Crafty Tuesday: Placemats

It should be clear by now that I am a lover of ALL things personalized.  Seriously...if I had the time (and a big enough machine!) I would personalize EVERYTHING.  And because of that, I seem to feel the overwhelming need to personalize things for other people too.  Maybe they also love all things personalized and maybe they don't, but most people are gracious gift receivers, so if they don't want their name on things as a gift, they have been kind enough not to say so.  At least so far....

My sister is getting married and she (I hope think) is also a lover of all things personalized.  Which makes gift giving for her pretty easy...at least for now.  For Christmas I made her some placemats with her soon to be last name. 

I don't mind saying, I LOVE the way they turned out! 

They are all the same color...I'm not sure why they look like different shades here, other than the fact that I am using cell phone pictures.   Apparently it is just too difficult for me to pick up my camera and take some nice photos to share with you.  Forgive me.  Please  And in case anyone is wondering, the design I used can be found here.

For more things to get your creative juices flowing (or just make you wish you had more time to craft!) see what is being shared at Carrie's! 

Photo Thursday - Family Photos: Ashley

Just before Christmas, I did some family photos for my coworker Ashley and her trio of handsome men!  Ashley's first session was about 17 months ago -- and things have changed a little since then!

Crafty Tuesday: Hangers

As I mentioned last Thursday, my sister is getting married.  She is a teacher, so is planning on a July wedding before school starts again in August.  She made these adorable personalized hangers for all of the people that she asked to be in the bridal party...how cute is this?!

See what other crafty fantastic things are being shared at Carrie's!

Photo Thursday -- Engagement Session

Just before Thanksgiving, my sister got engaged.  She and her lovely fiance Kevin asked me to do some engagement photos over Christmas.  They didn't turn out too badly, if I do say so myself!

Crafty Tuesday: Market Totes

I have a new favorite gift to give...personalized market totes!  I think they make a fabulous gift, especially filled with a few goodies (and wine!).  They are really nice as shower or wedding gifts, but I gave several as Christmas and birthday gifts and am thinking of using one to hold baby items and as part of a baby gift as well. 

Not bad right?  Don't tell me otherwise...I would be heartbroken!

For more amazing crafty goodness, see what Carrie has to share (and what is being shared) here!

Photo Thursday -- Baptism

The day after my aunt threw a Star Wars birthday extravaganza, my cousin and his wife had their baby baptized while we were all in St. Louis. It was a very lovely little ceremony, and the priest who did it turned out to be the same be who married my parents 34 years ago!  It was an extremely quick trip for me -- I think that I was to STL and back in about 24 hours -- but well worth it!

My mom and Cara

Cara and her Grandpa

Cara and her Grandparents

All of the family at the baptism

The last two photos are probably my favorite from the entire weekend:

Cara and her Uncle Patrick

Cara Jane

Med School Wednesday -- Sunrise

This month and next I am assigned to do my two surgery rotations.  The way that my scheduled worked out, my specialty rotation is in the burn ICU and happens before my general surgery rotation (which is Trauma, so not really general either).  I will be the first to admit that I haven't been in an ICU for any length of time since I was in nursing school and did a two week ICU rotation.  Ten years ago. 

It's not that much has changed since then -- all the basics are more or less the same.  It's more that I am COMPLETELY out of my element.  Not to mention that I was totally unprepared for an ICU experience when I was planning on a surgery rotation.  Which has led to quite the overwhelming week.  Not to mention that I was completely unprepared for the hours I would be keeping on a regular basis. 

My alarm is set for 4 AM.  And that's mostly because I just can't bear to set it for an hour that starts with 3.  Because...no.  I just can't do it. 

On the up side, the people are lovely and it's mostly a laid back rotation.  Not to mention that I am learning a ton.  You know, when my head isn't spinning. 

And the sunrises are pretty awesome to watch. 

Crafty Tuesday: Deco Mesh Wreath

Now that the holidays are over, I can share a few of the Christmas gifts that I made.  No one that I actually know really ever looks at this little corner of the internet (that I know of) but just in case I didn't want to spoil any surprises...

One of my coworkers started making deco mesh wreaths...and selling them for an ungodly amount of money!  I was pretty sure that I could figure out how to make them for MUCH less than she was charging...and I was right!  I only managed to get one made this holiday season, a gift for my mom, but I was pretty happy with the way that it turned out.  And the good news is that I have plenty of mesh for next year's gifts already on hand!

And this was the helper for wreath making...

For more fabulous craftiness, see what Carrie is up to for Crafty Tuesday!

Photo Thursdays -- Family Photos: Jamie

Because it seems impossible for me to get things posted in a reasonable time otherwise, I'm going to try and make myself somewhat of a schedule.  Obviously there is nothing that could top Crafty Tuesdays, but I'm going to aim for "photo thursdays" as a way to try and post some of the bazillion photos I have waiting.  We'll see how long it lasts...until at least February perhaps?

Due to time limitations, I didn't get as many family sessions in during the fall as I had originally hoped, but I did manage to squeeze in a few.  This is Jamie and her trio of handsome men...

Med School Wednesday -- Psych

When you are in medical school, the list of tasks required is long.  Which, I suspect, is common among lots of different schools.  One of the things required in medical school is rotations through various different areas of medicine.  In November, my rotation was psychiatry.  Which I did at the local VA hospital.

I know.

Now, this is not to say that I am not incredibly thankful to all of the veterans out there for everything that they have done.  Because I am.  But I was somewhat anxious about doing my psychiatry rotation there, as that entire area of medicine has a different flavor than any other. 

I must admit -- my initial guesses at what it would be like were totally and completely wrong.  It was FABULOUS.  Now, this is not to say that I love psych -- while it is interesting, it isn't something that I could see myself doing on a daily basis.  But the people that I worked with were absolutely AMAZING.  They were so kind and helpful and willing to answer questions...the residents and attending that I was with completely and totally made my month on psych a fantastic experience, and I could not be more thankful for that.  I had one other student with me full time during the rotation and that only served to make the experience even better.  It was so nice to have a partner in crime for the month -- not to mention someone who could help give me advice on all of the things left to do for the next year and a half of medical school!

And it doesn't hurt that the view wasn't too bad either...