last post!

For Fall semester ’12 of P2 year, I made it a personal goal to come out of it with a Cumulative GPA of a 3.5 or higher. End result? After lots of hard work and dedication, I came out the semester with a Term GPA of 3.629, and that means… my Cumulative GPA ended up being 3.506! Barely there, but it’s still there and that’s all that matters! The semester before, my cumulative GPA was a 3.487. With my grades as they are, it’s really given me a lot to think about with what I want to do with myself because my grades give me a really big opportunity. I’m thinking of taking up a residency of sorts… either in Colorado or California. I’m working on it. But I have a better idea of what I want to do with myself. Until May 2014, I have lots of work to do on my end. Eep!

I’ve definitely been getting my act together and it’s all good so far. And I hope that it stays this way. I have a long two more semesters before I can officially start my APPE rotations. Wee!

So now the typical year reflection posts…

Quick Bullet List of Events in 2012:

• I moved out of my last apartment and into a new place with a roommate. My roomie isn’t a student at the school actually, so it’s rather nice having company yet not the student/college environment that rooming while in school typically has.
• I’ve studied a lot… and a lot… and studied some more….
• I went to NYC all by myself for Spring Break ’12 and crashed on an old high school friend’s couch for the entire week while I explored the city at my own leisure. She just handed me the keys to her place and told me to enjoy. I definitely want to come back. Hopefully in March or May!
• I spent two months on rotation back home in Colorado at Rite Aid and Walgreens. It was a good learning experience.
• I spent three whole months at home with my parents, living under their roof, without any means of independent transportation. I survived somehow… so that gives me hope that I can possibly move back in with them for a while if I end up going back to Colorado.
• I went to my first anime convention Nan Desu Kan. Dressed up as Robin for the entirety of it. Discovered that I’m much more of a comic book fan than an anime fan. But conventions are conventions, they’re still good.
• After I finished the semester off, I headed to California to enjoy my break and stayed with my best friend and her family for 24 days. Definitely felt welcomed, and they enjoyed me so much they extended their welcome to have me move in with them if I land a position in California. I like this networking thing.

Overall, it’s been a pretty quite year. But that’s what happens when you’re just in school the whole time. Not much to really do, nor is there much of an opportunity to do so.

How did I do with resolutions? This is from the 2012 Resolutions that I wrote last year…

“Start caring about my skin – the acne’s gone, now to take care of the rest. Gotta look my best for my future patients!” I started to take care of my skin. I still get breakouts here and there, but I think it’s a hormonal thing. The more stressed I get, the nastier my face gets. But otherwise, I’ve been using other skincare products to help out. I’m really loving the Lancome Genfique… too bad it’s so friggin’ expensive and my samples aren’t going to last me forever… but the tiny 0.27 fl oz bottles that I get still seems to last a long time. So it might be worth investing in that $60 bottle one day… when I’m out of it. I need to start remembering to take my Super Skin herbal supplements that my mom sends over all the time. Otherwise it’ll go to waste, it doesn’t do any harm.. so maybe it’ll do some good?

“Work out 2-3 times a week regardless of the weather or exams – last year the goal was just to start working out, and I definitely have accomplished that.” I completely failed. Working out frequently is hard for a student when studies and sleep always seems to take higher priority.

“Be more financially responsible – due to a cascade of events in 2011, I found myself in a financial bind of sorts, and well… If I tighten my hold on my finances I should be okay.  But that also means, not going out to eat much any more, learning to buy only what I’ll eat/cook before they go bad; in the end, I want to start saving money instead of surviving semester to semester. I’m also hoping to get a paid intern job sometime soon as well.” I feel like I definitely accomplished this aspect. I had saved enough money that with the money from my loan, I lived well. AND I managed to fund my spendings when I was out in California. It was definitely a blast. I don’t waste as much food anymore as well, as I’m going to the store more often. I also feel like I’m eating healthier.

