Dressing Room Decision

Since we purchased our home in 2007, we've painted every square inch of paintable surface inside and out, except for the hallway and dressing room.  The hallway is too high, and I don't care much about it, but the dressing room is ready for its facelift.

I've painted all the trim white and the walls are all white or light gray, so this room just sticks out like a sore thumb.  I know I want white trim (Benjamin Moore's Simply White).  But I've been trying to decide between two of my favorite colors for this room's walls.  I'm pretty consistent as I paint my rooms.  I have two (maybe three) colors I really love and have been successful with, and I don't care to stray away from them.  The choice is between BM Moonlight White and BM Classic Gray. 

Both are perfect, can do no wrong, and will look lovely in this bright, light-filled little room. Both would be beautiful (I think) with the black and gold accents I have to put in there. But what look do I want? Here are some inpiration pictures I've come across to help me decide (or make me more indecisive, maybe).




 

I have gold frames, and a wood dresser, plus clothing racks and a giant shoe storage thingy.  I'm hoping to get on this project this weekend, since I have three whole days off.  But I have to make a decision!  What are your thoughts?

All source information can be found on my Pinterest here.

NYC













It so strange that it has already been over a year since our trip to NYC.

That trip was so spontaneous. Rand called me at work the Thursday before school got out for Christmas break and asked me if I wanted to take a road trip.  By Friday our plans had turned into a flight to New York, where we could stay with friends for an entire week.  We flew out on Christmas Day.

From the moment our plane landed, I felt like I belonged there.  You would think that a girl with social anxiety would hate the big city and all the people, but I loved it.  There, I was completely anonymous.  No one was looking at me or thinking about me.  No matter what I looked like, wore, or even maybe what I did, everyone around me was much too busy to stop and judge me.

And the people there were incredible.  I heard so many different languages and saw people wearing the most stylish clothing I had ever seen, just walking down the street.  Anyone who lives here will tell you that is not done here. If you look too different, someone might just call you out on it.  I'm actually too afraid to wear my "Sure, I'm a Marxist" shirt out of the house.  It has the Marx Brothers on it, haha, but I'm scared someone might not get it.

But more than anything, I loved the subway.  I LOVED it!  It was so easy to find my way around, it instantly made sense to me, and I didn't have to drive!  I hate driving so much.  I think I would be so happy to just take the train everywhere I go and never have to drive a car again.

We're planning to go back soon and see New York City when it's warm.  I'm also trying to convince Rand that we should live there.

All these photos were taken with my Kodak Retina Reflex IV.

What are your thoughts on life in such a big city?

Do you feel free to wear what you want?

New shoes!

Let's have a moment of silence for these faithful old friends:


My Brooks Pureflows.  What incredible shoes.  We ran a lot of miles together, didn't we?  A little over 300, actually.

So that means....time for new shoes!


Brooks PureFlows 2, welcome to my feet.

Although while picking these up, I came across another pair I think I need to own.

"Experience the next best thing to naked feet with the hyper-light PureDrift. Spread those toes with two split grooves that allow your forefoot to flex through its three functional units. A hardly-there upper has a close fit and provides a little more coverage than a birthday suit. When you really want to feel free as a bird, remove the sockliner for a zero drop experience. Feet, meet feel."


Cool.  I'm not brave enough to replace my favorite shoe, but I really want to try these out.  

What running shoes are your favorite? 

{Music Monday} Carly Simon




I'm liking this little Music Monday thing.  Let's keep it going with Carly Simon this week.  This one doesn't include Itsy Bitsy Spider, but it's still great.


My Formula for Getting Dressed


Getting dressed is so hard for me. Managing to find something every. single. day. Not spending too much time on it, but still looking good, making everything match, somehow taking the weather into consideration, plus accessories... I am terrible at being a woman, I think. But I would still like to look nice, so I need a simple formula.

Anna Dorfman from Door Sixteen recently wrote a couple of wonderful posts about her wardrobe here and here. She basically has a uniform that works for her and she mixes and matches according to that uniform. Her clothes are fabulous and actually pretty close to what I would want to wear. I love this method of planning outfits-just a basic uniform and I can mix and match the pieces.

I've got this on my mind because I'm planning a big shopping trip soon celebrate the end of my credit card debt (!!!) but in the past I've never shopped with a plan. I've just bought things here and there that I liked, then I came home and had no idea how to put them together.

So here's my plan: decide on my uniform, figure out what pieces make up my uniform, buy those pieces in different colors.

Here's my uniform:

legging jeans or pants + top + cardigan or blazer + scarf + plus boots, flats, or wedges + jewelry

Easy.  Maybe a belt thrown in here and there if I'm feeling skinny.  But this is pretty much it.

