j.crew – Page 2 – Teachers Have Lives Too!

08/27/2015 Erika S. outfits

The Second First Day

I wore just about this same outfit just about a year ago. It’s a pretty reliable go to outfit – pencil skirts solve all sorts of morning wardrobe emergencies. On Tuesday morning, I wasted about 10 minutes in the morning staring at my closet with a blank head. I was stuck in one of those “I have nothing to wear!” panics. I did not have those 10 minutes to waste. If I’m not in the building at least 30 minutes before first period starts, the whole day will feel off.

About these sandals: I’ve had them for about 5 years now. I have a black pair and a tan pair, so they go with everything imaginable. I wear the crap out of them every summer and they’ve been with me every time I travel. It’s almost time to retire them, but they’re still holding up. Maybe next sumer I’ll switch it up a bit and try out something else. If you don’t already own a pair of Saltwater Sandals, I highly recommend you check them out. The best summer sandal ever.

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Day two2

Day two

top: madewell – skirt: jcrew – shoes: saltwater sandals

08/24/2015 Erika S. outfits

the Seventh Annual First Day of School

Oh hai guys! It’s been months since I’ve been around updating this blog. The last spring and summer have been good to me. Things went fairly smoothly in the spring and I ended the school year on a high note. Change was on the way! I decided to give it another year at my school with hopes (and determination) that this second year teaching in Denver would be 100 times better.

It’s fall again, and today was the first of two first days of school. My school has 9th graders only for Monday, then the rest of the grades start on Tuesday. This year, I’m teaching Honors Bio and regular Bio. Also, I’m co-leading a team for the first time ever. Exciting stuff for sure. Also, we had a bit of an administration shake up and with that comes an opportunity to re-set the school/staff culture. Everything is on the up and up this year, I can feel the positive vibes!

On a sentimental note, I’ve been thinking about the first batch of kids I ever had back in SF. Some of them are now juniors in university and I sometimes like to stalk them on FB. I read about where they are traveling/studying/interested in and I breath a huge sigh of relief that I didn’t mess them up too much my first year of teaching. I was so clueless and disorganized. I’m starting my 7th year of teaching this year, and I’ve learned something new and better each year!

On to the first of two first day of school outfits! I picked up this cardigan/shirt/dress thing at F21 last spring. It’s perfect to keep the chill off and add some interest. I brought it with me to DC this past summer and my sister thought it was weird, but came around to it. She ended up buying the same thing for herself near the end of my trip 😉 7th 1st day3

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7th 1st day

glasses: warby parker – cardigan: F21 similar – tank – uniqlo – skirt: jcrew – shoes: sweedish hasbeens

12/03/201412/03/2014 Erika S. outfits

Made By Mommy

My mom grew up in a time and a place where there weren’t a lot of fast-fashion type stores to shop at. She was born and raised in Vietnam, though my family is ethnically Chinese. Back then, their version of shopping was shopping for fabric, and they all learned how to sew for themselves. Even now I think my mom gets a thrill out of finding great fabrics for a good price. So when my sister and my mom travelled to Myanmar this past fall, she brought home a stack of really cool embroidered fabrics. She let me pick out the ones I liked the most, and sewed me a couple of skirts. My mom has always been resourceful and ingenious — I think in her past life she must have been an engineer. She took my favorite J.Crew #2 Pencil skirt, turned it inside out to show the seams, and used it to trace out a pattern. After a number to try ons, lots of taking in and letting out seams, I left Washington DC with 2 perfectly fitting skirts in gorgeous fabrics. I wore one of them yesterday to school and it is now my most conformable skirt, ever. My mom is amazing.

By the way, my Honors Bio kids have been killing it lately learning about cellular transport. I’ve never had such an easy time teaching this subject. They’re making connections left and right, applying osmosis to their own lives and asking fantastic questions. Lessons that took 3 days to get through in the past took me ONE day with this bunch. Amazeballs. Revamped curriculum and honors level kids FTW!

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necklaces: etsy (gift from b) similar and f21 – tank: alternative apparel – cardigan: j.crew – skirt: sewed by my mom – boots: steve madden – fitness tracker: fitbit

11/14/201411/13/2014 Erika S. outfits

Frosty

It’s been frosty cold! Having a car again in this weather for my commute is just so darn luxurious. Now if only the heater would work in it…

Again, nothing really new on the clothing front, just new-to-the-blog. The shirt I picked up at Madewell at the start of the summer (on super sale, as always), and the sweater is J.Crew from 2010. The shirt is a bit short for my super long torso, so I can really only pair it with high-waisted jeans. Otherwise, I’d be wearing a crop top and nobody wants to see that at school.

