Edgy and Classy?

Who needs an iron when you have a hair straightener? The hair straightener did the trick to smooth out wrinkles at the bottom of this top today, and I did not need to lug the ironing board out of the laundry room. Hooray.

Custodians came in after school to replace a bulb that blew above our desks. I remarked that it smells AWFUL when those things burn out. The cologne of the one custodian lingered in the room after he left, and I swore he smelled like my brother who's worn the same cologne for over 20 years. Naturally, I followed him into the next room and asked him if he wore Eternity. He said no, but it does smell like Eternity. As my intern and I walked out of the building, I complained that the trashcan reeked of fish. I'm both impressed by and disappointed in my nose these days.

This outfit, of course, impresses me.  Most impressive of all? I managed to pick it out this morning instead of last night.

The Look:

Jacket: via thredUP

Pants: Motherhood Maternity

Top: LOFT

Flats: Sole Society

Necklace: J.Crew Factory

Headband: Target

Pure Comfort

This past weekend on Instagram, I asked for feedback on this sweater. Ginny wasn't a fan. Ashley was. I decided to try it on again when my mom was at the mall with me. She loved it and told me that she wasn't so sure about it when I first texted a picture of it to her. Once she saw it in person, she absolutely approved. Anything that earns Mom's approval is worth the cost. Right? 

Guys, it's the softest sweater, and I am in love with it. Plus! It has not a stitch of wool in it. I call it my unicorn of sweaters. The Limited's new Olivia Pope line is so very lovely (and expensive). Thankfully, I scored this sweater 50% off. I figure I will wear it on long car rides, plane rides, on the weekend, and even to work. It will earn its keep in my closet. Once I realized that I put it on wrong (don't even ask), I liked it five times more. 

The Look:

Sweater: The Limited (exact)

Shirt: The Limited (not current)

Necklace: J.Crew Factory

Leggings: Target

Booties: hand-me-down from Momma

Nailed it.

Do you ever start off on your trip down Pinterest lane and think, "I shall wear that"? However, when the time actually arrives to wear that, you botch it something terrible and hope the original pinner never sees the monstrosity that you have created in their name? Or, conversely, you take a pin and nail that sucker to the wall and say, "haha! In Style would say I totally wore it better"? Yesterday, I think I created the latter of the two outfits (the masterpiece, not the monstrosity).

I began with this pin. (I wish I was not allergic to wool so that I could own this beautifully colored blazer that Jessica has on, but I must settle for the cotton cardigan version instead.) I thought I would wear my striped skirt (not dress) with my camel-colored cardigan (not blazer) and brown boots. However, I somehow landed on this new burgundy-colored cardigan from Target (thanks to one of those alluring Cartwheel coupons--curse you, Cartwheel). Based on how many students and teachers complimented today's outfit, I decided to pat myself on the back and say, "job well done, self."

I considered calling myself a narcissist just now, but you know what? No. I told one of my former students who needed a pep talk to repeat the following self-affirmation every day while looking in the mirror: "I am beautiful, and I write well." Perhaps, I should take my own advice and remind myself, "I do not always botch my pinspirations. In fact, I am beautiful, and I dress well." Ladies, affirm yourselves today. (I considered deleting that last sentence because of its seemingly perverted undertones. Instead, I decided to point out its weirdness and leave it be.)

If you follow me on Instagram, you already saw the outfit, but it kind of deserves a blog post. (Here I am, tooting my horn.) And something other than a shameless mirror selfie. However, I can only do so much.

The Look:

Cardigan: Target (exact on sale for $15!)

Top: Target

Belt and Skirt: NY & Co. (skirt: 1 / 2 / 3)

Boots: Ralph Lauren via DSW (brown and cognac option for $70)

I also wore the skirt these ways:

Theme Week: Same Accessories, Different Outfit (Part 1)

Everyone else in blogland, especially Andi, has this theme week thing down. They particularly know how to give people notice about it. Luckily, I have no idea how to create my own link-up, nor do I trust my summer brain enough to figure out such a thing. As a result, I guess I didn't need to give anyone notice to join me? However, if you want to jump on the bandwagon this week, feel free to do so. I like company :) Or, if you like the idea enough to create another week based on the same theme and actually create a link-up, I'm down with that plan.

