Day 17: Awkward and Awesome

Shirt: Target; Skirt: H&M; Tights: Don't remember...mighta been Aardvark, though; Shoes: Wild Diva; Belt: Came with pants I no longer own; Jewelry: "vintage"

Awkward
*  Today's outfit
* Not getting called to work today
* Having to write a letter to the Department Chair begging to be let back into class
* Tripping in front of students and killing their interest in the math lesson
* Realizing that I make the same annoying facial expressions at the teacher that my students give to me: The raised eyebrows of surprise, the half frown of contemplation, the furrowed eyebrows of skepticism, etc.
* Going shopping with mom and sister and not being able to buy anything
* LA traffic
* Realizing that this mess with enrollment could have been avoided if I'd just turned around and went to the next window instead of waiting to pay at home online. :(
* Realizing that I've learned nothing new in my "methods" course, but only been reminded of my cool teaching tricks from last year.
* Observation hours.
* My glasses.

Awesome
* Cuddling on the couch with hubby to watch two movies this week
* Using Power Point to make a six piece hall pass template
* Catching up with colleagues and getting the dish on what's been happening at the middle schools
* Naps on the couch with husband
* "Vintage" jewelery shopping in my mom's room
* Looking at GranpaDad's cufflink's and remembering him with mom...Marty and GrandpaDad would have really liked each other.
* Tresseme dry shampoo...this stuff is my new best friend!<----Wait, maybe this is awkward?
* Remixing my dress as a vest and seeing the looks of surprise on my friends' faces when I tell them about it.
* Glue guns...just because they are.
* Getting an email from the Department Chair that she wrote me my letter and my begging was effective! Yayness!

Day 16: And I Don't Even Like Basketball...

Sweater: Gifted; Shirt/Pants: Target; Shoes: Guess; Belt: Thrifted

I'm not a Lakers or basketball fan at all! I've been avoiding this color combination for years!

       I absolutely hate how some color combinations have just been stolen from fashion and stereotyped. This is one of them; well, maybe only because I live in southern California. Purple and yellow and complimentary colors and are supposed to go well together. But every time I put them together all I can see is a giant Lakers logo! It drives me nuts! It's the same mental block that stops me from wearing red, white, and blue {patriotic...not that I don't love my country or anything...}, red and green {Xmas}, black and orange {Halloween}, or black and yellow {bumble bees...and those were both my high school and college colors}. Today I went for it though, because my only other option for an undershirt was lime green...I choose "Laker Fan" over "Barney Fan" any day.
       Speaking of basketball, I found myself some more hoops to jump through at CSULB today! Turns out, my sob story letter was not enough to convince Enrollment Services to reverse my dropped class. No, no. The head of Enrollment Services emailed me today to tell me that I need to complete yet another petition process and will be subjected to yet ANOTHER $10 fee. This petition process involves getting a bunch of signatures from hard to reach people and running around to all of their different locations. Luckily, the gal I spoke to at the college of education about this was very nice. I got all teary when I explained my predicament to her and she was very understanding and told me to just breathe and it would all be ok. She also told me that the person I needed to get a signature from was out all day in a meeting and to email her. So I composed one of the longest emails of my life explaining the massive error in communication that has occurred this semester over three lousy units. Actually, those three "lousy" units are quite important to me, but calling them a nasty name somehow makes me feel better about the whole situation.
       On the bright side, I was told that I look cute today and not a single person said anything to me about the Lakers. :)

