A Case of the Mondays...

Okay, so I'm a bit late with this post, since I meant to post it yesterday.  Hence the title.  I can be a bit myopic about certain things, and once I get an idea in my head, it can be hard to let it go.  So I had this great idea for my "Monday" post, being that I love Office Space and all, and feeling quite proud of myself for being so witty *cough*.  Unfortunately, I realized this morning that I didn't get the post out in time and wrestled for a grand total of, say, 10 seconds on whether or not to change the title to something a bit more calendrically appropriate.  No way.  I have too much tunnel vision for that.  You'll just have to pretend that today is Monday.

Mondays are actually great days for me...I get to wear jeans to work!  I take my students out for a class on field research for a few hours in the afternoon every Monday so the teacher dress code gods cut me some slack.  You can call this the "country-western-riding-a-horse-but-really-dragging-a-bunch-of-kids-through-the-park" look.

On an unrelated note, I have decided to start a regular recipe post every other week or so.  This week it will be macaroni and cheese.  Wow, you think to yourself, that's not very exciting.   Well, first off, you have never tried MY macaroni and cheese, which involves an unreasonable amount of cheese (it's a four brick minimum around here), cayenne pepper, nutmeg, and Dijon mustard.  And second, I am not the fancy cook in this household.  That would be my lovely partner in crime, the BF.  So until he starts his own blog, you are stuck with just lil' ol' me.

Cheers,
Elle

Outfit breakdown: jeans Gap/shirt Lands End Canvas
belt Diesel/boots Etienne Agner/necklace & watch gift

Elephants are cute

Who Knew...J.Crew!

The J.Crew March 2012 catalog arrived yesterday and I just had a chance to peruse it today.  What can I say?  Actually, I can say a lot.  I am transformed.  T-R-A-N-S-F-F-O-R-M-E-D.  Every single page elicited a schoolgirl squeal of delight followed by a frantic mental inventory of my closet to see if I could put together any one of their amazing looks utilizing my existing wardrobe.  Keep in mind I was also listening to the 80s pop station on Pandora while all this was happening, which only served to whip my euphoria to heretofore unseen heights.  I feel like a birthday cake has exploded in my heart.

Now all this is really saying something considering that a year ago I used to be not only a negative Nancy when it came to J. Crew, but also towards color in general.  I was quite fond of black, grey (which is basically light black), and more black.  In my prior, non-colorful life, I used to scoff at people who would say "navy is the new black" or "khaki is the new black" with the gently stated yet uncompromising reply that only "black is the new black".  And to this day I still love black.  Fall and winter were always my favorite seasons to dress for as I could literally dress in head-to-toe black and no one would think it anything out of the common way.

But one peek at any of the photos below and I'm sure you will agree that my change of heart is well-deserved.  Who knew that J.Crew could transform this raven into a peacock.  Who knew???

Cheers,
Elle

Welcome to Lazyville, Population: Me

I had an epiphany today while heading home on the subway.  I usually have a lot of time to think on the subway as my commute takes roughly an hour, door-to-door.  I was thinking about the pictures the BF took of me this morning for my blog and the fact that I only have three and they are ALL THE SAME.  This is mostly because I loathe waking up early so I make sure that I have just enough time to get ready for work and get out the door in order to maximize sleep.  Obviously, I have not re-calibrated to take into account morning photo shoots.  But everyone else's blogs that I follow feature such lovely pictures that include close-ups of details like shoes and jewelry and such.  And I had such cute shoes on this morning and you can hardly tell from the photo.  Crap.

Sooooooooo, this means I need to move out of Lazyville and into Geturbuttouttabedtotakemorepictures Town.  I have to be honest that my chances of this are not the best given my track record of whining when the BF tries to get me up earlier than I am normally expected to.  He has even expressed some concern over this recalcitrance towards the wee hours of the morn as being a bit of a barrier to our eventual goal of parenthood.  Whatever.  Technology has advanced enough to give us ladies a break from being the ones to wake up for the first feeding of the day so I don't ever have to wake up that early.  Just kidding!  Sort of.  : )

Cheers,
Elle

Outfit Breakdown: blouse Everly/skirt and cardigan
J.Crew/tights Hue/shoes Chelsea Crew

Improbable, Not Impossible

I feel it fair to warn you that many of my posts are going to contain anecdotes from my job.  Being a science teacher of little ones is bound to give you some cannon fodder. : )

Today's tale (and many in the future, no doubt) features a first grader who will be called "Jenna".  Jenna is adorable, and nothing adds more to that cuteness than her lisp, which would make Urkel proud.  She also happens to command the vocabulary of a 45-year-old.  Jenna was working on building a pinwheel while I was across the room helping some other students.  Her close friend, "Anne" (who looks like Woody Allen), was disagreeing with Jenna's suggestion that it was impossible to take a pinwheel to the Moon to see if it would spin there.  Jenna looked up, face completely deadpan, and replied, "I shaid improbable, not imposshible." 

I think Jenna has the right attitude.  About the same attitude as I had when I asked myself if I could ever find an adorable navy blue dress with a red belt that ALSO happened to have tiny birds all over it and cost less than $40 to make up for the fact that I missed out on the entire Jason Wu for Target collection.  Improbable, but, apparently, not impossible.  Friends, get yourself to 4PlayBrooklyn if you require your own dose of the "improbable".

Cheers,

Elle

Outfit breakdown: cardigan J. Crew/dress 4PlayBrooklyn/
tights Hue/shoes Chelsea Crew

Tiny Birds!

Camera Skills Need An Upgrade

The boyfriend was kind enough to take this picture of me before we stepped out to go to Barbes.  I was really rocking that French sailor look....  : )
*Quick sidenote - if you haven't been to Barbes and you live in the Brooklyn area, this is really something you should remedy, especially on Mondays to see Brain Cloud.


Now, it is clear from this photo that the camera skills are in need of a serious upgrade. Despite fiddling around with the picture using one of the those iPhone camera apps, I still couldn't get enough improvement out of it to avoid looking like one black blob with stripes thrown in somewhere in the middle.  Oh, and my head looks funny, like way-to-big-for-my-body funny.  But, c'est la vie!  I think I should just remember to present my right side to the camera and focus on shouting directions to the BF a la Naomi Campbell.  Perhaps I could throw a cell phone at him as well.


Cheers,
Elle

Outfit breakdown: J. Crew coat and top/Gap Jeans/
Etienne Agner boots/NARS Manhunt lipstick

Mint Green Loafers

After some thought, I may have been too hasty in mentioning mint green loafers without actually including a picture.  So here you go.  Find similar ones here.

Mint Green Loafers!  Standard nerd wear...

An Introduction to My Insanity

So...I'm nervous.  How's that for an intro?  My first blog attempt, and, being the uber-nerd that I am, I would very much like this to go perfectly.  Because nerds have Type-A, perfectionist personalities.  And mint green loafers.  At least this nerd does.

I digress, so back to the matter at hand.  I have lately become ensnared by the blogging world as I peruse  and subsequently RSS feed the lovely fashion/lifestyle blogs of others such as Nat the Rat and the incomparable Ramsey.  So much so, that now I have become convinced I can do this myself.

I want this blog to be about life and all of the crazy, mundane, magically boring things that happen in it.

Cheers,
Elle

Mom and I enjoying lunch...Isn't she divine?!