Erika S. fun stuffs

the teacher uniform

Teachers generally are not known for dressing well.  It’s all about comfort and functionality when you are on your feet all day.  Not to mention sweating like crazy when the sun is shining in the classroom but shivering like a mad woman when it’s overcast, getting white board maker crap all over your face/hands/hair/clothes, and getting boogered on.  Yes, I’ve had to deal with boogers, even at the high school level.

I am not one of those teachers who follow the teacher wardrobe mantra of:

  1. wear loose shapeless clothing
  2. no make-up (well ok, only neutrals)
  3. shoes for comfort over style, all the time
  4. neutral colors so that students focus on you and not your outfit
  5. cover all skin, shoulders and legs included
  6. try look older than you are, to look like you mean business and to prevent from being mistaken as a student
  7. avoid shopping at the same stores as the students

Instead of subscribing to this boring teacher’s uniform, I’ve have:

  1. shown up to class wearing matching sweaters with a student
  2. worn bright lipstick on cloudy boring testing days
  3. regularly wear kitchy funny t-shirts that help illustrate the day’s lesson such as this one.  Also a big fan of this, this and this.

Do all students take me seriously at all times?  Of course not.  Doesn’t matter what you put on in the morning, you will always have those students who don’t take you seriously.  For the most part though, students know that when I mean business, they better mean business too.  I tell them, “this is my serious face” and they hop right in line (just kidding).  If anything, I really believe that my fashion sense (or lack of sense) helps make me more relatable and authentic for my students.  Students from urban areas do not automatically view teachers as authority figures and afford respect.  Teachers have to earn their trust and their respect.  I learned that my second day of teaching.  My personality helps me build relationships with my students.  It’s Bio/Physiology/Health during class time, and nail art, fashion shopping, etc during lunch and after school.

On that same note…..one student has found this blog so far.  He’s peeked at it once, mentioned it in class and has since completely forgotten about it.  No google searches for Ms Schenck recently  =)

Here are a few outstanding blogs I read (or have read) regularly who are also authored by teachers.   Are there any more out there?

Past the Mission – of course, my lovely fellow teacher!

Complex Cardigans (sadly, recently ended but with a great archive of posts)

Tick Tock Vintage

Academichic (also defunct but with a great archive)

Erika S. fun stuffs

the regulars

The 5 things I put on my face every morning, for the past 5 years:

1) moisturizer/sunscreen:   Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Moisturizer SPF 15 – The best basic.  No smell, non-greasy, protective and hydrating.  Not to mention fairly affordable at $31 for a bottle that lasts about 2.5 years.  Are there expiration dates for stuff like this?  shrug

2) concealer:  Benefit’s Play Sticks – I only put it on whatever spots I happen to have that morning, and around the edges of my nose where I’m always red.  30 seconds and I’m done.  The best non-drying, full coverage concealer ever, though it is marketed as a foundation.  One $34 stick will last me almost exactly a year.

3) and 4) powder foundation: Bare Minerals Matte Foundation/Bare Minerals Mineral Veil – No need to talk about it right? Hasn’t everyone and their mama tried this out at least once?  I hate having to put two things on for the same purpose, but the Mineral Veil does make a difference.  One $28 tub of the foundations will last me about 6 months and one $20 tub of mineral veil will last me a year.

5) blush:  Finally, my favorite product of all time, Tarte Cheek Stain in the color Blushing Bride (stupid name).  I look like a colorless zombie without at least some cheek color on.  This stuff is the best.  All natural, smells great, sheer, no shimmer (I hate shimmery stuff) and versatile.  Makes a great lip color too.  $30 and I’ve had the same tube for 2 years so far.  More than half the stick is still left. Granted, I do switch out this item for others here and there, but I always go right back to it eventually.

All in all, my 5 step morning routine takes 3 min, tops (not including teeth brushing and face washing – otherwise it would be 6 min).  Not bad right?

oh, and something fun I saw in the Mission a while ago out with Aimee and Anne:  holla!!

Erika S. fun stuffs

a few things

I got a Fitbit last thursday!  A Fitbit is basically a glorified pedometer that tracks steps and flights of stairs all day with the aim to have at least 10,000 steps a day.  B got one a few months ago and loved it, so I started getting curious about my steps as well.  Now I’m getting competitive. 13,046 steps yesterday while snowboarding.  13,645 today (and there are still more to come).  I’m kicking butt.  The average American gets in about 5,000 steps a day, so I’m ahead of the game.  yay.  13,645 steps for me = my average day teaching + taking bambi on a  2.5 mile walk.