Day 15: Color Blocking

Dress: Target; Sweater: F21; Boots: TJ Maxx

       This is what I wore out today...until I discovered that I would need to run around the CSULB campus for the better part of my day. You see, it was a lovely morning. I woke up and was not called in for work {boo, but it was still relaxing} so I promptly logged onto my computer to pay my tuition after finally getting all of my finances arranged properly. I paid {with a little sob} and went about my merry way. About an hour later I get an email telling me my bill for CSULB. Ok. Fine. It came just in time. Half an hour later I get a notice that I am delinquent on my tuition and that my class is being canceled. WHAT?!? You bill me and penalize me all in the same day? What the heck is going on? So, after a mini panic attack, I threw on my fake Uggs, comfy jeans, and a comfy shirt so I could quickly run across campus if needed.
       Now, if you've never been to the CSULB campus, then you don't know the importance of proper attire for traversing the campus. First off, the campus is built on a hill and so has many stairs and ramps. Second, the college of education {where I'm supposed to be enrolled} and enrollment services are on opposite side of the campus. This is roughly a five minute drive and a 15 minute walk. With this geography in mind, imagine being bounced back and forth between the college of education and enrollment services several times. This means a lot of walking, both uphill and downhill because the only parking near either office is metered parking.
       So, off I went. Luckily, I didn't need to go back and forth between the two offices. No. I only needed to wait 15 minutes in one line to talk to a man at a window who told me to go wait for 20 minutes in another line to talk to another man in a window. The second man in a window then explained to me that my best bet {after hearing my long sad sob story about being a graduate student and being given incorrect information about initial enrollment, yadda yadda} was to print out my receipt for tuition and write a letter petitioning to be reinstated in the course. At this point in the day, I didn't have time to go home to compose and print such items or the office would close. The second man at the window, who was actually quite nice...his name was Michael, kindly suggested that I go to the Horn Center on campus to print these items. Well! Let me tell you about the Horn Center! If you're a CSULB student and haven't been to the Horn Center, GO! It's awesome! It's a computer lab with a bajillion computers and a dozen printers! And you use your student ID to buy and release print jobs at ANY of the printers in the room! It's a procrastinator's dream location! So, I used this new found gold mine to print my receipt and compose my letter and print it all out in less than twenty minutes! I ran back to enrollment and gave my materials to Michael, who spoke to his supervisor and filed my petition with the head of enrollment services and told me.....that I would hear back from them in about a week and a half. Talk about anti-climactic!
       Enrollment drama aside, I was very happy with the outfit I mixed up today. Even better was that hubby though it was cute too. Actually, the word he used was hot and that's why I love him. In fact, he just now shared with me that he'd like to see me wear the outfit again sometime. He makes my heart melt. <3

    Oh, yeah! And I'm half way through the 30 For 30 Challenge! Yay! I'm going to be so excited to wear my other clothes! But, I do appreciate the challenge I'm being faced with and I'm excited to know that if I had to pack light for an extended period of time, I could still put together some killer outfits.

Check out all of my outfits for the challenge here!

Days 11-14: Me? Behind? Phsh!

To make up for my absence, here are some quick mini-blog-isodes to fill you in on my 30 For 30 Challenge and the other cool stuff that happened this weekend!

Friday
Shirt/Dress (worn as vest)/pants: target; Belt: Charlotte Russe; Shoes: Guess

       This is what I wore to my old stomping grounds: the first school where I taught full time. I had an amazing day there working with both old and new friends. I felt I was spread a little thin though because I had so many people to catch up with! It was so wonderful to see everyone again and talk about all our old topics!
But, the best part? Getting to see my students. My FIRST students. I'm not gonna lie; my eyes got a little misty. They had all grown up so much! They looked great and I got lots of hugs. I even got to meet some of their "boyfriends" and "girlfriends". I think I'll take that to mean that they remember me in a positive light.
          Now for the outfit. I felt super creative this morning when I rolled up my pink sweater dress to remix it into a vest. I felt very preppy with my vest, blue button up, and gray slacks and that I was lookin' good! Until I saw these pics. My pants and I have an awkward relationship: it seems that they are either half a size too big, or half a size too small. These lean on the half size too big end of the spectrum. This was the ONLY picture hubby took of me {YES, hubby finally took a pic of me!} where my pants did not look like a saggy mess. And they are a size 2. ::bangsheadondesk:: I give up...for now.

 Saturday
Shirt/Scarf: WalMart; Pants: Target; Sweater: Kohl's; Headband: Big Lots and is headed for the trash.

