The Joys of Spirit Weeks

It's Thanksgiving break! This is my favorite break of the year. The first 3 months of school are the most stressful for me. Between setting up your classroom, getting your students settled into your routines and expectations, and surviving Back-to-School night and parent conferences, there's just a lot crammed into those first months of school. And if you think about it, there really is always another day off or break in sight after Thanksgiving break.

I thought I would take a second to write about one of my favorite fall weeks: spirit week! I typically use spirit week as an excuse to wear jeans for 5 days in a row, but, unfortunately, this year's theme was Hollywood (or something like that), so it required me to dress up for a few of the days.

Before I give you a rundown of the week's outfits, I thought I would give you a brief soapbox speech about spirit week. I guess it's really brief, because it's basically this: do what you want! If going all in and putting together awesome outfits makes you happy, do it. If the thought of having to put together really cute themed outfits makes you want to run away from home because it's one more thing to manage, don't do it. While I think there are plenty of non-negotiable issues when it comes to teaching, spirit week isn't one of them. Teachers have plenty of situations that force them to fight the temptation to feel guilty or inadequate. Spirit week shouldn't be one of them, Pinterest be damned. Okay--with that speech finished, I'll show you how most of the week went for me.

At our school, Mondays are always pajama day. They tried to mix it up one year, and the people (I'm betting mostly the teachers) rebelled. So, now they don't mess with tradition! I was even more excited about this day because I flew back in from my mom's birthday on Sunday and didn't have to get ready on Monday morning. :)

This is what it looks like when you have to walk to school on pajama day because you forgot that you had called the Uber from school to take you to the airport...I have a few pairs of what I like to call old man pajamas that I usually wear on these days, but it was too warn for flannel PJ's. 

Here are a few options for PJ day. 

I may have to up my game with one of these.

But this is the style I normally wear.

I have two or three pairs of these PJ's. I love them because they're perfect for PJ day, and they're also really great for wearing in an older apartment on cold nights...or when your roomie's sister is visiting and you want to look presentable while walking around avoiding getting ready in the morning...or so I hear. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday was TV/Movie character day. I was discussing this day with my family over the weekend, and I mentioned that I thought I should be a teacher from a TV show. My niece and nephew both insisted that I should be Ms. Frizzle. 

I took a look online, and found that I needed to look like this:
 

So...I remembered a blue dress I had that I thought would work. I printed out some pictures of planets and stars, parted my hair in the middle, and here you have it. My best Ms. Frizzle:

It was kind of funny to watch kids realize who I was.

I only have pictures from one other day--Red Carpet Day (or something similar). I decided that I didn't really want to wear my little black dress and heels all day, so I decided to go for the assistant to the important person on the red carpet. Something like this:

So I put on my black pants, black jacket, and heels. And then I found every sparkly thing I owned. It turned out like this:

I actually was just discussing the wonder of these pants with a new friend at Thanksgiving yesterday. I own them in multiple colors, and she mentioned that she had them in three colors. The jacket is actually a suit jacket from 10 years ago. The pants that go with the jacket went out of style a while ago, but I kept the jacket for a reason I couldn't explain.



And here are the magic pants.

I can't explain how comfortable these are! And they hold their shape well.

I'm wearing my Dak Prescott shoes, and I'm going to link a few sparkly pieces here that are similar to the ones I wore.


This one is crazy expensive, but when it goes on sale, it might be fun for holiday dresses.

Here's another cute option.



Here's another cute option.

Here are a few options for bracelets.


Here's another option.

I love jewelry from Banana and J. Crew because it seems to hold up a bit better than the stuff I purchase elsewhere. I am way too cheap to buy it at full price, so I always just wait for a sale and stock up then.

Okay--I'm off to tackle more of my Thanksgiving break to-do list. Wish me luck...because I might just end up watching another cheesy movie about a woman who finds true love in a small town at Christmas time.

And Then I Wore All of the Skirts...

I have this weird rule that I don't do the summer/winter switch until Thanksgiving break. I always have those last few outfits I want to wear one more time before sending them to the attic for the winter. But I woke up one Saturday a few weeks ago and declared that I was tired of being cold...it was time to get the sweaters out.

I waited another week or so before really giving into fall. And by that I mean, I waited another week before busting out the tights. I guess I started this blog in the spring, so my absolute love of tights never really came out before now. But now you know. I could wear tights every day and be perfectly happy. The pictures below seem to back up this claim.

                                          

I love a good winter wool skirt, and both of these are from J. Crew Factory. The one on the left is a few years old, and the one on the right is from last season. Much like my spring/summer skirts from J. Crew Factory, these are cuts that seem to come up each season in different colors. I'm kind of a fan because, as I was talking about with a co-worker, it's so nice to know how something is going to fit and be able to just order online. I do have a bit of a problem with buying too many colorful/pattern skirts, and then I have trouble avoiding the temptation to wear a white or chambray shirt too often. See above for proof.

