I Love Green...

OOTD day 2 of school


Love this outfit, too! Two other teachers wearing a similar green today. A good green day!

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Getting Back in a Stylish Groove

1st day of school OOTD:


I {{{{LOVES}}}} this dress! The color, the eyelet, the fit...the POCKETS!!
:)
It was a good day, but MAN, my feet are killing me!

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First Day of School Tomorrow!

After a long and grueling week of staff development, the kids will finally be back tomorrow.  A large handful of them came in to say hi at our open house this week, but not all of them.  Tomorrow will be a great day.

Here are two of my outfits from this past week--gotta get back into the groove, people!  Keep forgetting to leave my iphone upstairs.  Or just running late (tough to get back into the swing of things!  The hardest part?  Eating and peeing by bells.  UGH!)

On THIS day (and the day before), it was so cold I froze my but off!  

 On THIS day, and the day after, it was way too hot!  Not sure that I like the Saludos.  I think I may have the kids "art them up" after school starts.  They could make a great pair of spirit shoes.

Too much time on the computer today making lesson plans keynote (ppt).  Must. Log. Off.

Thanks for reading!

Some home TLC

Holy crap.  Summer sure flew by!  I have only two more weeks to enjoy summer, get ready for school and finish up my home projects.  Can't complain; it's been a good one.

I have to start with an interesting story from a recent event that's sill on my mind:

On my last visit to my B&M, my PS said to me:  "Wow!  That's some reward you got!  That's the largest I've ever seen!  You must have been cheating on me ordering online."  I've been thinking about her comments ever since.

1. To what extent is Big Brother JC (or little sister PS) watching me shop?  How much information do the SAs have access to?
I never told her I was shopping with my rewards card OR what the card amount was.  This kindof freaks me out.  I know they use computers, but do they have our shopping profile at their fingertips?  Kindof makes me want to pay cash!

2.  Am I supposed to be loyal to one PS at one store?  Have I broken some unwritten shopping etiquette law in having more than one PS at more than one store? 
I am an instant gratification gal; if one store doesn't have something I want, I'll drive to another to get it (there are 5 B&M stores within driving distance for me to choose from.  Only one is a chore to get to on a regular basis, and I like each store for different reasons).  I have never used the 'open the store early/stay open late to let me shop' or the 'put a bunch of different outfits together in my size appointment' options with my PS.  I have asked them to keep an eye out for particular items on sale for me.  I try to make purchases when they are working, although I won't not buy if they're not there.
 
Thoughts?  Maybe I'm giving it too much thought.  I'd love to hear what you think.  I'm planning to post this query on the JCA mothership to see what others think; I know there's at least one SA who frequents and comments regularly.  Would love to hear her answer to #1!

Anyways, I am posting a few outfits I was mindful enough to snap photos of over the past few weeks.  They feature one of my NYC buys at the Madison Ave J.Crew Collection Store:  the Stripe tie-front top.  {{Love!!}} I've already gotten my money's worth on this shirt (which was on sale!)

Sorry you can't really see the stripes in either photo.  The first pairing is with the knit maxi skirt that I've surprised myself and have worn the heck out of since I bought it this past spring (thanks for the push, Ina!).  The other outfit is the same top, tucked, with a sweater from last summer and a 'vintage' skirt I found on eBay.  (Mom said,  "That's what they call color chunking, right?"  I love my mom.)

As I've said already, other than the tippis, I really am not a fan of much of the new merchandise @ JC.  I troll the website and eBay every morning watching for pop-backs, super deals and 'vintage' items, but I'm happy to report that I'm feeling happy not finding much!  For some reason, I feel like putting my energy into my home has removed some of my clothing shopping fanaticism.  Or, I may have just refocused my obsessive/compulsive habits in another direction...

I have spent the past month or so raking through my closets and hauling many, many, many loads to the consignment store/donation drop-off.  I've also taken care of some necessary projects:  I've painted the bathroom, hallway--including doors and frames, stairway wall and my bedroom.  I've begun to sort through and weed out stuff in the basement, and I've organized my husband's clutter in our back room and garage a bit.  Phew!  I'd love to have gotten the basement done and the kitchen painted, but I honestly don't see it happening.  I yet plan to get some prints framed and hung and make a visit up to mom's before school starts.  My favorite fruit of my labor (other than the total peace and calmness I feel from having the space around me organized/de-cluttered and clean) is the bedroom painting that I did. 

The first photo is my inspiration:  http://www.houzz.com/photos/41207/Our-Home-eclectic-bedroom-seattle

The next photo is the finished accent wall in my bedroom--just after painting.  LOVE this color!  I will post more photos when the room gets finished.  The other three walls are dark brown.  I found white curtains on sale at JCP, a quilt that matches the teal wall perfectly at Herbergers, and we'll be picking up a bedroom set that I found on Craigslist before the end of August. 

Now if I could only find a sweater in that deep teal color and a wool pencil skirt in chocolate brown. 

Thanks for reading!

Patience pays off!

Hooray! I won the waiting game on the skirt I have been stalking all summer! The # 2 Pencil skirt in deck stripe in orange was marked down to $89.99 yesterday, and the 30% promo worked with it. My B&M honored the online discount, so with my teacher discount, I paid $53.54 for it. Not the steal of the century, but a heck of a lot better than the original $118! (I actually paid nothing, because I used my rewards card to buy it!)

I did cave in to the promo online yesterday and ordered the linen perfect shirt in festival green ($34) and the Lucille dress in scalloped eyelet in brilliant purple ($63) (along with a swimwear top to get free shipping--thank you JCA community for the tip to do this...). Both were items I'd been stalking as pop backs in my size. I ordered the dress in a size larger than what I usually take, but it wasn't a final sale item, so if it doesn't work, I can return it. Really, unless the armholes are gapingly large, it should be fine. I wish I'd been able to find them in a store when things were 40% off, and I'm sure the prices were lower in store, too, but I think I'll get my cost/wear out of the two items.

Fall is tough for outfitting at work; my school has no air conditioning, so September can be rough. Summer wear isn't appropriate, so linen & cotton dresses work well. I hate that the stores are sporting cashmere right now (drool!)...it will be a long while before it will be cool enough for that. Oppositional disorder: desperately not wanting summer to end while looking longingly at my boots, sweaters & blazers.

I know I already posted this picture, but now it's an official outfit in my wardrobe! Again, hooray!


Thanks for reading!
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