The past couple week’s worth of nail art. Teachers have nail polish lives too, you know.
black ombre over light pink also seen here. Inspiration/copying from here.
I call these my ‘wannabe ikat print’ nails. I tried to follow the refinery29 tutorial on ikat nails, but I failed. I couldn’t create a discernable pattern with my thick nail art brush. next time will be better.
Last weekend, we took a trip across the bay to the alameda flea for the first time. I don’t usually gravitate towards vintage clothes or things. I’m not a “thrifter”, the rifling through racks and racks of stuff just turns me off. As well as that certain vintage smell that all second hand clothes come with. Not a fan. I know by saying that I’m anti-vintage, I’m going against what every fashion loving person claims to be the best source of awesomeness. Oh well.
When it comes to furniture though, I’m all about mid-century modern style vintage type things. I saw much of that at the Alameda Flea, but nothing I couldn’t do without. We did have some lucky finds though. B’s friend Ray who has a baby on the way bought an awesome tricycle that B rode around the rest of the day.
Something I wanted to buy, but didn’t: Outdoor kerosine lamps.
I wanted that SCHOOL sign! And this french cardiovascular system chart!
Our finds: 3 anchor thingies probably to get mounted on a wall and an anchor trivet.
I do my nails just about every sunday evening. I plan my lesson for monday, and I reward myself with music/mindless TV and pretty nails.
The biggest hit with the teenagers by far: Pokeball nails
This design took a while but was pretty simple in the end. Full grey nails, covered half way with red. Then add a white dot and outline with black sharpie marker (or sally hansen nail polish pens). By the way, this photo was taken on Australia Day where B (the aussie) and I celebrated with Coopers Pale Ale and special edition sheepskin stubbie holders by Aussie Bentley.
This week, I went more geometric. B bought me a 3 month subscription to Birchbox, and january’s box came with this lavender Zoya polish. It’s pretty enough, but I’m not a fan of the brush or the viscosity.
SF has been experiencing some very unseasonable weather lately. It worries me/bugs me. Not that I can’t appreciate 70+ degree winter weather in SF. I love it in the city. But great weather comes with a price, and for me that large price is the lack of snow in Tahoe. I was hoping for a long ski season, but alas, not with this gorgeous weather.
B, Bambi and I decided to take advantage of the unseasonable weather last weekend by taking Bambs to her favorite place in the city: Ocean beach. She luuuuves the beach. Ocean Beach is Bambi’s favorite by far because 1) there aren’t as many dogs there compared to fort funston (she’s anti-social to an extreme degree) and 2) there aren’t many hills to climb. So she got to prance, run and sniff (on leash of course) to her satisfaction at the beach.
Bambi attack! She’s mean. Really, she’s mean. Because she’s scared…you know, small dog stuff.
Her favorite person (besides me of course)—>
top: f21 – jeans: paige – bag: freitag, sunglasses – h&m
School is back in after a nice 3 day weekend (4 day for me). LA was great, but it’s always nice to come home. Even nicer when you have presents waiting for you from hawaii!! B was on a business trip in Oahu for a week and he was awesome enough to bring home some goodies for me. Like this and this. I’ve also been dying to try out Incoco nail wraps and he surprised me with them!
love them! super easy and flashy. I was never really into nail polish and stuff till recently when I kept seeing all the amazing nail art all over the blogs. Nail art is fun. It’s cute. Fun nails puts a bounce in my step, etc. The kids react to my nails. They make comments, they talk about it, it helps me relate to them and vice versa. It works for me. And it’s FUN!
Other recent nail art inspired by here and here:
new bag! triangles on nails!
on my way to LA (the Asian part) for the weekend to spend some time with family (the Asian part).
B and I have this thing about these three words. I saw this DIY project on craftgawker a while ago and I loved the idea. I even recreated the project twice so far with other canvases and phrases. Third time around, I decided to switch it up a bit. following the same ideas, I took a trip to Michael’s and created my own version:
I bought three blank canvases and covered all three in blue acrylic craft paint. Later, I changed my mind and decided I liked the chrome spray paint a lot. so I covered two of the blue canvases with chrome spray paint.
Next step was lettering. It took forever to get all the stencils straight and evenly spaced. All other blank space was then covered with tape.
While at michaels, I ended up purchasing both stencils and vinyl lettering, so I used both types. In the end, I liked the look of the vinyl lettering more…should have stuck with one style.
Here are two of them, the ‘heaps’ one already spray painted. next came the peeling off of the letters. The stacks turned out really clean, no bleeding of the paint. The heaps on the other hand with the stencils, bled a lot.
Next up was ‘loads’. this one also had a chrome background, but I used the stencils for thicker letters and sponged it in with blue paint.