I also have become a bit of a groupie for heather grey tights. I have this pair from J. Crew (Quick side note: These are super affordable and, so far, have been pretty durable.) Outfits like this work so well for cold days. The boots/tights keep me warm, the cut of the dress is comfortable, and the button down nature of the shirt means I never worry about my extra winter pounds being on display.

Here are a few similar options:

Look at all the cute colors it comes in!



Here's another cute option.


I think this is the exact shirt I'm wearing with the plaid skirt.


And I actually own two of these shirts because I wear them so much. Feel free to judge.

I couldn't find the boots of mine, but I found a few options from the same brand. Since my research on riding boots turned up the idea that ankle boots are the way to go, I'm including an option that follows the fashion trends.


Ankle boots option


I'm not sure about these, but they might be adorable...

Okay--well, I'm off to finish off day one of "do what I want."

When It's Too Warm for Winter but Too Cold for Summer...

In this part of the country, it seems that there are normally a few glorious weeks that actually feel like this mystical season we call fall.  When I first started teaching, I was broke, and trying to build a wardrobe large enough to survive the year. I didn't have the flexibility to actually have "fall" clothes. It's been a nice perk to be able to buy a few pieces here and there that really only work for this short season. It keeps me from freezing or melting while waiting for the next season to kick in.

Riding boots are my go-to this time of year. I even did a Google search to make sure I'm fashionably allowed to wear them. The verdict is that they're still okay, but ankle boots are slowly taking over their place. So, I guess I'll be looking for ankle boots for next season, but for now, I'm riding (pun unintended, but I'll take it) out the last wave of this trend because it keeps my legs warm. This pair is five years old, and every season I look for, and never find, a suitable replacement. So...I just try to polish them and make them happy. They are a reddish-brown and have a polished look that I love.



Here's one of the looks from my warm-weather-fall days. I decided to play a little with this outfit; I paired my graphic print tee with a little fancier cardigan. I thought it was a fun deviation from my normal cardigan/silk shirt/skirt style. And this skirt is a little piece of heaven. It's an older skirt from J. Crew, and I love it so much that I baby it to try to keep it from getting faded. It's a dark wash denim, is cut like a pencil skirt, and is stretchy. Even though I have a new BR denim skirt I love, I'm still attached to this one.

This cardigan might work.


And here's another option.

And here are a few options for graphic tees.



Aren't they adorable?

Here is a similar riding boot.



And for another fall outfit option, I present my fall uniform:

The second example of my fall uniform is something I wore about a week later, when it was a bit chillier. This sweater is meant to be a fall/spring sweater. Its loose construction keeps it from being really warm, but it is perfect for a chilly fall day. As is to be expected, I put a chambray shirt underneath. I wore one of my pencil skirts from Banana and, of course, my riding boots. I actually have this pencil skirt in four other colors. I think I've written a love letter to it in the past, but I'll put the link back up on here. It's so versatile and comfortable.   

The boots in this picture are actually a different pair. I got them super cheap off season in the hopes that they could replace the ones shown above, but, alas, they don't really fulfill the same role. They're leather because I have a general rule that I would rather have fewer pairs of shoes but have them made out of more durable material. So I don't buy boots made of man made material if avoidable.

I couldn't find a similar sweater--so sorry, but I do have a chambray shirt skirt for you. Here ya go!


Here's a shirt for ya!


I think this is my skirt.














Okay--I'm off to continue my day of whatever I want!

All the Pictures...in the next post...

Hi! Good news--I'm not dead. Bad news--I've actually had to become a fairly productive person, and I have to think a little bit to formulate words sometimes due to the sleep deprivation. But the sleep deprivation is only partly due to being a "busy and important person." Part of it might be because of Royal Pains and the weird dreams one has after watching people have strange medical conditions for multiple hours at a time. But I digress.

I decided to take one weekend and do whatever I want. Even just knowing this weekend was coming helped me work a bit harder to get through some school/grad school stuff and made me less overwhelmed. And it's interesting what you discover about yourself when you ask the question, "If given 2 days to do whatever, what would you do?" The answer for me, it appears is:

1. Sleep
2. Eat donuts
3. Read/write
4. Watch terribly cheesy movies
5. Wear athleisure clothing as much as possible and 90's grunge sweaters and jeggings when real clothes are required.

Oh--and 6. Drink chai lattes.

