Erika S. outfits

Discovery Garden

I’ve spent every evening this past week in my garden digging, destroying, and planting. It’s my “discovery garden” as Rossin so aptly put it. I have no idea what I’m doing or if what I plant will even grow. In college, I got an A in Botany. Botany ≠ Horticulture, so I’ve managed to eventually kill almost every house plant I’ve ever had. Fingers crossed the bulbs I finally finished planting today will give me beautiful flowers come July.

This was Monday. Because, love will tear us apart, again. I think this blog will be slowing down again with summer approaching. B and I are heading to Oz for a month then a staycation for the rest of the break. I see myself spending a lot of time in our yard with summer and much less time staring at a computer screen.

joydivision4

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joydivision
jacket: h&m – t-shirt:hot topic – jeans: 3×1 – belt: gap – shoes: worishofer

Erika S. outfits

Varsity

I went shopping over the weekend and treated myself to some much needed retail therapy.  It’s been a while (for me at least) since I’ve updated my wardrobe.  B shops maybe once a year, but I’m not that disciplined.  So I went and made the rounds at the local mall and picked up a few things.  First up, this t-shirt which I now call my varsity shirt.  I never played sports in high school, unless you count sailing in the Sea Scouts.  I did try girl’s soccer a couple times, but I was just pathetically bad at it.

Funny story, I ended up matching a little bit with a kid in my class today.  She had on the same shirt, but in maroon.  I pointed it out and she just half-smiled at me.  I guess she didn’t think it was as cool to match as I thought.  Lolz.  It happens.  varsity3

varsity2

varsity4

varsity

top: f21 – skirt: jcrew – shoes: worishofer – necklace: my mom’s

On the beauty side, I picked up a new lip tint from Sephora.  It’a a Korean brand called Chosungah 22 and it’s pretty awesome.  The stain lasts a while, even with my habit of constantly licking my lips.  I like it more than Benetint and the Face Shop brand tint.  The gloss half though is gloopy and sticky – I’m not a fan.

Erika S. outfits, teaching

The Face

I’m struggling, people.  Struggling with classroom management AND with teaching physics content.  I thought teaching for 5 years in 2 different inner city schools would have taught me something about how to manage my classroom, but nope.  I’m dealing with a problem that is completely new to me – seniors who claim I can’t teach and therefore loudly blame me for their low grades during class. There is some truth to this – I’ve never taught physics before and I’m figuring it out as I go.  I get most of my materials and curriculum from well established sites such as The Physics Classroom but I’ve had a hard time finding labs that work with the supplies I have at my school.  This means I may invent labs and assignments that don’t work out (crazy acceleration calculations like -33.89 m/s/s for a free falling object!).   The flip side?  These seniors are not coming in for HW help, they’re not doing the assignments or test corrections or any of the many supports I offer inside and outside of class.  They’re goofing off in class and fighting me on simple rules like cell phones, uniform and staying quiet during the entry routine.

I’m exhausted, mentally and physically.  Do I still really like teaching?  Honestly, I don’t really know anymore.

People say that if you are down, you should fake a smile because even faking a smile helps reduce stress.  So here is my fake smile of the day.  the face

This on the other hand, is what my face really looks like lately.  I know that I typically have a “resting bitchy face” (it’s true – bartenders will actually pass over me because I look unfriendly and mean).  But lately my RBF has been a bit more turned down.

the face3

the face2

Nothing new on the outfit front – all old reliables.

glasses: warby parker – shirt and high-riser jeans: madewell – belt: gap – shoes: worishofer – necklaces: etsy and f21

Erika S. outfits

To a Tee

I found this skirt at the start of summer at Beacon’s closet.  My friend Grace and I were out for a lazy walk in our ‘hood when we stopped in on a whim.  I’d been there to root around a few times before, but generally speaking, thrifting is not something a get a thrill out of.  But this day was my lucky day!  Equal parts cheeky, cute and teacher friendly.  It also fit me to a tee.  Zing!  I don’t play golf at all.  My only experience with golf was back in ’98 when I went with a boyfriend at the time to the driving range (back when there was one in Mission Bay) where he hit (drove?) a bucket of balls and I just watched.
to a tee2

to a tee3

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It was hot as hell today and some ridiculous percent humidity.  My hair was down for all of the five minutes it too me to take these photos at lunch.  Also, the sweat just makes my glasses slide right off — it’s a constant battle to push them up, which means I get to inadvertently give people the finger sometimes.

to a tee

glasses: warby parker (I really want them in seaglass blue too) – tank: super old banana republic – skirt: beacon’s closet – shoes: worishofer

Erika S. outfits

Acceptable in the 80’s

I’ve got hugz for you if you were born in the 80’s, the 80’s.  Yeah.

I’m back!  Or rather, my classroom’s back!  Today was the first day of planning week at my school. The big guns start coming in on September 9th, so we’re spending the next few days looking at curriculum maps and STAs (standard-learning target-assessments).  My brain is turning on again.   I decided to bust out my 80’s shirt today – a F21 knock off of the various jersey type t-shirts worn by my fashion idol jayne min here and here. Granted, I’m a year late on this trend, but…whateves.     It’s not quite my year (spot on ’80!), but it’s close enough.

acceptable in the 80's

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acceptable in the 80's 3

glasses: warby parker (my third pair!) – tshirt: f21 – skirt: super old banana republic – shoes: worishofer

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. outfits

Smocks of Michelle

There’s no way to start this post without sounding stalker-ish so here goes:  I’m so semi-obsessed (oxymoron, I know) with Michelle Williams, I feel the need to emulate her style as a neighbor of her neighborhood.  I mean, who doesn’t want to copy this?

On a less stalker-ish note, I’ve also been semi-obsessed with finding the perfect summer smock dress.  I’ve always loved smock dresses.  To me they exude comfort, style, simplicity and minimalism, all while being sexy in a very subversive way.  Great examples here, here and here.

B on the other hand, strongly disagrees with me on the subtly sexy bit.  I brought this dress home the other day, and he instantly called it the B.W.G.D. — “big white grandma dress”.  He likens it to a large shapeless sack-ish grandma’s nightgown, the type his grandmother in Minnesota wears.  He thinks Grandma, I think Michelle – grandma shoes and everything.  thoughts?

dress: gap – sandals: worishofer – bag: target – glasses: warby parker – lips: nars heat wave

Erika S. fun stuffs

DC again

I took the Bolt bus down to DC again this past weekend.  B was in Berlin for a work meet-up, so I figured it would be a good time to visit again, and before I start working again.  That’s right folks, I got a job!!  I’m super excited to be joining the team at Expeditionary Learning School for Community Leaders this fall.  Things are happening fast though…I’m heading to a week long training program in Boston next week, then immediately into teaching a summer intensive program for my new school’s ELL (English language leaders) students.  So I’m waving goodbye to my summer this week.

While in DC, we celebrated my brother in law Dave’s birthday with cake and a family brunch.  Isn’t my sister’s dog ridiculously cute?  Woody is such a cuddle bug.  Army is camera shy, but I managed to get her in the background with her tongue hanging out as usual.

We also managed to get in a lot of shopping, so I have more than a few new additions to my closet.  Madewell was having a major (extra 50% off!!) sale!  I got this dress right before I left, when J.Crew had an extra 30% off sale items (still going on at jcrew.com).  A great deal at $24.50.  Whenever B goes out of town, I go shopping.  This time I did quite a lot of damage, so I need to start a new shopping ban…after I buy myself a birthday present of course!

dress: j.crew (mine is sold out, but solids are still available) – purse: f21 – sandals: worishofer

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.