So, what's the theme I'm going with this week? The title explains it pretty well. I take the same accessories (this week, it's the same shoes and necklace) and style them differently every day of the week. The idea came to me this past weekend as Mom snapped my shots for the week. I realized that one of the necklaces and pairs of shoes would work well with almost every outfit that I brought to photograph! I'll tell you what: it made shooting a week's worth of outfits SO much easier. (Yes, in case you didn't already know. I need to look pretty only one day a week, the day Mom takes my pictures for the blog. Now, let it be known that I do wear these outfits! The hair might not look the same on the day I wear them, however.)

First of all, my co-teacher's 10-year-old daughter said to me, "I love your skirt. It's sort of like an optical illUUUUsion." Ah, from the mouths of babes. Also, this pin inspired this outfit (minus the fact that I wore different shoes. I liked the idea of wearing a sleeveless shirt with the sleeveless vest). 

 

The Look:

Tank: Target 

Vest: Lauren Conrad via Kohl's (same in two washes)

Skirt: New York & Co. (similar, thicker stripes)

Sandals: Franco Sarto (similar by Nine West)

Necklace: Old Navy (similar on Etsy, and another)

 

 In the following picture, I said, "I'm glaring at you because you made me frolick in the foliage."

 In this picture, Mom told me to hold onto a branch. Her directions befuddled me, so I looked at her skeptically.

And then some creature dive bombed me from the tree. I handled the situation with grace. 

 

Immediately after photographing this outfit, Mom laughed hysterically as I freaked out about a BIRD dive bombing me. Never a dull moment with me, folks. 

You've also seen the vest with stripes this way:

 

And the skirt works well in winter time:

Victory Naps & Disgusting Dressing Rooms

Yesterday, I came home from work and finished grading 18 essays (comments included!) in two and a half hours. In the 90 degree heat, I took a victory nap while wearing long sleeves, pants, and fuzzy slippers. No, I did not break a sweat, but I think I ate a bug, which rudely disrupted my slumber. (Well, that and one of my dogs kept coming over to me and licking my face while I slept.) If my body decided to continue adjusting so well to the heat, I would be wholly grateful. I would think this experience a fluke if not for the fact that my classroom has been so warm that a student nearly vomited from heat exhaustion and everyone is complaining about the heat. Everyone except for me. So, yeah, body, if you could continue to cooperate in such a pleasant, unexpected way, I will forgive you for being uncooperative in many other ways.

Speaking of heat, what better way to beat the heat than in this perfect striped dress? It's got sleeves! (I am beginning to value this quality as much as pockets.) Also, I decided that a denim vest is the perfect complement to an outfit worn in the heat. I searched for a vest for awhile, but all of them gape in the armpits, a problem I have with so many sleeveless items. Who has big armpits!? I am befuddled. Anyway, I peeped this beauty in Kohl's when Mom and I went in bearing a 30% off coupon and some Kohl's credit. Thanks, Lauren Conrad, this vest fits just right, and it came home with the dress. Look at what a perfect pair they are. Sure, I had to enter a dressing room after a weird, smelly couple exited it. And I had to try on the vest and dress while standing in the middle of the funk cloud they left behind them. It was worth it. (Don't worry, as they exited the dressing room together, I remarked quite loudly that, "You're effing [I said the actual word] disgusting. Yes, you." Don't do stupid or disgusting things, and the bubble above my head won't pop.)

The Look:

Dress: Peter Som for Kohl's

Vest: Lauren Conrad via Kohl's

Shoes: Converse via DSW

Necklace (it's a sailboat): booth at an art fair

What to wear when it's hot, but you don't want to look like a hot mess.

How's that for a verbose title? Anyway, this week's edition of "What to wear when it's hot, but you don't want to look like a hot mess" features two tips: not-your-standard cuts and unexpected prints. Could I have worn a white shirt with regular pink shorts? Absolutely. However, I like to add a bit of visual interest when I can. (I'm a big believer in "wear at least one statement piece a day so that it revs up the entire outfit's awesomeness.") I love these shorts from LOFT that I bought last year; my favorite feature is that they're not your typical stripes. They've got a bit of a tribal feel to them, no? Plus, the color combination (white, navy, orange, and pink) makes them so much more versatile than you'd give them credit for in the store.

