Mini-Moon Revisited: San Ysidro Ranch

*** The lucky winner of my gift card giveaway is... AubreyOhDang!  Thank you everyone for entering! ***

My short vacation is sadly coming to an end, but I had a great time and thought I'd share what I've been up to.  When hubby and I got married, we never actually went on an official honeymoon because of time constraints... but we did spend some time at an amazing place called San Ysidro Ranch which is a short drive away.  They offer private individual cottages and a secluded and peaceful atmosphere, as well as amazing food and impeccable service.  It's definitely a splurge but we loved it so much that we had to go back!

We stayed at a different cottage this time, and here's a quick tour starting with the private entrance:

The foyer:

A welcome message & treat:

The fluffy & romantic canopy bed:

The window desk overlooking the back patio:

The bathroom:

The free-standing tub:

The picturesque private patio surrounded by forest green...

... complete with a hot tub and outdoor shower!

The bedside fireplace to snuggle by after hot-tubbing in 50-degree weather :)

The cottage also has a separate living room, and here's where we ate most of our meals:

One of the best parts about staying at SYR is that we could order room service from the excellent on-site restaurant menu.  We took tons of food pics but this post is getting long, so I'll just share some of our favorites.

They make the most amazing crab cakes I've ever tried:

And the best tortilla soup in the world:

Pan-Seared Salmon with Wasabi Mashed Potatoes, Baby Bok Choy, Soy Ginger Sauce:

16-hr Braised Beef Short Ribs with Boursin Whipped Potatoes, Broccolini, Smoked Sea Salt:

The food was great, but I also loved the little touches like fresh flowers with each meal:

I brought a few outfits along to take pictures of, but ended up doing mostly nothing except for lounging around and watching HGTV.  Here's as close to an outfit pic as I got on this trip:

We did spend some time trying out a new lens for our camera, which I thought turned out pretty nice pics for its relatively inexpensive price.  I know this was a picture-heavy post, but I hope you enjoyed the vacation recap!

Alterations: Ann Taylor Texture Pencil Skirt

I recently made a trip to the tailors, which never fails to leave me in a state of mild shock over how much tailoring costs can add up... but I have to say that I absolutely love the results!  One of my favorite alterations this time is the Ann Taylor pencil skirt that I mentioned in the last post, which turned out fantastic!

I probably should've taken proper pics, but was so excited by how it turned out that I just grabbed my phone to snap away, and also threw on the ensemble that I was planning to wear for my presentation, which again was inspired by this stock photo:

My initial thought was to get the skirt hemmed, but my tailor convinced me to get the sides slimmed, which would allow it to fit better overall.  With that alteration it would sit higher on my natural waist, and would therefore hit me at a good length without any hemming needed... and she was right!  I thought she did a beautiful job and it feels seriously amazing on... I think this is probably the best fitting pencil skirt that I currently own!

Here again is how the skirt looked before:

And here again is the after:

Blouse: AT Charmeuse Ruffle Shirt, size 00P (post)

Skirt: AT Riley Texture Pencil Skirt, size 00P      

Shoes: AT Perfect Leather Pumps, size 5

Unfortunately it was a cold rainy day today and I was freezing even with the added cardigan & white coat:

So instead of wearing this outfit, I made a last-minute decision to switch to the petite-favorite (and warmer) Banana Republic tweed dress that I'd also just gotten back from the tailor.  I took a few iPhone pics of it but they turned out blurry, so I'll have to retake the pics for another post.

I'm so glad my presentation is done... a big thanks to everyone who shared helpful public speaking tips and words of encouragement!  I actually had a really good turnout of attendings... some of whom I'm sure came for the free catered food lol, but it felt good to have an audience to show the fruits of my labor to nevertheless.  Now that it's over, I can relax and enjoy my one week of vacation time that starts today!  I hope you guys are having a fantastic weekend! :)

Ann Taylor 40% + Stackable 20% Off Sale!

I'm really supposed to be working on my presentation, but did a little quick shopping since there's a really good promotion going on right now at Ann Taylor.  They are offering 40% off all sale items with free shipping on $150+ order.  I also found that the code 10000000110 will stack to give an additional 20% off entire purchase!

Pickings are slim in the small petite sizes, so I ended up getting these:

Lace Bootie, size 5.5 ($66, reg $198):

Tweed Perfect Flat, size 5 ($57, reg $158):

Shimmer Tiered Shell, size XXSP ($20, reg $78):

Don't forget to go through your credit card shopping links for additional cash back (Discover is offering 5% and Chase has 3%).  If you don't have those, you can go through eBates for an extra 3% cash back (referral link).

