Summer #ootd
Tag Archives: Nine West
#fashionintherealworld
If you search Instagram for the hashtag #fashionintherealworld, you will find all of my posts. I invented it and #fashioninrealtime, and #fashioninreallife. I just checked them; I think there are only two or three posts on them from random fashionistas. The rest is all me.
Here are my outfits of the day from the last two weeks. The landscape of my background keeps changing as I shift student work around the room. All of my clay projects are complete. The last batch went into the kiln today. The 5th graders are currently working on a three-dimensional wood sculpture, my Studio in Art students are learning watercolor techniques and the rest of the 8th graders are immersed in the various SLO test projects: Statue of Liberty paintings, “under the sea” landscapes with fish (mixed-media lesson), Japanese fan project (also mixed-media) and abstract paintings with realistic horses thrown in. So four additional different lessons for the six classes.
There is a lot going on, which will culminate in the School Fair set for May 12, 2017. I will have my hands full preparing for that exhibition and hopefully even with the upcoming state math tests looming, we will get everything accomplished.
But first – Spring Break!!! I will be working on the business of making art as soon as tomorrow. Can’t wait. Watching students make art is clearly a fun job, but nothing beats the guilty pleasure of creating my own artwork – even though it is super messy and therefore cannot be done in designer clothes. So…I will be sacrificing fashion for my art. I did buy a new dress for Easter though. It is Halston Heritage. <3 OMG, I love it!
Going Gif
Here are my most recent outfits of the day. We take a bunch of photos every day in order to get one decent one out of the bunch. Google photos has been animating the lot to produce these hilarious gifs. You can see how far away Katy is when she takes the pic. We do that to insure I can get my body to fit into the square dimension of Instagram. Should I begin to add these silly things to my Instagram account every so often – just because they are sooo stupid funny or are they just stupid? I have lost perspective.
Happiness Factor
Here are my latest outfits of the day. My colleague Katy and I have so much fun at work. It is a joy to be there! We are working on a project together – a presentation for our peers that will take place during the Superintendent’s Conference Day on Friday. Each time we finish another sample of the activity we share them with each other and get really happy and giddy.
That happiness is reflected in these pictures, I think. I am very relaxed in front of the camera because I am inside-out happy. My life is just really fun. I am grateful for my job, my colleagues and students, family and friends, and for art, fashion, music, good times…and Jif natural crunchy peanut butter…. <3
BCBGMaxAzria selected a couple of pictures of me to share with their Facebook audience. They were plucked from my Instagram account via the hashtag (#) BCBGmoment. So exciting! And satisfies my childhood fantasy of being a fashion model, lol.
I started taking piano lessons! I can play rudimentary versions of five songs! Next up singing lessons, and maybe, eventually, I will be fearless enough to do an open mic night somewhere. Nothing’s impossible when you have the happiness factor on your side. 🙂
Tashionista on Fashion
Here are the #ootd Instagram pics that I hadn’t posted (have I?). Oh well, I can’t remember. I haven’t done a fashion blog post in a while. It seems that I may be running out of new combinations and so, we are talking a lot of re-runs.
I just received all the March issues of all my fashion magazine subscriptions. They are so thick with the Spring collections! Makes me desire new stuff. I am loving what Marc Jacobs is doing. Just saw the fashion show on-line. It was cute mini dresses with oversized jackets and mid-calf boots (and funny bowler hats). Loved the proportions. I feel the urge to on-line shop…. Someone should really try to stop me.
The Perfect Cardigan
I am all about the cardigan at work. Kind of a Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood thing, lol. I dress in layers and the sweater comes off pretty quickly. We have been running the kiln, so, it has been toasty in the classroom. I’m always donning multiple smocks in order to not sustain paint, Mod-Podge, plaster, clay, oil pastel or the-like messes on my clothing. It is a messy job, but I am doing my best to keep it fashionable. I love clothes. Love fashion!!!!!
Playing Catch Up
We had a snow day today, so… I’m playing catch up on blogging. Here are my most recent outfits of the day. I got paint on my new Free People tunic top and on something else – spent the day doing laundry and tidying/organizing my closet. A lot of re-runs this post. I went heavy on the leggings in order to go hiking right after school before it got too dark. Along with this snowmegeddon thing, the time change screwed with my perfect world. But then again, I only have to work one day this week – tomorrow. That is, if this snow actually lets up. Crazy! What am I gonna wear? Lol, decisions, decisions.
Dressing the Part
I am back to work and school! It is fun getting dressed up, not so fun going into a building with no air conditioning, but I adjusted to it within days. And today – it actually felt cold in here!
I spent the summer in exercise clothes, bikinis and shorts. I hiked seven miles a day and did pilates twice a week or so. Working on fitting teaching into my exercise schedule, lol.