I wanted to pair the shorts with something a bit unexpected (i.e. not my usual white tee from Target), so I opted for this white peplum with a fun zipper detail. When I unpacked more of my shoes from last year (I wasn't sure if the weather would actually let me have spring/summer, so I hadn't switched my shoes over completely), I found these orange sandals that I forgot existed. How insane of me, right?

Yesterday, I paired yellow with this same shade of pink. Today, I opted for orange thanks to the color combination of the shorts. Look, Mom, I can get dressed without Pinterest! Actually, I haven't really been on Pinterest for maybe two months? (Just the periodic "I'm bored while blow drying my hair" moments.) I can actually dress myself now. Can you believe it? I never thought the day would come that I wouldn't rely on Pinterest at least twice a week to dress myself.

P.S. Can the World Cup please end? I want to watch my Game of Thrones finale, but EVERYTHING I want to watch takes the backseat to a bunch of dudes skittering around a plot of grass. However, a few notes: one, futbol players are so much hotter than football players (I could stare at the Italians forever); two, it's only every four years; three, my husband does not watch football, so I can be sort of okay with soccer; five, I actually understand soccer for the most part. I feel like football stops so many times for random things (and stops for what feels like forever), and I never understand why it's stopped. If I have to struggle THAT hard to understand something someone else is doing, I can't scrounge up a shred of care. Soccer, on the other hand, is just two 45 minute halves with some injury time tacked on the end. When someone fouls someone else, they get to kick toward the goal or throw the ball in from the sideline. No crazy plays (except for some awesome head butting and scissor kicking of the ball) and no never-ending time outs. I guess it's not that bad, but shhh, don't tell my husband.

The look:

Top: New York & Co.

Shorts: LOFT

Shoes: Franco Sarto (LOVE HIS SHOES) via Marshall's

Necklace: Old Navy

In Honor of Jack

Recently, one of our beloved science teachers lost his fight with cancer. On Facebook, one of my colleagues posted that Jack was the only person she ever met whose eyes had an actual twinkle in them. Truly, Jack might have been Santa's belly-less and beardless brother. He was a man who radiated positivity. I didn't have to spend a lot of time with him to know that everything about Jack was wonderful; he even smelled nice. (After a day with teenage funk, a lady learns to appreciate the finer smells of life.) 

His wife, a retired English teacher who used to work at our school, is equally as lovely, and she just so happens to own the best vocabulary of any human being on the planet. Even their daughter, who worked with me at summer school one year, has the most pleasant personality. Something about that family radiates warmth. 

In honor of Jack and his love of the hockey team, the Capitals, we all wore red. Of course, I decided to take it to the next level, and wear all of the team's colors. Here's to you, Jack. You live on in the hearts of everyone you've touched with your kindness. 

The Look:

Shirt: Old Navy

Cardigan: The Limited (old)

Skirt: via Marshall's

Shoes: Sole Society

Necklace: The Limited 

Sunglasses: LOFT via my mommacita 

Parent-Teacher Conferences Outfit

This Friday, Ginny and Jenn will run another Style Swap link up (learn more here). This week, several ladies and I are hosting a red & pink themed link up (join any day you wish!) 

Both link ups helped find inspiration for this look. 

You see, today and tomorrow (weather permitting), I have parent-teacher conferences, so I wanted to be especially dressy. Sometimes, I wear pants for conferences and, more often, I wear skirts. To find inspiration, I sought out Kate's blog because girlfriend knows how to dress for work. Plus, I'm always a fan of her color combinations. She rocks a pencil skirt like no one I've ever met, but I'm more of a circle or a-line skirt kind of gal myself. 

Kate also loves blazers, bright colors, and stripes, three of my very favorite things. I decided on this look because I recently bought this skirt after a very long hunt. Perk? I found it for half off, a mere $25 for this beauty who will see a whole lot of the world outside of my closet. I like Kate's flats in her look, but I'm boot girl, especially during the winter months. I love the ruffles on her shirt, but my red option had no ruffles. The necklace is a fine substitute, yes?

Note: my eyes disappear in many of these photos because my Mom was being ridiculous. My eyes sort of run away when I laugh. 

The Look:

Blazer: Express (so old)

Blouse: LOFT (not a bright red, but the colors for this tie blouse are quite lovely.)