Hubby and I decided to hit the town! We had a lovely Saturday afternoon at the Block of Orange. We ate linner (the meal between lunch and dinner) at a fish restaurant that I cannot for the life of me remember. The bread was good, but the fish was mediocre. Good thing I can't remember the restaurant's name!
       After linner we headed over to Dave and Buster's for drinks and video games. Because that's how we do dates: Junk food and video games. I LOVE it! We racked up a ton of tickets and walked away with some pretty neat prizes. First off, let me tell you how many tickets we had: 94,000 {approximately}. And there were no X-Boxes or other gaming systems in the toy room {because this is how we wound up with our original X-Box and several games}, so we had to find a LOT of stuff. How about 6 autographed baseball grab-bags where you a guaranteed a signed MLB baseball? Sure! Still have 30,000 tickets left. Ok...How about a lamp that plays an iPod {I need one to illuminate my home made document camera}? Great! still have 15,000 tickets...Umm? Candy? Oh and some spy toys for our niece? And...and...more candy? And...oh forget it. We'll use the rest later!
       At this point I've had a couple of drinks and a lot of candy, so I decide "TODAY IS THE DAY!" What day is this, you ask? You see, I've been wanting a second set of ear piercings since circa 1996 when EVERYONE was getting a second set. Well, mommy doesn't like piercings and tattoos so I had to at least wait until I was out of the house. I've been putting off my second set for years literally because it is so easy to do. I don't need to make an appointment and I don't need to research the possible nasties that might accompany it. The worst that could happen in an ear piercing is having it ripped out within the first six weeks...and I've already done that once. So, SATURDAY was THE DAY! I walked into Claire's at the Block and politely asked the woman at the counter if I could have my ears pierced. There's an awkward video of the whole ordeal, but I'm not done editing it. :) Painless and quick and I'm the proud owner of additional holes in my head.
       After the ear piercing, we headed over to Cafe Tu Tu Tango for some more drinks and dessert. I had coffee and a S'mores platter. It was DIVINE. {period}

Sunday
Shirt: Don't remember; Skirt: Reference; Belt: Old Navy; Socks: Kohl's; Boots: TJ Maxx; Necklace: Vintage

       Sunday was Aunt and Uncle day. This means we took our niece out to play and let her mommy and daddy get some peace and quiet. We got to run around and play games all day! :) We took our darling girl to a new place around the corner called Endless Food and Fun. Apparently it's somewhere in between a Chuck E. Cheese and a Dave and Buster's on the experience scale. The best part though was LASER TAG. Folks, I love to play laser tag. My next venture will be paint ball, but for now, laser tag is the bomb because I can wear whatever I'm comfortable in and don't have to worry about it getting ruined or causing me further injury.
       Lets hear it people: Who's the woman!?!?!?! That's right! I rocked the laser tag arena in HEELS! Now that's how a real lady spends her Sunday afternoon!
     Oh, yeah, the kid. She had a blast! It was her first time playing and it was a good thing we bought the unlimited package! After the first game, she didn't want to do anything but keep going back in that black lit room! Aww...and here my SIL thought she was going to have a girly girl. Sorry.

       Oh, and in a few outfits I've taken pics with my brown jacket. I hope this isn't braking the rules. I figured that since it's my go-to outerwear, then it doesn't count as an every-day item and shouldn't be included in my 30 For 30. Am I wrong? I mean, it's winter, but a SoCal winter doesn't exactly call for a traditional "coat" and I still find the high fifties quite chilly and jacket worthy. Let me know if you think I'm cheating, but I wasn't intending to.

 Monday
Shirt/Pants/Earrings: Target; Sweater: Gifted; Boots: Guess

       Here's another iffy move for this challenge. Originally in my 30 I had a red and white striped sweater. I do like this sweater and I've even worn it on the blog before {but not in the challenge}. The problem I faced this morning was a lack of clean clothes and the fact that I really did not want to wear that red and white sweater. I've been avoiding it for the entire challenge because it just looks blah with all of the bottoms that I "packed" with me. So I made a substitution. I swapped out the red and white sweater for this lovely grape one. I think I'll be much happier with this in my arsenal and already have great plans for it.
       Oh, and please pardon the "spirits" in my photo. I've been so lazy about getting my photos taken lately and they've all been done at night. I'll blame this one on my sister though, since she's the one who took the photo. Love you, Mitsy!


