Flowers, Fridays, and Other Things That Make Me Happy

The end of the first week of school is always a good reminder that you spent the summer being anti-social and are not used to being around other people all day. As a somewhat introverted person, by the end of the first week back, I'm normally uniquely tired even as I'm excited to get back in the rhythm of the school year.

I feel like if you talk to any teacher about their plans for the first weekend of the year, it's something low key and possibly involving tons of sleep.

As for clothing, since Thursday was only the second day I'd seen half of my students, I kept the dress rather professional. I try to make sure I have my classroom procedures all set and routines in place before I start to mix in some more casual outfits. This Thursday was kind of crazy, so I didn't get a picture of my outfit until I got to the gym, so this is a terrible picture.

But this is another Banana dress that came from a sale. This is a petite dress. I think it took me a while to figure out how my height worked with petites and shorts and regular lengths. Not that anyone would want to know this much about my weird frame, but I've found that I am not really a petite because it's not my entire frame that needs a special size. I just have short legs. But, I have found that for some dresses, it works better for me to buy a petite since it keeps it from being too long. So basically, petite tops never work, petite dresses often work, and pants in short instead of petite are best. As you can tell, that's a bit of complicated order. I only bring this up to say that finding what sizes work can be complicated, but I think it's worth taking the time to try on all options and figure out what works. Obviously this isn't a problem for tall people...just us travel-sized people. I'm not complaining though. I actually don't mind my height even if my classroom clock has been wrong since daylight savings time because I can't reach it.

Anyway--I give that whole spiel to say know what fits you, even if it's a weird combination. Being short doesn't mean you are a petite, and just because you have short legs doesn't mean that you have the torso of a petite person. Take the time to shop around and figure out your body size. And in this case, the petite dress fit me better than the "regular" dress. Either way, I was still in "dress for success" mode on Thursday, and I opted for another one of the dresses that I have slowly acquired since finding that Banana dresses and I are friends. 

As for some options for similar dresses, here are a few dresses:

This one seems like a great option for any number of reasons.

And here's a great patterned option.

And I've been secretly waiting for an excuse to link to this one.

I give you these three options to say that there are some really fun dresses out there, and I love wearing something a bit dressier for the first week of school.

I'm also rockin' the T-Straps in this outfit because I wanted heels, but my feet were looking a bit like a ballerina's after the first few days. I evidently really lived in my Chacos and Birks, and my feet were not quite ready to be confined to real shoes, so I needed something kind to my feet. These definitely fit that description. 

I think these are the new versions of mine.

I know they are a bit pricey, and I'm betting I got mine on sale since I'm pretty cheap, but I will say that I've had mine for 3 years, and they've held up pretty well. They're my go-to shoes anytime I know it's going to be a long day but I want to wear heels. 

So, here are my lessons from my last "dressy" outfit of the first week:

1. If you can build up a wardrobe of dresses you love, buying one or two a year, you'll eventually have an arsenal of first-week outfits that fit you well and make you feel like the boss lady you are. 

2. Take the time to try on different cuts--if a store has 3 or 4 styles of pants, try them all. If they offer petites and you aren't particularly tall, try them out. Learn what fits you well.

3. Find a pair of heels that will be your security blanket. Find a shoe company that works for your feet. 

On Thursday night, my principal sent an email encouraging us to wear our school t-shirts. If you read this little blog last year (not assuming you did), you know how I feel about wearing school spirit shirts on Fridays. So, when I got this email, I thought about all of the things I would be willing to do for this new principal that I love so much, but I found myself singing: 

I went for a bit of a different look. Here's what I chose instead:

I've had this cardigan for years, but I love it because it's that weird material that is thin but warm. As per the Ms. Taylor wardrobe, I kept the rest neutral. The long, flowy shirt was super comfortable but since it's a silk material, I think it gives it a bit dressier look than it feels like. I actually ended up having to go home to change anyway since I had a baseball game to get to and I knew it was going to get a bit chilly, but I wanted to start off the year with a Friday look that was fun for me.

