Erika S. outfits, teaching

mad easy.

In effort to avoid looking like I was attending a funeral today, I threw in some reddish/maroonish/berryish colored tights.  The tights just happened to match my maroonish booties – a happy coincidence.  To complete this berry theme, the boots and tights also matched my not-so-new-anymore-since-I-wear-it-all-the-time-now Rimmel ‘bordeaux’ lipstick.   Some kid today said that I actually looked a bit “teacher-ish” except for the red tights and boots that elicit a “omg I love your shoes” type response.  So….the trick to looking like a teacher is: bun, glasses, black dress, black cardigan.  Thanks, kid for the fashion advice.  I’ll remember it, because unlike you (for now), I am good at listening (most of the time).

glasses: warby parker – circle scarf and necklace: h&m (I think, it’s hella old) – cardigan: j.crew – dress and tights: uniqlo (last year) – booties: ecote via uo

By the way, my lesson today was on graphing.  As in what is a graph, which is the X axis, how to graph using a table and identifying the independent vs. dependent variable.

Kid: Miss, this is maaad easy!  Why are we doing this?

Thinking to myself: Yeah, it should be ‘mad easy’, considering they’re in the 10th grade.

Me: If you think it’s so ‘maaaad easy’, then why was your graph hella wrong on the cellular respiration lab?

Kid: What’s ‘hella’, miss?

Mental note: replace ‘hella’ with ‘mad’ from now on.

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

orange you glad?

Last night we had mushroom sausage lasagna.  Last friday, this was what I wore to work to teach a bunch of teenagers who just couldn’t wait to get out of class and start their 4 day Thanksgiving break vacation.  I’ve run out of ideas for the weekend.  Brain killed by loads of food and shopping.

scarf: american apparel – shirt: joe fresh – jeans: uniqlo – booties: dv dolce vita – belt: gap

Erika S. outfits, teaching

Hey, Miss! What can I do to raise my grade?

“So..Miss? What can I do to raise my grade?”
“Ummm….you can do your work for once because right now it’s too little too late buddy, you’re shit out of luck let’s see what you are missing and hopefully you can complete it by the end of today, which is when I have to turn in grades.”

It never fails: on the day grades are due, a full 3 days since my deadline for turning in late work, I always get some kid who tries to complete all their missing work in one fell swoop. It’s not going to happen buddy. What is going to happen now is bi-weekly progress reports.

This is me leaving school late in the evening, but not even close to being the last one out– head cut off because no one is ever cute after such a long day with teenagers.

necklace: unicorn crafts – scarf: who knows anymore, it’s hella old and actually pretty boring – dress: old madewell that is finally on sale (never mind, they’re sold out) – cardigan: j.crew – coats (that’s right, I’m wearing 2 now since it’s so cold): marmot and h&m (old)- tights and hidden heat tech shorts underneath: uniqlo – boots: boutique 9 – same old same old bag: freitag

Erika S. outfits

this is my basics jam

My style sensibilities have been changing…and it’s veering closer and closer to a uniform of purely neutral basics.  It’s like I’m heading back to white rice territory, after years of trying to make the most interesting and complexly flavored fried rice out there.  I’m cutting out the fluff and I’m crawling back into my comfort zone, the safety of neutral colors in classic cuts and fits.  It makes getting dressed much easier, faster and stress free.  You can never be too over dressed or underdressed with basics, otherwise the point of having basics would be defeated. Right?   On this note, I just got back from shopping for basics at the most basic of stores with zero creeper hipster appeal, Uniqlo.  The moment I walked in to the store today, I was thinking, yeah, this is my JAM!!  I had just left Zara, which assaulted me in all its trendiness with everything black/army green/oxblood and covered in studs/mean animal faces/leather sleeves.  Uniqlo with its stacks of logo-less, glitter-less, graphic-less, simply cut clothes was refreshing and welcoming.  This is what I picked up today, all of course at teacher-friendly prices.  For more of a basics guide, check out this post by refinery29, where they pick apart the basic basics, through the ages.  Technically, I fall into the 30’s category, but can barely afford the 20’s category.  Big poo.

