{not a} suit, part II

tee by Lim Heng Swee, Gap

skirt, Calvin Klein Outlet

White House Black Market blazer, Goodwill

belt, J. Crew Factory 

    Some Mondays call for an obnoxiously pink belt - and a tee that mixes typewriters and chemistry. I haven't worn my pencil skirt for a while, so it was a refreshing change from jeans. I thought the graphic tee and pink belt added a playful touch.
    As of today, there are exactly 34 more days of school ... not that anyone around here is counting. ;) While I'm still focused on what I can do for my students as they near the end of fourth grade, I confess that my thoughts have turned to next year - I've found myself reflecting a lot on successes and, on the flip side, the routines, procedures, and instructional approaches that need rethinking and revising. It will be a mad rush from about now until the end of May - we've got May Day practices, state testing, a social studies project, and much more to accomplish.

   I know it's hard to tell, but {not a} is a *very* intermittent series, where I play around with conventional outfits, such as suits and twinsets. (It's named after the imaginative children's book "Not a Box" by Antoinette Portis.) Find my other {not a} suit here and my super-sparkly twinset here.

{not a} suit

UK Style by French Connection tweed blazer, Sears

petite trousers, Banana Republic Factory Store

top, Calvin Klein Outlet

     I don't play with texture as much as I'd like, but I thought this was a fun way to combine textures in a rather monochromatic outfit. I wore this for the first day of my three-day stint teaching intersession. The pant has a very subtle herringbone pattern (which I tried to capture in the photo below, but not as clearly as I'd like) that plays nicely with the tweed and satin-like material of the shirt.

    Let me tell you, it's a little rough starting a work stint, no matter how short, the day after Christmas! Also, I've been sleeping in since school ended, so it was an even harder wake-up call.
    Despite the problems of waking up (I will never ever be a morning person), I've been having fun with the second-graders. We've read lots of great books, including Mo Willems' "Pigeon" books. They particularly enjoyed "The Pigeon Wants a Puppy," as most of them read it along with me and began talking to Pigeon.

       Random news: Don't schedule doctor's appointments for a couple of days after Christmas. You might be unpleasantly surprised by the number on the scale after stuffing yourself with holiday goodies ... Truth be told, I don't really remember how much I weighed before Christmas, since I don't weigh myself regularly, but the number did seem an itty-bit higher. This suspicion is confirmed by the fact that these pants fit a bit more snugly than I prefer. Guess I'll be joining the masses in resolving to eat more healthfully and exercise a bit more in 2013 ....

** Want to check out my other {not a} post? I created an unconventional twinset here.