Last year, I think I talked a few times about the Friday night struggle to not just melt into your couch. Getting back out of the house on the first Friday of the year was a bit of a challenge, bu it was totally worth the struggle of getting myself out of the house again since it was a great night to be outside, I had fun company and my fave--Michael A Taylor-- hit an in-park grand slam. I didn't even know that was an option until Friday night. But that's not even my favorite recent Taylor accomplishment. The night before he robbed a guy of a home run, straightened his cap and got back to work. He's kinda the best...







Anyway--for Friday outfits, I'm a big fan of using Friday as a chance to get to wear my weird kinda-casual/kinda-work-ish outfits. And, as I've said before, these in between outfits keep me from going home to change after work and never actually leaving the apartment.

This one is a bit of a uniform for me--a silk shirt, a cardigan, skinny jeans, booties, and some jewelry.

I guess this would fit the schoolmarm label my co-worker gave me, but I don't think I care.

Here are some options for this season since all of these pieces are crazy old:












Here's a long cardigan option.


And here's a cute option.




And this one has cute buttons on the sleeves.


As for shirt options, there are some really cute ones out there. Here's one option that I kind of love:



I think these stripes might look cute with a cardigan.




And, for some reason, I kinda love the big bow on this one.


And here's a pretty basic option.


And, lately I've been a bit obsessed with the return of '90s fashion--maybe because I was a little grudge-ish kid in the '90s and I want a chance to wear all the girly stuff I missed while living in baby tees and second hand Levis. Either way, I kinda love this shirt.



The shoes are the same ones I've been rockin' for a while.

As for jewelry, I'm all about the big gold earrings, and here are a few options:


Basic gold earrings

Something a bit fancier


And one final option


Okay--so, here are my Friday fashion tips before I head to bed:
1. Find a Friday fashion that not only works for your classroom, but works for your post-work life.
2. Follow all of the school rules and dress codes. Do the things that are asked of you, but if you have a good reason to not want to join in on something optional, that's okay.

Day Two...I mean Day One, Pt. 2

Today I met the rest of my students. Three years ago I started making a priority of calling home on all of my students one night during teacher work week. I know--it's a big time commitment, and since I don't start calling until 5:00 (in the hopes of getting in touch with more people when they are home from work), it makes for a long night. But I'm not exaggerating when I say that this choice has transformed the start of the year. If there is anything I could say to new teachers it would be to block off some time and make this part of your start to the year. I'm not one of those teachers who thinks the way she does things is the only way to do things, and I still have plenty of things that I struggle with, but this is one thing that I really, really think is worth the time. I get plenty of disconnected phones and I leave a TON of voicemails, but this habit does a few things for me:
1. Even if I only get to leave a voicemail, I've let the parents/guardians know that I am invested in their student's education.
2. As I pull up each student's information, I get to see a picture of them (unless they are new to school), and I get a chance to see if there are any flags on their page that let me know about allergies, family concerns, etc.
3. For the parents/guardians that I get in touch with, I get great information about the student before I even meet them. It's really heartwarming to hear a parent gush about how hard working the student is, and for some students, I get a better sense of their struggles. And the funniest phone calls are when the parent hands the phone to the student, and I get to greet them.

I don't want to sound like one of those really annoying movies about teachers where the teacher changes one thing and everything is suddenly perfect. It's not like that at all. But my first days are better and more fun after I've called home. And I've noticed that parents are really willing to work with me if there is a concern later in the year if I started out our relationship on a positive, friendly note.

Okay--so that's my soapbox speech about calling home. Do it. You'll thank me later...probably not when you are at school at 8:00 finishing calls, but a few weeks later, you'll thank me.  On to my outfit for today.

We have block scheduling, so we have two first days. For today's second first day, I chose another dress. And it's another dark neutral. Shocking, I know. Just like yesterday, I wanted something I could easily move in and would be forgiving if I was clumsy.