Skirt: New York & Co. (exact)

Necklace: Target 

Belt: Came with another dress 

Tights: The Limited (I love their opaque tights, but I can't find them online. BOO.)

Boots: b.o.c. via DSW (please never let these boots die)

Not sure what my hair is doing over there on the left, but let's just go with it.

(We are perfect together because of his goony smile and my spastic octopus hairs.)

Tomorrow, I'll show you my other parent-teacher conference look. I can't stop laughing at some of the photos for that one. (I will show you these looks even if snow cancels the conferences.)

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Linking up with

WIWW

and

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Trendy Tuesday: Blazers and Button Ups

My name twin, Danielle, over at Goodwillista picked out my outfit for me today. We decided that we would look through each other's closets (a.k.a blog stalk) and give the other an outfit to wear with items from her closet. Danielle suggested my black and white striped blouse, flare jeans, skinny belt, and one of my many colored blazers. Her suggestion just so happened to coincide with this week's Trendy Tuesday, blazers and button ups, at my work. (Yes, we teachers pick a theme for getting dressed every Tuesday and grab a group shot at the end of the day.) 

When I informed my fourth period about today's theme, a five-minute debate ensued. Is it a button-up or a button-down shirt? I argued that the words were interchangeable because some people button from the bottom up and others bottom from the top down. I guess you could settle for the word oxford, yes? I don't know. Does it matter which name you give to it? 

Also, I plan to link up with Ginny and Jenn for Style Swap on Friday. (Click the link to learn more about it and join in on the fun!) After all, Danielle and I were pretty much swapping styles, right? Plus, I realized this outfit must have been channeling its inner Kendi. 

The Look:

Jeans: J Brand via TJ Maxx (similar from Gap)

Blouse: Lauren Conrad via Kohl's (similar from Gap)

Tank (under blouse): White House Black Market (exact--so worth every penny...it's the best tank I have EVER bought. It's comfortable, the right amount of spandex, and the perfect length)

Boots: b.o.c. via DSW 

Blazer: LOFT via thredUP (similar from Target) 

Necklace: Cannot remember...at all...

Linking up with

Style Sessions

The Pleated Poppy

Shanna

and 

Style Swap (on Friday)

Previously, I wore the pink blazer this way:

My fleece tights died, and don't forget about Trendy Tuesday.

I wore my fleece tights ONCE (a glorious day it was). After one round in the washer's gentle cycle, the crotch birthed a hole. (How do you like that imagery?) Boo to you, $6 fleece tights. I waffle between patching up the hole, conveniently located on a seam, and buying a brand new pair. Decisions decisions. 

Anyway, these opaque tights from The Limited sufficed, but gracious me, I was not wearing enough layers on top to combat the arctic that my classroom has become. Polar Bear City, all aboard. 

Also, rhetorical question: why is it that my legs can take a Jack Frost beating, but my upper body needs about fifteen layers to prevent the shiver me timbers? 

Anyone else suffer from this problem? (not rhetorical)

Tomorrow's theme for Trendy Tuesday is red and white. 

Don't forget to don your best red and white look. Post that beauty on Facebook, Instagram, your blog, or send a carrier pigeon with a polaroid. Mosey over to the sidebar and follow me on Instagram.

Octothorpe (real name for the hashtag-pound sign-number sign thing) that lovely look of yours with #trendytuesday.

If you're new around here, my co-teacher started this "let's pick a theme for getting dressed one day a week" trend. Another teacher and I settled on Tuesdays, which we alliteratively named Trendy Tuesday.  Every week, we come up with a theme and try to coax more teachers and students [and online friends!] to join us in our sartorial adventure. Safety in numbers and all that jazz. 

The Outfit:

Sweater: AB Byer (so old...does anyone even know that brand anymore?)

Scarf: a new creation from Momma who finally agreed to let me sell her scarves! Who wants in?

Tights: The Limited

Skirt: LOFT (it's chiffon and pleated in case your eyes and my terrible photos deceive you.)

Boots: Etienne Aigner 

Belt: Came with a dress

Hair: on its third day...that's what's up.

My (Recent) Life in Clothes

I cleaned out my closet.

By that, I mean I threw (only) half of the things I won't actually wear into paper bags. 