So two things out of three isn’t too too bad right???

So what are my Resolutions for 2013?

• Work out! This seems to be the thing that’s on every year. Hopefully one year it’ll finally stick right? 
• I want to get out of my comfort zone and socialize more, even though the hermit within me will resist with all its might. The last time I went out, only good things came out of it. So I might as well try and work at it and do more. In the end, I want to take more chances, and live life to its fullest.
• Be a doer. Since starting college really, I’ve been taking the back seat to pretty much everything. And well, I think it’s time for me to find that drive again and stat getting involved and do things. I’ve already taken two steps in the right direction by taking initiative in my club. Let’s hope I keep it that way!

Well, that’s all folks! Here’s to a brand new year with brand new beginnings and opportunities!!!

It’s a Love-Hate Thing…

Currently, taking a break from studying for my pharmacotherapeutics exam that’s tomorrow. (Crash course in pharmacokinetics and the Women’s Health module).  The exam’s going to be 16 questions related to kinetics (6 with calculations, bleh), and 32 questions related to women’s health (8 per topic – contraceptives, menstrual disorders, pregnancy/lactation, and menopause/osteoporosis). Funny how only 6 lectures can still accumulate so much information!

I feel that every day I’m studying a gazillion hours, but last week it definitely paid off when I took my pharmacology exam (20/21 right, baby!). I’ve been putting the majority of my time into therapeutics though, since I didn’t do so hot last semester (probably rivaled as my worse semester ever).

I’m really enjoying the subjects this semester now that I’m going into the core of pharmacy-related material (no more of that biochemistry, immunology, physiology, etc.). I’ve managed to stay awake in class every day, which is always a good thing. Sometimes, I just can’t help it!!

Hopefully everything that I’ve been trying to stick in my noggin’ will stay where it should be. As my dad puts it, knowledge is the crap that you can remember.

I can’t wait until the exam is over tomorrow! Gonna finally go grocery shopping and attempt to make a Chicken and Gnocchi soup Olive Garden style. I found a recipe for it on CopyKat, and it’s one of my favorite soups. The other one is the Zuppa Toscana. We’ll see how it goes!

Anyhow, break time’s over. Time to study again! Pregnancy/Lactation, here I come!!!

And It Begins…. Again

P2 Year of Pharmacy school (of 3 Years) has officially begun! Technically, it was supposed to start on Monday, but due to Hurricane Sandy, school was closed and make up classes are occurring tomorrow. Hurrah for the Double Feature of Pharmacology tomorrow! I’m actually pretty excited yet anxious about this upcoming year. I’m finally hitting the meat of pharmacy school, my true purpose for why I’m in school again. Therapeutics and Pharmacology for the next 2-3 Semesters. You can call me the the Drug Expert. Oh wait, make that DOCTOR Drug Expert!

I was sitting in class today and it just hit me that I have a year and a little over six months left of Pharmacy school (only 9 months of that is actually class lectures) and then I’m on my own. I’m utterly terrified. I still don’t know what I’m doing, I can’t seem to get an internship in, nor do I have the motivation to find one again. That feeling comes and goes it seems. But in any case, it seems that time has flown by like no other, and I’ve already made it this far. I’m surprised I’ve made it this far, with how adamant I was with saying that I didn’t want to go back to school and everything. I’m nervous about how this semester’s going to go, the next 9 months actually. There’s so much to learn and I feel like I don’t quite remember everything that I should have remembered, the fact that everything’s really foggy right now scares the crap out of me and makes me want to curl up somewhere and hide.

On Another Note: Hurrah! I’m 25! Birthday was last week (Oct 21st). I can now officially have my quad-life crisis. I think I had more to say, about this point, but then I got distracted and my mind wandered… my bad.

