Wear Your Aware(ness)

Almost a year ago today, I gave you a "tutorial" on how I skinnify my pants. Instead of donating these pants because the bottoms looked right with one pair of shoes, I decided to skinnify them so that they looked good with any pair of shoes.

When I left the house this morning, I questioned whether or not to bring a spare pair of pants should I encounter a wardrobe mishap that involved unraveling seams. I visited my dangerous side and brought no back-up pants. Luckily, I wore these bad boys all day without a malfunction in sight.

Of course, I think I need to skinnify the right leg a smidge more, but I'm not sure a) it's noticeable enough and b) I care enough.  If the picture turned out a little less grainy, you might be able to tell that this shirt is navy, so use that imagination of yours.

Oh, would you like to join my colleagues and me for Trendy Tuesday next week? The theme is "Wear Your Aware(ness)." What this style challenge encourages you to do is wear the color associated with awareness about a cause close to your heart. Though I don't own much purple, I think I will choose it because it represents not only my own disease, Sjogren's Syndrome, but it also represents anti-domestic violence and Alzheimer's (my beloved Mom Mom suffered from dementia before her death). If you want a pretty comprehensive list of the awareness ribbon colors, go here.

Feel free to write a post on Tuesday of next week about the cause close to your heart and share your outfit in support of it. I think this theme deserves a repeat.

The Look:

Cardigan: Old Navy

Top: J.Crew via thredUP

Pants: Express (so.dang.old)

Wedges: J.Crew Factory (they are SO comfortable, best shoe investment ever.)

Necklace: J.Crew Factory

Eventually

The other day, I posted about everything current in life. I thought, today, I could chat with you about some eventuallys, which I realize does not qualify as a word, but I'm making it one anyway.





Eventually,

at work: I will screencast lessons and post them to my class website. (Essentially, screencasting is creating a video of whatever you're doing on your screen.) I was hoping to screencast some reading passages, maybe even entire chapters, and how to annotate more effectively.

at home: I will have a home. We settle in TEN days and move in the following weekend. When we have a home, I will actually hang things on the walls (which I can finally paint a color that doesn't look like it belongs in a mental institution), have a washer that doesn't eat clothes, use a dryer that doesn't take two hours to dry clothes, and cook in a kitchen that does not have a shoebox-sized countertop.

on the road: I will take a mini RV trip with Mom and Dad. My friend's baby shower is three hours away (where she lives), and my mom and I were invited. Since Mom and Dad bought an RV this summer, we're taking advantage of it and spending the weekend at the beach (close to where my friend lives). Jeff will stay around town to set up the house; in other words, he will clean it so that new allergens do not plague me. What a nice guy he is.

on the blog: I will once again grace your presence with good quality pictures, not these sorry excuses of late.

I thought about doing more, but eventually I need to get to bed tonight.

 

The Look:

Cardigan: The Limited (similar)

Skirt: Old Navy (exact -- mine is size XS)

Scarf: Gap (similar)

Shoes: Sole Society (similar / similar)

Worst pain yet?

When the doctor removed my gall bladder, I thought, "no pain can exceed this one." When the doctor removed my appendix, I thought, "oh, the gall bladder was worse. That had four incisions; this one is only three. Good." When the doctor unpacked two feet of gauze and crowbar-sized tubes out of my nostrils after sinus surgery, I thought, "surely, this is giving birth through the nose." Nothing can top it. The past week, my body dumped me in the freshest of hells.

My face is angry. Have you ever had lips so chapped that you tried puckering your lips to stop the burning sensation that applying chapstick slapped on your kisser? Has the sun ever burned you so badly that sheets of skin started falling off of your back? Every time you took a shower, little skin monsters kept tumbling off just by patting yourself (ever so slightly) dry with a towel? Well, my face has entered this eighth circle of hell. That saying "oh, your face hurts? Well, it's killing me?" My face hurts, and I think it's killing me. It burns, it itches, it cracks, and it peels. And I have zero idea what's causing it.  Please, face, let there be an end in sight.