As for artwork, I took down my art show at the Sullivan Library in Chittenango, New York, and I plan to exhibit the Talisman paintings in October at the Half Moon Bakery and Bistro in Jamesville, New York. Eight paintings are still on display in the Lawrence Pavilion at Summit Medical Group in New Jersey. They will be there until January, I think, unless the show gets extended.
Penny Santy is showing her paintings in the Chittenango Middle School library! She will give a presentation about them on November 15, 2016. I am planning to do some projects based on her work. Four classes will be doing oil pastels or paintings of cows and bulls as part of my SLO tests.
In addition, I’m planning lessons on George Rodrigue, Jasper Johns, Keith Haring, Wolf Kahn, Japanese wood block prints and Greek mythology. So fun!
Classroom Tashionista
Here are my most recent #ootd pictures. I am grateful for Katy Conden, my fellow art teacher, work colleague and all around bestie who has been taking such good pictures with my Samsung Galaxy 6. She makes it so fun to vogue it up every morning.
I am getting my hair done more frequently these days. Amanda LaDue at Miracles in Fayetteville, NY is a true miracle worker. She has single-handedly transformed my look. The other day one of my work colleagues told me that I look younger now than I did ten years ago when we first started working at the middle school together! That is so sweet!
It is such a thrill to get such positive responses on Facebook and on Instagram as well, where a lot of other fashion bloggers are giving me kudos, most notably the local fashion sylist, Jackie Terribile (@thesmalltownstylist) She is a friend of my little sister. Jackie blogs about the Syracuse fashion scene and does some guest hosting on a local morning show.
I am a lot older than the typical fashion blogger so, yes, it is all so flattering and wonderful. I am empowered by Madonna’s statement about her Met Gala outfit and the idea that age should not even be relevant when it comes to fashion, beauty and all that.
The above picture was taken by Roberta Mou, the Home & Careers teacher (when Katy was absent one day). Note the kitchen background. I am never normally in a kitchen, lol. I never cook except to make cupcakes once and a while for the art talks we have at school.
I wore this white dress on a day I was demonstrating an India Ink lesson! I wore two smocks. In my defense, I love this dress and I can’t just stare at it in my closet and not wear it once and a while. I am going to an event at the end of the month that has a dress code – resort casual – and this dress is perfect except for the color. It is literally never appropriate to wear white to anything wedding-related unless you are the bride.
Nine West asked to repost the above picture on their website and on their Instagram account. Those sandals are my most recent purchase. They are so comfortable. They come in two other colors – emerald green is one of them. They have a zipper in back and a gladiator style lace-up in front. I love the support this style offers!
The beaded cross necklace – my mother got it from the Indian Village at the New York State Fair in the 1940s. I am in love with it! I built many of my outfits in the past two weeks around this blue, gray, beige and gold color scheme.
Now that the school fair is over, it is pretty much smooth sailing until the end of the school year. Hopefully, the backgrounds in my #ootd pictures will improve, meaning I will start cleaning the room and putting away unnecessary supplies. (Sure I will.) And then before we know it, it will be summer vacation!
Yeah, I guess I am not a typical fifty-something, lol. No cooking or cleaning, but a big yes to a stress-free aesthetic in four-inch heels.
Neutrality is a Cool Cat
I guess I feel most comfortable wearing neutral colors – black, white, gray, beige, navy blue….
People keep making comments to me about my wardrobe – that it seems unlimited, that my closet must be colossal, et cetera.
It is an illusion, I think, because I have repeated a lot of separates, although I try to mix things up enough in order to create new looks. And I have to admit, this is a lot easier when you stick with neutrals.
One of my friends wants me to be her stylist and while I love fashion, I cannot see myself as someone else’s personal shopper. Fashion reflects one’s personality, of course, but as well as I know her, I can’t be limited by a budget. If I desire something, I don’t stop until I get it. I know that other people, my friend included, do not generally live by that creed.
Case in point – I just bought two evening dresses – a gown and a cocktail dress – for upcoming events (a BCBG Max Azria and a Jill Jill Stuart!).
They were in the $300 price point range. So…I will be driving to work on fumes for three more days. I have also lost three pounds, lol, no food in the house. No biggie. Everything always ends up working out for the best.
Hey – if I sell every “cat” painting I brought to the Summit Medical Group art exhibit (in the Lawrence Pavilion Lower Lobby Gallery) in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, I will make $11,800 less a 10% donation to that local animal care charity.
That’s enough to buy at least a few more clothes. That show starts April 25, 2016. It is open to the public – my favorite type of art show – a captive audience, people who may not seek out art venues but are at the offices for other reasons. It’s my bread and butter (ha ha – figuratively. You know I don’t eat bread or dairy).
The opening reception is scheduled for Thursday, May 5th, 2016 from 5:00-8:00 pm. Summit Medical Group is located at 1 Diamond Hill Road, Lawrence Pavilion, Berkeley Heights, New Jersey 07922. Call (908) 277-8806 for more information.