If you are a true follower of this blog, you might recognize this dress as the first one I wrote about on the first day I posted. But this time I styled it a little differently. I'm more in love with this dress each time I wear it. It's so easy to wear and since it's black, I can mix it up in a ton of ways. I can thrown on some flats and make it a little less fancy or pair it with heels to bring more of my professional side. I can also mix any number of cardigans with it too. Exciting, I know. But it's the little things sometimes. Don't judge me for my excitement over cardigan options. 

In a totally dorky moment, I'll admit that when I put this cardigan with it, it reminded me of my parents' high school colors, and I was happy. I paired it with a pair of shoes that I bought  few years ago but always pass on wearing in favor of something more sensible or neutral. I told myself that this school year I would be better about wearing the things I own, so I sucked it up and put these in my gym bag last night. But being a bit of Nervous Nellie, I packed an extra pair of comfy heels in case I couldn't make it all day in these. The truth is, these shoes are surprisingly comfortable, so I think they'll end up in my gym bag more often. I will admit that I took them off during my planning period and wore the flip flops I keep under my desk. I see no need to wear heels when I'm just running around the building or sitting in the library grading papers. 

And before I give you my rules and links, I just have to make a random observation. I am always aware that I'm short, but I looked over at my dresser today and was reminded that I never feel as short as I do when I realize how little fabric it takes to fully dress me. Anyone else have these moments? 

So now that I'm through both first days, here are my big takeaways for styling your first days:

1. When in doubt, go for the more professional option. 

2. But wear forgiving clothes--both in color and cut.

3. And have layers ready for a broken or overly-determined AC.

4. And wear shoes that give you confidence but won't make you wince all day. 

Okay--for this outfit, here are some options:

These are a bit more intense than mine.

And now for something completely different...

And here's the basic cardigan from J Crew.

Here's a simple black dress.

Another basic option

And this one has ruffles!



Okay--well I hope that gives some good ideas for start of the year wardrobe choices.

Sounding Like a Bullfrog on the First Day of School

It's here! The first day of school. New notebooks, kids wearing outfits they carefully planned to look like they didn't carefully plan them, and teachers wearing their fanciest work clothes. It's always exciting, and a bit unnerving, to watch students walk in your door on the first day.

My student teacher from last year is teaching at my school this year, and she's in my classroom after I am. As her students trickled in, I felt like going up to them and saying, "If you mess with her, you'll have to deal with me!" and then glaring at them. I resisted the urge. As I was reminded several times last week when I felt the need to watch out for her, I must let my baby bird fly on her own. But I still might have been sizing her students up...

Anyway--my students seem like a fun mix of personalities, and I'm really excited to get their first writing assignments to see what they think is the first thing I should know about them.

As for wardrobe choices for the first day, I'm sure I'm not the only one who brings his/her game face for the first day. I found out today that one of my co-workers refers to my work clothes as my "schoolmarm uniform." #reasonswhyImsingle  I think this might have offended me at some point in life, but I'm fine with it now. As a teacher, my job is to teach, and if I'm dressed like a schoolmarm, I assume my students will assume I know what I'm doing. I think, as a teacher, fashion is really tricky. You can't say that what you wear doesn't matter because plenty of students will assess your relevance to their lives based on your appearance (fair or not), but many fashion trends aren't really school appropriate or don't allow for the type of movement needed in a classroom. So it's a bit of a balancing act. 

As for first day outfits, I have a basic format I follow. Here's what I have:

1. Almost always a dress. It looks put together and doesn't require making sure a shirt stays tucked. It generally reduces the amount of fidgeting I do during the day. 

2. If at all possible, a sleeveless dress. In all places I've taught, it is really likely to be REALLY hot when school starts, and the AC is unreliable, so I always want to be in the best position to not melt. Also, if you're sweating, even if it's a sauna in your room, students might interpret this as nerves, so I like to limit the possibility of looking freaked out on the first day. 

