Glam Bag

So I've always been intrigued by the monthly subscription packages. I finally bit the bullet and signed up for Glam Bag by Ipsy. I was really excited to get my first package. Ipsy has you take a survey to see what kind of beauty products you prefer and questions you on your hair, eye and skin color to make sure the products are the correct shades. I just got my "Beach Beauty" bag and look at all the great stuff that came.

I'll be completing a review as soon as I get a chance to use all the products. It's only $10 per month. If anyone is thinking about joining use my referral link: 

Mkdubs Ipsy Referral

Summer Reading

I looooove to read!  However, like most teachers the only real time I have for pleasure reading is during the summer. There are so many books that I see or hear off and I instantly want to search for them on Amazon.  I keep a list going in the notes section of my iPhone. Having finished my masters last December, I have a bit more time to read but the time that I usually get to catch up with a good book is during the summer.
Given that I am a science teacher I have a few science focused books that I'm super excited to read. Here's the three that I have committed to getting read before the end of August.

1.) The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Being a biology teacher I've heard the term HeLa cells before, but it wasn't until I watched a documentary in graduate school that I really was intrigued by this women's story. Ms. Lacks was a poor Southern farmer suffering from cancer and during her visits to to the colored ward of John Hopkins Hospital her cells were taken for cultures and later used for research. Still growing in labs today, her cells have been used to help find the polio vaccines, research with cancer and viruses. 

2.) Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

This book was given to me through a workshop that was associated with Yale University and teaching students in grades 7-12 about vector borne illnesses. It's a quick read (I'm almost done!) and would be a great interdisciplinary book for middle schoolers. Written by the award-winning author, Laurie Halse Anderson, the book is centered around one family's struggle with the Yellow Fever outbreak in Philadelphia in 1793. I know that seventh graders would definitely enjoy this one. 

3.) Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

I loved The Bean Trees in high school this book was recommended to me recently. It apparently focuses on the Monarch butterfly and global warming, don't know much beyond that but I'm intrigued. 

A hiatus

Have you ever been overwhelmed by good things?
And then you felt weird because instead of being overwhelmed you should be excited because all these fun things are happening.
Me too.
Kind of what has occurred here, I got really into having this blog and thinking about topics and ideas for it and then life kind of happened.
First, I got engaged, so exciting, wedding fashion can now be part of the blog.
Then, I realized I had to move 45 minutes away in order to start my life with my fiancé. Far, yes but doable. (House hunting will be yet another challenge.)
Slowly during this time I started to lose weight. I started Weight Watchers in the fall, and since then I've lost about 35 pounds. While it feels great to be healthier and to now have much better eating habits, it's overwhelming. Why you ask? Because I feel like I literally have 5 outfits. For someone who is so concerned with fashion, I've now found myself lacking in the clothes department. Knowing that I've wanted to lose a total of 45 pounds I haven't really expanded my wardrobe much (insanely good for the wallet btw).
Because of all of these things I felt like I couldn't write a blog, I felt like who am I to suggest what to wear when I pretty much wear the same black pants 4 days a week. And then I realized, it comes with the territory, I'm sure there are other women who have lost weight and felt the same way I have. So, I think I will just try to breathe and get back to my hobby.

Classroom Management

This school year I have the honor of being a leader for co-hort group of new science teachers. We have had a few meeting this year and yesterday's topic was classroom management. Your first year of teaching everything rides on how well you manage; one simply cannot teach if you cannot manage your classroom. It can be terrifyingly stressful for a newbie if it doesn't come naturally, and it doesn't for most. I have heard statistics such as 1/3 of new teachers will leave the profession within 5 years and often the reason cited is they couldn't pick up on the management aspect. Unfortunately it's not something that is taught in most education programs at the college level, often you learn from experience.
I had a really tough first year, I started in the January after a few teachers had already ditched my position, was on a team with all brand new teachers and I had zero experience with middle school. I worked my butt off but most of the time the kids would not listen to me.  It was devastating to me. I started the next year strong and really have just gotten more comfortable and as a result better with management year by year.
Here was my words of wisdom to the co-hort.

1. Focus on the positive. In the school I work in we follow PBIS, it stands for positive behavior intervention supports. That means focus on the good kids and try (as long as they are not doing anything really bad) to ignore the bad kids. Example- This morning I asked three times for my students to take their notebooks out, looking around I saw only one kid followed my instructions. Instead of getting upset, I said "I like the way Mary followed instructions". Everyone stops, looks at Mary, takes out their notebooks. Mary is rewarded with praise for doing the right thing. Everyone else is ready to start class. Win-win!

2. Sweat the small stuff-or don't, but pick a side. I'm on the don't side, probably because I teach seventh grade. Let me explain- either you can be really strict (sweating) or learn to ignore behaviors as long as they don't break any major rules. Pick a side and stick to it, or else you will confuse your students.

3. Get the parents on your side. Good tip- during the first week of school try to call home (if you teach upper grades try to enlist your team and each take a class) and just welcome them and ask if they had any questions or concerns. That way when you have to call for a disciplinary issue or because Johnny is failing the parent doesn't always associate you with negativity and in general they are more apt to work with you.