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shirt: madewell – cardigan: j.crew – jeans: bdg/urban outfitters – shoes: corso como via nordstrom rack – lipstick: nars afghan red

11/04/2014 Erika S. outfits

Coffee and Cream

I found this note in my classroom today.

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It must have been left by a friend/colleague, or my students have googled me. Either way, it was a nice reminder to pay a bit more attention to things I love outside of my classroom. Coincidentally, I had packed my camera just for this purpose this morning!

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I call this my coffee and cream outfit. Pockets in the dress! I drink about 10 cups of coffee a day (black, no cream) – I’m sure many of you teachers can relate. i heard one time that “only a fool would get in between a teacher and their coffee”. Made me think back to that first morning out of a week camping with my 9th graders in New York. I got so frustrated when I couldn’t find the secret coffee location for teachers that I cried. Seriously. coffee and cream3

As an aside, things have been picking up a bit at work. Like my “partner-in-crime” bio teacher says, “you are like water flowing past the obstacles.”

glasses: warby parker – dress and boots: madewell – sweater: j.crew – tights: anthropologie – everything from seasons past

10/15/201410/15/2014 Erika S. outfits

Hardcore

Today was hardcore – as in I actually got to talk about metal music with a couple of my kids while they worked on missing assignments for physics. I have a special spot in my heart for hardcore, screamo and all around metal music. I was obsessed with bands like Marylin Manson and Ministry in the late 90’s, then moved on to stuff like Deftones and Will Haven in the early 2000’s. That kind of music, while not for everyone, really spoke to me as an angsty 20 year old. I love every chance I get to talk about this stuff and will wax on for days about various hardcore bands and my favorite songs. I have a few boys in my physics class who share my love for all things metal-ish in music. Needless to say, they are a few of my favorite peoples now a days. Not only that, these boys will actually check in after school with me to ask how my day is going when they know I’ve had a rough one. These are the silver linings we teachers will always remember.

My outfit today wasn’t too hardcore – the J.Crew shirt lends a lot of sweetness, as does the unicorn necklace. But I feel hardcore all the same. Black jeans and red lipstick will do that for any outfit. hardcore2 hardcore3

shirt and belt: j.crew – jeans: uniqlo – boots: madewell – necklaces: unicorn crafts – lipstick: revlon lip butters in “red velvet”

10/14/201410/14/2014 Erika S. outfits, teaching

Kicks

I want to start off with a heartfelt appreciation for all the supportive comments in my last post. It had been a month of struggles and I was at a particularly low point. I guess I really needed words of encouragement from fellow teachers, and the advice really helped me feel like I’m not alone with these issues. At my last school in Brooklyn, the small staff regularly ate lunch together and I always felt supported and encouraged by my peers every day. We’d spend those 30 minutes sharing stories, ideas and giving advice. In hindsight, those lunches really helped support me both as an educator and an emotional human being. That lunch culture is not really established at my current school, so I find that I can go an entire day without any more than a “hello” type interaction with adults at school. I need to set up some lunch dates!

Things have been going much better these past few days. Classes have been running smoothly, I’ve had positive interactions with almost all of my students, and I had a couple restorative conferences with individual students that helped clear the air. Also, students are turning in heaps of late work and raising their grades, which helps boost morale in the classroom. Things are on the up and up – though I’m still not sure if this school is the right fit for me. TIme will tell.

In other news, I did a bit of retail therapy this past weekend. I got myself some new kickers. I’ve been wanting a pair of 8 eye Docs, but I’ve always been held back by my ridiculous boot collection and the price. So when I saw that I had a $20 gift card and they were on sale for less than $100 at Nordstrom, I caved. Plus, B was out of town and he’s usually my voice of reason on how I don’t need anything. While at the mall, I popped into J.Crew where they were having one of their 30% off sale prices events. I picked up this adult version of a sweatshirt – it’s merino wool and ridiculously soft and comfortable (J.Crew Collection). With the sale and my educator discount, this sweater was ~~practically~~ ~~free~~ super cheap!