3. There is always a cardigan involved for when the AC finally kicks on and it becomes an icebox. 

This year I went super basic--I bought this shift dress in the spring when Banana was having a great sale, but I didn't wear it to school until today. I liked this particular dress as a first day dress for a few reasons:

1. The dark color would forgive me if I dropped my lunch on it.

2. The shape made it really comfortable and made it easy for me to maneuver through the room.

3. The length meant I didn't have to worry about tugging on it throughout the day. 

I then paired the rather boring dress with my favorite necklace. I think I'm sometimes drawn to basic dresses like this one because it gives me a chance to play with shoes, cardigans and jewelry. I'm not enough of a risk taker to make those choices with patterned dresses. 

Like I said, this dress is so last season, but here are a few similar options:

This is a bit more detailed, but still a neutral.

This one is a bit less forgiving, but I have it as well and find it flattering.

And here's a bit of a fancier option.

The necklace I wore is CRAZY old. It's funny because when I bought it I was sure it wouldn't make it more than a few years, but I'm still wearing it. I'm not sure if that means I'm out of style or I made a good investment, but either way, here are some newer options:

Here's a simple option.

Here's a more colorful option.

The shoes are my Dak Prescott shoes from last season--my back-ups that became my starters. They made it through the day without killing my feet. 

I love these shoes.

Okay--on that note, I'm going to wrap this up and get to sleep in hopes that if I sleep enough, this bullfrog voice I'm rocking will go away...although having a deep voice on the first day of school isn't the worst thing I guess. 

I'm Back!

Hi all! The school year is quickly approaching, so I thought I would get back into some kind of blogging routine. Can I just say, SUMMERS ARE AS AWESOME AS ONE MIGHT THINK! I sometimes see these articles/tweets/posts that indicate that people should not be jealous of teachers because summers are full of work. I'm here to say, that at least for me, you shouldn't feel anything but jealous. I sometimes wake up on a summer day and think, "This is amazing! I can do whatever I want today!" Now, I should clarify--summers are essential for teachers. The hours teachers work during the school year and the emotional requirements of caring for so many students for so many months requires a real, sustained break in order for teachers to continue to do the important work they do. I know that other people work really hard and don't get big chunks of time off. All I can say is, "I'm sorry!" and "I'll never trade places with you." I know teachers who teach summer school or have family obligations over the summer, but I'm one of those lucky teachers who really is "off" for the summer.

But now we are back in school mode. Last week we had two days that are set aside for teachers to set up their classrooms. This means you take this:

And somehow start to make it look like this:

This is when you know that I'm a dork. I actually LOVE doing this every year...well...maybe not the moving furniture around...but the bulletin boards and fresh school supplies and first day outfits and a newly-copied syllabus...I love all of it. 

The other thing that makes teacher work days awesome is the chance to catch up with all of your favorite co-workers. This is how excited I get about lunch with my teacher friends:

And I'm also this excited because my school district rocks! It gives us two whole days that are nothing but time for teachers to work on their rooms/anything else they need to do. I can't tell you how rare of a commodity time is to a teacher coming back from the summer. 

But I've always wanted this blog to be helpful for new teachers who are navigating the wardrobe questions involved in starting a teacher career (and, let's be honest--I'm motherly enough that I'm going to throw in other advice as well). I remember trying to figure out what to wear for teacher work week at my first school. I wore a skirt every day. A snarky teacher told me that I was overdressed. I decided not to take fashion advice from her because she seemed mean. 

So, what do I wear now for teacher work days? Well, this is my outfit from Friday. I think there are a few ways to approach your fashion choices for days when you aren't around students. And the choice is yours. Here are your options:

1. Enjoy the day of not having to dress up. Wear your gym shorts and put your hair up. 

2. Enjoy a day of getting to wear your cute non-work clothes. 

I would say to consider a few things:

1. Your work days may include quite a bit of cleaning, lifting and running around. Make sure you aren't wearing clothes that won't let you do those things or clothes you are worried about ruining.