High Five for Friday

1. We looked at our first wedding venue this weekend. We loved it but everything must be brought in so we figured it would be a lot of additional work too. We even thought about booking but decided to look at a few other places before just to compare.

 2. Love getting home everyday to a new engagement card! Apparently Hallmark is lacking in their choices.

 3. Ahhh! All my magazines arrived at once, lots of reading to do this weekend :)

 4. Apparently my students really like my mother. I even had a mini lesson on Ms. Miss and Mrs. because a.) they were confused that my name was going to change and b.) alot of adults still don't know the difference. Guess I needed to explain it better!

5. I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Link up with Lauren at From my Grey Desk!

Spring Must-Haves

Spring Must-Haves by pearlspencilskirts featuring printed scarves

Print top, $21 / J.Crew pleated mini skirt / ELSE mint green jeans / Madden Girl patent leather flat, $36 / Forever New printed scarve, $21

Chocolate companies listen up!

The other night as I was biting the ears off my chocolate bunny, I came up with an idea.
 Not so much an idea as a question- Why don't candy companies market teachers?
I mean honestly, they are serious customers.
Think about it: We buy candy constantly in an effort to reward (bribe) our students, we also have ridiculously stressful days where we search through classrooms asking fellow teachers for chocolate (believe me I don't search that hard). So Hershey's I hope you're reading, and that you give me a piece of the cut ;)

This message brought to you by my absolute favorite only in stores for a few more days:

Source

High Five for Friday!

This Friday I've decided to link up with Lauren at 'From my Grey Desk' for High Five for Friday. Here are my top 5 from this week:

 1. Spring needs to get here: Pronto Tonto. I know I live in New England but this is getting old.

 2. Yay! I will finally have siblings, and awesome ones at that.

3.  For my ladies! Oh Pinterest you have the best wedding ideas.

4. And sometimes at the end of the day, you just gotta remember; It is what it is. Saw this one in Homegoods and seriously considered purchasing.
5. Also, this Friday makes it a coveted long weekend since Spring break is now gone! Have a fabulous weekend everyone! Happy Easter!

How engaging!

So, first I would like to apologize for the hiatus in posting. The past week I have only had one thing on my mind...and that is my engagement to this wonderful man.

The past week has been so exciting! and overwhelming, stay tuned because there are now two guarantees for the future: 1.) I will have straps on my wedding dress (thank you Kate Middleton for bringing sleeves back) and 2.) this blog will probably focus on wedding planning for the next 16 months.

Follow me on Pinterest for some of the ideas I'm thinking about for the wedding: Mkdubs

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Ahhh- St. Patrick's Day, when everyone who has a drop of Irish blood in them insists on eating corned beef (although there is still debate on whether the Irish really eat it all that much) and drinking Guinness. While I certainly look Irish (my students tell me all the time) I can only say that it makes up about 25% of my ancestry. Sadly, I must confess, I'm not a big fan of corned beef and Guinness. I'm more of a Shock Top and turkey sandwich kind of girl. I realize that's not going to sit well with the Irish readers, so keep reading.
So last week I decided that I was going to try to make corned beef more appetizing for myself. I also decided that because I am a busy teacher with lots to do that it needed to be made in the crock-pot. However, I could not find a recipe on-line that 1.) was made in the crockpot and 2.) had ingredients that were in my pantry. So I decided I would improvise, and for one of the few times in my life, it worked!

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 small corned beef brisket (about 2 pounds)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup dijon mustard
2 tablespoons brown sugar

1. Trim excess fat off corned beef.
2. Boil the corned beef for a few minutes to cut down the saltiness (if you enjoy the saltiness of this meat, then I would say omit this step)
3. Mix honey, dijon mustard and brown sugar together.
4. Place corned beef in crock pot, if it came with a packet of seasoning throw that in also.
5. Pour mixture of honey, mustard and brown sugar over beef.
6. Cook on low for 7-8 hours, high 4.

I forgot an "after" photo, but I was very good. Falls apart on it's own and great for sandwich making.

Slainte!

Went on a walk to clear my head...

Teachers have one of the most stressful jobs, period. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It's demanding and degrading at times, but people do it because they love it.  However, that is not to say that you need to de-stress when you get a chance. St. Mary's by the Sea is my favorite place to go when I need to clear my head, take a look at these pictures, you'll understand why.

When people ask you what's your favorite place on Earth, this is always mine. I'm not sure what it is about it, but it just makes me feel better to walk a couple laps when I have a bad day. Where do you like to go/do to clear your head?

Lashes and Lipstick

Since my best friend Mary works for the department store Lord and Taylor I had the opportunity to attend their Spring Beauty Trend Show this past Saturday. It was alot of fun; especially if you are a bit of a girly-girl like myself. The title was "Lipsticks, lashes and lessons I've learned". It was dedicated to beauty products. They provided breakfast where a handful of company spokespeople came up and talked about trends for Spring. Everyone received a bag of samples and a makeup consultation.

These are some notes I took from the speakers about trends for spring. 

• Serums are the "it" skincare product. Every company seemed to be pushing them.
• Skin-correcting cremes are also big, there is an emphasis on showing off beautiful, glowing skin; not just covering up flaws. 
• Chanel is showcasing the colors gold and coral for the season. 

Mary and I both had our make-up done at the Bobbi Brown counter. The artist did a great job of just showcasing my features and creating a natural look for me. Here's what the finished product was: 

I did end up purchasing a few things that I felt were key to re-create the look such as foundation, eye brightening concealer (which did wonders!) and the lip gloss. 

I had a great time, and can't wait for next year!

Here's Mary and I posing like we love to: 

Furry Boots- last one

So this is the last outfit I have put together for the whole "Boots with the Fur" series. One might say, hey it's spring time, put those things away! However, as I look out the window tonight it's apparent that old man winter is taking his time leaving us here in Connecticut. Snow tonight and into the morning. Le sigh, maybe I'll get to sleep in if school is delayed.

I know we are all longing for warmer weather, but I always try to dress in the current season. Winter is still here, at least for a few more weeks. These magenta pants are a good way to transition.They are dark enough to go with my winter wardrobe, but bright enough to move with me into spring. Pair them with any neutral on the top and you're good to go.
These particular pants are from Kohls, they are part of the Elle line and they were purchased a while ago, yet I've seen the style in a few stores with the upcoming spring fashion lines.

Boots with the Fur...Part 2

This is another outfit that I can get away with wearing to work or to another casual event. I love blazers- throw one on over some jeans and a tee and you look instantly sophisticated. This season, try a new color, I love this orange/ red color, it goes well with my complexion and it also goes with a good deal of my wardrobe. Some colors to try this Spring might be a true orange, mint, or fuchsia. If you can't spring the money for a quality blazer, a cardigan in a bold color might be a smart alternative.

Jeans- Levis Blazer/ Shirt - Cynthia Rowley Boots- Bare Traps Bracelets- Alex and Ani

Boots with the Fur...

If you teach in an urban city, like I do, this title may make you cringe- from the remembrance of that popular hip-hop song that you watched middle schoolers strut their stuff to at way too many school dances, and the thought of actually wearing boots with fur.
However, I'm here to tell you- face the facts, it's February. It's cold, wet and Spring is almost here.  Ladies, remember- almost doesn't count. If you're super lucky, and live in Connecticut like moi, then going outside requires walking over 2 foot snow mounds. These boots are practical, super warm and cozy, and they too can be made fashionable, with just a little work.
Black is always slimming, and I know it's cliché, but it works for me. I wore this outfit this past weekend to a party but I could also wear it to work. It's a good casual blend, good for a lot of events. And it happened to be snowing on the day of the party, so the practicalness of these boots is clutch.
Stay tuned this week, I'll be showing a few more ways to wear these boots.

Sweater- Calvin Klein (old) Pants- Michael Kors Boots-DSW Blouse- Marshalls Bracelets- Alex and Ani

Teacher Must- Haves

Teacher Must- Haves

Teacher Must- Haves by pearlspencilskirts 

These are my top picks for teaching in style. Teachers need to be comfortable, most of us put in at least 8 hours daily at school. You also need items that you can get mileage out of, hence the black and gray (although, trust me, I love color too).  I personally own most of these items and I would highly recommend them all. Those black flats are especially comfortable, and they come in wide in case you have Bigfoot feet like me ;)  I do not wear heels, for me it is physically impossible to get through an entire school day. Power to those women who can, I'm in amazement of you! By 11am I'm hopping around in my stockings, hoping I don't accidentally step on a push pin left on the floor of my classroom. The red blazer I have is Cynthia Rowley but I could not find it on Polyvore.
I know a number of school districts do not allow teachers to wear jeans. In my district we have a 'business casual' dress code, so they are allowed. I try not to over wear my jeans, but I feel like with the black it's a way to look presentable while staying comfortable. Any other must-haves that you would put on the list?

French Connection knit top / Wallis red jacket / Levi's slim fit jeans / Me Too shoes / Kate Spade / Oroton , $67

Fashion in the Classroom

Fashion in the Classroom

Think about it...a fashionable teacher, does it exist? It is an oxymoron?

Think back to female teachers in movies or books...

Coke-bottle glasses to look academic, orthopedic shoes since they are on their feet all day long, burlap sacks so they don't distract their students, haha just kidding on the last one. 

In all honesty, it's definitely not regarded as a glamourous occupation, and I speak from experience; it's not. It's long days, mostly spent on your feet, craft supplies everywhere waiting to ruin fabric, germ carrying kids who want to touch everything, and if you're lucky- 20 minutes to eat lunch and go to the bathroom. 

The demands of the job are enough to make you want to drag out that sack to wear to work everyday! 

I hope this blog will be an opportunity for teachers (both male and female)  to share and gain knowledge on how to make this hectic profession easier from a fashion standpoint and tackle other lifestyle topics.