A Week and Two Days

What have I been up to???

I've been getting to work as early as possible so that I don't have to stay long afterwards and still get some paperwork done. The location of my school is absolutely perfect. It is such an undisturbed place since it used to be farm land just 10 years ago. There is still a farm next door although I haven't seen the cows there in a year or so. Also, Geese fly over the parking lot as I drive in, or they are feasting on whatever is on the soccer fields. I adore my school's location!

My kid prefers to go to bed with his "Choo Choo" (Thomas the Train) books. I love this and hope that we can really keep him enthusiastic about reading.

During a trip to the Goodwill, I found him this super cute Thomas the Train pull toy! I was so very excited to find it! I cleaned it off with Lysol wipes and showed him how to play with it. He was scared at first, but he has grown to love it! Yay!!!

I made this really great dinner... well, I didn't actually make it. My mom made the turnips and my mother in law made the squash casserole. I actually screwed up the only thing I made, the chicken. IT was too spicy because I seasoned it with cayenne pepper *shrug*... Zack didn't want to eat it because it was too hot for him, so I took it for lunch for two days. It was yummy to me.

Charlie started eating and loving "applts". He doesn't pronounce them correctly, and we don't expect him to, but I think it is awesome that he asks for them.

I fixed a slinky that had gotten twisted!!! It only took me 30 years to figure it out, but better late than never, right?!

I found Charlie some house shoes at Famous Footwear for three bucks! He will only wear them for about 10 minutes though before he takes them off and loses them.

I painted my nails blue and then quickly took it off because I felt that it was entirely too wild of a color to wear, so I painted my toes with it instead.

I found a little green frog on the courtyard door at school. I tried to get one of the science teachers to "rescue" it and take it to her room, but she informed me that it didn't need rescuing and was happy where it was. I think that I really just wanted it as a pet and for her to keep it in her room, but oh well...

I cut corners (pun intended) because I didn't feel like taking the staples out of the paper. Cutting the corners off made the paper lie flat, so it was a genius idea!

I wore a pink silk shirt that I thrifted and a pair of pants that I can now wear since I've lost 12 pounds (from April to now) to my school's open house. The night was fantastic! (side note: This pic was taken in my upstairs hallway. I painted it this summer, and it is the only part of the house that is not some variety of beige)

So... What have you been up to?!

Insipration Monday and Old School Clothes

This week's inspiration over at Two Birds is Elizabeth Olsen. I have no clue who she is, but I'm going to step out on a limb and say that she is related to the Olsen twins...

The only thing I have even remotely similar to this dress is a dress I bought several months ago from Francesca's. I would've worn it, but it is a tad too short to be worn to work. So... I decided to wear a skirt that I thrifted last week. I feel that it has that sort of 80's retro-digital look... kinda like it was created by a DOS computer...

I realize that you can't see the dots that make up the plaid... BUT they're there... The pink in the skirt is also more of a fuscia, the yellow is like a mustard gold, and the blue is actually a little purple-ish, but the colors are washed out on camera.

I can actually really appreciate this old school size 14 (isn't it crazy how sizes have changed over the years?!) because it has taught me where my natrual waist is. Just like my father, I am high waisted with a short torso, so I have found that low sitting clothing sometimes don't fit me as well as things that sit higher.

This skirt is made of my favorite fabric, silk, and it only cost me $2.50! Woot Woot!!! I am always so proud of my silk finds because of this post by Vivienne at Thrifted Shift. I don't often read books (a shame... I know), so finding someone who can provide me with the valuable notes in a fun blog format is right up my alley! I paired this look with a denim jacket when I got home because it was far too warm to wear it out of the house, and I haven't owned a vest since Bush Sr. was president. This jacket is a veteran in my closet... I can't remember when I bought it or how much I paid... It has just always been there for me.

When I pulled it out of the closet and put it on, my husband was like, "Whoa! That jacket is old school! Is that Guess?" I was a little offended that he called my beloved jacket "old school", but I couldn't argue with his observation. I actually don't think I've had it that long, but when you have a piece of clothing that never ages, you just lose track of the years.

Randomness

I got this last week... I wonder what honor will be bestowed upon me! I will need to be on my best behavior, so that it is something great!

I wanted to decorate my desk this year, and I found these fabrics. I chose the jungle green and black fabric. Now, our entire room is decorated in animal print and has a theme of Where the Wild Things Are.

My kid REALLY likes sparkling water... a lot! He's been drinking it since he was about eight months old.

This is one of the dresses my mother made for me using a thrifted leopard dress and a shirt I bought from Target several years ago. The cardigan is from Loft and the belt was thrifted from The Drake Closet. Charlie didn't want to stand close to me because he knew I was about to leave for work.