 

<3

Skin Care Routines

Did I mention I’m really sick and tired of my skin? Too bad I can’t just strip it all away. But in any case, I was reading up on skincare routines and all that jazz and I’m even more confused now more than ever. There’s so many steps, and so many different products. Good thing I’m going to start investing in this stuff right so it’ll become more of a planned purchase instead of a sporadic ones. Planned ones always go over much better.

So according to Dr. Schultz (a dermatologist with his own line of skincare products and a YouTube channel, and all that jazz – DermTV.com) in one of his posts (link here), I need to cleanse, tone, and exfoliate in the morning, and cleanse, toner, and antioxidize in the evening. I do have a bottle of Biore’s toner back in MA that I should continue using up, I just got sick and tired of it. I think after that bottle’s done with, I’ll go to Witch Hazel, I’ve heard of good things about it. And the scent isn’t as strong from what I can remember. My cleanser is my exfoliant? Does that count? Currently, I’ve been using Clean and Clear’s 3 in 1 Exfoliating Cleanser. I know that with the clarisonic that I’m going to be purchase sometime in the next few weeks, I’ll have to switch it up and I might just go to the Clean and Clear Continuous Control Acne Cleanser. Boy was that a mouthful, but it’s also 10% benzoyl peroxide opposed to the current cleanser which is at 5%.

Funny thing that cleanser, for a while the 3 in 1 was actually on back order due to some warehouse issues, and I couldn’t get my hands on it. Man did my face hate me. The 10% didn’t really do much for me, but the 5% was what I had been using for a while and it worked. Yet now that I’m using it again, it doesn’t seem to have the same kick, and my skin’s been rather finicky since. Maybe I should try something else with benzoyl peroxide and see if it works, definitely not the 10% though. I once heard that whether it be 10% or 1% it didn’t really make a difference in terms of its effectiveness, it’s just its adverse effects (dry skin) becomes more predominant. I should look back at my self-care therapeutics notes and check and maybe even do a personal journal club assignment about it. Treating myself as a patient. Oh boy, I must really be bored.

But in any case, my normal routine is salicylic acid whenever I would shower, and benzoyl at night. Both were exfoliants, so I guess I’ll have to switch up once I get the clarisonic. Oh boy… this whole skincare routine’s going on a complete overhaul apparently.

Moisturizer is another issue that I’ve been needing to address. My Bliss one is discontinued, my bare minerals ones isn’t working. I’m trying out this Clinique gel moisturizer right now that I got a sample of at Macy’s one day when I was hanging out at the mall with L. I’m not entirely sure what I think about it right now. Today’s the end of day one of using it. So we’ll see how it goes, I might need to get a second sample to really see how well it works. I have the lotion version of the moisturizer too, but I’m kind of nervous using it since the lady said that there’s mineral oil in it and may cause me to break out even worse. I don’t quite want that. I should go visit Sephora and load myself up with samples again when I get back to MA too. Or now, I guess I could just “stock up” now. Not like I have anything better to do with myself. Overall, I guess this whole moisturizer thing is going to be trial and error until I find one that works again and hope that it doesn’t get discontinued like the bliss one that I loved oh so much!

So therefore, basic routine thus far? Cleanser – needs to be changed, Toner – should just use up then try Witch Hazel, Moisturizer – trial and error phase right now. Then there’s the Clarisonic Mia which I’m determined to buy right now, only thing holding me back is the upcoming Sephora Friends and Family sale from the 18th to 31st. If I can save money, why not.

In addition to the basics, I want to find some products that’ll help minimize the hyper-pigmentation on my skin. I’ve just started to directly apply Vitamin E Skin Oil on those spots, and I guess I’ll keep at it until I run out of the bottle and see how that goes. Then there’s my stupid pores, I noticed earlier today that the pores around my nose, on my nose and between my eyebrows are horrible. I applied make up and it seemed like it made my pores even worse. Not cool, not cool. So they’re definitely a concern, but I’ll work on this after I get a skin care routine down and all that jazz. I hear that witch hazel helps with the pores issues, as well as the clarisonic. Then finally, I feel like my skin’s hating me and deciding it wants to get old. I have this wrinkle? line? on my forehead from raising my brow too much because apparently I do that when I’m confused or really concentrated (I blame school). So I guess I want something to help with that before my skin ages prematurely. Dark circles are also appearing under my eyes, no bueno! Gotta find an eye cream or something for that too. Crap.