A week ago.

They're still sitting in front of my window seat.

The other half hang in my closet, pretending I'll wear them. 

I trudge through this process at least once a month.

Eventually, I think I'll actually purge my closet of the unwanteds.

Until then, my closet harbors the land of misfit clothes.

And some very cute, well fitting ones.

I feel so Lilly Pulitzer in this color scheme. 

Dad turned 61. We celebrated. 

I'm eating pickles to prevent myself from eating the rest of the cake Mom gave to me.

I have a feeling I'll have an acid stomach and liquid bowels before this night ends.

Wish me luck.

I wore this dress to celebrate Daddy dukes.

Meet my second-day hair. I woke up at 5 and watched Law and Order SVU until I had to leave for work. I poked my hair in a "thanks for being awesome this morning" kind of way. 

Not sure I'll ever master the downward shot. Someone please tell me how you make it happen before I Google that ish. Google is already judging me because I asked it who invented the maxi skirt. 

Bows and leopard print. That's about as spicy as I get. 

You will not see me in stripes on stripes (despite my love for them)

or stripes on polka dots. 

Speaking of maxi skirts, I'm married, but I'll kiss the inventor of maxi skirts on the lips

to thank them for creating a sartorial masterpiece that allows me to look presentable while being comfortable enough to take a nap. On public transportation. During peak hours. In NYC. 

Meet my newest maxi skirt. I bought it today, and I'm showing it to you before I even ripped off the tags. I think the cashier was *this* close to making me pay for it while simultaneously shoving it under the counter to save for later. I'm pretty sure she pet it. I would too. I plan to. 

Stiiiiill suck at downward shots. 

Seriously, someone feed me the secret. 

Enjoy your lovely evening.

I'm going to go eat pickles. 

I turned two dresses into skirts.

I had these two dresses sitting in my closet. Well, one of them was actually in a sewing basket all folded up. Allow me to clarify something: I do not like strapless dresses. 

One, I have nothing with which to hold up said strapless dress. 

Two, they create these weird indentations above my chest (or lack thereof.)  I think they serve as a reminder of how not well endowed I am. 

Three, it is not cute to be constantly pulling up a dress or top, which is why I decided against a strapless wedding dress. I had one encounter with a strapless dress for prom one year. I was so ill equipped to wear this dress that I had to be velcroed into it, like 1/4" thick velcro strapped into that thing, and it still kept falling down. 

Anyway, I knew I would never wear these dresses as dresses, but I could part with neither the lovely black and white striped silk nor the blue and white striped seersucker fabrics. Finally, after allowing these dresses to sit around unworn for YEARS, I decided to bite the bullet and make skirts. If the mission failed, I really would have lost nothing since I wasn't wearing them anyway.

I went on a hunt and found this tutorial that didn't require removing the zipper in order to fashion a skirt. 

She does a fine job of instructing, so I'm not going to tell you how to do it. I will tell you a few tips/notes/things I learned during the process.

1. Try on the dress first and zip it up to where you want it to be as a skirt. Make sure it would look normal; otherwise, this dress might not work for your purposes. 

2. I have no idea how this process works on non-zippered (haven't taken that venture yet) or non-strapless dresses. 

3. If you have two layers to the dress, make sure that, after you chop off the top, you sew the layers back together again. (I made this mistake, and it was not fun to fix.) 

4. If your seams aren't perfect, just wear a wide belt over the top and no one will know. Muahaha. 

A good "seamstress" is even better at hiding her mistakes. 

Here is a "before" shot of the seersucker dress. I didn't put it on because I couldn't actually zip it up over my ribcage, so I took the before shot while it was on a hanger. 

Before (Seersucker "dress"):

The top felt all crinkly. No me gusta.

After (seersucker skirt):

My "sort of" before picture of the striped silk dress:

You can see the top of the dress poking through the shirt. The problem? You can see the dress straight through the shirt. Plus, the top was still uncomfortable.

After (striped silk skirt):

One of my attempts to prevent myself from shopping is to refashion my unworn clothes. 

I think these two attempts were successful, and now I've been bitten by the sewing bug!

Do you have a favorite? If you think they look horrible, don't tell me. I want to float on my "I sewed something that's not falling off of me" cloud for awhile longer.