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

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

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. fun stuffs, outfits

Dekalb Market

B and I rode our bikes over to Dekalb Market today.  The weather has cooled a bit and I’m getting used to riding my single-speed (no more jello legs).  I know I need to stop comparing NY to SF, but the Dekalb market is a larger version of the Proxy Project in Hayes Valley.  It’s pretty cool and I love the design sensibilities of a “mall” out of old shipping containers.  Salvaged materials, an urban farm, artisanal foods, an Etsy pop-up with a vintage tool shop and you’ve got yourself a thriving hipster mecca.  We overheard some dude with an epic beard lamenting the presence of a jump-house and screaming kids–> “there should be an adults only hour or something if they’re going to make this cool”.  Like B says, at least they’re in a cage.  I really wanted to buy a bike basket/Bambi holder from this shop (seriously cute stuff), but alas, the weight limit is 12lbs.  Bambi is a fatty.

I have been on the search for a great pair of denim shorts for a while.  Granted, I need another pair of shorts like I need a hole in my head, but I want a good fit with a high waist to offset my freakish long torso/short appendages proportions.  These fit the bill, and they’re not ridiculously expensive.  Normally BDG stuff is made for stick-like teenage girls and aren’t made to fit my birthing hips.  Surprisingly enough though, these do.

sunnies: f21 – tank: madewell (on super sale last weekend, similar here) – shorts: BDG from UO – shoes: vans – bag: freitag – nails: revlon scandalous

Erika S. outfits

Dev!

My friend Devon is here!  She’s here for some Physical Therapist conference, getting smarter in her field.  That stuff all starts tomorrow, so today we got out our walking shoes and made our way all around midtown Manhattan.  I got to check off some touristy stuff such as the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center.

I started the day off wearing black booties.  Big mistake, as I ended up with a big blister very soon after I got off the subway in Manhattan.  Shoulda known that heat –> sweat –> rubbing on feet –> blister = horrid pain.  So I popped into a shoe store and picked up these lovelies, which coincidentally I’ve been eyeing lately anyway. It was a fantastic excuse to finally buy them, as I was approaching to hobbling mode.  My new granny-chic shoes.  By the way, the skirt I’m wearing is made by my mom.  She sewed it for me right before I moved.  She came home one day after spotting a skirt at J. Crew determined to copy the design.  So she dug out some random fabric and sewed it up in a few hours, adding in a couple folds to make it special.  I love it.  It’s my mommy skirt now.

tank: f21 – skirt: mommy – shoes: worishofer – bag: freitag and baggu – belt: j.crew

The view from the office of Dev’s friend.  72nd floor of the Empire State Building.

Insane red ball of plasma setting behind us.  It was pretty.

Erika S. outfits

summer uniform

New York is HOT.  Today it was like 100˚F out (it’s now 11pm, and it’s 83˚ outside).  I’m used to 50˚-65˚F weather every single day in SF.  This whole summer/fall/winter/spring weather thing was foreign to me, till now.  So now I have a summer uniform.  Every morning, I throw on one of two pairs of denim cut-offs, a tank, sunnies, and I’m done. Granted it’s not very exciting, but it’s functional on my bike, maximizes ventilation, and provides enough surface area for sweat evaporation without making me feel like I’m a stripper too naked.

These jeans used to belong to B till I saved them from the Goodwill pile and chopped the legs off.  There is a hole in the back pocket created from years of packing his “daily carry” knife, so I almost lost my current favorite lipbalm the other day.  I’m planning on stealing patiently waiting for B to get rid of another pair of jeans so I can stop wearing these everyday.  

sunnies: f21 – tank: h&m – shorts: levis 501’s from b – bag: freitag – sandals: dv by dolce vita – watch: marc by marc