Anna is very lucky that she can wear jeans to work, so she says she mostly lives in skinny jeans.  I'm very jealous, because I can't wear jeans to work most days. So, I'm just going to make sure I have plenty of skinny dress pants in my work clothing rotation. Here's a look at my shopping plan:

Legging pants

All of these are from the Gap, where I can pretty much always buy my clothes and be happy. These are their legging jeans and I LOVE wearing them. I recently bought a pair of their Always Skinny jeans and I don't even wear them.  For me, my jeans need to be just denim leggings that take the shape of my legs.

The top two rows are pairs I would wear outside of work, since they are denim. The bottom two rows are khaki, so they would fit my work dress code. But all of them would fit into my basic formula, and pretty much year-round.

Easy. Let's move on.

Tops

Tops would be the easiest category to shop for.  All of my shirts are basically some version of these four--button up or basic v-neck. I really need a new white button-up, though, and the bottom left has cats on it, so I need it. I tend to get tops from anywhere, though, especially resale shops. If I can stick to the styles I know, though, I can worry less about whether or not to tuck, button, etc.

Cardigan or Blazer

Layering drives up the wall. I always feel like something's bunched up or things aren't laying right.  But, it's my best bet for being prepared for different temperatures, since being a teacher means teaching inside but standing outside for recess duty, and looking more put-together. So it's blazers and cardigans for me, and these are my favorites from Gap. A basic black, a fun stripe, a crew neck and a v-neck.  And neutral colors here, since I can't have as many.

Scarf, shoes, and jewelry


Scarves and jewelry...I don't know.  I'm not really shopping for these items since I already have what I need for now. I think the scarves and jewelry I really want will have to wait for another post for another shopping trip.

But let's talk about shoes.




I'm hoping these will be my shoe purchases this time around. First we have the Toms wedge...in floral!  That floral reminds me of the 90's for some reason, which I'm convinced is where I really belong.

Below that is the J.Crew Cece printed ballet flat. Not sure if that's the final choice, but being an elementary teacher means flats most days. I usually buy the cheap ones from Target, but I'm ready to try a higher quality flat to see if they'll last longer.

Next is the Toms Desert wedges. I just think these will always work with my legging jeans.  Always.

And finally, the Steve Madden Troopa boot. Love these boots since the first time I saw them on Janae.

So there you have it, my easy formula for dressing myself. Pick one legging pant + one top + one cardigan or blazer + a shoe + scarf and jewelry. Then go. Am I crazy or does anyone else do this?

Now I just need to learn a formula for hair and make-up, and maybe I'll look okay most days.

How do you figure out what to wear?

How long do you spend getting ready in the morning?

Green







In only a few short weeks it will start getting a little warmer and then things will start turning green.  Everything will start sounding and smelling so good outside and it will be time to RACE!  Aaahh...I can't wait.

These are from my Kodak Retina Reflex IV sometime in the past.  Two springs ago?  Yes, because I don't have bangs.  I love taking the camera outside when it's warm.

Right now there is ice everywhere outside.  Yesterday was a snow day.  My husband and I are lucky enough to both have jobs that get cancelled due to inclement weather.  So we got the day off together and spent it cleaning our house and listening to records.  It was lovely, but one is enough.  I want green.

Do you have anything coming up that you're counting down the days to?

Modern Macrame

Just a question, has anyone else come across this image on Pinterest?


And did you fall in love with it and follow the link and find Sally England and more images like this one?


Well, I did.

I discovered that Sally England creates these macrame works of art using skills she picked up reading macrame books from thrift stores and tutorials on the internet.  When I read this I immediately thought, as I always do, "I could do that!"

Then I happened to mention at my parents house, while trying to introduce my mother to Pinterest, that I had found this image and wanted to try macrame.

Wow.

Turns out, my dad already knows the ropes.

My parents started telling me about all the things my dad used to make, including plant hangers, wall hangings, room dividers and even a hanging table.  He started telling me all about what it would take to create the room divider in the first picture, and, while he assured me that he thinks I could do it (thanks, Dad) he warned me about how difficult it would be and what I would need to do first (thanks, Dad).

He made me examples of all the basic knots that he knows and gave me a bunch of cord to practice with.  I'm practicing my knots, and then we're going to make a small version of the wall hanging first before attempting something so big.

I'm also really wanting to make the hanging terrarium in the second photo.  That one doesn't seem so complicated, since I've made basic macrame-less plant hangers before.

Here are the samples he made for me to practice:




I'm really excited about this project, but I'm even more excited to get to know this artistic side of my dad.  My dad is an incredible guy and I love him, but we've never really had that much in common and don't ever really spend much time together.  I hope we can work on this together.

Family, I hope you don't mind getting macrame for Christmas this year. :)


Read more about Sally England here.  She's good!


Do you like to create anything for fun in your spare time?

Do you share any interests like this with your parents?

Warby Parkers and exciting news!


Ahh!! I love these glasses! I don't have a prescription.  I just really feel like I belong behind glasses. So I'm going to order them.

