my riff on the lady tie

Merona buttondown, hand-me-down

skirt, Target

necklace, eBay

silk tie, from Banana Republic top

      Thursday was school colors day (red, white and blue). I grabbed the silk tie to lengthen the necklace, and initially had the bow tucked in the back. Then I decided that the bow was too pretty to hide. I wish it was white instead of celadon to pick up the dots in the skirt, but I do like the overall effect. It's my take on the lady ties that Gracey of Fashion for Giants rocks with such flair. It's a novel way to lengthen a necklace, and the silk drapes so beautifully. I'm thinking about sewing my own silk necklace extenders by repurposing some thrifted ties - it could really pep up an outfit with a little color and pattern.
       I like the idea of this navy buttondown, but for some reason it's difficult to tuck. It could be because it's a size too big, but I've noticed that it always puffs up and looks terrible.  I tossed it on my donations pile, and hope I have the willpower to restrain myself from snatching it back up.

      The first two days of break were pretty glorious. Admittedly, I didn't do any grading or lesson planning, but I did:

• make apple oatmeal for breakfast. It was lovely to not have to wolf down my breakfast in 10 minutes, the way I usually do on a workday.
•  play around with Mod Podge for the first time. (It kind of smells, and wow, you really have to be careful where you stick your paper, because it will be there forever, crooked edge, air bubbles, and all. I just don't think I'm cut out for decoupage, but it was fun to try.)
• start "Women Who Run with the Wolves" by Estes
•  take a long nap
• make it to 6 a.m. aikido class, which is one of the things I miss about my full-time-grad-student schedule
• run a few long-overdue errands

    It doesn't sound like much, but they were nice quiet nonproductive days at home. Sometimes it's restorative to do nothing, right? ;)

will work for spaghetti

Merona buttondown, hand-me-down via E  

Grass linen capris, hand-me-down via R

Banana Republic necklace, gift

      It was one of those days when I put on my pants (multiple pairs, mind you!) and wondered why they felt so tight. Urgh. I'm betting/hoping it was just a post-lunchtime food baby ... 
      The neat thing about this outfit is that it's almost entirely comprised of hand-me-downs and gifts (except for the brown sandals I wore).
       I wore this to attend/help out at a showcase at a school I've worked at. (I'm a sucker for a free spaghetti dinner ...)  I wasn't sure exactly what I'd end up helping with -- ikebana? slinging spaghetti?-- and I didn't want to look too casual. I was shooting for a "teacher off-duty" look - practical, comfortable, but still a little put-together.
       After walking around and taking photos of the various activities, I ended up helping with the ikebana. Sadly, I wasn't the most helpful, given that I've only done ikebana once and wasn't even sure which branch is the subject and which one is the object, but the teacher was gracious and handled the crowd with aplomb and patience. At the end of the evening I ended up scrubbing spaghetti off the cafeteria tables before enjoying an ice-cold soda. 
     I was feeling a little down after my job interviews, so it was nice to attend and be warmly welcomed by one of the teachers I collaborated with when I was there. She even went so far as to mention a possible job opening, for which I'm grateful. It's nice to have a much more experienced teacher express faith in my abilities. :)
      Random story: These pants are not from R, but to be precise, R's aunt. R was at her aunt's house one day and with great amazement fished a brand-new bra - tags still on! - out of a rubbish can. R asked her aunt why the bra was in there, and her aunt replied that it didn't fit ... so rather than return it, she decided to toss it. Mind-boggling, huh?

Try-it-out Tuesday: statement necklace & bag

Merona buttondown, passed down by E.I.

skirt, Old Navy, old

necklace, eBay

Tignanello bag, Goodwill, $4.99 (retail: $85)

Dansko Calliope sandals, $36, 6pm.com

     I wear this skirt all the time, but this is it's first star turn on the blog. Why? I usually wear it very casually - to run to the store, weekend errands, etc. But recently it got a little dressed up for a weekday lunch with a friend. And it liked it!

    This gorgeously patterned bag is my first thrifted bag. I had much better luck from the start finding great clothing at the thrift store, but all of my previous visits to the bag section yielded worn-out, torn, stained, or just blah purses. This will comfortably hold several books (I just tossed in a paperback copy of Graham Salisbury's "Eyes of the Emperor" and a hardback of "Inside Out and Back Again" by Thanhha Lai) and probably even a composition notebook. It will even make a great informal camera bag. Mom likes this bag so much, I think we'll take turns using it. 
    Mustard is still a color I'm hesitant about, but I do like how the necklace picks up the mustard in the bag pattern.

lessons in boldness

    I put this outfit together on Wednesday, and realized it's a promising sign of style progress. As my profile blurb notes, I'm trying to become a "pencil-skirt rockin', artfully accessorized woman."
I looked at this, and thought, hmm ... not bad. :)

 Merona buttondown, previously loved by E.I.

pencil skirt, Calvin Klein outlet

necklace, eBay

belt, Old Navy

      First off, thanks go to Katie of Hems for Her for inspiring me to pull out my pencil skirt. See her workin' that skirt here and here. It is so inspiring to me to see a teacher dressing with such confidence and verve. I've been guilty of sporting the tee and jeans look in the classroom a lot, but I'm realizing that how I present myself is key as well. If I put all that thought and care into my lessons and relationships with students ... why not show students how much I enjoy my work by dressing with pride?

    I have to admit that I almost chickened out on wearing the colorful necklace. I was headed for a work meeting and wondered if this necklace was too much. But then I decided that if I wanted to wear it, I should wear it. To me, it elevated the whole outfit from ho-hum professional to fun yet polished. Looks like I'm learning how to have fun with my accessories, one eBay necklace at a time ...

green, navy & enamel: yes, sir!

     The whole time I was wearing this outfit, I wished I had worn white jeans instead. I think the green and navy would have really popped against the white! But it was still kind of rainy, and I have a horror of getting my white jeans dirty.

     Merona navy short-sleeve buttondown (previously loved by E.I.)

green sweater, Old Navy

enamel necklace, eBay

     I wore this with the collar buttoned, and was surprised that it wasn't uncomfortable -- I always thought it would be. I added the necklace because I kind of remembered that Elaine of Clothed Much had dressed up a buttondown with a necklace and it looked fantastic. I looked up the post after I wore this outfit and realized, oops --  she recommends belting a sweater/cardigan to avoid a manly look! Just call me sir, I suppose ...