I think this confirms that I am, indeed, a basic white girl. But as I discussed with a few of my students this week, there's a good reason these trends are popular. Chai lattes are delicious, yoga pants are comfortable, and cheesy movies are a break for the brain. There's a perfectly good reason these things are consumed/worn en masse. And I am not going to feel bad about enjoying things that are enjoyable just because they're attached to stereotypes about people like me. So there. Excuse me while I go put my hair up in a messy bun...

Okay--so, all that to say that I have about a month's worth of outfits to show off. I didn't take pictures every day, but I did do what I could when I actually wore something that seemed like a somewhat good idea. The following posts are groupings of similar outfits that transitioned me from warm-fall to full-fledged cold fall. We're not quite at winter yet since I have been able to hold out and NOT wear my winter coat. I am, for no real reason, adamantly opposed to wearing my winter coat before Thanksgiving. Maybe I take those "everything has its season" thoughts a bit too seriously. 

Okay--so clearly I've missed writing over the last month...hence my long post. The ones ahead should be mostly pictures and links with a few tips on things like spirit week and parent conferences...and the need for friends.

When Fall is Not so Fall-ish

I can't believe another week has already flown by. This week was more than a bit unusual. On Monday, we had professional development which I missed for an eye doctor's appointment. They dilated my eyes, and I didn't think to ask to pick out my new glasses before I lost my ability to properly see...so I think I like my new glasses...they looked nice from a distance. It'll be a bit of a fun surprise when I see them without pupils the size of saucers. But I may end up looking like this.



We'll see...pun unintended, but I'm taking the credit for it.

Tuesday was a really muggy October day, and I wasn't so worried about it until I realized that the inside of my school was like the rain forest exhibit at the aquarium. Evidently a part of the AC broke and was being fixed. There's nothing quite like sweating in front of your students and knowing there's nothing you can do to stop it. You just try to keep your distance and pray for the best. Luckily, I wore this dark colored, short sleeve dress, so there weren't obvious signs (other than the look of distress on my face) that I was melting. But I knew, and it was gross. Luckily it was fixed pretty quickly and the next day things were chilly!

I bought this dress in June, but as we've established before, I don't really get dressed up in the last month of school, so this made its debut on Tuesday. I was a bit afraid that I would look like a Smurf when I went to change at the gym due to the dark wash jean material, and somehow I did not. Happy day! Also--this sucker is so stretchy and awesome that it somehow both conceals unfortunate features and feels like they made a dress out of yoga pants. The best of all worlds! I might have messaged my roomie to tell her that I would wear this dress every day if that was socially acceptable and I wasn't such a lazy laundress. And, it will not surprise you to know that this is denim. Later in the day I was thinking about my life and realized that I've probably own some form of a denim dress at all stages of my life. It's really only the shade and cut that change. 

I took another picture so you could see the shoes too. Unfortunately you can also tell that I am so pasty that my shoes and the wall are the same color as my legs. It's clearly time for tights, leggings, jeans and anything else that covers up my legs. 

I found a few options that I think might have similar benefits. This one has the word stretch in the description and looks super cute in the video. I will note that it has a slit in the back and one thing I love about my dress is that it does not. 

Watch the girl twirl. The dress looks cute.

I think this one might also have amazing stretch to it...

And here's a really cute one that I might stalk until it goes on sale.

 On Wednesday we had an SAT testing day, and I must say that it went REALLY well. The woman in charge did an amazing job organizing it and her team of retired teachers that come in to organize things made it incredibly easy to proctor the test. There were post-it notes in the manual to tell me where to read, and they even highlighted the boxes we need to read. It was a thing of beauty. I feel like proctoring is like roulette. You might get a group of really sweet and awesome students or you might get kiddos that REALLY don't want to be there. We had some really nice kiddos, and my fellow proctors were awesome, so it was a great day. I think the smartest thing our school district did was declare it a half day. It's pretty miserable to try to teach kids who just took a 3 hour test. So it was nice to be able to send them home after lunch and have the afternoon to do things like write recommendation letters.

I'm currently sitting in an airport waiting to board my flight home for my mom's birthday!

I have lots of thoughts about being out, substitutes, and telling your students you're going to be out. I thought since I didn't really have many outfits worth talking about, I'd give some thoughts on being gone. 

When I was a new teacher, I was convinced that the world would fall apart if I was gone. And, I'll be honest, those first few years were pretty rough, and being gone was often more trouble than it was worth. It stunk to know I was going to come back and have to punish my students for being terrible while I was gone. But I also had a bit of a self-importance problem. 

As I've gotten older and more settled in my classroom, it's become easier, most of the time, to be gone. And I've also become aware that my students can indeed survive without me for a day or two. 

And I've also become more and more fearful of becoming Mr. Holland from Mr. Holland's Opus. 