2. These are your days. While you have meetings and professional development, ultimately, these days are there to help you get off to a great start. If wearing something cute gets you more in the mindset of being back at work, wear that. If wearing comfortable clothes to ease you into the school year helps with the sting of the summer ending, wear that. 

The only warning I would give is that there are often students in the building volunteering to help teachers, making schedule changes, going to fall sports practices, etc. So don't wear anything that would be inappropriate for a student to see you in. 

Okay--so back to my approach to teacher work days. The last few years, I've used this week to get one more wear out of some of my favorite summer clothes. I do what my roommate calls my "back to school nesting" the last real week of summer, so I typically have organized my closet and am super aware of all of the things I meant to wear more often over the summer. I wear those things this week. I'm also super committed to the after Labor Day no-no list (yeah--I know--it's not really a thing anymore...blah...blah...blah...I'm following the rules anyway), so I'm always trying to get my linen pants and summer dresses in to the rotation one more time before they head to the attic. 

So, before I head to bed and try to convince my body that yes, we are indeed getting up in the morning, let me tell you where to find something similar to what I'm wearing here.  Here's what I have for you:

These are this year's edition.

They have them in a few different colors. I'm a big fan. They feel like pajama pants but are linen, so they look like you're wearing real pants. Best of both worlds. I wish they still had the chambray pair I'm wearing because we know how I feel about chambray, and they are basically sweat pants that look like jeans. 

These go with all kinds of things though. You can pull off a graphic tee like the one I'm wearing. Here are a few options:

So cute!

I'm a sucker for shirts with animals.

But I do think you could do some other things with these. I think a silk shirt tucked in also looks cute. Here are some options for that: 

A girly option

And I think this one might work...

And, as always, I'm sticking with neutrals and a bit of color. This time it's my sandals. I've had these forever, and I keep waiting for them to fall apart. Here are a few options: 

One cute option...

Another cute option

Okay--so that's my welcome back entry. I'll try to spend the next week or so sharing what I've figured out about stocking your closet and picking first day outfits. 

Adulting at Prom and Surviving the End of the Year Chaos

Being a high school teacher has plenty of funny moments. One of them is attending your 7th prom. The perks of being a high school teacher often come from being able to enjoy high school events without the angst you felt as a teenager.

These are the things I love about going to prom as an adult:
1. It takes me about 20 minutes to get ready.
2. I get to spend the whole night telling students how lovely their dresses are/how dapper their suits are.
3. I am typically back in the comfort of my own apartment before 11:00.

I'm lucky to have a fun group of "prom friends." We typically go to dinner and then get to prom on the early side. We stay for an hour or two and then head out. I love being able to see my students looking so grown-up, and I love being able to share their special night with them.

I always overhear conversations about dresses and hairstyles and dinner plans all throughout the second semester, so it's really fun to see the final product of all of their planning. I even have a prom "soapbox" speech that I give some time mid-second semester. These are the things I tell them:
1. Go to prom. Anything in life that you only get to do once (graduations, proms, final tours by your favorite bands), go. Don't tell yourself you don't care so you won't go. What's one Friday night of your life? What will you be doing instead that is a once-in-a-lifetime thing? If you get there and it's terrible, take some pictures, laugh about it, and leave. Go to IHOP, and eat some pancakes. Whatever. Just don't miss things you can't do again later.
2. Make good choices that night. You have spent countless hours and no telling how much money to make that night special. Don't ruin it by consuming things that will make you unable to remember the night, get you in trouble/kicked out of prom, or leave you with the contents of your dinner revisited on your dress.
3. Don't overplan. Every year some friend group has a complete meltdown over paying for the limo or dinner reservations. You'll see EVERYONE at prom. Just keep the group you go to dinner with small and keep the transportation plans simple--heck--get an Uber.