Again, there was loads of bleeding under the stencils. oh well.
all supplies used, minus the tape:
I love them! they go so well with my new sofa too! I ordered this sofa 3 months ago and It was just delivered yesterday. 3 months of waiting since I chose different fabric from the stock upholstery. It was worth the wait though. Bambi loves it already!
Here she is snoozing. She’s found her spot already…right in the middle of the couch.
I’m in my third year of teaching science. A few lessons I have learned thus far:
1) a lot happens in the background — teachers get hired, teachers get reprimanded, etc. Nothing is out in the open, there is very little transparency.
2) my kids go through a lot everyday. Compared to their situations, my life is a piece of cake.
3) never assume that kids are just being lazy when they miss classes or forget to do homework. usually there is a pretty damn good reason why school is not their #1 priority right at that moment.
4) never lower your expectations for a student, but keep it realistic.
5) ignorance is bliss. I know that I have homeless students, I know many of my students have ‘case managers’, live in half way homes, have been in the foster care system since they were babies, been raped, witnessed murders, have absent working parent/parents/grandmothers/siblings… guardians. I know about them, but I’d rather not HAVE to (meaning i wish it were a different story).
6) I can and will do my best. but sometimes, even that is not enough.
7) I still have a lot to learn.
Now a bit about my school. It’s changed a lot in the past 3 years. My first year of teaching, I broke up 2 fights in my classroom, had my laptop stolen, things thrown at me in the middle of class, every curse word hurled at me and a parent threaten me. My second year I had a desk thrown at me, a kid threaten me and a parent scream at me. This year, I’ve had nothing stolen, no curse words (directed at me) and just one kid that threatened to punch me in the face. It’s changing. So is the surrounding neighborhood. The hood is becoming less of a “hood” and more of an immigrant neighborhood. Now I have more issues with kids not speaking up enough in class than kids who can’t seem to keep quiet.
I teach at a “hard to staff” high school in San Francisco. SFUSD, like many other school districts, is large, unorganized, bureaucratic and dauntingly political. The school site itself is disappointingly political. I try my best to avoid it all and just focus on my own classroom. For example, right now the staff is in the midst of a hats allowed in school vs. the current no hats rule.
this is a chart most first year teachers see. It’s a graph showing the typical emotional pattern teachers go through every school year. It was pretty spot on my first year, and it’s still pretty spot on this year. I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m ‘disillusioned’ right now, more just neutral, phlegmatic.
Even with (especially with?) the daily and yearly ups and downs of this roller coaster ride…I still love teaching.
One of my TAs (I have one this year!) helped me out yesterday and snapped these photos. She kept laughing at me, and when I told her I kept a blog, she shrugged and was all, “I know.” … huh.
Physiology 5th period: the usual class commenter said, “Ms. Schenck you look like a picnic today.” awesome
I saw this dress a while ago on refinery29. I liked it and made a mental note. At the time even on sale, it was more than I was willing to shell out. A few weeks later, lo and behold, I came across is in the sale dungeon of Urban Outfitters with and extra 50% off the sale price. woot woot! I grabbed it, debated keeping it for a few days, and ended up wearing it. It’s a good day/work dress (with leggings, as it is super short on me). quirky colors means teenager eyes are more attracted.
the
end
of
a
long
day
dress: APC Madras, similar here – long sleeve: Old Navy – leggings and necklace: f21 – boots: frye via nordies rack – watch: marc by marc via nordies rack – rx sunglasses: bonlook – on the wrist: paracord from B and gold bracelet from my popo (grandma) from when I was a kid
I’m obsessed with Madewell. Our San Francisco Madewell just opened this past July, but I’ve been stalking Madwell ever since their online retail debut. It’s my favorite store. It’s the cooler, hipster J.Crew.
The new spring collection looks came out recently and I’m feeling giddy. Super cute stuff…and my new dress is part of it! Perfect teacher outfits! I die. I lust. I drool. I wait….for sales.
I constantly have to remind myself that I am on a teacher’s budget. Madewell sadly, is more often than not well outside of that budget. It’s a process, but sometimes I end up with great deals. I wait and wait for things to go on sale. Then I wait and wait for the extra 30% off sales campaigns. Then I go to the store to see if they have it in stock to save on shipping. Only then do I splurge on Madewell. The spring dress I just bought, from look #1 above, was brand new to the store, but there was a 30% off all dresses promotion going on which brought the cost down to about $90. There was a lot of internal money guilt back and forth, but in the end I knew I had to have it. It was just too cute to pass up. Now I will wait for Look 4 and 7 to go on sale!
Teachers Have Lives Too! 
