Snow day!!!!! & THIRTY

I got a call last night to let me know that school was cancelled today! Seriously, I don't know what's better than a snow day being called off the night before! I jumped around my apartment squealing, "No school tomorrow! Snow day!" Even Telula, my golden retriever, joined in on the fun. I don't think I'll ever grow up. :)

Christopher and I had a delightful weekend. We took Telula to the doggy park, started adding things to our wedding registry, addressed a lot of our Save the Dates, got takeout from one of our favorite restaurants, and celebrated Christopher's birthday. His birthday is actually tomorrow, but Gizzae (a Chicago reggae band) was in town so we went to see them. Christopher got a picture with the lead singer the last time they were in town in August. The guy remembered him and where the picture was taken. I had to tease Chris that he's probably the only male that asks for a picture with the band.... :)

 This is what we wore (this was my first official night without the 30x30... and what did I choose? A 30x30 dress. Ridiculous! The cardigan was brand new that day though!):

Dress: Forever 21

Cardigan: Kohls

Leggings: Kohls

Socks: Target

Boots: Steve Madden

Last, but not least - outfit #30. I'd like to create a recap, but that's postponed until I figure out how! :)

Dress: Forever 21

Cardigan: Target

Jeans: Kohls

Shoes: Target

Belt: Target

Just when I was complaining about the snow... TWENTY-SEVEN, TWENTY-EIGHT, & TWENTY-NINE

...the scariest thing happened to me. For starters, I don't live in the town that I work in. My commute is about 30 miles. That means when it's nice out, it takes me about 30 minutes to get there... but I live in the great north. So, like, 80% of the year (I exaggerate. 78% of the year) it takes me much longer.

I'm a cautious driver and I'd rather get there late than not get there at all. When it's bad, I'll go 35 mph and let all the crazies pass me. (nerd alert...) I've got audio books to keep me company! :) Today, I "risked" it and went 42 mph. I was in a really straight stretch at this point, and I have no idea what caused the next part to happen.

All of a sudden, I was headed towards the ditch across the street. Panicked, I turned my wheel a bit, and I was headed towards the ditch on the right side of the road. Somehow I began spinning wildly around (two full turns). When I stopped spinning, I was driving in the correct lane in the direction I had been traveling.... but my car was backwards! Oh. my. goodness. Scared. to. death. Thank God there was no car headed in the other lane because we would have hit head on. There was a truck behind me, but they were able to slow down so as not to hit me. My hands shook for a good hour after that, and all I could do was repeat a prayer of gratitude that I was perfectly fine.

So much for my lucky week! Wait, maybe this was lucky? Since there were no cars in the other lane? Okay. Thank you God.

I like these remixes with this dress, but I think the last one looks incredibly short. I could never wear it to school, and I doubt I'd ever wear it anywhere out of my house! I'd like it better with black leggings underneath.

 Dress: Forever 21

Cardigan: Target

Leggings: Kohls

Boots: Younkers

 Dress: Forever 21

Cardigan: Target

Skirt: Forever 21

Flats: Target

 Dress as skirt: Forever 21

Shirt: Forever 21

Tights: Walmart

Flats: Target

Headband: Handmade by me!

How to get out of school.... TWENTY-FIVE and TWENTY-SIX

Today marks the third day of snowstorms in which:

• my school wasn't cancelled
• my 30-minute drive to school became a 60-minute drive to school in a whiteout... and, last but not, least....
• I had mass amounts of jealousy directed at my teacher friend whose school has been cancelled all three days. I'll use my students' favorite saying, "It's not fair!" :)

Boo. It's true that teachers love snow days just as much as ("just as much" meaning 1,000x more than) the kids!

One of my kids figured out how we could get out of school for a good month (ha....). This was our conversation:
Kid: I hope our school burns down.
Me: What?!
Kid: If the school burns, we won't have to go to school for.... hmm... a month!
Me: A month? Then would our school be rebuilt?
Kid: Oh... well... maybe two months then. Yeah, two months!
(Never mind the fact that the kiddos would be transported to a different school.... oh dear. Kid was so serious too! I love how life is so black and white for children. No school building = no school!)

This pic was also taken last week before the snowstorm. I'm so behind on posts that I'm double posting today... Anyway, on Friday, I wore my bright pink tights (and I liked them...so there friends! Ha!):

Shirt: Gap

Dress: Target

Tights: Um...? Maybe JCPenney

Socks: Target

Boots: Younkers

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I wore this outfit. Per advice from Linz, I paired my dress with a cardigan (thanks!). She had actually suggested a blazer, but I didn't include any jackets in my 30 (total regret, by the way). I like how this turned out. Does it need a belt? I think it might be better with one. Next time!

Cardigan: Gap

Dress: Target

Tights: Walmart

Boots: Younkers

'cause I've got one hand in my pocket. TWENTY-FOUR

Reasons why my weekend - and Monday! - rocked:

• On Saturday, I tried on a dress I haven't worn for a few months. When I put my hand in the pocket, I found...... $20!! This never happens to me! Maybe a dollar, but never a twenty! I did a double fist pump and literally jumped in the air.
• I finished my current grad class. It was a TON of work, but totally worth it. And I got 100% in the class. I'm a good student, but that has never happened before.
• This morning I got a phone call from my old principal. He told me that somehow they messed up my paychecks (this was over three years ago, mind you) and they owed me money! Are you kidding me?! And he kept apologizing for the mixup, but I finally stopped him and asked if he had any idea how wonderful it was to receive a call like this. Score! I never thought that would be why he was calling.
• We got our STDs (ha! Save the Dates! I'll never be able to seriously call them STDs) in the mail today! They look perfect and we can't wait to send them out!
• And even though I already blogged about this, I can't leave it out... I had an awesome date night with my man... even though we didn't do anything "young or exciting."

*My only superstition is saying the word never. I just used it four times. Uh oh. I'll tell the story of why it's my only superstition another day... :)

If you've heard the weather forecast for the midwest (who am I kidding - the great northern midwest!), you would know that I totally took these pics last week when we didn't have snow. Now, we've got like a foot. Overnight. And school didn't get cancelled. Booooo. Anyway, I haven't worn this dress since Day 1 of the challenge. I like this way better with the cardigan, dark tights, and socks:

Dress: Gap

Cardigan: Target

Necklace: NY & Co.

Belt: Forever 21

Socks: Target

Tights: Walmart

Boots: Younkers

My friends think colored tights are lame. TWENTY-TWO & TWENTY-THREE

I went out to dinner with some lovely ladies last night. I only knew two of the ten when I got there, but I had a lot of fun getting to know the rest. Turns out, they were all teachers! It was a partial celebration for a friend's 29th birthday, but since she's "so old" she didn't want to make a big deal about it (What?! 29 is so young. 29 is the new 19, am I right?!).

Amidst the trading of teacher stories and laughing, one of the girls there (lightheartedly) pointed out a woman at the restaurant that was wearing bright pink tights. "What is she trying to prove?" she laughed. "What kind of statement is that?" The other girls agreed. Colored tights = horrendous.

Well, shoot. I love colored tights. I wear what I want. I like to think my style is a bit quirky... I don't know how to be stylish. I wear what looks cool to me. Sometimes I'm a bit hippie, sometimes I'm a bit preppy. I don't usually care what other people might think about my sometimes off-key outfits. But last night, I breathed a sigh of relief that I didn't have any of my crazy tights on. Thinking about it now, I'm a bit disappointed in myself. I didn't speak up to announce my love for all colorful leg apparel. And I bet I make sure not to wear crazy tights the next time we all get together. But maybe I will. Maybe I don't care if I'm a bit quirky and unstylish. :)

These are some outfits I put together to highlight two of my fabulous pairs of colored tights. The first outfit I totally copied Sydney (Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!):

But wait! I didn't include heels in my 30. Darnit! Take 'em off Ang!

 This outfit was made for heels... bummed out.

...but then the flats kind of grew on me. Guess they're okay! :)

Shirt: Gap

Skirt: The Limited

Tights: JCPenney

Shoes: Target

Necklace: Was my Mom's

I was inspired to create one more professional outfit with crazy tights. Again, I had to try them with heels (shhh, don't tell Kendi!):

 With my flats that were included in my 30:

Shirt: Target

Skirt: Limited

Tights: Kohls (Vera Wang)

Shoes: Target

Necklace: NY & Co

P.S. These might be my favorite outfits so far.

Whoa, TWENTY-ONE and invincible

I'm still behind in outfits, so this is what I wore a week ago. My grad class ends today, so I have a few assignments to finish up. Last night, Christopher and I went out to dinner with some of my coworkers. We went to a Cajun restaurant. We shared Baked Seafood Fondeuax (yep, not "fondue" spell check)...delicious. My (much older) coworkers teased us that we were probably headed out on the town or something equally "young and exciting." 

Yeah... about that. This is what we really did:

Christopher came over to my house to hang out. We updated our wedding website so it'll be all ready when our STDs (barf... Save the Dates!) go out. We were going to watch The Office that we had missed on Thursday, but it wasn't On Demand just yet, so we had What Would You Do going in the background (interesting show, by the way). Then Christopher fell asleep in my comfy chair and a few minutes later I zonked out on my couch. As for "young and exciting," I feel our evening sounds a bit old and (dare I say?) boring.

But it wasn't. It was so nice just to hang with my man. My grad class took up my life this semester. It's a huge relief that after today it will be done. I can't wait to just be able to make dinner together on school nights, hang out for awhile, and not have to rush back to get to work on assignments. I love school (teaching, as well as learning), but I love hanging with my fiance more. :) 

Shirt: Old Navy

Cardigan: Target

Jeans: Kohls

Boots: Younkers

Necklace: Gift

Earrings: Art on the Rocks festival

Black Friday & TWENTY (& a geography lesson)

I joined in on the Black Friday fun last week. I went shopping with Christopher's mom, his sister-in-law (my future SIL!), and her mom. Don't worry, I didn't buy myself a thing. I did get a lot of little parts of presents. Black Friday was relaxing and fun. What?! Yes, Black Friday shopping was slow and people were kind. That's because we were in the U.P.

Non Michigan natives, U.P. means the Upper Peninsula... of Michigan... Yeah, I'm originally from Wisconsin and most of my classmates didn't even know it existed either. From friends that aren't from Michigan, I've heard that the U.P. isn't even on a lot of maps. It's just morphed into part of Wisconsin. Heard of Mackinac Island? Mackinac bridge? The bridge connects the lower peninsula of Michigan with the upper peninsula. Contrary to popular belief, people that live here (we're called Yoopers.... U.P.ers, get it?) have indoor bathrooms, don't shoot everything we eat, and don't all live in the woods. I've gotten questioned about that, even by people who live in lower Michigan. Strange. I mean, I do have a pet raccoon, but other than that... kidding. I don't. But my dad does have a friend who does... seriously. But that's weird. Even for Yoopers.

Black Friday outfit:

Shirt: Forever 21 (totally a steal... $13! Not even on sale! It's like sweatshirt material too.. so comfy. Buy it! I mean, after the challenge.)

Jeans: Elle (Kohls)

Boots: Younkers

Necklace: Kohls

Earrings: Gift from my honey