My husband painted this piano that I bought from our neighbor's garage sale. It is perfect for a little boy in all of its shiny blackness.

I made a lasagna that fell together and was awesome! It's just layers of ground turkey, spaghetti and tomato sauces, riocotta cheese with parsley and parmesan, mozzerella cheese, and lasagna noodles.

I'm Not a Brat... Just Uninspired

I grew up an only child even though my father has two sons from his previous marriage. I didn't meet them until I was a junior in high school. I am also the youngest grandchild on my mother's side (I have about 25 cousins)... so, I can often times seem like a brat because I'm used to things going my way... BUT... I am not. I just like things to go my way, and I don't like change (yeah, I realize how bratty that sounds). Well, this week at work, I found out that my duty (since I don't have a homeroom) was changed from an afternoon duty to a morning hallway duty. All I have to do is stand in the hallway and check for passes for about 40 minutes once a week. While I complained about the change, I said something like, "I'm such a brat." One of my co-worker/roommates (because we share a classroom) was like, "Yeah, you are... but not all the time... just sometimes." I felt so bad even though I know he didn't mean anything by it. I will be sure to shut my mouth and stop complaining about things that aren't an issue. I'm just really uncomfortable with a lot of changes, and this year has brought on a LOT of changes at my school.

Because of all these changes (friends going to teach at other schools, change of duty, new students, etc), I have found myself uninspired. I'm not particularly excited about anything, and this is totally different from how I normally feel about work. I don't know why I feel this way, but I'm just not into it this year. Long story short... I had to apologize to a kid for my terrible attitude towards him because I had to miss lunch trying to get his locker open (yes, he had to miss lunch as well, but we spent 10 minutes eating in the classroom while the rest of the class returned from the cafeteria). He kept apologizing while I wallowed in my pity and craptastic attitude. I felt terrible! Especially after finding out that the locker issue was an error of the administrators and not the kid. When I realized how horrible of a person I was being, I knew that I had to apologize and ask that kid for forgiveness... so I did just that this morning (and I also asked if his locker was working). He accepted my apology and said that his locker worked just fine.

My new students are very sweet, and they haven't been a problem, but I really do miss the students from last year... but now that I think about it... I think it took a while for me to adjust to last year's kids at the beginning of the school year.

I found inspiration in the locker kid's grace and the fact that I know that I'll grow to adore my new students, and I'll be just as sad to see them move on to eighth grade next year.

It's Our Anniversary

Zack and I celebrated our FIVE year anniversary this weekend. No, we didn't do anything interesting or amazing... we just had a regular date night. We went for dinner and a movie at Studio Movie Grill and saw The Campaign (which is absolutely hilarious!). He ate a bacon, mushroom, swiss burger, and I had chicken fingers with sweet potato fries (Yum!!!). Afterwards, we went to the mall and walked off our food... and I tried on things I really liked.

I guess I was channeling Elton John with the sunglasses and the shoes, but I think they are both super duper cool! And if I were a hat wearing church woman, I'd be rocking this hat at Sunday service... but my husband doesn't like big hats (sigh). After we left the mall, we went to the Cheesecake Factory (which as I mentioned before, is our designated spot for celebrations) and got dessert. We also ran into a co-worker of mine who was celebrating her and her husband's 25th wedding anniversary! Cool, hunh?! Well, on Sunday, we went to the park to workout.

I jogged two miles for the first time ever!!! I also walked an additional mile. Zack ran ten miles and was covered in so much dew and sweat that he looked like Jack Frost (ewww!). I even did the Bolt pose!

And.... on top of all that... I wore my Jazz nail polish! I thought it was very cute and simple.

As I told my co-worker while we waited on a million calories of cheesecake... "Five years down... Five more to go!" (and of course, a lifetime after that!)

Inspiration Monday - First Day Fresh

Today's inspiration for Two Bird's Inspiration Monday is Jessica Biel.

I initially wanted to wear a silver silk skirt from the Loft, but when I paired it with my shirt, it didn't match (sad face). I had to think quickly because I needed to get out of the house and get to work because today was the first day of school. As I had a near meltdown in our closet, my husband suggested that I wear pants, so I paired my lace shirt with a pair of high waisted linen pants! The entire outfit was thrifted!

The lace shirt and sweater are from Forever 21, and the pants are Liz Claiborne New York. I got them all (plus the pearl and gold earrings that you can't see) from my local Goodwill. I've had the shoes forever, and I think they're on their last trip down the school hallways because they have absolutely NO support. My back and feet were killing me by the end of the day.

Excuse the terrible lighting... this was taken in my kitchen super early this morning before we turned on all the lights.

