My life has felt a bit overwhelming and stressful lately, so I decided it was time to take a step back and think about some of the wonderful things in my life. And most of those are people. I have been blessed with many great people in my life.
Yesterday I was sitting in my new office (in Hollywood, CA) and I received a text message from Rosie, my friend and medical assistant, in Boston. It made me teary. Rosie really made my job in Boston special.
When I first started to practice in Boston I was coming from hospital medicine. Switching to a full time clinic job was more foreign than I anticipated. In the hospital, patients have already had a significant work-up in the Emergency Department and you already know that they are sick. In clinic, you have to decide if an issue is serious or if it’s something that will get better on its own. And, seriously, was not prepared for the questions patients would ask (“uh…. what? Um…. I’m not sure…”). I mean, they did not teach us that stuff in medical school! Trial by fire.
And I’m super organized, which is good and bad. If things aren’t all done in order, I get flustered (which is probably why the move and all of our snaffoos have been so hard on me). But, luckily, I was partnered with Rosie, who saved me every day.
Rosie is very organized and pays attention to the details, just like me. So I could count on her, which allowed me to relax. I knew things were going to get done.
And, she’s also an absolute sweetheart. So, my patients also loved her. Which is doubly awesome.
We both had multiple stressors over the past year, and there was something calming about going to work and being a team. Even if everything else in our lives was chaotic, we could function and get things done at work. I think that was good for both of us. Seeing Rosie always put a smile on my face. Sounds cheesy, but, it’s true.
Rosie has been one of my favorite people to show my sewing projects to. She’s always interested (or at least pretends well 
). One day she asked if I wanted to go to a fabric store that she knew about in Cambridge, MA. Didn’t take much convincing. So we went together after work. I got the adorable polka-dots that I used for the back of Andrew’s quilt and a beautiful bird fabric that caught Rosie’s eye.
So, I had a yard of the bird fabric sitting in my apartment waiting for a project to make for Rosie. When I saw a tote bag tutorial, I thought, this is it! The fabric was a thin quilting cotton weight so I added fusible interfacing to it to give it more weight. I have added interfacing to pouches before and it worked well, but I don’t know if I did something wrong this time because after the tote was finished I noticed that if you folded the bag there would be a strange crease in the material from the interfacing bending. Has anyone else had this happen? Any ideas on how to avoid this? Did I not iron it long enough? Otherwise, I think the tote turned out really cute.
I did have some problems with the pattern though. The lining was cut out exactly the same size but had a smaller seam allowance so it was all bunchy when I tried to insert it. So, I had to go back and resize the lining.
I could literally write a novel about Rosie. Here’s a couple of parting photos:
Rosie planned the most amazing surprise bridal shower for me at work. I literally had no idea and when I walked in the conference room with all the decorations and food and co-workers, I cried. THANKS.
Before I left for CA, Rosie took me out for dinner at a Brazillian restaurant. We had “Mu-que-ca’s“ (a Brazillian meal in a clay pot). YUM.
And she has the most adorable dog, Millie.
Rosie, I love you! You will be missed daily.
-erica