Erika S. outfits, teaching

Blooms

It’s friday night – post teacher happy hour – so I don’t feel much like writing a whole post.  So I have this to marinate upon-

I’d like to frame this blog post with an authentic experience around high order thinking and annotation to encourage rigorous pair-sharing.  Meet Mr. Giraffafant, Ms. Cruz’s sweet old buddy.  Using what you know about genetics and natural selection, compare and contrast key characteristics of Mr. Giraffafant’s outfit with Ms. Schenck’s outfit of the day (keeping in mind one of her many high school nicknames, giraffe).  Be sure to support your argument with evidence and cite your sources.  blooms5   blooms2

blooms3

blooms4

blooms

scarf: topshop – jacket: uniqlo – cardigan: j.crew – shirt (old) but also seen here on this blog & boots:  anthropologie – coated pants last seen here: bdg urban outfitters

Erika S. outfits

variations on a theme

look familiar?  yup, I’m full on outfit recycling like crazy now, something I never really did in the past.  I used be inspired/care enough to come up with different ways to mix up what is in my closet.  Not so much anymore, as I’ve been sticking to my work uniform of black jeans, a button down and booties.  At least I now have a new button down to throw into the mix, never mind that it’s from the same store in the same cut.  It’s a new color!  The elfish booties – an Anthropologie find on black Friday, on sale with an extra 25% off!  And I didn’t even have to deal with crowds at my sister’s neighborhood shopping area in DC.  They make me feel like Arwen, where in reality they probably make me look like Elf.



glasses: warby parker – scarf: present from my sister – cardigan – j.crew (similar) – shirt: madewell (similar color)- belt: gap – booties: anthropologie

Erika S. outfits

No really, what is this?

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

Erika S. outfits

brisk

It was a brisk day.  To me, that meant it was time to bust out the nordic style wooden booties and match it with conflicting prints all around.  

Please note that I have a view of the ‘penis building’, so aptly named by Sara, from my roof.  My opinion of Brooklyn architecture has improved drastically with this gem of a nickname.

vest: uniqlo – thermal: f21 – coated jeans: urban outfitters – booties: anthropologie, found at nordstrom rack for an amazing $20 last spring

Erika S. outfits, trips

Cold Weather Frolicking

New York is finally cooling down to weather I know and am comfortable with:  mid 50s and drizzly.  San Francisco weather!!!!!  It’s an insane switch – within 24 hours, it cooled down by about 20 degrees.  I never talked this much about the weather in SF –there was nothing to say.  Now I can’t help it but turn into a small talk machine and discuss the weather with everyone.

thermal and jeans: f21 – raincoat: anthropologie (seen here) – boots: boutique 9 (the cooper boot, also seen on this blog, a new favorite/SF girl blog!)- bag: freitag – mom’s coat: h&m – kris’s coat: urban outfitters (seen here)

My mom and sister Kris are in town for the long weekend, so I dressed them in my winter coats, dug out from storage underneath the bed.  My mom braided my hair like the old days of being a kid and we toured the rich nice parts of Manhattan.  We walked up 5th Ave, ogled the ridiculously reasonably expensive clothes at Barneys and admired the incredibly creative and mechanical visual displays.  After a stroll through Central Park, we played with Kris’s new iPhone 5 panorama feature and tricked it into including us 3 times within the same photo.  There was a lot of running in circles around the photog and curious stares from other tourists.  By the way, that’s my future niece in that uterus.  I’m going to be “cool auntie Erika”.  Yup.

Swimming shoes!!

Erika S. outfits

Grid-Walking Part 2

Today we walked Quadrant 2 of our grid-walking plan: Union St/6th Ave to 7th St/Prospect Park West.  Fall is definitely settling in, and I couldn’t be happier with the cooler temperatures.  I wouldn’t call it cold by any means, but it’s cool enough for a holey sweater and a very thin puffy in a fall plaid.  I’m not even quite done with the plaid yet, but this Uniqlo puffy is a recent addition to my fall arsenal.

Oh, and I dyed my hair last weekend.  There was a sale on hair dye at CVS and I had a coupon for an extra $2 off.  $4.50 later, I have black hair.  Something new for cheap.

puffer: uniqlo (bought during a $10 off special)- sweater: anthro, evening chill pullover (old)- belt: h&m – coated twill pants: urban outfitters (I bought mine on sale for $30 in-store, online they’re full price still)- shoes: vans (super old) – bag: freitag

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

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, 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.

Erika S. outfits

Willoughby

Dip dye stuff has been a huge trend this past year, and I’m jumping on the bandwagon.  I dig the dip dye, and I’m starting to come around to the dip bleach, as long as it’s not so severe.  I really liked this¹ look and even this² one (though I would lump it in the severe category).  I definitely plan on trying out this³ DIY dip dye and this one too eventually.  And just for reference here is a dip bleach.

¹ I love this look (and this blog) and I’m seriously going to recreate it one day.  ² Amazing blog and I want to steal her design sensibilities. ³ I love Wit & Whistle paper goods and now I love the blog.  I bought B this card for Valentines day this past year, and I really love this one also.  Super cheeky and “awww” inducing stuff.

This dip dye tank is by a label called Willoughby.  As in John Willoughby (Maybe not, but who cares) from Sense and Sensibility, one of my favorite book to movie adaptations of all time.  When I tried this on at Anthropiologie, all I could think about was this scene:

tank: anthropologie (on sale now) – skirt: hella old DKNY – tote: freitag – sandals: worishofer (I swear they were just on sale, but not anymore)