On a side note, I recently tweeted about this AT Riley Texture Pencil Skirt in 00P:

I picked it up in a previous order for ~$55 and was planning to wear it in the work outfit I talked about in the previous post.  Here are some quick & grainy iPhone pics:

I've actually never tried on any Ann Taylor pencil skirts before and was pleasantly surprised by how the size 00P fits!  I initially thought I could even get by without any alterations, but am now considering getting it hemmed.  I prefer for it to sit slightly higher on the waist as well, but slimming sounds like a potentially complicated alteration per Jean who definitely knows what she's doing!  Any thoughts?

100th Post! A Day In The Life...

I just realized that this marks my 100th post! It's also been almost a year since I started blogging... in fact, it's that time of the year again for my annual big presentation, and the one time a year where I actually wear something other than scrubs to work!  You can see what I wore last year here.  I've barely started to work on my presentation, but I already have my outfit picked out!  Lol... I'm thinking about something almost exactly like this:

I have that blouse in teal and am planning to pair it with a charcoal pencil skirt and a skinny black belt.  As for shoes, I decided to pick up another pair of the AT Perfect Leather Pump in black, since I currently don't have any black pumps.  I'm normally a size 5.5/6, but these pumps fit me perfectly in size 5... and I seriously love them!

It's basically going to look just like this outfit I posted before, except in different colors with an added white coat:

Since it is my 100th post after all, I figured I should share a bit more about myself and what I do.  I'm currently about halfway through a medical residency.  For those who are not familiar with the US medical education system, it consists of 4 years of college and 4 years of medical school.  After finishing those 8 years, even though you're technically a "doctor", you can't really practice (or know how to) until you complete a residency in the field of your choice.  Residencies range from 3 to 7 years depending on the specialty, and the first year of residency is traditionally known as internship.

I'm doing my residency in radiology, which is a specialty with limited patient contact.  Radiologists are the ones who interpret or "read" all the imaging studies like CT, MRI, X-ray, ultrasound, and so on that other doctors order.  It's mostly a desk job, but I do see patients when I'm doing procedures like lumbar punctures, barium studies, or ultrasound-guided biopsies or drainage.  This is where I spend most of my time when at work or on call... a dark room with the 4 basic essentials to be a radiologist:

It's a little ironic that I actually celebrated never having to write another literary analysis essay again when I graduated college.... because I ended up basically writing reports for a living!

I hope you enjoyed learning about one of the lesser known specialties of radiology!  In any case, I'm giving my big presentation next Friday and only have a grand total of 8 slides so far, so I'll likely need to put blogging on the back burner for a bit to focus.  It's a pretty formal presentation and I'm dreading the public speaking part since I still get super nervous, so please share any tips if you have them! :)

My First Theory: The Gratian Blazer

Ever since Kelly of AlterationsNeeded first wrote about the Theory Gratian blazer, it seems like virtually every petite who managed to get their hands on one has absolutely loved it.  And even though several other Theory blazers have come onto the scene since then, I still secretly wished for but had given up hope on ever finding my very own Gratian.  They simply weren't available even if I had the $$ to pay the hefty full price (which I don't!).

But I must've been a VERY good girl last year because not only did the style resurface over the holidays in a black textured version, my Secret Santa also helped me track down the ever elusive size 00!

This was my very first Theory item and I love it.  Since Jean of ExtraPetite already did a thorough post on it here, I won't go into too much detail.  I knew it ran small from seeing it on other petites, but was still quite surprised at the shrunkenness of it in person.

 

It's slightly boxy on the side view, but because the length is cropped enough, I think it's still do-able.  And the best part?  A very reasonable price tag for a Theory blazer since it was an outlet find!

Thanks Santa!!  You're amazing and I'm so glad we wear the same size! :)

New Year Giveaway: Pick Your $10 Gift Card!

Dear lovely readers, in the spirit of Chinese/Lunar New Year and the tradition of giving out red envelopes that symbolize good luck, I've decided to hold a mini giveaway!  One "lucky" winner will receive a $10 gift card of their choice from the list below!

Fashion:

Beauty:

Department Stores:

Entertainment:

Food:

All you have to do to enter is be a follower, but extra entries will be given for tweeting, for "liking" PetiteXXS on Facebook, and for posting the following button on your blog or sidebar:

(Copy & paste text below to grab button)

<a href="http://petitexxs.com"><img src="http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/4486/gcgiveaway.jpg"></a>

This giveaway is open to all readers, and ends on Monday, Feb 28th at midnight PST.  The winner will be announced shortly after and will have 72 hours to claim and pick their gift card!  That's it, and thanks for reading! :)




*Please note: if you are a US resident, the gift card can be shipped directly to your address. If you are an international reader, I will forward it to you after I receive it, so it might take slightly longer.