Whew! There you have it. Four days passed and I kept everything on the level! I'll work harder at keeping myself up to date this week. Thanks for hanging in there and checking in on me!

Days 8, 9, & 10: Triple Whammy!

     











          Umm.....yeah. I've been busy. Like, too busy to snap photos and upload them to my blog with a short little description. But here are my outfits for the last three days!

         So, for the last three days I've been subbing in an 8th grade math and science class. It's been awesome! I love it! I got to play with my super cool toy, do a science demonstration, and teach some kids how to multiply and divide monomials. I've always had this fear of 8th graders. I've been afraid that they're just "too cool for school", if I may. When I was a high school AVID tutor, back when I was 18 and barely out of high school myself, I was tutoring a class of freshmen. This one kid, let's call him "Jack", had a pretty big attitude. On a good day, he was a great kid; someone I would have wanted to be friends with a few years earlier. But on his bad days, he was every parent's teenage nightmare. He was angsty and moody. And he was tall. Compared to me, he was a giant. So, this one day I'm in the classroom and he's having one of his days. He was not participating in tutorial at all. My very green inner teacher told me to push him just a little bit more. "Jack, have you come up with a question, yet? I told you we would be coming back to hear from you," was about the gist of my pushing. Jack didn't take it very well. I don't remember the exact words that I said, but he jumped out of his chair, stood what felt like a million feet tall, and screamed at me to leave him alone. I mean, he really screamed. I was terrified. He stomped out of the room and I didn't even turn to see where he was going. Then the teacher asked if I was ok. After the initial shock of feeling like a total screw up at my first quasi-teaching gig, I began to sink into a slow humiliation as I realized that every kid was looking at me and expecting me to cry or go home. Jack scared me, there was no denying that. The question I faced was: How are you going to react? I wanted to go home. I wanted to crawl in a hole and cry for a little while. I wanted a hug. I wanted to apologize to Jack for upsetting him -- because I don't like to upset people. But the kids would walk all over me for the rest of my career if I did any of those things. So, I swallowed my pride, slapped on a smile, and told the teacher that I was fine and would watch the class while she chased down Jack and notified administration. Freshmen aren't that far away from 8th graders. I've always been afraid that another adolescent is going to blow up at me like that. That they're going to figure out that they're actually taller than I am. A lot taller. That if they really wanted to, they could throw their weight around and do me some serious damage.
          However, no such thing occurred to me this week. Instead, I had a lot of fun talking and working with this class. In fact, the students were very well behaved and most of the students were able to both socialize and work at the same time. I love it when I see a kid accomplish this. It means they've finally figured out that they can live in harmony with school. Lesson learned? If I was offered a position to teach 8th grader, I would take it and take it without hesitation. :)
          Which is why I've been behind on my blog. When I'm having fun at work, I throw myself into it. I stay waaaay late after the bell, planning and preparing for the next lesson and activity. I read up on the material so I can continue my facade of knowing everything a kid could ever ask me. I build projects and gadgets and round up materials for fun and messy interactive activities. I'm in work mode from the time I get up to the time I go to bed and, if I'm really in bad shape, I dream about work. And that's been me for the last three days. Tomorrow I have a new class that I've had scheduled for a while now. I won't be as enthusiastic because I don't know them yet and don't know what I'll be teaching them, but I'll do my best to have fun with them while sneaking in their lessons.
        

Vital Update: Hubby is AWESOME!

And here's why...

remember a week or so ago when I broke my camera?

Weeeeeell....

 

Yayness! And it's got two more mega-pixels than my old camera! The zoom is also quite impressive, especially since it isn't a telescopic zoom.

Hubby knows me so well. While I love the jewelry and flowers, what really gets my heart going is a good gadget picked with love. One of his most memorable gifts was my projector. Not a slide projector filled with slides of our romantic moments, but a digital projector for my computer that I can use at work. I always think of him when I use it and it's comforting to know that he's there with me at work.

So, lesson learned?

