Blogger Spotlight: Hannah of She Could be a Pharmer!

I am so excited to introduce you to Hannah of She Could Be a Pharmer! Hannah is one of my blogging friends and I am so glad she agreed to grace the halls of Introvert's Introduction with her presence. So without further adieu, I give you Hannah of She Could Be a Pharmer!

1. First things first, can you tell everyone a little bit about yourself?

My name is Hannah and I write the blog she could be a pharmer in those clothes. My blog is a frivolous collection of outfit posts, science, cooking, and bitching about grad school. I was born and raised in Colorado, but right now I live in the Washington, DC area where I’m studying to get my PhD in pharmacology. I live with my boyfriend, Jason. He’s pretty much the best person in the universe and our nights usually involve sitting on the couch, drinking beer, and watching some sort of geeky TV show. We have two cats named Aspen and Velcro. They fight a lot. We also have a scorpion named Fenrir. He gives me nightmares.



2. What inspired you to start your blog (congrats on your one year anniversary a few weeks ago!)?

I had been an avid blog reader for some time and after a while I thought, “hey, I could do this!” Plus you don’t see many bloggers in the sciences and I was excited about contributing to an underdeveloped niche. Plus I grew up “blogging” (does livejournal count as blogging?), but hadn’t done it for a few years and I found that I really missed it!



3. What is the meaning behind your blog name?

“She could be a pharmer in those clothes” is a pun from a line from Clueless:

Gym teacher: Tai- you don’t have time to change, but you could hit a few balls in those clothes.
Amber: She could be a farmer in those clothes.
(Maniacal laugh, maniacal laugh)



(skip to 1:00)
Ah yes Clueless, a classic.

The “pharmer” bit comes from what I’m studying in grad school – pharmacology, often shortened to “pharm,” therefore making us pharm students the “pharmers.” I mean, a Clueless reference and science puns? How could I resist?

4. How do you balance between blogging and grad school?

Not very well! Haha. My blogging definitely tends to go in spurts. When I’m having normal/slow weeks at school I will blog a lot more, but when school gets crazy my blog definitely suffers. Being a grad student, school isn’t just about my education but it’s also my job, so it comes first. I try really hard never to blog or check blogs while I’m in lab. It’s a bad habit and it totally kills my productivity for the day. I have a hard time with self-control though, so I downloaded this awesome app for Google Chrome called StayFocused. Essentially, it limits how much time you can spend on certain websites each day. I set it so all of the “distraction” websites (facebook, pinterest, tumblr, blogspot, etc) have a limit of 30 minutes/day (cause I need a few minutes of downtime a day or I will go crazy!) It’s made me way more productive and I definitely recommend it!



5. Since I'm just about to finish my first week of college, can you give any advice for incoming freshmen?

Oh yes! I love giving advice. Don’t like to follow it, but loooove to dish it out.

- Get involved, especially in the first few months. Join every club that even sounds remotely interesting. You’ll probably end up only sticking with a few of them, but it’s worth it. People like to pretend that college is more mature than high school and it’s some sort of clique-less utopia, but it’s not. Social groups form tight and fast. I was too shy to go to a lot of social gatherings for the first few months of college and it made it really hard to break into them later – everyone had already formed their social circles, which meant I was always on the outside. It sucked. Don’t do it!

- Don’t bring your laptop to class unless you have to, and even then download some sort of productivity software like StayFocused or Concentrate (an app for Macs). 90% of the time I brought my laptop to class it ended up with me talking to my friends on aim (yes, when I went to college everyone still used aim. Don’t judge me!)

- Go to class. I know I know, this is probably the opposite of what so many other people would tell you. Yes, college is the perfect time to try new things and party and have an awesome time. But don’t do that at the expense of your education. College is expensive - make the best of your money! (Or your parents hard-earned money! Or a scholarship!)

- Take fun electives. I was in such a rush to finish college in four years with all the majors possible, that I forgot to relax a bit and take some fun classes. Some of my friends took classes like history of The Lord of the Rings, yoga, and glass blowing – for credit! The only elective I took for “fun” was called “insane in the membrane” and it was about membrane proteins. Even for someone who is a proud nerd, this is painfully lame.