The kind employee at Sephora stocked me with samples that will hopefully usher in some semblance of relief. I am using the First Aid Beauty lotion, and it's helped more than anything else thus far, so let's keep it positive here, folks. I can't go around like Mr. Goldmember from Austin Powers forever.

Thankfully, I have a stallion-sized sense of humor. If that breaks, it looks like I'm pretty much screwed.

Anyway, I haven't felt much like getting Mom to take pictures of me because my face hurts, and all I want to do is roll around in a vat of aloe. I don't think Blogland wants that actual visual, so I'm sparing you all. However, I don't mind snapping some grainy iPhone shots for your viewing pleasure. (Trust me. You don't really want to see what I'm working with over here. A spoon full of blurriness makes the medicine go down.)

If my face is making me uncomfortable, I might as well wear comfortable things. Like the frock I wore to friends' renovation housewarming. I jazzed it up a bit with my new necklace that I ordered online to reach the free shipping minimum; I had every intention of returning it and then I tried it on. Game over. I also intended on returning this shirt (ordered it for the same reason as the necklace), but its softness had me at its cozy hello. I returned all of the items I expected to keep and kept all of the items I expected to return. What a crazy (re)turn of events.

 

The Look:

Shirt: Gap (exact for $22.95--I'm thinking of getting other colors.)

Necklace: J.Crew Factory (exact in three colors)

Skirt: Elle via Kohl's (similar for $9.95)

 

(In these pictures, make-up disguises the wounds quite nicely. It's not covering it so well anymore. Oh, bother.) 

Currently on the bandwagon

Okay, okay, all of you ladies (most recently, I'm looking at you, Heidi) and your "currently" posts enticed me to write one of my own. Plus, if you want full disclosure, then I must admit I have nothing better for you unless you want to hear about how the fan in my classroom almost exposed my unmentionables to my fifth period. Thankfully, the front row did not become the flash zone (not so fun like Sea World's splash zone). Oh, the things for which education classes never prepared me.

Anyway, here I am currently...

wearing: as many skirts as possible in order to combat the heat wave hovering over my classroom.

writing: lesson plans, HTML code for graduate class, Edmodo posts, and to-do lists (just for the purpose of crossing things off of it). In case your mind has wandered to the question, "why is she writing HTML code for her graduate class?" allow me to inform you that my graduate program is Technology Education. Thank you, blogging, I felt ahead of the game when the professor showed us how to code.

anticipating: settlement on our house! Two weddings in the next month! My niece's second birthday party! My friend's baby to arrive! Back to School Night (tonight)! September is full of fun stuff. Life, you rock. Thanks for that.

missing: yoga. Excuse me while I attempt to navigate school, graduate work, and exciting life events. Yoga, I have not forgotten about you and neither have my hamstrings. I think they miss you more than I do.

craving: anything edible because those pop chips have not successfully sustained me before dinner time. Husband, get to cookin'. I'm hangry.

watching: Finding Carter, The Lottery, and Flipping the Block. I do not want any of these shows to end. Can't.stop.watching. Should I fill my day with more productive fodder? Yes, yes, I should.

One day, I will return to the beautiful pictures of yore. Until then, proceed with pathetic mirror pictures. I hope you come here for my personality.

 The Look:

Top: Lauren Conrad via Kohl's

Cardigan: New York & Co.

Skirt: Francesca's

Shoes: J.Crew Factory

Black and Tan

The air "broke" in all of our schools yesterday. You know a building is hot when you feel as if you're getting a facial, for the entire work day, just for breathing, just for existing. Lucky me, my grad class meets in another one of the high schools for four hours every Tuesday. Not only did I suffer through eight hours of inner thigh sweat at my school, but I also experienced four additional hours of dewy disgustingness.