When I first started going to prom, I had a hard time figuring out what to wear, but as I've built up a collection (and by collection I mean 3 or 4) of wedding dresses (Not in the Runaway Bride sense. In the "I've gone to so many weddings that I grab every little black dress that Banana puts on sale" kind of sense.), I now have some options for what I wear.  This year I went with a silk dress I bought over 5 years ago. The other ladies in our group were rocking some pretty amazing dresses, so I felt like I had awesome prom dates. :)

Break for a random prom story:
On the walk over to prom (we don't need to discuss what "5 blocks" means to some people...not that I'm holding a grudge...just sayin'), we hit several stop lights. Some in our group decided to jaywalk, but since I was wearing heels and couldn't make a run for it very easily, I stayed behind. At one point, I saw a car coming, and stayed on the sidewalk. I yelled, "I'm a law abiding citizen. I'm staying here until I'm told to walk." The guy in the oncoming car rolled down his window and said, "I would marry you." This might have made my night.

I say might because we also found the prom king and queen gear and definitely made sure they were ready. My only regret from the evening is that we didn't reenact a classic teen movie scene when we tried on the crown/tiara.

I have a few tips for prom dressing before I give a bit of a soapbox speech about surviving the end of the year.
1. If you're like me, and you don't attend that many fancy events, use prom as a night to be fancy. Wear that dress you love but never get a chance to wear, go eat somewhere tasty, and then enjoy seeing your students in a setting that isn't about grades, late assignments or tardy bells. I know that if you are chaperoning you have some obligations, and I know that students sometimes make bad choices on prom night, so you don't always get to be completely free of adult responsibilities, but as much as possible, enjoy the experience.
2. Try your dress on a few days ahead of time. Once again, if you're like me, those dresses hang in the back of your closet until prom--or some friends recommend a fancy night out--so make sure it still works well for you.

Okay--now on to my second soapbox of this post.

A very kind friend, a few years ago, told me that she was praying for people to come along and take over some of the things I was, at the time, in charge of. At the time, I just kind of said, "Thanks!" and went along my way. But as the year went on, and I noticed how tired and impatient I became, I thought, "Maybe my friend is right. Maybe I have too much on my plate. Maybe I could do fewer things with more grace." I looked at my calendar and made a "must", "would like to", and "just can't" chart. I put things like my summer time in Arkansas on the "must" list and put things like going to school plays in the "like to" column. After looking over my chart, I decided that the only way I could survive a somewhat busy schedule was to faithfully do the "must" list things and allow the "like to" things to be decided on a case-by-case basis with no judgment if I opted not to attend/participate in them. If, the week of the school play I thought it would be fun to go, I'd go. But I wouldn't make myself go, and I never promised my students I would go. If they asked me if I was going, I would be honest with them. I would tell them that things were pretty busy at the time, so I would probably need the weekend to recover. They understood, most of the time. And if they didn't, that was okay. They are teenagers. While most are really compassionate and understand that their teachers have a lot on their plates, the ones who don't understand can't be the ones I answer to. Making them happy isn't my job--teaching them is.

Some time over the summer, I'll write all my thoughts about teacher guilt and how movies like Freedom Writers give students, parents, community members and teachers a false hope for what a teacher can/should do for his/her students, but for now, just know that prom is on my "would like to" list, and, luckily, most years I make it. But, the key to enjoying prom (for me) is it being something optional that I choose to attend, not something I feel forced to attend. When I grab dinner with my friends, stop by prom for an hour or so, and then go home, I leave with fond memories, and I can genuinely tell my students how nice it is to see them and how fabulous their dresses/suits are. It has to be from a place of joy, not a place of guilt.

Okay--I hope this post might inspire you to feel free to say "No!", even to good things, if they leave you with an out of control schedule, and I hope it might make you decide to put on your fancy dress and go enjoy yourself for a night.

Quick Arrested Development reference: When we were walking to the staff lounge, we came across this never nude. I had to document it.

