Erika S. outfits

sack it to me

Last night B and I went out on a ‘date’, meaning we went out to a nice dinner, and a nightcap.  For me it’s an excuse to throw on some tights and indulge in my love for roomy sack dresses.  Anything that accommodates cocktails, apps, a main and dessert without making you feel like your clothes are on the verge of exploding.  We went to the Library, at Public.  On the Schenck scale of goodness (more on that some other day), it was pretty good.  Poor picture quality – the hallway lights in our building have that ever present yellow tone and I didn’t want to bother fiddling with the white balance.  Also not shown, the 2 other layers, hat and scarf worn on top of the dress to shield me from the freezing weather outside.
United Bamboo for Madewell crepe dress

United Bamboo for Madewell crepe dress

United Bamboo for Madewell crepe dress

dress: united bamboo for madewell (purchased right before christmas at an extra 50% off sale, making it a killer deal for a well made silk dress) – tights: uniqlo heattech (very necessary for the cold front that’s been coming through NY) – booties: zara (on sale now) – clutch: f21 (old)

Erika S. outfits

3 Mile Dim Sum

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.

Erika S. outfits

Bad Dog!

Took Bambi on a walk today, and she immediately stated acting like a butthole – ie. growling, snarling and trying to attack other dogs.  She has serious small-dog-asshole syndrome, that I’ve never been able to break.  My newest tactic has been to try the Gentle Leader.  All it’s done so far is make her look even crazier when we pass other dogs, which in turn makes me look like the crappiest dog owner ever.  I’m not a bad dog owner, I swear!  She’s just a crazy mean old chihuahua.  See below, Butthole Bambi in action on a normal everyday walk.

Her being a butthole on our entire walk soured my mood, which then soured the mood of the aussie, B.  Not even my new scarf fixed things and I had a squeeze out a smile for this photo.  

hat: f21 – glasses – warby parker – scarf: madewell – jacket: urban outfitters – t-shirt: hanes – belt: gap – jeans: hella old j. brand – bag: marc by arc – shoes: adidas

PS.  I’ve had Bambi for about 6 years now, and she’s been this way the whole time.  I’ve tried everything under the sun to train her, from dog whisperer style to pack walks to muzzles to hired expensive trainers.  Nothing has worked, so I’ve resigned to just accept her for who she is – a mostly sweet cuddler who loves squeaky toys but hates all other dogs and children.  And before you pass judgment on me for naming my dog Bambi, she came from the rescue with a gag-reflex name: Barbie.

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

No butts about it

glasses: warby parker – cardigan: j.crew – tank and booties: uo (different online price)- jeans and necklace: f21 laundry tote: ikea

I wish I were that kind of California girl.  The kind that goes skinny dipping in the 50˚ F San Francisco waters.  I’m more the type to fall into the 50˚F SF Bay while sailing on Viking.

I picked up this shirt just yesterday at Urban Outfitters, when my sis and I were early to meet B at Xi’An Famous Foods in the East Village for dinner.  Another cheapie score, ringing in at $7.50.  I immediately thought of the (possibly NSFW) video for Human Condition, by one of my favorite SF local bands, Nova Albion.  

Just in case you were wondering:  No, I did not wear this tank to school.

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

Hulk Out.

Some kid asked me during Living Environment (Bio) class today if the Hulk turns green because he has chloroplasts in his skin.

True story.  I think my faux-army jacket inspired him.

top: madewell – jacket: old h&m – jeans – f21 – flats: frye – necklaces: marc by marc jacobs and f21

I’ve been having a hard time with things to say lately.  Also, I haven’t been brave enough to ask my new coworkers to snap outfit photos for me.  You know, worries and all that they’ll think it’s stupid and vapid.  So thus there haven’t been many posts lately of my daily teaching armor.

But here’s a nugget of truth:  I work with some amazingly smart, deeply caring and empathetic people.  These fellow teachers (and teachers of the past but not forgotten) help keep you sane and they help quell the rage you feel when your day was mad crazy and a select few kids shit all over your lesson.  They help put things into perspective – my life is a cake walk compared to what our kids deal with at home.

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.

Image

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.

ImageImage

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

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