Don't throw awesome camera into purse and let it bounce around willy-nilly.

I'm gonna protect you little camera! Yesh I am! I'm gonna get you a cute wittle matching case and keep your screen clean!

And I will call you Zaphod: because you are flashy and exciting and will see much silliness.

All hail ZAPHOD!

Day 7: Just Call Me "MacGyver"

          I haven't been very creative during this challenge at all. For those of you who know me from way back, I used to be very creative with my clothes. Leaning on the eccentric side. I once wore a petticoat as a poncho. To school. But as I grew up and entered the working world, I had to dumb down my creativity and could no longer tuck, fold, pin, and stitch as I pleased. NO MORE! Do you recognize my sweater? It used to be a boyfriend cardigan. Well, it technically still is, it just doesn't look like it anymore. Friends, I wrestled with this thing for a lot longer than I wanted to. First, I tried to wrap it around like a kimono. It wasn't long enough to tie behind my back, so I was going to need to use two safety pins. Years of experience with safety pinning has taught me that if you safety pin a garment once too often...it will get a big nasty hole right where you don't want one. And then you'll be sad that you've lost your favorite item. Eventually I just said "Screw it! I'm going to tie it in the front with a knot and I don't care how it looks!" Well, as I crossed the two ends over each other I kind of liked what I got. There were no odd bulges in the front or back, and the two tails in front hung in a nice drapey kind of way. ::lightning bolt to brain:: "I have an adorable brooch I can use to secure this thing!" and then I had one little flap that wouldn't fit in the pin, but it had a button hole on it, and there was a button right next to it! Ta-Da! And I'm happy with the outfit. :)

I want to tell you a little bit about my jewelry. Most of it is classified as "vintage" jewelry because the actual explanation is much longer than that. I've had the majority of my costume jewelry since the time I was about nine or ten years old. This was a time in my life when a lot of my older relatives were dying. I was sad of course, but the silver lining was that I inherited a lot of their "stuff". {My family has hoarders on both sides and I am most definitely a hoarder. Hubby helps to keep it under control by talking me out of keeping things I don't need or use.} It was mostly women who were dying and the stuff I ended up with fell into the range of clothes, shoes, and jewelry {and one really cute doll carriage from my great-grandmother}. I kept most of it for playing dress-up until I got older and realized that I could work them into my wardrobe. The clothes and shoes eventually fell apart, but the jewelry survived the journey. Friends, I had a TON of this cheap costume jewelry. I've lost or broken a lot of it over the past fifteen years {yikes, that's a long time!}, but I still have a LOT. And that's where most of the jewelry {like the necklace I'm wearing today} comes from.
          Actually, the necklace I'm wearing lost its clasp several years ago and is being fastened by the clasp of the silver chain I'm also wearing. The best craft investment I have ever made was a package of jump-rings. Those suckers will fix ANY piece of jewelry and they're super easy to put on and take off!

Oh, yeah. It's Valentine's Day!

  Hubby got me a gold-dipped and preserved rose. <3

Aint he sweet?

 

It took me a while to figure out what to do with the lovely thing, but I eventually settled on displaying it in one of the vases we got for our wedding. As much as I wanted to wear it in my hair, I'm pretty sure I would have broken it. And that would have been sad for many people.

Thanks baby! I love you! Can't wait to see you tonight!

Day 6: I may have cheated

          Technically, this is day seven. However, I did not wear an outfit yesterday. I spent most of the day in bed or in my pajamas. Then, husband decides to take me out to dinner. He's sweet like that. Except, again, I am totally not hearing "Honey, I want to take you out on a date," and proceed to throw on jeans, random tee, and my fake Tom's {I've got a lot of knock off shoes...}. My hair was not washed, my make-up a day and a half old, and I threw on my black frame glasses.  I was not in date mode...again. So, now instead of being three days behind on 30X30 Challenge, I am now four days behind.
          In addition to feeling guilty about missing a day, I am also regretting not keeping a pair of skinny jeans in my 30. I have two pairs of slacks and my jeans and khakis are both flared. I foresee the use of pins in the near future to attain a skinny look.

