Erika S. outfits

Go wan us

B has a walking plan for us.  We’re walking the grid in our area of Park Slope.  Eventually, by the time we’ve snaked up and down every street, we’ll have covered every single block north/south between 8th – 3rd ave, and east/west between Union st – 16th st. The idea is to cover everything and make note of interesting spots and places we like, a full-scale exploration of our hood.  Today we covered 3 miles of the walking plan.  There’s cool stuff out there!


glasses: warby parker – tee: mnkr – jeans: h&m – bag: freitag – sneakers: converse – belt: gap

These ‘boyfriend’ jeans were a $7 find at H&M.  I love them, but I seem to be the only one. My sister says they give me a flat butt (they do), my mom says they highlight my long torso/short leg proportions (it does – my height is all in my freakishly long torso) and B says they “don’t look like any kind of fashion, they just look like big old jeans” (the point exactly. duh).

Erika S. fun stuffs, outfits

Mad for Plaid

Fall is finally starting to creep in here and temps are starting to become tolerable.  Good thing, as I’ve recently picked up a couple flannel shirts from Uniqlo and have been dying to experience some 90’s nostalgia while listening to Alice in Chains.

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sunnies, jeans (my favorite for the last year and so ridiculously cheap) and necklace: f21 – flannel: uniqlo – belt: j.crew – bag: freitag – shoes: vans

Uniqlo is my new favorite store, “fo real for real” as the teens like to say.  Basics with a little bit of flair for super reasonable prices.  Case in point, this $20 (normally $30, there was a special going on) flannel.  It’s warm, will carry me through fall and winter, I’ve been mad about plaid for some time now and the soft flannel makes me super huggable.  I need hugs.

ImageAlso, my mom is in town this week.  This means playing tourist through the 3 major chinatowns of New York.  Flushing’s chinatown/koreatown is the best, hands down.  A couple snaps of a scene in Manhattan’s chinatown: a square full of gambling old grandmas and the people who watch them.

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Erika S. outfits, teaching

striper, not stripper

I bought this dress a while ago, and decided the weather was just cool enough today to wear it again.  The material is cheap polyester that doesn’t breathe, so if it’s too hot out, it sticks.   Can’t ask for too much though, it’s from Forever 21 and it was ridiculously cheap at $15 or something.  I got loads of compliments on it today, so I figured I needed to take the time to put it on here…and I don’t have to lesson plan for tomorrow.  yay!!!! It’s like a free night!  I still have an albeit smallish stack of grading/giving feedback though so it’s not entirely free–it’s just discounted.  The did-you-catch-that-bio-joke-I-just-made face, and the you-better-check-yourself face.  I’m covering organic compounds in class right now, and I made a joke about carbon being the elemental popular kid.  I think I was the only one who chuckled at the joke.   I also had 3 almost blow ups in class today.  I was able to diffuse 2 of them, but I’m pretty sure I now have at least one teacher-student relationship to mend.  One thing’s for sure though, that mending is going to start with this kid actually doing some work in class.


glasses: bonlook – necklace: unicorn crafts (btw, how cute is this?  seriously!!) – dress with belt: f21 – shoes: madewell

Erika S. outfits

Seriously, J.Crew?

I used to be all about J.Crew.  Every time I came home to find a J.Crew catalogue in the mail it was like christmas.  I just can’t get into their stuff anymore.  Looks are getting wackier, hemlines are climbing way too high and there’s just too much fringe/sequins or ruffles for me.  I prefer Marissa Webb style J. Crew.

 

all images from style.com

Erika S. outfits, teaching

a first day for everything

There is a first for everything.  Today was the first day of school, the first day of many to come as the leader of room 267 at Leader’s High School in Brooklyn.  I met my Crew (our version of a hardcore homeroom, meant for character building, teaching of social and literacy skills) for the first time, 15 timid little 9th graders who will blossom into grown men and women in 4 short years with me.  I already love them.

I also met my 80-odd Living Environment (New York’s name for Biology) students, freaking them all out as the crazy ass science teacher who eats dirt on the first day of school.  It was a quick run through on observations and inferences, a common lesson done by science teachers around the world on the first day of school.  Kids were buzzing about it in the hallways and to other teachers, an indication of success!  The real measure of success is if they start making inferences on their own without me resorting to tricks. 

