Last night we had mushroom sausage lasagna. Last friday, this was what I wore to work to teach a bunch of teenagers who just couldn’t wait to get out of class and start their 4 day Thanksgiving break vacation. I’ve run out of ideas for the weekend. Brain killed by loads of food and shopping.
scarf: american apparel – shirt: joe fresh – jeans: uniqlo – booties: dv dolce vita – belt: gap
It’s Thanksgiving, so B and I are in DC with my sister Kris and her husband Dave. Ate turkey, pie and everything else, twice. I have a nice stack of papers waiting to be graded over the weekend, so today and tomorrow are dedicated to eating.
I’m blending in with this dress and all the greenery in DC. B said “you’re camouflaged! ” when he took my picture and convinced me that standing on a log was a good idea. He also thinks that I need to learn how to do spinning heel kicks if I’m going to wear shoes like this. The dress and shoes are pretty expensive by my standards (anything over $60) , so I have to make sure I get a lot of use out of them.
scarf: h&m – dress: madewell (pretty recent, but not available anymore)- cardigan: j.crew – tights: uniqlo – booties: zara – bag: borrowed from Kris
“So..Miss? What can I do to raise my grade?”
“Ummm….you can do your work for once because right now it’s too little too late buddy, you’re shit out of luck let’s see what you are missing and hopefully you can complete it by the end of today, which is when I have to turn in grades.”
It never fails: on the day grades are due, a full 3 days since my deadline for turning in late work, I always get some kid who tries to complete all their missing work in one fell swoop. It’s not going to happen buddy. What is going to happen now is bi-weekly progress reports.
This is me leaving school late in the evening, but not even close to being the last one out– head cut off because no one is ever cute after such a long day with teenagers.
necklace: unicorn crafts – scarf: who knows anymore, it’s hella old and actually pretty boring – dress: old madewell that is finally on sale (never mind, they’re sold out) – cardigan: j.crew – coats (that’s right, I’m wearing 2 now since it’s so cold): marmot and h&m (old)- tights and hidden heat tech shorts underneath: uniqlo – boots: boutique 9 – same old same old bag: freitag
Saturdays with the dog and Cut Copy. I kinda have a thing for Aussie electro.
glasses: warby parker – flannel and tights: uniqlo – skirt: j.crew – boots: boutique 9 – cali love necklace: unicorn crafts
My style sensibilities have been changing…and it’s veering closer and closer to a uniform of purely neutral basics. It’s like I’m heading back to white rice territory, after years of trying to make the most interesting and complexly flavored fried rice out there. I’m cutting out the fluff and I’m crawling back into my comfort zone, the safety of neutral colors in classic cuts and fits. It makes getting dressed much easier, faster and stress free. You can never be too over dressed or underdressed with basics, otherwise the point of having basics would be defeated. Right? On this note, I just got back from shopping for basics at the most basic of stores with zero creeper hipster appeal, Uniqlo. The moment I walked in to the store today, I was thinking, yeah, this is my JAM!! I had just left Zara, which assaulted me in all its trendiness with everything black/army green/oxblood and covered in studs/mean animal faces/leather sleeves. Uniqlo with its stacks of logo-less, glitter-less, graphic-less, simply cut clothes was refreshing and welcoming. This is what I picked up today, all of course at teacher-friendly prices. For more of a basics guide, check out this post by refinery29, where they pick apart the basic basics, through the ages. Technically, I fall into the 30’s category, but can barely afford the 20’s category. Big poo.
Boring? Or classic? Either way, these items came home with me because they went perfectly well with what I wore out shopping today. My everyday basic outfit, jeans and a tshirt, with my going-to-be-with-me-for-the-next-10-years-just-like-my-other-one-was Freitag bag. The boots come and go, get swapped out with black flats, flip flops or converse, and some days lipstick gets thrown in the mix too. For the most part though, this is it: my everyday basic outfit.
glasses: warby parker – t-shirt: alternative apparel – belt: gap – jeans: madewell – boots: ecote via urban outfitters
B and I actually “went out” friday night, meaning went out to a place that didn’t involve our couch. Amazing really, considering that for the past few months we’ve spent just about every weekend on our couch, drinking wine and watching movies. All domestic and shit. This domestic and shit phenomenon is a common thing among teachers – in bed by 10pm, awake by 6am and forced to be perky by 8am when the kiddos walk in your classroom door. So by the time the weekend rolls around, all you want to do is marinate on the couch hugging a bottle of wine. If anything, you might head out to the local bar with your other teacher buddies, drops some cash on beer and unhealthy bar food while you discuss dropping knowledge on shared students. This Friday night however, B and I had a plan – we had an invite to a Punch Party at B’s friend Darren’s house in the Lower East Side.
