Wallis Fashion Review

Posted: May 15, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Shopping | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

Spot Print Belted Dress (Taupe and Black)

Taupe Spot Print Belted Dress | Also offered in black

I recently placed my first order with UK clothing website, Wallis. I ordered the Taupe Spot Print Belted Dress, shown in the pictures. I also picked up a black jersey dress for only $18, but that one was too small, because I ordered it in petite and didn’t account for the stupid fact that petite sizes are normally smaller in all measurements, not just shorter. I ordered both dresses in size 4 (which is a size 8 in UK size, but they display American sizes on their .com site). Obviously I would order a size up in petites next time. I am very happy with the way both dresses looked. The quality is not fantastic, but for the price, I think it is a reasonable quality. The dress is not lined, and the zipper is a little difficult. The belt it comes with is pretty low quality, but that is to be expected even with a higher-priced dress. Both dresses were machine washable, which is a huge thing for me.

Wallis offers free shipping with orders over $30. You do have to pay for the return shipping, though. The sell clothing, petites, shoes, accessories and even beachwear. Probably only 30 percent of the items for sale appeal to me. Some of their items look a little too trashy or crazy for me personally. The items arrived on individual hangers (marked with the UK sizes), sealed in protective plastic bags. The price for this dress has changes at least 3 times since I bought it, so definitely keep an eye out for sales. I think it was about $50 when I bought it and it is currently $63. I would recommend checking them out!

I’m going to Medical School (Sorta)!

Posted: May 4, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: health, Travel | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

#MedX

Nearly 2 months ago, my friend Nick Dawson encouraged me to apply for a scholarship to the Stanford Medicine X conference. I didn’t think I had a chance, but the conference sounded so exciting that I decided to give it a shot and whipped up an application. The deadline for the award announcement passed, and I never heard anything, so I chalked it up to a miss. And then last night I got an email saying I’d been awarded a scholarship! My name is up on the website and everything.

According to their website, “Medicine X is a catalyst for new ideas about the future of medicine and health care. The Medicine X initiative is designed to explore the potential of social media and information technology to advance the practice of medicine, improve health, and empower patients to be active participants in their own care. The “X” is meant to evoke a move beyond numbers and trends—it represents the infinite possibilities for current and future information technologies to improve health.”

They’ve got Michael Graves as a keynote speaker! A man I wrote about in my application without even realize he was going to be at the event. They will also have IDEO, which is a company mentioned in every business book ever written. As a designer who is also getting her MBA, I have immense love and appreciation for IDEO. Plus I’m hoping to meet up with some awesome people. Some I know from Twitter and communities like #hcsm and But You Don’t Look Sick.

Now it is not a full ride, but it is significantly less than the over $1,000 fee for normal attendees. I still need to cover accommodations and travel costs, but I’m hoping some lovely friends in the area will let me couch surf. I’m so excited to be going and the bonus is that since I’m already going to be flying to California, I have the perfect excuse to spend a couple extra days bumming around my favorite state. (I haven’t been back since the Lost finale.) I’m hoping to be able to fly out of LAX and spend a day or two in my old (preschool) stomping ground.

This week I got some bad news about the current state of my health, and this positive health-related news is really cheering me up.

Strawberry Whipped Cream Vodka

Posted: May 2, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Food | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

Today while I was driving, I had an amazing thought. I had fresh strawberries I picked on Sunday. I had a bottle of whipped cream flavored vodka. I wondered what sorts of delicious beverages I could make with these ingredients.

Well it turns out the company that makes the vodka had already thought of that. Here’s a PDF of several recipes using fruit added to their flavored vodka.

I made strawberry-infused whipped cream vodka, but it won’t be ready for about a week.