teaching, wearing, and living. a blog for a teacher who tries to do all three.
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.
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.
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!).
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.
Today’s outfit was fern crazy. Surprised by kids again today — no comments on the fancy tights. huh. go figure. I suspect it’s because I made them sing group written songs about nutrition to the tune of twinkle twinkle little star. It’s really great when kids can laugh at themselves. I genuinely feel like it helps kids learn how to cope with being on the spot in an embarrassing situation. Especially when they have a built-in support structure in the form of group members who are also in the same situation. The group support and the entire class also signing silly embarrassing songs takes away most if not all of the horrifying embarrassment. I wish you could have all seen it. It was amazing!
My example song that I had to sing by myself to three different health classes today:
vegies vegies oh so green, hope I eat enough of you. So much better for my health, than a package of Cheetos….vegies vegies oh so green. hope I eat enough of you. Huzzah!!
I love these tights. They remind me of sporophytes running up the backs of fern fronds. or just the leaves. I didn’t get all OCD this morning with the lines like I usually do. Oh well.
glasses: warby parker – cardigan and tights: j. crew – tank: target – vest and necklace: f21 – pencil skirt: banana republic – booties: nine west
It’s Monday. nothing special, except my usual accessories: my dog and a necklace in honor of her name. It was an overcast morning, so I matched my outfit with the sky: grue.
bambi was not feeling like a model today. she was worming around the whole time. what a punk.
glasses: warby parker – necklace and jeans: f21 – cardigan: hella old no name from Therapy – top: Mango (last year) – boots: steve madden
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.
my friday outfit for a cold foggy san francisco day. I bought this t-shirt thinking that the kids would get it…that they have to be the change if they want social change. sadly, they don’t get it right off the bat. but they will… I bought mine from the renegade craft fair this past december. You can find the brand here. I’m a big fan this and this (though i would never wear it at school) design also.
glasses: warby parker – tshirt: MNKR and target – jeans: madewell – boots: frye – hoodie: TMAHS class of 2012
My new school hoodie!
Thursdays we have staff meetings and early release at my school. This translates into ‘easy days’, meaning short 40 min classes and the kids get out at 1:30 pm. The kids like the early time off, I like how the shortened classes make the day seem to blow by (expect for the fact that I still teach night school till 5:30). Yesterday I decided to really take it easy with no makeup, my everyday bun and my favorite no fuss dress. It’s stretchy, jersey, soft and simple. I love this dress so much I have it in 2 other colors. It’s seriously fantastic. Pockets and all.
I picked up this one last year, but it’s still available online from here and here. I’m seriously debating buying the one in grey to go with my black, turquoise and pumpkin one.
Side note: I don’t normally wear tall shoes to school. I tower over the kids enough. Yesterday, I got comments such as, “damn. Ms. Schenck is a giant!” and “Now I can see your nose hairs!” Thanks kids. I ❤ my hella worn in H&M sweedish hasbeens.
dress: many belles down via ambiance – cardigan, tights and shoes: h&m classroom: Ms. Hsu’s
I snagged this dress from Anthropologie a year and a half ago. It is my favorite teacher’s dress, especially for a Bio teacher. After all, there are animals on it! It’s perfect: warm, soft, comfy and cute.
pockets!! An essential for the classroom. Stash keys, stamps, pencils, paperclips and confiscated cell phones.
Bambis!
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See how other bloggers wear this dress here, here and here. That first link, Complex Cardigans? written by a high school math teacher. I like.
I really wish Anthro would come out with another perfectly cut shirtdress like this one, the Southward Stop Dress. Shirt dresses make mornings so much easier and faster.
cardigan and tights: j.crew – dress: anthropologie – boots: steve madden – watch: marc by marc jacobs – on wrists: paracord, hair elastics, bracelet from my g-ma that never comes off
Teachers Have Lives Too! 