Just today in the work room we were discussing what a terrible message that movie sends. Here's a guy who neglects his family and his own dreams to be a teacher and we're led to believe that it's okay that he gave up these MAJOR things because he helped his students. Don't get me wrong--I love my students and I love my job, but I don't believe teachers should be expected to give up their own families and dreams in order to teach. 

So--I've gotten better about taking a personal day here and there to go home for my mom's birthday or for a friend's Friday night wedding. I just realized that I wanted to be a good teacher AND a caring daughter and friend. And as teachers, it's easy to think you are doing the noble thing by never being gone, but let that pressure go. As long as you leave good sub plans and make sure the class period isn't wasted, it's okay to leave the children for a day in order to take care of yourself or others in your life. 

There is also the question about telling the kids. I would say that you have to decide what will work for you. I am super lucky and have really, really sweet kids this year, so I told them I was going to be out because I wanted to give them a heads up about what they would be doing. And while I keep much of my personal life to myself, I did tell them that it was my mom's birthday. They were adorable and kept telling me to have a good time and to tell my mom they said, "Happy Birthday!" For me, these little things are ways I can share my life with my students without oversharing. It builds a bit of community. I think you have to know your students though. There have been years when I kept my distance and really just stuck to the subject. I still took an interest in their lives and cared deeply about them, but I didn't share much of my life because any deviation from the lesson threw them off and made it hard for them to focus. 

So, to wrap up, here are my best sub tips:

1. Get to know the subs in your building and have a list of your favorites so you can request someone you feel comfortable leaving in charge of your class.

2. Leave a detailed note for the sub with a period-by-period break down of what each class will be doing. 

3. Post-it note all of the copies. Label which class the copies are for and whether the students need to hand them in or keep them.

4. Write a note for the students that tells them step-by-step what they need to do and what they can do if they finish early. I've found this to be a lifesaver because you never really know how well the substitute will explain your instructions to your students. (Sometimes you have class lingo that the students understand but doesn't really translate to someone who has never met you...). If the substitute passes out your letter, then you can hold the students accountable for the work even if the substitute was confused. 

5. Be free! Remind yourself that your students will be fine without you for a day. I hate to say it, but they might be excited about having a day to just put in their headphones and do their work. 

Okay--I'm off to go find a snack before my late night flight on a tiny plane. 

A Few More Fall Ideas and Hamlet the Pig

As I keep waiting for full-on fall to hit, and keep remembering that I live in the DMV, so that's not a thing, I keep trying to balance comfort with seasonally appropriate outfits. I've also been working to balance my work life, personal life, and course work. I've come to discover that I'm not sure you can balance them. It might be more of enjoying each and catching up on the others later. A few weeks ago, my favorite night of the year happened--Opera in the Outfield

It combines all the lovely things about DC:

1. Free things

2. Professional sports

3. Amazing artists

4. Interesting people

Basically, the Nats let people come sit on their field and watch the opera for free. Oh--and Mars sponsors it so they also give you free candy. It's like Halloween for adults. And it really is like Halloween because now they even let you try on costumes and take pictures:

I mean, what's not to love? The only thing I really dislike about the idea of going to the opera is having to stay in my seat and be quiet for so long. This solves that problem, includes tater tots, and gives me a chance to run around in the same place where Michael A. Taylor stands before he robs people of home runs.

But on to what I've been wearing to work. As I mentioned in the last post, I've been rather committed to the sleeveless dress/cardigan look. And I realized last Friday that I've worn the same thing, basically, every Friday since school started. Here are a few of my favorite looks from the weeks:

I loved both of these because they let me mix neutrals and color. And I liked throwing a belt on with the second dress to break things up. 

Here's a cute option.

And here's another option.

And if you're lazy like me and simply stock up on colored cardigans so you can just grab things in your closet and go to work, this is a great time of year. Here are a few cute cardigan options:

This one seems like a great fall option.

And this seems like an awesome color for fall.

And this seems to be the same color as mine.

Since it's been SOOO long since I posted, I have about a million pictures, so here are a few more dress options for fall. The first one I wore in the spring with Birks, but I think it worked better with these shoes. 

This one seems similar...and there's a patterned option too.

The other dress is one I got SUPER on sale and with a gift card from J Crew in the spring.  I can't find anything similar, and it was probably too spring-y to be worn in the fall, but whatever. 

And I end this incredibly long post with a boring picture that confirms that I do indeed wear the same uniform each Friday: flow-y shirt, cardigan and jeans. Okay--I'll try not to get so far behind and to be full of more wit and humor on the next post, but I'm signing off for the night. 

I'll leave you with one of my favorite videos: