Lately the weather here has been all over the map. Typical crazy California weather! It is cold in the mornings (like 40) and warms up to about 70-75 during the day. I feel like I should change my outfit just because of how warm and sunny it gets in the afternoon.
So, I wear lots of layer to combat this weird weather. I’ll often have a cardigan, jacket and or fleece with a skirt and boots.
But I have noticed that some of my socks from last year are looking…a little too well-loved. This is only my second season wearing boots, I know, I was late to join the trend!
I have started to keep an eye out for cute socks as I only have a few pairs of knee high and want to have options for the whole week. Especially as I plan to hunt for more cute boots. You can never have too many pairs of shoes, right?
I have seen these cuties online, but I might have to check them out in person to see if they are as soft as they look!
What do you think is the best to wear with boots? How long do your long socks usually last? Where is the best place to get some cute socks?
Ps. I also got the super cute ring-holder from my mum’s best friend, photos coming soon!
It had just been one thing after another this week! Last Sunday, I picked Annie up and we made some tasty things with my new Kitchen Aid Stand mixer.
My new mixer.
We munched on dim sum while we baked and I had a lot of fun. We made an orange bundt cake, cranberry orange bread, pumpkin bread, spicy cinnamon pumpkin muffins and blueberry muffins,
Our baking results
Work was busy this week, with two rounds of testing for the teens. We often get home around 6 and often I just want to crawl straight into bed with the pups when I do finally get home.
On Thursday a few of us grabbed italian food for dinner. We got grand total of 3 trick-or-treaters. Quite frankly, I was disappointed we didn’t get more at our new place. But the three that did come, we loaded them up with candy!
My students were sleepy and off task Friday, which was a bummer for them since a lot of work was also due. I stayed later than planned at work getting ready for the next round of CAHSEE next week.
I met up with Annie at ValleyFaire and we shopped! With payday on Thursday I wanted to splurge a bit! I had picked up a treat for myself last weekend, but when I finally opened the little brown Kate Spade bag (most of you know exactly the bag I am talking about!) my new bow bracelet was twisted/bent! So our first stop was Nordstrom’s, where a nice young lady switched it out for a new sparkly one. This is my new bauble!
My new bracelet.
I tried on a pair of Uggs because my old pair is so old and well-loved and really not fit for anyone outside of the pups and my roomie’s eyes. Of course, they did not have the correct size for my giant feet, so I settled on ordering them. (Thank goodness Nordstrom’s doesn’t charge for shipping!) Can’t wait for them to arrive!
We wandered over to Sephora,where I picked up a Smashbox eyeliner cream I had been eyeing. I use their Photo Finish Light primer, and i love it!
My primer.
It makes my make-up last, and it seems that it make my makeup stick better. I’m normally a warm person, and halfway through the day my make-up is gone. But a friend had recommended this brand, and they are my go-to primer now. I had also heard good things about the eyeliner cream, so we played around with it. I convinced Annie to try some of their products as well, since we have similar type of skin.
Next stop on our shopping spree: shoes, shoes, shoes. I always think of this Kirsty MacColl song that my dad and I listen to. It is called In These Shoes. It is really a fabulous song. You should listen to it.
While Annie got sucked into trying on lipstick at Chanel, I looked at shoes. With my giant feet (and toes) I often have to order shoes, and pray to the shoe gods that they fit. More often than not, I end up returning them because they gape, pinch, or otherwise look odd. I found a pair of Corso Como heels that I liked, and also ordered a pair of black boots by them in the hopes that they fit as well.
The new heels
The new boots.
Currently some of my work shoes are not as comfortable as I would like. I am looking forward to having some happier feet.
Sorry for the lack of posts, I was having issues with my laptop suddenly shutting down randomly. I had my tech guy at work do his magic and it seems to be fine now. I hope everyone is having a lovely Saturday!
On Wednesday, Annie had a few of us over for a casual get-together. We munched on a few things, and sipped margaritas. Our usual crowd was there, and it was just what I needed to finish out my week. Work has been running me pretty ragged, and it was exactly what I needed. My friends are always the cure for anything. We played Cards against Humanity, which is always a blast and very entertaining.
On Thursday, Roomie and I had professional development at our sister school in Hayward. I met the other two art teachers, and had a wonderful time talking shop. As I am the only art teacher at my school, and building my own curriculum, bouncing my ideas off these two guys really helped.
While the rest of the district had a second day of professional development in Hayward, the three of us met up at 111 Minna Gallery for a day of wandering around looking at art galleries.
The weather was warm and sunny, unusual for San Francisco in October. We drifted from 111 Minna to the Academy of Art, and stumbled into a ancient five story building with a multiple small galleries on each floor.
We grabbed a bite to eat at Le Boulanger on Market and walked over to Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. They had a beautiful exhibit. I snapped these there
.
My favorite piece at Yerba Buena was tucked into the room in the front called the Room of Big Ideas. I lovedthe wall that was there. I wanted to take it home with me.
I loved that last line, so I took a picture of just that. Sometimes it is very hard to live in the moment, to feel everything around me. But this wall, this wall reminded me of why.
From there we sat in the garden, and took in the glorious weather.
We walked back to Minna and parted ways. I walked over to Nordstrom’s, where a girl from my small group at church works in the Fine Jewelry floor. We chatted for a while, and then I realised what time it was. I dashed over to the Kate Spade section, and treated myself to a little something!
I ran errands today, and tidied up around the house. Last weekend my family and I celebrated my birthday. My parents gave me a stand mixer!!! So, tomorrow I plan on baking up a storm! Annie is coming over and we are tackling a long list of yummy treats! Tomorrow I’ll show you what I picked up from Nordstrom’s and whatever tasty things we bake!
I hope you have some exciting plans for tonight! Saturdays are always the best night to have a little fun.
Work has been busy, and it occurs to me that I haven’t really talked about what the Roomie and I do during the day.
The Roomie and I work together at a small charter high school in san Jose. I teach two periods of intro to art, and then work as the site testing coordinator for the rest of the afternoon. I tackle a combination of paperwork from MAPS (Measure of Academic Progress), CELDT (California English Language Development) CAHSEE ( California High School Exit Exam) and most recently added PSAT and SAT Testing for our school. I organise, assist proctor, proctor the tests, and then collect and ship all the documents back.
In one aspect, it is nice that I teach for a bit, and then get to format the rest of the day any way I choose. But, it is also a lot of paperwork to read through (Dull stuff too), and mind-numbing test proctoring. I have been playing a lot of catch-up in both sections in addition to starting my BITSA training.
Also, I am the yearbook coordinator for our school. Getting that program ( a club at lunch really) up and running has been a lot of fumbling in the dark since there aren’t many notes left from my predecessor. He has been helpful, but I am making a lot of decisions that I hope will pan out well!! We shall wait and see.
The Roomie is also working hard, and teaches the girls soccer team after-school. We get home most days around 6, and dive into dinner and cuddle time with the pups. They sorely miss us, so we try to give them lots of love when we are home. Our days are long but the weeks tend to fly by. We have been very busy with the quarter ending this past Monday, so writing posts has somewhat fallen to the wayside. Now that I have had a few weeks of work under my belt, I am hoping to build gym time and blogging time back into my daily life. I also just got a Canon Rebel Xti from work to play around with for yearbook, so expect more photo saturated posts coming soon!
Today and tomorrow Roomie and I are at a professional development session at our sister school in Hayward. Tomorrow my group (the art teachers), are hitting up museums in San Fran, so expect a photo filled entry tomorrow!
Happy almost Friday! (it feels like one to me since we don’t have students for two days!)
Ps. What should I be for Halloween? I have no clue!
A few weeks ago, the Roomie and I hit the mall on the first day of a long weekend. We did some serious damage! The Roomie walked away with a super cute red vest from Gap, and she raves about it. I was jealous then, and still plan on getting a red one myself at some point. I picked up my first down vest last year from J.Crew and now I am totally on the vest train! Pinterest has been showing me all sorts of cute mixes of collared shirts, sweaters and vests in cute but bold color schemes. I like wearing vests because they keep me warm in the morning, but later in the day they are easy to take off when it warms up.
I have been loving these vests, and have really been holding back on getting every single one of them!!
J.Crew
J.Crew
J.Crew
Gap
Banana Republic.
Banana Republic.
Do you have any vests? Do you love them as much as I do? Do you like any of these vests? Would you get any of them?
I am thinking about making a board on Pinterest solely for outfits involving vests!
Granted, I had been gone most of the previous week, but still! This week was all over the place between giving benchmark tests, CELDT testing/ PSAT testing, and grades due as the quarter ends Monday. I had put a lot of time in to get everything organised for Wednesday, which was the day the whole school was in testing.
Seniors worked on college apps and essays. Juniors took the PSAT test. Sophomores were with my CELDT team testing and Freshman were taking their annual PE test. It started off well, but then twenty minutes into testing everything exploded. Our CELDT booklets did not match our administration booklets, which was a crucial step as much of the test is read aloud to the students. After running around like a chicken with my head cut-off our amazing district testing admin noticed that there were three testing versions in the book, and we were on the wrong one. With that simple fix we were back on track. I had spent so much time organising students, training my test proctors and sectioning out the answer sheets, test booklets and pencils that it never occurred to me to check that we had multiple versions. Oh well!
For most of the week I have been working on getting my classroom settled. They will start on drawing a still life next week, and I just finished backloading all the lessons we had done in the last four weeks into a while you were out binder. Additionally, BITSA and staff development has been taking up time as well. But on Friday I felt like I had finally found ground beneath my feet.
This whole week I have had a cold and this morning I finally gave in. I slept in till 10 (!!!) and it felt glorious. I swifferjet the apartment, tidied up my room, did laundry and ironed, baked banana raisin bread and cornbread. I watched Now You See Me and Iron Man 3 (i loved both of them!).
While watching tons of tv I looked over the internet for some fantastic wall art.
I have been loving these three!
One of my favorite thing used to be getting back to school supplies before school started. There is something about having engraved pencils, cute notepads, a fresh backpack and a rockin’ fall closet that makes the start of school that much better! These just keep popping again and again on my Pinterest and I love them all!
Have any suggestions as to where to get some great wall art? Any good band or art posters you just can’t get enough of?
Let me know where!
I hope you are taking a break and getting some you time this weekend!
I swear, as I am getting older, my memory is getting worse! Remember when I talked about making lemon bars for my friend’s wedding? Well, Robert came over and took some photos of me both in the backyard and getting the lemon bars prepped.
I completely forgot that he had sent me the final set a few days before my New York trip. Silly me. Here is another example of how ridiculously talented my best friend is. #bestfriendsforlife
In case you missed his other shoots, they are here and here.
The mornings are crisp and cool here in California, and mellow into a beautiful sunny 70 degrees by early afternoon. I love being able to pull on my boots and a cardigan in the morning, but still enjoy the sun on my face as I leave work.
On Saturday Uncle Chip, Dad, Mum, Richard and I explored downtown troy. We started off with some hot coffee from Spill In The Beans, a local joint. We walked through a lovely farmers market and picked up a tasty goat chevre. From there we checked out a local all-girls high school called Emma Willard. The campus was unbelievable!
Next we took a short walk down to the local stream, which used to be used to gather energy for the town. We enjoyed hopping from one rock to the next as I tried to not fall into any of the puddles.
The stream bed
The trees around this town looked like they were on fire. The spectacular colors that make the East Coast look dazzling were on full display for our visit.
We hugged my uncle goodbye and sent him on his long drive back to NC. Richard and I dropped my parents off at their hotel and set off to go apple-picking, one of my favorite childhood activities. We munched on fresh apple cider and apple donuts as we picked 9 varieties of apples. The sweet smell of ripe apples and the lazy sunshine on my sweater made the day feel perfect.
On Sunday I waved goodbye to Richard, and to my parents, who were flying to Pittsburgh. They will enjoy a few days with my Grandfather before coming home later this week.
Today I jumped headfirst into work, coming home around 6. A long day, but it’s good to be home!
I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Happy Monday! (The Bones episode tonight was really good!!)
Before the wedding my father, Uncle Chip, Richard and I decided to go explore a local town called Sharon Springs, in search of coffee and breakfast snacks. The cafe wasn’t open when we arrived, so we wandered down the street to peek at the little downtown section.
The town used to be a big vacation spot for a famous bath house.
This old funky hotel was beautiful, but showing its age.
It was also for sale, at a great price! (if you need 10acres)
We grabbed donuts and cappuccinos at the Black Cat Coffee shop.
Yum.
On Friday, Richard and I picked up my cousin Andrew and his wife Katie from Jeannette’s house. We drove 4.5 hours from Troy to Niagara Falls. I was the only one that brought my passport, so we stayed on the American side. We stopped for pizza and wings for lunch, and munched on Dunkin’ Donuts as well.
Our lunch on Friday
We walked around the Falls for a bit, snapped tons of photos, and got tickets for the Maid in the Mist tour boat.
It was amazing! I loved how the water was rushing so loud, and disappeared off the edge. I know sometimes doing the touristy-thing can be lame, but this time it was fantastic!
Niagara Falls
Despite the blue ponchos they gave us, I was totally drenched.
Katie and I.
We walked back to the car and saw some cool statues.My cousin and I had matching converse shoes! Can you tell which are his and which are mine?
Matching outfits, totally unplanned.
Naturally, my cousin crawled onto a public monument while I took his photo. #ilovemyfamily
My cousin Andrew is awesome.
We drove back and crashed. It was one very long, but still lovely day! Did you do anything fun on Friday? Have you ever been to Niagara Falls? Have you been to any touristy places that you really enjoyed? (Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, White House, etc)?
Classy and Fabulous 
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