As soon as I pay off my credit card in a month and a half (!!!).  

I have exciting news!! This post has so many !!!!!

Well, exciting news for me. You may not care. I'm going to teach fourth grade next year! I've taught first grade for four years now, so I'm ready to branch out and see what another grade level is like. Unfortunately this also means I will need to figure out how to buy a nearly new classroom library.

This leads me to my next point...I'm thinking about trying Donors Choose to see if I can gather up a new classroom library.  Books are an incredibly important part of a classroom, and very few of my first grade books will be just right books for fourth graders.  To do this, I need to figure out how much money it will really cost to buy a reasonable classroom library, and figure out the Donors Choose website.  Besides that, garage sales, used bookstores, and Scholastic bonus points are going to be my new best friends.

Are you making any career moves anytime soon?

Any fun style purchases?

Is it silly to wear glasses if you don't have a prescription?

Note to self for my next long run


My long run today was 8 miles, and it was great, except that I was running against the wind the whole time.  I took off in one direction from my house and went 2 miles, then I turned around and came back, then I went 2 miles the other direction and came back.  


Yes, I was listening to 'N Sync.

Before I went out running, I read several articles on how to prepare for a long run, since this is my longest distance so far and I was all nervous about hurting myself or getting stranded or something.  Then right before we were getting ready to go, I had to help Rand find his wallet, then I was in a hurry and I just took off without doing any of the things I had meant to do to be ready.  Fortunately, Rand was only running the first four miles with me, then he stopped at our house and got on his bike for the rest of the distance.  He grabbed some stuff for me, but the whole rest of the run I was thinking about all the things I should have done to prepare.  So, here you go, my list of things I will never again forget to do to prepare for a long run:

1. Get hair under control.  My head must be shaped like a cone, because headbands always just slide off my head.  I have to use little clips, and since I'm still growing out my Zoe Deschanel bangs, it takes 50 of them.  But it is worth it to not have a single hair touching my face.

2. Underdress. It was so cold yesterday that I was all prepared to bundle up and brave the weather today.  Then it got up to 60.  Good thing I was running back by my house so I could drop off my jacket.  So...I guess dress so that you are comfortable standing still outside, then dress down one step from that (leggings to capris, capris to shorts, jacket to t-shirt, take off earwarmer, etc.).  I can't handle running when I'm too hot, but it's not too bad to run a little too chilly, so from now on I plan to err on the chilly side.

3. Take sport sunglasses if it's sunny.  I was a little skeptical of these because they look silly.  Really, cat-eye sunglasses are the most flattering for my face shape and I've never considered wearing a different style.  These are kind of ugly.  But, they are also really useful and they look pretty much like every other pair of sport sunglasses, so I'm over it.  Not only did I squint less during this run, but the little hairs that I wish had been pinned back by a few more little clips at least could hit my eyeballs.  Perfect!  Mine aren't anything special.  Just $20 from Target, Champion brand.
4. Have plenty of fast music (that you are not sick of) on hand.  That bpm stuff is real, too.  Here are a few songs besides 'N Sync that I like to run to:
  • Wild One-Flo Rida
  • Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gansta-Geto Boys
  • Livin' la Vida Loca-Ricky Martin
  • Our Song-Taylor Swift
  • Telephone-Lady Gaga
  • Baby-Justin Bieber
  • Prison Song-System of a Down
  • Jam-Michael Jackson
  • Lights-Ellie Goulding
  • Black or White-Michael Jackson
  • The Edge of Glory-Lady Gaga
  • Gangham Style-PSY (I know, I know...)
5. Take some water and a little snack.  I was lucky to have my personal assistant biking beside me, but I need to start planning how I'm going to carry all this stuff with me.  I like to have plenty of water, and one water bottle is not actually enough.  I also like to take some gummy worms or Twizlers because I believe these things really help fuel my body as I run.  Or I just always like to be eating candy.  Very important, though.

6. Wear sunscreen.  There is a sunscreen in my face lotion, so I usually don't really think about this, but I wasn't wearing any today and I really felt my face getting a lot of sun.  I kind of like a little color, but I was running for over an hour, so I need to be more careful about this in the future.  I don't want sun spots or anything.

7.  And finally... (I know there's more, but this list is just about what's relevant to me) plan your route!  I was so glad I did this.  Sometimes I'll just go wherever for shorter runs, but for a long run, I want to know how many hills I'll have go run, and where I am in my run, with as few surprises as possible.  There have been times before when I accidentally take off where there's no sidewalk, or a series of crazy hills, or crazy dogs, etc. and it's just best to avoid all that on a long run.  I took a route where I knew how far I was from my house at all times and I didn't run into any unpleasant things that might have messed up my run.

Must. Remember.

What's your longest running distance?  What do you do to prepare for your long run?
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