6. How would you describe your personal style and how has it evolved over the years?

I would describe my style as “geek chic.” In college I wore jeans, thrifted t-shirts, and converse non-stop (I also woke up every day at 6am to straighten my hair. Insanity.) In recent years I’ve started to expand from my tomboy roots by incorporating more dresses and skirts. Also a necessity since it is crazy hot in the summer here in DC.



7. What would you say you have improved on since starting your blog?

My photography skills have definitely improved! In high school I had a passionate infatuation with photography, but my SLR camera broke sometime in college and I never really got back into the hobby. But with blogging I have started to get into photography again. I’ve been dabbling with lomography and just bought the chemicals to develop my own film, and I got a DSLR for my birthday and it’s been a blast figuring out how to use it! I probably wouldn’t have started up on any of this if not for blogging.

8. If you could try anything in the world (be it food, an activity, anything), what would it be?

I’d love to travel. I never studied abroad in college (ooh, add that to the college advice – study abroad! I will never forgive myself for missing out on that opportunity!), and I’ve never traveled around Europe or Asia or anything. I’ve been with my family and I even got to go to Italy for a conference last year, which was amazing, but I definitely want that experience of gallivanting abroad for a few weeks/months with no real schedule or obligations.



Thank you Hannah so much for letting me interview you!

And be sure to check out her blog!

changes

day 243







Sooo I did something absolutely crazy today! My friends all gathered inside the bathroom to watch my roommate dye my hair! My hair is now ombre, and the tips are purple. This is definitely the craziest thing I've ever done with my hair, but YOLO or whatever. That's what the kids are saying these days right? I can't wait to show you guys a good photo of the finished product!

we beg rebirth

day 242

(click on the photo to view it bigger)

Big huge thank you to Alysha for being my first model at college and for braving the super scary water. Hopefully you didn't get as many nasty scratches on your legs as I did. (Because man, my legs hurt so bad right now. Worth it? Completely.)

Can you guys believe this place is right on my campus? And no one ever goes on the trails surrounding it, so I foresee many a self portrait in those waters.

Also, the spiders in Oregon are terrifying. That is all.

Also also, there is a detail shot on my photography page. Seriously. Go check it out.

be the change

day 241

My friends and I explored a bit of our new little town today and I could never express how in love with it I am. This wall is from my new favorite coffee shop, called the Coffee Cat, and the saying embodies what I and a million other people want from our lives--to impact people. I won't turn this into a deep post because I'm kind of wanting to go to bed; plus me saying how much I want to make a difference is so utterly cliche. I might as well just go out and be the change instead of writing about how I wish I could do that.




Also today Annette and I got a fish! His name is Mr. Roy G. Biv, because he is so colorful. He's a ladies' man already.

p.s. I signed up for a ceramics class and applied for a job as a school photographer.

college bound

pants/shoes: target // cardigan: friend // shirt: thrifted // bow tie (hair bow): sister




Well it's official: I'm a college girl! Yesterday was my first day of classes. I decided to wear my new fun red pants and walk around in heels (but thank goodness these are the most comfortable shoes ever). This outfit was definitely inspired by one of my many pinterest finds. I really loved the contrasting blue colors and really think it compliments the red pants perfectly.

As for my classes, they all seem really easy. In fact, I'm going to try to add another class for today!




Also, if you want to wear bow ties but don't own any/don't want to make any, what I always do is use a safety pin (and maybe a couple of bobby pins) to attach a hair bow to my shirt. It's a quick and easy way to do something totally new with your hair accessories!

While roaming around the campus to find a tree branch to hold my jewelry, I found this perfect trail to take outfit photos. It's not that I mind taking pictures in front of other people, it just seems a little weird and conceited to take pictures of yourself. I don't know, maybe one of these days I'll be brave enough to venture out in the open with a tripod and a remote.




More ombre nails! I'm really loving the ombre trend, and thankfully I was able to jump on the bandwagon before something new came along. In the past I had always been so oblivious to trends going on (I'm looking at you, junior high), that once I actually bought whatever was in style, it was out of style. Over the years I've learned that it doesn't really matter what's in style or not, as long as I'm confident in whatever I'm wearing, then I'm wearing the right thing.