Thus in summary, after the basics are covered, I want something that’ll help with hyper-pigmentation, enlarged pores, fine lines, and dark circles.

Gah, writing this post makes me feel old. But I guess the sooner I start, the better!

Two Things

First off, I must say that I’m caving to my wish list that I’ve been posting in the “One Day when I’m Rich” category. I bought the EXPRESS jacket that I had been fawning over for a while when I was posting it. I actually bought it last week. I’ve already worn it a number of times, as the jacket came in handy right as the seasons was changing here in good ol’ Colorado. Seriously, you can get three sometimes four seasons in a day. For instance, last week at 4pm it was 82 degrees, then at 6pm it was 61 degrees, and finally at 8pm it was 44 or 49 degrees I forget which. These were numbers that the local news station spit out for me. It makes me want to get better fitted jeans now though. Gonna make the step to jeggings, once I can afford them? My skinnies just aren’t skinny anymore, I guess either I got skinnier or the jeans got old and stretched out some. But in any case, EXPRESS Jacket – check! Birthday Present to myself out of an unknown amount.

Secondly, I must say that I HATE my skin at the moment. It’s like a teenager rebelling, but I’m thankful that it isn’t as bad as it was when I was a teenager rebelling. I wish there was some miracle formula or serum or whatever that I can just apply and make it look nice and all that jazz. I’ve been breaking out more than usual. And each breakout is a pretty nasty cystic nodule. So they hurt, and I can’t do anything about it cause they’re so deep into my skin layers. As of right now, there’s one on the tip of my nose, on my cheek bone, and a few less severe ones on my forehead and chins. UGH. I hate this, I feel like a little kid again. And when I was a little kid, I didn’t have much confidence or self esteem. Yeah, I was that girl with acne covering her face, and the glasses that weren’t all that fashionable, and didn’t wear things that looked flattering on her. It’s been ten years since high school (yikes!), and since then the acne has minimized to a manageable level (until recently), the glasses has disappeared (I wear contacts if I’m going out of the house, then they stay in for the rest of the day), fashion has improved somewhat (due to following bloggers and YouTubers such as Wendy from Wendy’s Look Book). Makeup is a new thing too, at first just to cover the acne, now more used to enhance my already present features.

But in any case, skin’s acting up again. I haven’t done anything different. Well, maybe save for not drinking as much water. I used to drink at least a liter of water a day up until rotations ended. I guess since then, I’ve gotten lazy with getting the water. So I should start carrying around my 1-liter nalgene bottle with my alma mater’s logo imprinted on it and drink it daily again.

My skin’s also been this weird patchy dry texture lately. Moisturizers just don’t seem to want to work with it right now. Then again, I used to be fine with my Bliss Oil Control Mattifying Moisturizer. Too bad it’s been discontinued. I loved the scent of that moisturizer too. I made the switch to the baremineral’s purely nourishing moisturizer for combination skin, but it just doesn’t seem to do anything for me. I think it’s time to start venturing out and trying to figure out a moisturizer that works for me again. I have $40 budgeted out per month to makeup/skincare. So that should be decent enough until I find something that works, right? The bliss one costed me around $48 but it’d last for 3 months or so. And I thought it worked amazing. WHY MUST THEY DISCONTINUE THINGS I LIKE?!