My First Thrift Haul!!!!! Yippee!!!!

This haul is going to be a bunch of pictures, but I hope to one day work myself to a video... I just don't have the time... or patience. *shrug* Anyhooo... While I visited my parents this past weekend, mama and I went to the Goodwill in the Historic West End.

Lets just say that I LOVE this place, and I might take a short trip there every time I go back to the southside. My parents and I have always donated to this location since it is not too far from their house, but we had never gone inside. I loved that there was a mixture of people inside and the music was awesome. They also had a very good selection! We went with the intention of finding another dress that my mother could transform for me... and we ran into this BEAUTIFUL piece of art!

It is a backless halter dress by Moda International that is made of 100% silk! As I put my hands on it and mentioned how pretty it was, another woman said that she was just saying the same thing... so, I snatched it up and told my mom one of my thrifting rules... "If someone else says that she was admiring something you're looking at, you should get it because as soon as your put it back, she's going to snatch it up!" I found a brown tee, a pair of boots, and a brown and silver belt to complete the outfit. Mama promises to have it ready next week. I also plan on finding another dress or some material so that she can use the top for another dress. Take another look!

In the last few weeks, I have found these items (some at Plato's Closet and some at Goodwill)... First are the belts...

I also found some great shoes including some Minnetonka Moccasins which are super comfy...

I will wear these booties and pair of boots with a lot when Fall gets here!

And look at what I stumbled upon at my local Goodwill!!!

The color of this shirt is amazing, and it was made in India! How cool is that?! The picture doesn't even do this shirt justice because it literally pops in person! So that is it... have you been thrifting lately?

Winning Wednesday

I was an absolute winner today! Firstly, I stopped by Starbucks to get breakfast: a fruit cup and a croissant. As I waited for the croissant to be toasted, the girl making the coffee (the barrista?) asked me if I'd like a latte that she had made for a customer who never picked it up. I'm not a coffee drinker, but when she said that it was a cinnamon-caramel-something-something-latte, I agreed to take it... FOR FREE!!!

Then... During a training session at work, we were given an icebreaker type of activity where we had to get initials from our colleagues for the things listed on the sheet. Because I am incredibly competitive (even when there is no competition happening), I was a rock star and got all but one set of initials. I didn't know it at the time, but there was going to be a prize awarded to the person who was able to get the most initials. I got the chance to choose between a king size PayDay or a dollar. I chose the dollar!

Lastly... Today was the day that our amazing PTA catered lunch for us. This luncheon is always filled with delicious food and scrumptious desserts. They also raffle off tons of prizes like gas cards, restaurant gift certificates and cute baskets with school supplies. I didn't win any of the major prizes, but I didn't expect to win anything since I'd already won a latte and a dollar. Well... I totally won the very last prize!!!

On top of all of that, I have already knocked off tons of things on my to-do list! I... AM... WINNING!!!!! I think this is a pretty accurate depiction of how I felt all day:

The Not-So-Easy Maxi Dress (Pinterest Project #1)

I went to JoAnn's fabric store last week to get materials for a maxi dress I found on Pinterest. I went into this project with all intentions of learning how to sew and being an amazing seamstress... *sigh* Lets start with this picture...

I got out these materials and handed them to my mom... then I noticed that the freaking shirt looked like it had been washed in bleach or something! Some of the shirt was yellow and some was the original mint green color. I was dumbfounded!!! So... I decided the best thing to do was drown the rest of the shirt in clorox and water. This evened out the color and made the shirt usable for my project.

Everything was going well until mama got to the elastic thread (which seemed to be a problem for EVERYONE trying to make this "oh so easy" maxi dress). The skirt is supposed to ruffle up with the elastic thread, but apparently not all machines are equipped to use it correctly. The last update this woman posted on her blog stated that some people would need to take apart some part of the machine (but a visit to a technician is recommended) to tighten some screw...

My idea of screw was "Screw the chick who said this was the "easiest dress ever" and screw this stupid maxi dress project!" So.... mama (who was super calm and unaffected by all the mishaps) and I (who couldn't stop cussing and fussing because my hopes of being a project runway star were fast moving down the drain) moved on to something else.

Mama was able to turn this dress and shirt into this really cool dress after we followed the original instructions for the dress (side note: the directions we followed first were modified from the one that actually worked for us).

She was also able to turn this...

Into this...

I didn't do any of the work besides trying to make a necklace out of my mom's scraps...

yeah... so... it tanked like the Titanic, and what does my sweet mother do? She says "Don't worry about it! I'll try to do something with it and have it ready for you next weekend... Maybe a bracelet or something" She is so amazing! I wish I had her patience and understanding.