 

Boring?  Or classic?  Either way, these items came home with me because they went perfectly well with what I wore out shopping today.  My everyday basic outfit, jeans and a tshirt, with my going-to-be-with-me-for-the-next-10-years-just-like-my-other-one-was Freitag bag.  The boots come and go, get swapped out with black flats, flip flops or converse, and some days lipstick gets thrown in the mix too.  For the most part though, this is it: my everyday basic outfit.

glasses: warby parker – t-shirt: alternative apparel – belt: gap – jeans: madewell – boots: ecote via urban outfitters

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

Layers

I’m forever discussing the weather – It’s cold (40˚’s) now in New York.  Due to Hurricane Sandy, our school’s boiler is out, meaning no heat.  I can see my breath in my classroom in the mornings. Thanks to my trusty space heater,  the 4-5 layers start coming off by the afternoon.  Today is PD (professional development) day, no students.  Instead of classes, we talk about rigor, final products and incorporating reading, writing and speaking into math and science, in a way that may or may not leave time for the math and science itself.  I started the morning off with 5 layers and ended the day with just 2.

puffy coat: marmot – jacket (on sale now in stores): co by urban outfitters – cardigan and belt: j.crew – flannel shirt last seen here: uniqlo – jeans: madewell (same jeans, different wash) – scarf: unknown/crossroads – sneaks: converse

Erika S. outfits

home work = домашняя работа

I have a good number of Eastern European/Cental Asian students this year, coming from countires such as Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Tajikistan.  Many of them speak limited/survival English at best, but they all speak Russian.  So it’s been a struggle teaching them biology…in English.  I rely on using pictures to illustrate concepts, using vocabulary charts and other students to fill in the blanks.  Today, I learned a new Russian word, which I have been using probably all too often to describe everything.  домашняя работа (domashnyaya rabota), which means homework, as in “Unless you can tell me right now what the ‘Z-scheme’ is in photosynthesis, I can tell you straight copied your domashnyaya rabota from the internet.”  That’s right.  Do your domashnyaya rabota!!

This corduroy pea coat has been a staple in my closet for the past 6 years at least.  I got it ages and ages ago from the Gap, way back when my old roommate Lori worked there.  Its the best cut ever – boxy in the body but slim in the arms.  So you have room to move and layer underneath, but you don’t end up looking like Popeye the Sailor Man with huge arms.

coat: hella old gap – cardigan: hella old therapy – dress: gap – tights: uniqlo – high socks: asos – booties: steven by steve madden

Erika S. outfits

Gigantes

Bringing a little hometown pride to Brooklyn.  They’re in the playoffs now, after all.  It’s going to get real exciting next week.  I’m thinking a visit to Finnerty’s in in order.

This was my sneaky way to wear a t-shirt to work: surround it with a pencil skirt and cardigan in the same color.  Plenty of students commented on my shirt, ranging from “Cool shirt Ms. Schenck”, to “Yankees are better!”

shirt: giants – cardigan, skirt and belt: j.crew – flats: nine west (hella old)

Erika S. outfits, teaching

surviving tuesdays

How to survive a hectic Tuesday at school after a 3 day weekend:  an easy no-iron shrunken boy shirt and black super stretchy jeans.  It will take you 5 min to get dressed and you’ll be physically comfy all day while your patience and sanity gets  shredded to bits.

This was one of those Tuesdays, where grades are due, you have “guests” possibly coming into your classroom to “observe” the next day and kids pretend the no-talking-during-a-quiz rule is new to the world.  So before I got down to planning and grading, after my last class of the day, I had some fun with my trusty Smart Board and camera.  Cool colors!  The refresh rate on the board is pretty low, and I really want to make this a teachable physics moment, but I’ll spare you guys the lecture.

The rumply leftovers of the day:

glasses: warby parker – button up: madewell – belt: gap – jeans: uniqlo – boots: steven

Shout out to class A for taking it like a champ today and making all the connections between photosynthesis and cellular respiration!  (none of them even knows this exists, this is just my mental high five.)  Go on with your bad selves.