The Sephora Friends and Family Sale is going to be later this month, and I’m pretty set on buying the Clarisonic Mia (in either blue or turquoise). I mean, I’d buy it now, but hey saving 20% is nice so I might as well wait. But details on the sale is still really up in the air so I’m confused, but at least I’m set on buying the Mia already regardless of the price (regularly priced at $119 + tax). Originally I was going to justify this as Birthday Present to Self #2, but then as the week passed on, I just got more frustrated with my skin and realized that my face just needs something. So this is going to be justified as me attempting to revamp my skincare so I can look good and confident again! (the reviews on it are all mostly good – and I’ve been at it looking at blogs and YouTube).

There are a lot of other things I want to do in terms of revamping my skincare routine. I feel like the baremineral original foundation isn’t working for me anymore. If anything it dries my skin out as the day progresses, which is really weird as it never happened before even when I was using the purely nourishing moisturizer. So I want to change that up, as of right now I’m content with my bare minerals original primer though. It just glides on so well! I definitely can’t see myself applying foundation without primer now though.

I also feel like I should start investing in serums and eye creams of sorts now too. Turning 25, eep! I’m getting old, and the late nights that I stay up (due to various reasons, not just school) is definitely making my skin suffer I feel. So I gotta start with something right?! I wish I had more makeup/beauty buddies I could explore this realm with.

The List Continues…

Idle time really doesn’t go well with me. Just makes me wish I had money again. What was I thinking when I quit both jobs to go back to school right? Living on loans sucks!

[Coach] Sutton Signature Mini Skinny

Overall, I’d have to say that I’m a minimalist. I like small and simple things, which is why out of all of coach’s things, I like this one the most. It definitely works with my style. (Of course there are other bags that I like too, but use of said bags wouldn’t be as frequent as use of this wallet). I guess it’s pretty pricey for what it actually is, but I’ve been looking around and I can’t find any other wallets with similar style/design and in that approximate size. If anyone has, please let me know. I’m still debating whether or not it’s worth $38.

[Clarisonic] Mia 2 Sonic Skin Cleansing System

I’ve heard a LOT of good things about these things, especially for troubled skin like myself. I’ve been really wanting to try it out, but the steep price tag makes me put it off every single time. Maybe I should ask for it for my birthday or christmas or something from my parents? They’re all for better skin for me. Right? I can’t decide what color I like: white, peacock, or bordeaux. I’ve been trying to do something different with my skin care routine, and I think this might help exfoliate my skin if anything, since my skin always needs to be exfoliated cause it’s always so friggin’ flaky! With it, I’d definitely want to try the acne cleansing brush head too.

Idle Time

So just having idle time on my hands is a pain. I wish I was working, in school, or something. I almost feel like I have no purpose in life at this very moment. You can call it cabin fever almost, but at the same time, I just don’t know what to do with myself right now. I want to wake up to have something to do and not have to wait until the evening to do it or whatever. It doesn’t help that my car is in Massachusetts right now, while my body is physically in the state of Colorado.

Therefore, I’ve pulled my bike out of the garage and man is it covered in cobwebs. I should have taken a picture of it before I went wipe SOME of it off, it was impossible to get it all off. I still don’t have much of a purpose, or a reason to really go anywhere, especially with my “I live off of student loans therefore have budgeted every month” funds. I have approximately $150 to last me until I get back to MA on the 25th.

At least me going anywhere will be a good work out. If I want to go ANYWHERE, I’d have to bike at least 4 miles. Today I went to the outdoor mall and Target, the trip was 4.4 miles one direction, with the trip going there mostly uphill. As I was biking to the mall, I kept thinking to myself “OMG, this is the worse idea ever. I’m going to diiieeee.” But the ride home wasn’t too bad, and it only takes approximately 20 minutes to bike the distance.

Tomorrow I’m thinking either Barnes and Noble, or Sally Beauty Supply. It’s one or the other, given that it’s a 4 mile bike ride from my house in opposite directions. Fun stuff right? At least I’ll get my cardio work out in. Who needs to go to the recreation center anymore right? Nevermind the fact that I just found my pass, and there’s probably a 20-visit pass still on it.