Jeans: Citizens of Humanity – these are my current go to’s. I like the button closure and they are so flattering. More Citizens of Humanity jeans here | Loafers: Everlane – my all time fav! Order 1/2 size up and I didn’t have to break them in at all. More loafers here | Doormat: World Market– I loved this thing so much I bought another for our back door | Pumpkins: Target– I always want real pumpkins but these are just so much easier to keep and store for next year | Mums: Home Depot 

 

 

Hey hey friends! Happy freaking Friday and cheers to it almost being the weekend. Trevor had the most brutal call weekend ever last week and was also on call the weekend prior so we are seriously excited to enjoy some time together and take Zain to the St.James Art Fair. 

This month has seemed to fly by and we have some exciting travel coming up that I’ll share more about next week but we have a few house projects we need to get squared away before we leave so fingers crossed people show up. 

You guys sent in some really good questions this time around so this was a fun post to write! If you ever think of something just shoot me a DM on Instagram (although those sometimes get lost quickly) or an email!

 

What’s your current workout routine? 

I talked about it in this post but I generally try to get to the gym 3 days a week! I am very much a class type of girl so it was nice to find a gym where the instructors were awesome and I consistently feel like I get a great workout, burn a ton of calories and get something new. I seriously don’t know if I could ever go to another gym. I tell myself I will go once over the weekend but that hasn’t been happening as of late so I need to get back into it. 

I track my workouts on my Apple watch (which I love) and try to eat healthy during the week. I know diet is such a big part of the overall picture but I love food so we don’t stress about it too much. 

 

Where did you get your white mums? 

Home Depot! The sweetest lady stopped me at Home Depot and told me the mums were cheaper at Costco (FYI) but I asked if they had white ones there and she said no 🙁 My Home Depot had a ton of white ones of all sizes so check there!

 

Are you planning on teaching Zain any language other than English? 

Yes! I desperately wish I spoke Hindi or Urdu fluently. My parents were told when they immigrated to this country by peers and our school teachers not to teach us Indian languages first because we would end up speaking English with an accent. That’s absolutely not true and I’m sad that I didn’t learn it when I was young because I wish it came more naturally. I actually asked to take Urdu lessons every year we went to India and had a tutor that would come to my grandmother’s house to teach me. I speak some and understand it all but I wish I was fluent.

So, we speak as much as we can around Zain (Trevor knows lots of the words we use frequently) and my mom and dad are around so often I encourage it. It’s really important to us that Zain understand Indian culture and enjoy it. Being Indian and different was always something I shied away from as a child. It makes me really proud today and I’m glad my child will grow up in a world of mixed cultures and I hope he’s proud of where he comes from. 

 

Do you still have a dental practice? If so, how do you balance everything? 

So, I have never owned an office and have always worked as an associate. My last office which I worked at for years was owned by someone who didn’t practice anymore so I was the sole dentist and provider there. I love dentistry (kids more than adults) but have no desire to own a practice. I don’t love business or managing staff. I always became friends with my staff and it was so hard to keep those boundaries for me. 

I am working in Louisville part time which is why I have Zain in daycare part time. Although, daycare is the best thing I ever did for him. He genuinely loves school so much and it makes me so happy that he has ‘friends’ and get’s to explore so much. I digress.

I was really excited about the position here in Louisville because I am working on children that need better access to dental care. Each day I go to a school (on a rotation) that is underserved and see the students. I do exams, x-rays and any treatment I can. The goal is to provide access to dental care to those that may not otherwise receive it and that makes me happy. 

I have honestly been searching for a public health position in dentistry since I graduated and you wouldn’t believe how difficult they are to find. This particular position is unique because it is on a school calendar so I will be out for summer breaks and holidays which is wonderful now that I have Zain. 

 

How do you and Trevor budget? 

I talked about this a little bit in this post but we are very cautious spenders. We laid out a budget when we purchased our home of monthly expenses and then set ideas for what we would allocate for spending in different areas. Our budget fluctuates from month to month since some months travel is our priority and some months furnishing our home is our priority. 

Overall, I think we have been very wise spenders who making saving a priority and purchase things under budget so we are not wearing ourselves too thin. We used to use Mint when we first got married but honestly I hate technology and writing our stuff down has helped more. 

 

How do you balance work and parenting? 

Hmm, I don’t know that I do a great job at this and I’m sure everyone struggles with it in their own way. I will say running the blog full time and being a stay at home mom last year really gave me some perspective. I believe I am best when I work outside of my home for myself, my family and Zain. Being a stay at home mom is so hard and I try to focus on the time I have with Zain when I have it. 

I will also say that I am very lucky that I am able to do dentistry part time, this blog part time and enjoy my family. Full time blogging was not for me and although I loved the flexibility I didn’t love many other aspects of it and I missed my professional life a lot. 

Did that even answer the question? Haha. I just try to take everything in stride and when I’m sad and missing Zain I just watch a video of him throwing a tantrum 😉

 

Where do you store your photos? 

I’m not sure if this meant blog or personal photos but I don’t store blog photos. I delete my photos because they live on my blog and I am not that attached to them. I had a scare with my phone when Zain was about 6 months old when I thought I lost all my photos and was balling crying. Luckily I retrieved them and all you awesome people on Instagram told me to download the Google photos app. It automatically backs up and stores your photos! We also have an Apple Time Capsule that I back up all our family photos to! 

 

What degree would you recommend for someone wanting to go to Dental School? 

My undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Arts in Biology. I would say science based is a must in order to have all your requirements but I loved art history and wanted to study that as well so I went the BA route whereas I know a lot of my peers received a Bachelors of Science. I think keep your options open and study what you enjoy but just make sure you get those core science classes in. 

Also, why was I in college so long ago guys. 

 

I know I didn’t get to all the questions but I promise I have the others saved for next time and thank you again for sending in such thoughtful questions. I honestly love writing these posts! Happy Friday!