Another Week Closer to Summer Break

Since we were testing Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I kept my outfits pretty comfort-focused, and I avoided wearing anything other than sandals or flats so I wouldn't be super noisy as I actively proctored. Such fun! 

I didn't take a picture of my outfit for Tuesday because it wasn't "of note", shall we say. I helped out with a debate tournament over the weekend, and my flight back on Monday was a bit late, so Tuesday I was in survival mode. 

On Wednesday, I based my outfit on wanting pants that wouldn't be confining and any shirt that matched. I do have a bit of a lesson about online shopping and sleeves. 

I love the way this shirt looks--it looks really cute with a pencil skirt and also works well with jeans, but it's a funky fit. The arm holes are weird. I'm not sure I've ever typed that sentence before in my life, but it's true. They are tight around my arms (let's say that's because I've been lifting weights and am now SUPER STRONG...yeah...let's go with that) and they attach to the shirt so low that it's hard to really use your arms for any dramatic movements. If you know me, you know that dramatic movements are some of my favorite movements, so I feel restricted in this shirt. Here are a few, very random, tips about shirts:

1. I'm coming to find that I tend to stick with sleeveless shirts or shirts made of pretty forgiving fabric because I hate to have my arms feel like they are stuck in a paper towel roll all day. 

2. As a result of my hatred for feeling confined, when I try a shirt on, I try to make sure I can go about my usual routines in it. 

3. And take a lesson from me, don't tell yourself it won't bother you simply because the shirt is cute. Much like with dating, something/one can start off seeming really cute, but if it/they annoy you all day long, by the end of the day, the cute factor is gone. 

On another note, you might ask how I came to buy a shirt that isn't that comfortable. The first reason is stated above--I thought it was really cute, so I thought I wouldn't mind if it wasn't super teaching-friendly. It's such a loose style, that it never occurred to me that I needed to make sure I could successfully put my hair in a ponytail or wave dramatically to get someone's attention down the hall. Turns out, I do those things more than I would have thought. 

I also kept this shirt because I bought it online, and I'm a lazy online shopper. I'm getting better, but there are more than a few pieces in my closet that, if I'm totally honest, I probably just kept because they were an okay fit and returning them would require packaging them and dropping them off somewhere. So, here is my mini-lesson about online shopping, as a recovered over-keeper:

A few years ago, my former roommate and I were both StitchFix regulars. I love Stitch Fix, and I only stopped getting a regular shipment because my closet was pretty full at the time. We both loved that we got rather unique pieces and that we often got things that challenged us to break up our routines. But my roommate and I both noted how tempted we were to keep things that didn't fit perfectly or were pretty similar to things we already had simply because, "Hey! They're already in my house." So, here were the questions I had to answer before I kept something I ordered online or got from StitchFix:

1. Would I have purchased this if I had found it in a store?

2. Would I  have spent this much on this piece if I had to actually pay for it in cash? (Was it unique enough to justify the cost?) 

3. Does this work well with my body type or am I just keeping it because it looks cute on the hanger or because it's what everyone else is wearing?

I think these rules saved me from filling my closet with things that were almost right, but not quite. 

I've also had to start being less lazy about returning things that aren't working for me when I hit up a J Crew Factory online sale, etc. I no longer tell myself that I'll lose a few pounds and the skirt will fit perfectly, and I no longer tell myself that something is stylish enough to make up for how unflattering it is on me. If I wouldn't take it to the counter and swipe my card to purchase it in a store, it goes back to its home at the warehouse so that someone whose body is built differently can enjoy it. And my bank account thanks me. 

Here's the truth about buying clothes that are almost right--it costs you twice. You pay the price of the item that doesn't fit right and then you EITHER pay the metaphorical price of feeling crummy every time you wear that item and know it isn't the right fit OR you actually end up buying another item to replace the poorly-fitting thing you just couldn't send back. 

I also feel the need to note here that there is no such thing as something being cheap enough to justify buying it if it isn't right for you. If you wouldn't buy it at full price, don't buy it just because it's on sale. I often think of this scene from Pride and Prejudice.