Hope you all have a fantastic Tuesday!

noise

day 240

Look! An actual creative-ish 365 photo! Even though it was just of me whipping my hair back and forth. Today was my first day of classes. My first class I walked into the wrong room. Heh. But it was no big deal. All of my professors seem really cool, but I already have homework. Thankfully, I had time to take pictures and found the perfect trail that I don't think a lot of people care to go on, because I didn't see anyone. Score! Tomorrow I just have two classes, so I'm not sure what I'll do with all my down time. We shall see.

in rainbows

day 239

Here is a little sneak peak of my new dorm room! Once I get everything completely done I'll do a little video for you guys. Today was seriously a blast. I woke up early to go to church (ended up falling asleep during the service ... whoopsies!), and then we didn't have very much to do until the evening. Apparently this school loves to dance, because I have been dancing so much these past few days. Tonight it was a hoedown! Everyone dressed up as cowboys and cowgirls and learned how to hoedown. I stayed the entire time, despite the rain beginning to come down (most of my friends left, but I was having way too much fun).

I decided not to bring my camera to the event, because I knew I wouldn't really want to set it down everywhere. Living in the moment is awesome and even though I don't have any photos from the event, I will remember it forever. Sometimes it's good just to forget about documenting life and actually live life, you know? Don't worry though, I'll still bring my camera nearly everywhere I go. ;)




And I made a new friend! This is Andrew. He and I had matching outfits and we only noticed when someone asked if we had planned it. Nope! Hooray for making new friends! I can't wait to introduce you guys to the rest of my friends.

The first day of classes is tomorrow, so wish me luck! Maybe I'll even get an outfit post in? Guess I should start planning my outfit.

kittens

day 238





Yesterday already seems like such a blur (sorry I keep posting these a day late ... hopefully tonight's 365 will be somewhat on time!). We explored around the town and basically I'm in love. There are cool coffee shops and thrift stores everywhere--I am literally in heaven. Plus, there are a lot of awesome photoshoot locations. If only I wasn't so nervous to take pictures of myself. It's not that I care about what people think, but I do somewhat. Eh, I guess I'll have to explore around and find a spot where no one can see me jumping around and acting crazy in front of a camera.






Also yesterday the rest of the students came (person overload!) and there was a rap party and a bunch of other stuff. I opted to go back to my room and continue decorating. I can only handle so much social interaction. And my room is aaalmost done. Well, I say that now, but who knows, I'll probably continue adding to it until I have to take it all down again for the summer.

my week in instagram #14

a beautiful paper crane charm that Matt got for me on our one and a half year anniversary // Oscar sleeping on me // Mindy being a creeper cat // photoshoot with a cutie pie // saying goodbye to my room in Alaska // flying on an airplane! // eating at Sonic after years of separation // riding in an elevator with my new friends! // dancing at an Italian festival

I hope your week has been awesome! You can always follow me on instagram @impulsings.

on the max

day 237








Yesterday was absolutely insane. We woke up bright and early to attend a class and a seminar, said goodbye to our parents, and then went on the Mystery Bus Tour, which these photos are from. They took us to downtown Portland where we walked around the streets. I have never seen so many huge trees or fun old buildings like that (or at least, not that I can remember). It's much different than Anchorage. There are a ton of bridges, huge buildings, and even a street train, which I learned is called the MAX. So cool!








Apparently in Portland there are always festivals going on, and this day there was an Italian festival. All of us students went down in front of the stage and started dancing, and even local people joined in with us. I haven't felt so much positive energy shared between strangers like that ever before. It was really beautiful watching people get lost in the music (and music no one had even heard of or could understand, no less) and dance and clap and sing the tune all together.









After we rode on the MAX back to the buses, they took us to a local amusement park. Of course my friends peer pressured me into riding the crazy rides, which I will admit were a ton of fun. Yeeeah, you guys were right. ;) We didn't get back to the college until about three in the morning, so I wasn't even going to try to put up any photos. Hopefully I can put up today's 365 photo, but we shall see!











Hope you all have a great day!