Erika S. outfits

bright sunshiny day

Two days later and things are going much better.  Then again, I see ‘that class’ again tomorrow (first time since monday), so ask me again how things are later.  I think I have a game plan though, and it’s called “space”.  I’m giving those boys space and in return, they’re going to give me space.  At least, that’s how it’s working out for me in my head.  In the mean time, I’m up for some brightness in my life.  So I color blocked my day with a neutral and a hot red pepper color. That’s me – neutral for the most part, but sometimes I turn into a hot pepper and get angry.  bright

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glasses: salt (old) – circle scarf: topshop – cardigan: j.crew – belt: gap (old) – dress: some cheapo no name from tobi.com – tights: uniqlo heattech (so warm!) – booties: steven by steve madden (on sale!)

Erika S. outfits

with a rebel yell

These pants make me feel like I’ve stepped out of a cheesy “nab the punk rock trend!” type fashion guide on a mega-clothing site like ASOS.  Not that it’s a bad thing really, but it makes me feel a bit odd.  Combine the pants with my “tough biker girl look” boots and I really feel uber trendy, young at heart like maybe I’m dressing too much like a teenager.  Whateves.  When I was in high school (and well into college…and even now), was was seriously into punk music — what I considered punk (there’s is a lot of debate over what is and isn’t punk and whether or not punk is dead) : No Use for a Name, Pennywise, Dead Kennedys, Fugazi and other mid 90’s-ish groups.  To me, plaid pants were for the 80’s type Haight street gutter punks that were trying to emulate Billy Idol and his ilk.  That was not me.  I was busy obsessing over Blake Schwarzenbach (my ultimate teenage crush, next to Rivers Cuomo), trying to bleach my hair in an effort to get Punky Color to stick.  Chesterfield King tore my teenage heart apart and glued it back together by the end — every. single. time.

Back to the pants: I like them, they’re comfy with an elastic waist, they were dirt cheap, and they’re plaid — which as we all know, I have a thing for plaid.  Even my students know I like plaid.  Today in class, I debriefed yesterday’s lab which centered around looking for patterns in self collected data.  I used my pants as an example is a repeating pattern, and this kid P was all, “You’re always wearing plaid, Miss.  You must like patterns.”  YES I DO, P!!!

In the spirit of the punk rock rebellious attitude, here are a few gems of teenage rebellion, true stories:

  • a kid once took a crap on the floor of the boy’s bathroom on purpose.
  • once, a couple of boys tried to flush large semi-automatic guns down the toilet at school to try and get rid of them.
  • a kid once urinated into the soap dispenser in the boys bathroom and it was a while before someone realized it.
  • a kid once took a large Crayola Crayon piggy bank, stuck it through the fly of his pants and went around to different classrooms, interupting them to bonk other kids in the head with the “penis crayon”.

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sweater and boots: h&m – pants: uniqlo – necklace: present from sunny, a couple years ago

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, parties

Going Out

B and I actually “went out” friday night, meaning went out to a place that didn’t involve our couch. Amazing really, considering that for the past few months we’ve spent just about every weekend on our couch, drinking wine and watching movies.  All domestic and shit.  This domestic and shit phenomenon is a common thing among teachers – in bed by 10pm, awake by 6am and forced to be perky by 8am when the kiddos walk in your classroom door.  So by the time the weekend rolls around, all you want to do is marinate on the couch hugging a bottle of wine.  If anything, you might head out to the local bar with your other teacher buddies, drops some cash on beer and unhealthy bar food while you discuss dropping knowledge on shared students.  This Friday night however, B and I had a plan – we had an invite to a Punch Party at B’s friend Darren’s house in the Lower East Side.

After 30 min of rifling through my closet, B hassling me to hurry up and 5 outfit changes, I resigned myself to the going out basics.  Skinny black pants, a basic t-shirt, black boots and red lipstick.  There is still a whole bunch of exciting things going on, while still being basic enough to not feel like you’re out on a sartorial limb.  This is my new go-to fashion philosophy:  Basic, reliable and comfy but with a few interesting details.  My two details for the night were my new hard-ass studded booties and a new lipstick, Red Square by Nars.  All together exciting enough for this increasingly fashionably lazy teacher out on a Friday night.  Didn’t even bother putting in contacts or changing my ever present teacher-bun-hair!

glasses: warby parker beckett – jacket: two year old madewell, but similar one here – flannel: uniqlo – t-shirt (which I looove, btw) & booties: zara – belt and pants (got mine on super sale): j.crew – necklace: f21 

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