Either way, here's the outfit from Wednesday. These jeans are probably my least frustrating blue jeans, but I still wouldn't really recommend them. They have stretch in them though, so they do make the day more comfortable. 

The necklace is a J Crew Factory purchase that has come in handy plenty of times. It's nice to have a statement necklace that is a neutral so I can throw it on with any rather average outfit to fancy it up. Here's an option::

I am also a big fan of these flats. They are super basic, but that's what I love about them. As often as I need a basic brown flat, it's nice to have a pair that I know will be comfortable and go with whatever I'm wearing. Lucky Brand is quickly becoming a brand that I search out any time I go to DSW's or Off Broadway's website. Their shoes are normally just a little bit different than the average ones and have been pretty durable so far. They don't seem to have this pair, but these are an even cuter option.

On Thursday I went a totally different route in my effort to find comfort. I went to the dry cleaners on Tuesday night to pick up my winter clothes (I'll explain in a minute.) and found that I had a few spring items in there as well. The thought of wearing a dress that was stretchy and not restrictive was, of course, appealing, and not having to iron it was a huge plus. I actually didn't realize this dress was dry clean only until AFTER I bought it and wore it. As I was about to throw it in the washing machine, I looked at the label and realized that I had been deceived by its appearance. It looked like the other cotton dresses I owned, but it was being sneaky. So now I have a casual summer dress that must be taken to the dry cleaners. This annoys me, but I'm slowly getting over it...these things just take time...

In case someone wants to know, here is my approach to dry cleaning:

At the end of every season, I take all of my dry clean only items (from that season) to be cleaned. Yes--this costs a fortune, but wait. I'll explain how I justify it. 

I then put everything away clean, so at the start of each season, I know everything from the dry cleaners is ready to go.

I then wear my dry clean only things, following Real Simple's guide for how many times you can wear something before taking it to the dry cleaners. Here's the winter guide.

As things hit their final pre-dry cleaning wear, I put them in a bag I keep in my room. Maybe this is a sad comment on how infrequently I wear my dry clean only clothes, or maybe it's a comment on how overly stuffed my closet is, but I can typically make it the whole season without being completely without work clothes. I do, occasionally, have a favorite skirt that I take on its own to get cleaned or take a specific dress for a specific occasion, but I've found that by waiting until the end of the season, I force myself to wear everything in my closet before returning to my old favorites. Think about it. If you can wear a skirt five times before needing to have it cleaned, and you have 4 or 5 dry clean only skirts, even if you were ONLY wearing those, you'd go a whole month before you'd run out of skirts. And that's assuming you have no 4-day weeks and you don't wear jeans on Friday and that your favorite dresses aren't ones you can throw in the washing machine. And if you really think about it, you're only in winter (at least in this part of the country) for four months. And, that time includes a winter break, possible snow days, etc. What I'm saying is, I totally get by with this because I'm not wearing a dry clean only suit to work every day, so I can mix in my dry clean only skirts/dresses with other things and stretch out my trips to the dry cleaner. 

All that to say, even though this dress makes me sad with its fancy ways, I love it, but you won't see it in heavy rotation. 

As for why I wore this on a testing day, aside from not needing to be ironed, and being super comfortable...well...that was about it. I did pair it with significantly less fancy shoes than might have worn on a normal day. I would normally wear this with some sandals with a bit of a heel, but since I knew I would be walking up and down aisles of desks during the test, I didn't want to run the risk of disturbing testers or losing feeling in my toes when I took the 1,000th student to the bathroom. 

I'm not sure I would pair these shoes with this dress again, but at least for today, it was a fairly practical choice. 

I bought this dress in the fall, but here are a few similar options:

This one might be a bit short.

This one looks pretty cute.

 

A bit of a more casual option...

Okay--I'm off for a weekend of grading and berry picking. Obviously not at the same time.