After 30 min of rifling through my closet, B hassling me to hurry up and 5 outfit changes, I resigned myself to the going out basics. Skinny black pants, a basic t-shirt, black boots and red lipstick. There is still a whole bunch of exciting things going on, while still being basic enough to not feel like you’re out on a sartorial limb. This is my new go-to fashion philosophy: Basic, reliable and comfy but with a few interesting details. My two details for the night were my new hard-ass studded booties and a new lipstick, Red Square by Nars. All together exciting enough for this increasingly fashionably lazy teacher out on a Friday night. Didn’t even bother putting in contacts or changing my ever present teacher-bun-hair!
glasses: warby parker beckett – jacket: two year old madewell, but similar one here – flannel: uniqlo – t-shirt (which I looove, btw) & booties: zara – belt and pants (got mine on super sale): j.crew – necklace: f21
What the hell. Seriously. I knew I was in for winter weather, and I’ve been in winter weather –> snowboarding in Tahoe for the past decade-plus. I’ve been in slush conditions so wet that boarding down the mountain it felt like the snow was grabbing onto my snowboard, sucking it down. None of this has prepared me for my first nor’easter storm, hot on the heels of Hurricane Sandy. What is up with this rain snow sleet wet-gloppy-masses-of-half-frozen-snow pelting me on my 20 min walk to the subway (thanks to Sandy cutting the D train short). I swear, there was no direction you could head in where the snow-rain-slush was not coming at you head-on, sticking to every surface, drenching you underneath the new mounds of snow collecting on your half frozen body. When I finally got in the door of the apartment, B ushered me to the bathroom to stand and drip while I peeled the layers off. 
Before all this I was at school, hugging my space heater, cozy as heck in my super warm sweater dress, wearing my “wtf” face.
jacket and boots: last year’s h&m – sweater dress: 3 years ago’s gap – tights: uniqlo – rain/snow/sleet/slush boots: hunter, on sale from nordstrom rack – rain coat: last year’s anthropologie, also here and here
I’m forever discussing the weather – It’s cold (40˚’s) now in New York. Due to Hurricane Sandy, our school’s boiler is out, meaning no heat. I can see my breath in my classroom in the mornings. Thanks to my trusty space heater, the 4-5 layers start coming off by the afternoon. Today is PD (professional development) day, no students. Instead of classes, we talk about rigor, final products and incorporating reading, writing and speaking into math and science, in a way that may or may not leave time for the math and science itself. I started the morning off with 5 layers and ended the day with just 2.
puffy coat: marmot – jacket (on sale now in stores): co by urban outfitters – cardigan and belt: j.crew – flannel shirt last seen here: uniqlo – jeans: madewell (same jeans, different wash) – scarf: unknown/crossroads – sneaks: converse
Today is Halloween. Some people are crazy about Halloween — I am not one of them. I haven’t dressed up for it in years, unless you count this as an old man of the sea costume. Is it really a costume though if it’s your usual look? Nothing here is new…just the same old stuff out of my closet.
hat and jeans: f21 – jacket and belt: hella old gap – shirt: levis (last seen here) – tank: alternative apparel – bag: freitag – boots: boutique 9 cooper ankle boot
Today is also the third day we’ve been out of school because of Hurricane Sandy. Now it’s looking like classes will not resume until Monday. I’m on an extended staycation now. I’m lucky…others in Manhattan, Jersey and Staten Island are dealing with toxic flood waters and sustained power outages. With nothing better to do, we walked all the way down to Sunset Park (Brooklyn’s Chinatown) for lunch. The subways are still down so from Park Slope it was a 58 block walk (3.5 miles). Dim Sum at Bamboo Garden was mediocre at best. There are three more large dim sum houses in that area though, so I’ll eventually get around to trying all of them to find my favorite.
Nelson was obliging enough to let me test out my camera settings on him. Thanks, bud.
This sweater (on sale now at Urban Outfitters) has “non-utilitarian” pockets, which means I like it that much more. No picture of the back, but there is a “non-utilitarian” zipper up the back also. B and my other boyfriends laughed at the uselessness of them, so I had to prove them wrong by sticking my hand in them at least once. The warm mustard yellow color makes this an automatic favorite sweater, but the scratchy and itchiness of this sweater puts it the “suffer for fashion” category.
sweater: urban outfitters – tank: target – belt: j.crew – jeans: madewell – bag: freitag – boots: boutique 9
Flushing is my favorite place in New York so far. Amaze-balls asian foods from Taiwanese street stuff to western chinese lamb dishes, to tingly hot spicy everything. I already think it’s awesome and I haven’t even begun to explore the Korean section. The hour long train ride out there is worth it without a doubt.
Bonus points: my best friends Sandy and Nelson are in town!
P.S. Frankenstorm is on its way in. B, being the survivalist he is, has us well prepared. NO SCHOOL tomorrow!!!! woot woot!
Teachers Have Lives Too! 