The Sub Life, episode 3

           This is my absolute most important item that I take to every job.  It is my Holy Bible of Substitute Teaching. In it, I keep all the essential paper-work required for each district that I work in. I keep all the important phone numbers (including one for every school in every district) for each district. It also is home to THE master calendar. Without this book, I can't work because I don't know every date for every job that I have accepted for the future. Trust me, I've tried and I end up accepting jobs that over-lap because one of them was booked waaaaaaaaay in advance. Wanna see what's inside? Good. I thought you would.

 1) THE Master Calendar: It's color coded by district and shows me six months at a time. I write the name of the school and the teacher for whom I'm subbing in each little date box.
2) Elementary Classroom Report: Elementary and secondary classes actually need different reports. This one has a place to note behavior, lessons taught, students that were helpful/harmful, and extra notes for the permanent teacher. It also has cutesy graphics. :)
3) Middle/High School Report: This report has blocks to write notes for each period. Usually the lesson plan is the same for each period or for two period in a row, so you only need space to indicate students of note. I've been told that secondary teachers do not appreciate cutesy graphics...but I think it's bologna.
4) Pocket Dividers: These are a great way to divide up your school districts if you are subbing for more than one. You can place your time cards and other important forms in each pocket so you don't have to dig around for them when you get to the office.
5) Clear Page Protectors: These are a great alternatives to divider pockets, but I use both because I like the dry-erase quality of the page protectors {another post on that later}.
6) Teaching Journal: This is a good way to record the jobs that you have. You can use this to tack your own marketability or you can use this at an interview to show other school districts how often you work in a classroom.
7) Individual District Calendars: I use these to track how much work I get in each individual district in the event that I need to drop a district.
8) Contact Labels: I use personalized sub reports that already have my contact info on them. However, there are sometimes when I run out of forms and so I use these on a regular sheet of lined paper so that teachers can get a hold of me.
9) Personal Time Card: This is for keeping track of the hours I keep at each district to double check that I'm being paid the right amount. Most pay stubs will simply say "Sub Job" and then indicate the number of days and multiply your daily rate by that. Trust me, if you ever find yourself questioning a pay check, you're going to wish you had this!

          This book keeps me organized and on top of my sub jobs and my finances. It's also impressive when an administrator catches a glimpse of it because it tells them that I'm serious about my job.

Happy Subbing!

30 For 30: Day 5

 

"Heads or Tails?" That's what I thought to myself this morning. Mostly because I thought the bow of my scarf-turned-belt looked like a tail.
          I stepped out of my fashion comfort zone with this outfit. No, it's not the purple tights. No, it's not the obnoxious plaid scarf-turned-belt. It's all the black. I'm not used to wearing so much of one color {unless it's a dress}. It felt wrong to pair a black skirt with a black tee. Not only that, but the effect it had without the tights or the scarf-turned-belt was so funeral-ish. But, what is this challenge for if not to push my the boundaries of my creativity?
         I did get a lot of compliments on the outfit this morning though {as I dropped off the last of the grading I had left as well as creating a print out of the scores for the permanent teacher to put in her gradebook...which I hope she does, because I spent a lot of time planning for those kids and grading their work}. To be fair, I think it was the tights that garnered all the attention. They are quite nice, don't you agree?
          I do have to apologize for the poor quality pictures {I know, I know; second time this week...} but I was experimenting....and the battery on my other camera ran out. So, I decided to improvise by using my Flip camera for video and then converting the video clips into stills. I assumed that since my video is in HD that the stills would turn out fairly nice. Clearly, there is something left to be desired in this process. But, they will suffice until my camera charges up or until I get my butt down to the repair shop for my Nikon CoolPix {which I adore and desperately want to have fixed!!!}
     As a closing thought, what do you prefer to know more about in my life? Do you like the fashion posts more or would you rather hear more of my tales and tips from the world of substitute teaching? Leave me a comment! I promise I won't hurt you!