After the long walk, and planning my lessons for tomorrow, it was nail art time.  I followed this tutorial, I loved the pattern and my new bronze nail polish by Milani.

I love this new polish.  Also used last friday when Aimee and I unwound from the week watching movies and “getting our nails did” (like the kids say).

And lastly, I went browsing at the mall the other day and picked up this dress at Forever 31 (that’s what I’m calling it now a days since “I’m 10 years too old to be shopping there”– a witty student from health class).  Cute, no?

Erika S. fun stuffs

nails and a dog in a bag

recent nails inspired by here (fab site and great tutorials on nail art) and here (really great photos).

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aaaand, a dog in a bag!  B and I wanted to test drive taking Bambi around in a bag, and she was totally cool with chilling all cozied up in the chrome bag!  She is so cute!

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Erika S. fun stuffs

blown away

My friend Ann Zhao (and my former Bio teacher in crime) linked to this video today on FB.  I watched it and am blown away.  It’s been 20 min and my mind is still currently blown.  This talk puts words to how I feel about teaching urban youth.  It’s grounding.

Erika S. fun stuffs

a week in instagram

Valentine’s Day nails: Pink ombre inspired by A Lovely Escape.

 

 

 

 

 

Boarding in tahoe with the boys.  We take beer breaks to help loosen our old muscles.

pimp car seen by my house, pic by B.  Reminds me of the Addam’s Family car.

A super foggy day for a dog walk in San Francisco.

Erika S. fun stuffs

broken self-control

My self control function is broken.  So now I have a broken shopping ban. I tried!  I really did!  I just know B will say, “try harder” and shake his head in disappointment when I see him later this evening.  I just came home from Downtown SF, where I planned on just browsing (mistake #1) and checking out the new trends (mistake #2).  I broke the ban.

 

Erika S. fun stuffs

Products that are worth obsessing over

I’ve been on a shopping ban since the beginning of January and I’ve been obsessively monitoring my mint.com for the past few months.  It’s working….sporting goods (beanie and snowboard socks) don’t count right???  And since beauty products aren’t technically clothing, they don’t count either right???  I mean, I could put those purchases in the ‘health and wellness’ category on mint.com right???  Right.  I’ve been good, no shopping till the end of February!

The bonus of this shopping ban is that I’ve been revising a bunch of older items in my closet and creating new combos.  And I’ve been able to really appreciate (obsess over) the new beauty products I’ve picked up!  

Poppy King is a lipstick genius.  I usually keep lipstick to the weekends, and I’ve only recently (in the past year) started buying and wearing lipstick. I blame j.crew catalog models for piquing my interest in bright lips.  Is there a point to nude colored lipstick?  I lucked out and found a Poppy King for J.Crew lipstick randomly at a J.Crew store one day (back then it was sold out everywhere and unavailable online) and snatched it up.  I had seen it all over the interwebs and a store manager had told me that it would look amazing on me so when presented with the chance, it was a no brainer.  Then I become obsessed with Poppy King.  She makes THE BEST lipstick ever.  her lipsticks will kick the pants off of any drugstore brand (I’ve tried revlon and cover girl – gross chunkies and old lady smells) and rivals Nars.  So when I went to Target yesterday and saw that they actually had a couple Poppy King for Boots lipsticks on the shelf, I pounced like a cute fuzzy snow leopard.  Awesome texture, sheer color, even coverage, no old lady smell, no clumps of color/stuff when you layer it on.  not to mention suuuper cute and compact packaging.

Mid January I was down in LA hanging with my sister Kris.  We spend most of our time together shopping or talking about beauty products.  Very deep meaningful conversation, I tell you.  We went shopping at the Beverly Center Sephora, where this Charlotte Ronson set was on sale for $13.  $13!!!!!  She pointed out that she almost picked it up for me for Christmas, and I snatched it up.  Lipsticks have a similar texture, color coverage and consistency as the Poppy King lipsticks, so I’m happy with them (especially the darker one).  The eye shadow quad is cool.  Nice colors, but too sparkly for me.  Again, suuuper cute packaging (I’m a sucker) and a little makeup bag.

Lastly, I picked up a few (pricey) goodies from Beauty.com when they were having one of those free bag of samples if you send over $150 deals.  So I got a Clairsonic (squeaky clean over exfoliated skin) and a Fresh Umbrian Clay Bar (sucks all the oil out of your skin). The Algenist was one of the samples that I now love and use every night (and made in SF!).