First day of school outfit, taken at the end of the night.  It’s 9:30 right now and I’ve yet to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I’m running on stress and coffee fumes.  Everything but the goofy grin is meant to convey the sense that I know exactly what I’m doing at all times and that I am to be taken seriously.  Until I eat dirt.

Erika S. outfits

Copper Door

My sister is in town for the long weekend, so I took her to the Warby Parker showroom to pick out glasses and finally redeem the gift certificate I gave her last christmas.  I love their office/showroom/space.  It’s not a store by any means, so it’s really confusing to find at first.  Head in through the main door of the Puck building (on Lafayette, to the right of the entrance to REI), sign in at the security desk and head to the 5th floor.  I recommend stopping by the copper door for a picture on your way out.

sunnies and necklace: f21 – tshirt: stolen from b (purchased somewhere in australia) – bag: freitag – shorts: uo (last seen here) – shoes: worishofer

Erika S. outfits

print rage

glasses: warby parker – tank: anthropologie – belt: j.crew – skirt: dkny – bag: freitag – shoes: worishofer

These pics were taken a little while ago during my first ever trip to Central Park.  I’ve been on a “aztec” or “tribal” print rager lately and there isn’t an end in sight.  I hate the pseudo ethnic naming of these uber trendy prints, but I’ll use them for a lack of a better descriptor.  Cue top above, which I got on sale from Anthro last month, this clutch I got last week, and my favorite freebee bag ever from beauty.com.  (I’m a huge sucker for gift with purchases).  

Erika S. outfits

Smocks of Michelle

There’s no way to start this post without sounding stalker-ish so here goes:  I’m so semi-obsessed (oxymoron, I know) with Michelle Williams, I feel the need to emulate her style as a neighbor of her neighborhood.  I mean, who doesn’t want to copy this?

On a less stalker-ish note, I’ve also been semi-obsessed with finding the perfect summer smock dress.  I’ve always loved smock dresses.  To me they exude comfort, style, simplicity and minimalism, all while being sexy in a very subversive way.  Great examples here, here and here.

B on the other hand, strongly disagrees with me on the subtly sexy bit.  I brought this dress home the other day, and he instantly called it the B.W.G.D. — “big white grandma dress”.  He likens it to a large shapeless sack-ish grandma’s nightgown, the type his grandmother in Minnesota wears.  He thinks Grandma, I think Michelle – grandma shoes and everything.  thoughts?

dress: gap – sandals: worishofer – bag: target – glasses: warby parker – lips: nars heat wave

Erika S. outfits, parties

I Love College

Many of my former students are starting their first years of college in the next few weeks, and I’m super excited for them.  This excitement (fueled by their updates on FB) is often mixed with fear that I didn’t help prepare them enough… lots of should haves and could haves.  Are they going to be screwed in freshman Bio because I didn’t make them memorize all the steps and intermediate molecules involved in the Kreb’s cycle?  Oh my god I ran out of time and never covered phylogenetic trees/cladograms!!!  Will they remember that hypo=under/below, iso=equal and hyper=over?  Are they going to maintain the self control needed to keep from partying themselves into hungover dropouts?!?!?  Will they remember my lesson on the benefits of delaying gratification?  O.M.G!

My fears for the impressionable young minds of my students were revisited the other evening when B and I went on a booze cruise down the East River hosted by coed.com (probably/most likely NSFW).  Coed.com is hosted on WordPress.com VIP (B is a developer at Automattic) and thus our invite and our free swag – blue sunglasses.  For the record, B and I held it together, there was no vomiting over the side, all staggering was due to the choppy waves on the river and we exercised self control and moderation.

I bought this dress (called the Shore House Shift dress) from Anthropologie over a year ago on sale.  It was a great buy because of the massive markdown, the high quality silk material and the cute little anchor buttons at the shoulder.  It’s held up pretty well too, but I’ve only worn it about 3 times.  This last time may be the last though, as I managed to get ketchup, pickle juice and just about every other condiment all over the front of it that night.  I’m not known as the family klutz for nothing, here’s hoping that I don’t ruin it totally trying to get the stains out.

dress and bag: anthropologie – shoes: madewell also seen here – mustache necklace: purchased the renegade craft fair

I had to throw in this shot of B, because he’s cute and the glasses matched the lining of my bag.