30 For 30: Day 4

It was "jeans" day at work. I kid you not; every teacher I interacted with today was wearing jeans! It was awesome! It also made me feel less self conscious about wearing jeans to work. I listened to well to my student teaching supervisor's, who convinced me that it was blasphemous to wear jeans to the classroom. I still did and still do...but I feel insanely guilty about it!

 

          Here I am at day four, and the only thing that I've remixed is my shoes. :( I feel unaccomplished. I feel uncreative. I feel lazy. Or maybe that's just because I've been dragging a box and a half of teaching crap to and from work. Hopefully, it's giving me a little bit of a work out.

          Speaking of  work, I have work next week! I'm kind of excited about it. I was asked to do a four day assignment AND I got a call to work at my old school {my first school<3}. Even though it's not a long term job, it is full time work and that's always appreciated. And I'll get to show off my cool new toy {wireless tablet} to more kids. See why I like middle school? It's because I'm still at that emotionality.     

MOVING ON....

          Do you ever get a recommendation from someone to watch a show or a movie and their really excited about it, but you just never get around to watching it, then you finally get around to it (say, a couple of years later) only to start kicking yourself for not checking it out sooner? That's been the story of my life for the past two years. My friend Dan at my first teaching job was a total kindred spirit: he's into sci-fi and other quirky stuff like I am. He's recommended a lot of movies and TV shows to me since we met. Most of them I put off for several months, which means that I didn't watch them until after I was out of a job. At that point I would immediately fall in love with the movie or show and become extremely frustrated with myself for not watching it sooner so I could gush about it to Dan. Anyway, several people have recommended to me that I watch the new Dr. Who series. I had heard of the Doctor growing up {mostly on the sci-fi channel as references and viewing memorabilia in the sci-fi channel catalogue}, but I had never seen the show. Until now. Now that it is in it's fifth season. And. I. Love. It. It's heartbreaking to have to stop after watching three episodes in a row {each hour long episode}. How on Earth could I have NOT wanted to watch a show about a time traveler in a PHONE BOOTH???? I only watched Bill and Ted religiously and then their cartoon show on a regular basis! And he's English? And he changes form on a regular basis? And he fights evil in the pursuit of making the universe a better place? Naturally, I'm completely obsessed. To top things off even more, the last episode I watched last night had Giles from the Buffy series as an episode character. He was an evil alien posing as the principal of a school. There hasn't been a single dull episode and I adore the humor. It's English humor and that's my favorite kind. AND there was a Hitchhiker's {a book recommendation that I should have pursued a LOOOOOONG time ago as well}  reference in the season 2 premier. Obsessed. That's me.

30 For 30: Day 3

          I'm getting along all right with this remixing thing...although I haven't actually remixed anything yet! I'm glad that I wore this sweater though. I got it for Christmas and I wasn't sure about it. This is why I put it in my 30, so I could see it in many different lights instead of just letting it get lonely in my closet. And now, it's growing on me.
          Speaking of being grown on, I'm also surprised at how quickly I bonded with some of my students. There are some that I will miss very much. I hope I'll get to see them again. :) On the bright side {because if I don't look on the bright side I'll be a miserable person}, I get to sleep in on Friday! Only time will tell how much I'll actually get to sleep in, but it is relaxing to think that I might get to sleep in until 6:30 or 7:00.
          I also met the teacher I have been subbing for. We worked the class as a team today and will do so again tomorrow. I love team teaching, but it does have a better effect when you get to plan things out in advance. Tomorrow should be a smoother transition.
         ::Brain Shutting Down::
         ::Drama Levels Maxed Out::
         ::Need to consume junk food::now::
         (XP