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The ever present pencil in my hair – it’s the only way I can keep track of fit. kickers4

scarf: super old no brand – sweater: j.crew – jeans: uniqlo – boots: dr. martens

08/29/2014 Erika S. outfits

One Two

First day of school with students was this past Monday and Tuesday. Both days – 9th graders only on Monday and all the rest on Tuesday. So I had in effect 2 first days of school. This is what I wore on day one and day two of the first day(s) of school. For me teaching is like childbirth (or so I hear). It’s agony sometimes, but then your mind seems to block all that stuff away after a break from the agony. The summer must have given my brain time to block a lot of the agony away, because I. Am. Exhausted. It’s been 11-13 hour days all this week and lots of mental strain trying to get organized and learn 110 names and faces. Much of it has to do with the fact that I’m starting a new school and teaching one (physics) and a half new courses. The half is because 2 of my 4 sections are Honors Biology, and I’ve only ever taught at non-tracking schools in the past. I’m generally not a fan of tracking students, but I’ll admit it’s going to challenge me more as I now have to up the bio game.

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onetwo

day one – dress: thrift store find – belt: h&m – shoes: madewell – glasses: warby parker – day two – tshirt and belt: jcrew – skirt: anthropologie – sweater: uniqlo – shoes: sweedish hasbeens

08/18/2014 Erika S. basics, outfits

Don’t be a jerk

*jazz hands* New classroom!! *jazz hands*

Today was day three of seven “school launch” days for staff at my new high school here in Denver. It’s been meeting after meeting, training, team building activities and orientation. I barely had time to snap some photos in my new classroom. I still have to find the optimal place with the best non-yellow lighting in the classroom, but as you can see, my new room is really stinkin nice. Talk about an awesome science classroom – there is a dedicated instruction section and separate lab benches in the back. It’s the nicest classroom I’ve ever seen AND, the students get ROCKING CHAIRS. That’s right, rocking chairs. Today’s training was on classroom management, aka 100% engagement (buzz word alert). It was actually a nice refresher on methods I’d forgotten about such as various non-verbal cues, anonymous whole class corrections and private corrections. It made me think about my classroom management style, which has evolved into a very stern, strict, I’m-not-playing-around-so-you-better-check-yourself type of management that some students find a bit rough around the edges and if I’m honest with myself, a bit jerky. I don’t usually loosen up until second semester when the kids know the routine and know not to test me anymore (for the most part). So my focus this year in terms of classroom management is, don’t be a jerk. I need to breathe more, control my frustrations, stay calm, and utilize private corrections more. One of the first things I taped up on my wall by my desk is my post card of a Barbara Kruger piece, “Don’t be a jerk”. I love that little postcard – I picked it up at the Hirshhorn in Washington DC in 2012 and it’s been a classroom staple of mine. This year, it has new meaning. I used to point to it occasionally when kids were mean to each other, but this year, it’s for me.

On the clothing end, it’s really nothing exciting. I’m still on a basics kick and I’m in love with my summer sandals: the oh so trendy right now Birkenstocks. B calls them “Jesus Sandals” or “big black boats” and I can’t really disagree with him. I just got so obsessed with how cute I found then all of a sudden (just last summer I called them the ugliest things ever) when they started popping up all over my Feedly feed of fashion bloggers. I’ve also retired my trusty Freitag bag for a while. The plastic smell never really dissipates, and I was getting pretty tired of it. So I dug out the old J.Crew purse from my SF teaching days. Still holding up ok for now. I do have my eye on the also uber trendy Fjallraven Kanken backpack though. I’m such a sucker for hipster trends. Sigh.

glasses: warby parker beckett – cardigan and bag: super old j.crew – t-shirt: madewell – jeans: j brand via nordstrom rack – shoes: birkenstock

11/19/2013 Erika S. outfits

Pumpkin

I miss the pumpkin ice cream from Mitchell’s in SF. In it’s place, I’ve been making loads of pumpkin muffins, pumpkin-lentil soups and I’m wearing pumpkin. It’s my favorite fall color, next to my bordeaux cheap-o lipstick. Since B is away at a meet-up in Denver (I’m going for a quick weekend visit this friday!), I went shopping this past weekend and I did some damage at Madewell. I swear I was just there to pop in to see what was new (yeah, right) till I saw the extra-30%-off-sales sign. I’d just finished wasting brain cells watching “Sister Wives” on Netflix (I know, I know), and this top just screamed Mormon-chic. Naturally, I had to have it. By the way, everything seems to be a lot more online than in the shops – this shirt cost me $28, while online it is listed at $80 without any extra sale! Ridiculous.

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