Today, I prepared for the heat wave. Of course, if a freak chill sweeps the building, I have a denim jacket to save me from the cold. Does anyone else feel like the first of September should automatically mean cooler temperatures? For reasons unbeknownst to me, my brain thinks September signals a drop in temperature, but clearly Mother Nature disagrees.

Oh, and it appears we will close on our house sooner than expected. The new closing date is September 19th, and we can begin moving in by September 23rd. Since another cockroach crawled up out of the sink at me two days ago, I cannot express my excitement over leaving behind the 800 who surely plan to follow the little bugger. Did you know that a cockroach allergy is an actual thing? I read about it on the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology site. Yep, it's a thing.

The Look:

Top: White House Black Market (SO OLD)

Belt: Came with a dress

Skirt: Old Navy

Flats: Steve Madden via DSW

Earrings: Francesca's

Trendy Tuesday: Something someone gave to you

Welcome to a new school year and a new set of Trendy Tuesday themes. If you didn't already know, I work in a school where a lot of us, even the fashionistos, get dressed based on a different theme each week. Today, I decided on my elephant jewelry from Momma dukes, a polka dot cardigan from my sister-in-law, and a dress and a pair of sandals that I bought with money from Momma, which technically means those are from her, right?

Please forgive my mirror pictures these days. Juggling an intense grad program, moving, class sponsorship, grading, planning, and life has become a bit more challenging than I anticipated. I'll figure it out soon enough. Finally moving out of this apartment by next month will surely help. I hope.

Fun fact of the day: these sandals didn't fit perfectly until I used my new leather punch from Michael's to punch another hole in the strap. I've already punched holes in some belts that needed tightening, and Jeff plans to use it on one of his belts, too. What an awesome $10 investment that was. I highly recommend it! I bought this one and also used my teacher discount at the register, so it was less than $10. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy today's outfit. Catch me on Instagram, too (@likewo).

 

The Look:

Dress: Apt. 9 via Kohl's

Sandals: Apt. 9 via Kohl's

Cardigan: Target (gift from sister-in-law)

Belt: New York & Co.

Necklace & Earrings: Lauren Conrad via Kohl's

 

(I thought you might want to see the dress by itself. So, here it is. By itself.)

Perfect for dressing rooms

Today, I think I figured out the perfect clothing to wear as I'm shopping: a tank, a swingy skirt, easy-to-remove sandals, and non-dangly jewelry. Typically, I find myself fighting with a top I have to keep pulling over my head, which results in a look akin to unsexy bedhead, so this tank worked perfectly to avoid such a situation. One, I can pull it off like a pair of pants. (Why pull a shirt over your head when you can avoid the whole "my hair now has tentacles" debacle?) Two, when I'm trying on sheer tops, I can wear it under them. Three, when it's sweltering outside, my top does not make me even warmer.

I texted Mom dressing room pictures, and she said, "that belt sure has made its rounds, hasn't it?" Yes, Mom, it has. Thanks for reminding me that I have no idea what I'll do the day this belt dies. And, thanks, Mom, for telling me we'll go on a "mad hunt" for a new one the day that this belt needs replacing. You're the best.

Trendy Tuesday has started up again this school year, so every week, all of the fashionistas and fashionistos in my school will be dressing based on a different theme each week. We'd love for you to join us! We Instagram our cuteness with the hashtag #trendytuesday. Tomorrow's theme is "Something someone gave to you." I plan to wear my elephant necklace and earrings from Momma because elephants make me happy and so does my Momma. (Yes, I realize how awesome my school is for participating in such awesomeness.)

The Look:

Vest: Lauren Conrad via Kohl's

Tank: Target

Skirt: LOFT 

Belt: New York & Co.

Sandals: Pink & Pepper via Marshall's

(I did not wearing this outfit to teach; we were off for Labor Day, so I wore it to shop. Of course.)

I sent this dressing room picture to Mom. We decided that this dress should come home with me. However, I realized I would get a better deal by buying it online through Ebates, so I came home and ordered it.  I feel like dresses with sleeves are hard to come by. Am I right?