30 For 30: Day 2

          Sorry the quality is so poor, but it was my long day today. The choice was to either take pics at work with my MacGyvered document camera (yes, you read that right) or to not take pics. So I took pics. But, here is outfit for day two; I like it, but it's not very interesting.
         In other news, it looks like I'll be losing my long term position. I was just notified this afternoon that the teacher I am subbing for (who hasn't been in all year) will be coming back tomorrow. I found this out in the middle of period four. Oh, and it is my responsibility to spend two days catching her up on all that has gone down while she's been out. Umm....I only got a one day run down and she's supposed to be a more valuable teacher than I am. Yes. I am bitter. I've only poured my heart and soul into this class in a determined effort to make right the fact that I am their FIFTH teacher this year. They should have only had one sub, and I don't care if it was me. I'm sure that their first long term sub was fine. I know that the one before me was great. I had a teacher die in the middle of the year when I was in seventh grade and I remember nothing that the replacement teacher taught us. Maybe I was just traumatized by the fact that my teacher died (even though I didn't like her).
          The good news is that I have LOTS of time to complete my observations for my methods class now! Yay! Yay? More good news is that I am absolutely in love with the new Panic! At the Disco single "The Ballad of Mona Lisa". It has a beautiful melancholy tone to appease my self pity but with an anthem like feel to pump me up for overcoming this disappointment. Stay tuned for another outfit tomorrow!

So Very "Arthur Dent"

 

This outfit is about a week old, but I really liked it, and I liked the pictures even more. I love taking photographs in a mirror. There's just something fascinating and paradoxical about it. This is one of my favorite outfits to wear because it makes me want to run out and go on an adventure. My original thoughts were Indiana Jones type adventures, but my mood has since changed and I'd rather wear this outfit to go traipsing around the galaxy in a phone booth. All I need is my towel and I'm ready to check out the wonders of the universe! I'm glad that I picked most of this outfit to include in my 30 for 30. I have a feeling I might wear a few different renditions of it.

So, there's been a lot that's happened in the interim of silence I've bestowed upon my fledgling blog. First off, I broke my camera.

It still takes pictures, but it's nearly impossible to manipulate the touch screen and I can't set up the automatic timer. This means that I can't use it to take pics of myself {since hubby won't do it or isn't home at a good time to do it}. So I'll be hunting around the house for other cameras to use. Luckily, Hubby and I are gadget junkies and have such electronics laying around in closets and cupboards.

Also,

I'm working! Full time!

I got a long term sub position teaching 7th grade language arts and social studies. I'm glad that I have it, and the kids are pretty good {most of them are actually Adrienne's from last year}, but trying to play catch-up half way through the year is exhausting! I literally had to hit the ground running after the kids had most of the year with little or no structure. Thank goodness that the sub who was in there before me is a lot like me {ie: she's awesome} and put in most of the structures that I would have put in myself. So the kids were partly trained to begin with. It's still tiring trying to catch-up with everything though. 

I also started my methods class to obtain my credential to teach math. The class is one night a week, but it's from 7pm to 10pm. And that sucks. A 15 hour work day is definitely not fun at all. On top of the class, I need to conduct field work and observe a middle school classroom {because I've never seen one::rollseyes::}. Twice a week I must bid my prep period adieu and suck it for the sake of having a job next year. A job with benefits and a living wage. 

:: I :: CAN :: DO :: THIS ::

30 For 30!! AKA: I've lost my mind

          Thank you Adrienne for introducing me to the world of blogging and getting me involved in Kendi's "30 For 30 Challenge." If I my brain explodes, you'll all know why. I will now take on the task of maxing and matching the same 30 articles of clothing for 30 days while teaching full time, finishing up my math credential (which involves field work and a class that does not end until 10 pm), taking care of my house/wifely duties, and keeping up with my blog. I feel like I'm missing something...I'm sure it'll hit me eventually. Oh, and I'm down an entire box of jewelry to boot. >:P
          Even though I'm late, I'm still going through with my 30 For 30! So....here it is! Here is my wardrobe for the next 30 days as well as my outfit for Day 1!

 I know it's redundant, but  here's my outfit with a breakdown of its pieces. All the other pictures I took were horrible due to the fact that I leave home before sunrise and don't get home until dusk. I'm working way too hard for way too little money AND it's negatively impacting my blogging life-style!

I mostly wore this outfit as a vehicle for wearing the tights. I thought they were just so '90's! Or they at least reminded me of being a little girl again. This probably would have looked a lot better with black accessories instead of brown, but my brain was processing the tights as having a beige under-tone instead of a gray one. Oh well! Just means I get to wear them with again!