Project of the Day- Chair Re-Do

When I first bought this chair from Goodwill, I had big plans to reupholster it with zebra fabric and add decorative nail head studs around it to mimic new arm chairs I saw at TJ Maxx and Marshall's. I probably would have been successful too if the seat cushion were removable. Unfortunately, it's not so I never got around to reupholstering it or getting to plan b which was to make a fitted slip cover for it. Instead, I draped the zebra fabric over it and called it a day.

With my current transformation of the living room, I decided the heavy and messy look of this chair had to go. I wish the chair had a better pattern underneath, but it could be worse. It's a blue and gold striped chair... Not too bad. I cleaned it a little more since my body would actually be touching it now. I used a magic eraser for this job which worked well. I added a small blue ikea pillow that I bought a while ago and voila. Instantly my room was transformed in less than 5 mins. It was a shame I was hiding the wooden legs of the chair this while time.

I added to it with the intent to make it look better, but sometimes what you need to do to make a space look better is to take away.

Project of the Day- Living Re-do

My living room theme has been eggplant purple and zebra print for about a year and a half B.P. = Before Pinterest. Not beer pong.

Since then my decorative palette has expanded and I grab inspiration from Pinterest. I have kept certain elements of purple, but I am graduating on to a theme that mimics the inspirational pillow and scarf picture. I love navy and coral... And I happened to stop by my parents' house today because (I was hungry and I am poor) I just HAD to grab a few branches of lavender. And continuing with the poor theme, I don't have a proper vase so I just used something improper: an empty wine cooler bottle.

But how gorge is my living room becoming?

OOTD- Coral and Teal Blouse

Top - Marshalls

Jeans - Madewell

Shoes - Marshalls

Watch- Francesca's

It was going to be a warm Friday in my second floor classroom (with no AC) with the SMART Board projector light beaming on me while I annotated an Olympian Family Tree while telling the story of how Cronus (Kronus) ate up his own babies.  I was doomed to be sweaty today.

Wearing sleeveless tops to work can be iffy and some people think you can never do it at all.  You should probably avoid it as best as possible... but I don't think anyone can argue with a tasteful sleeveless top given the conditions we teachers sometimes have to teach in.

It's not a perfect science, but I only wear sleeveless tops if:

• The top covers my whole shoulders or
• the straps are under a cardigan or
• the straps are originally under a cardigan until it hits 100* and then the cardigan is coming off
• my bra straps can't peek out or won't be visible

OOTD- Mint Sweater

Pants- Target

Sweater- H&M

Shoes- Sperry Top Siders - Zappos

Watch- Macy's - Fossil

Tortoise Shell and Gold Necklace - Marshalls

The weather was very warm last week and I was excited to wear dresses sans stockings and move on to my spring/summer wardrobe. But this week has been chilly so I'm back into my sweaters. This is one of my favs because its so easy to wear.

I know it looks like I'm wearing a regular pair of leggings, but these are actually pleated, thick (no see through) and were bought in the business apparel section of Target a few years ago.

Teaching Tip of the Day - Prezi Presentations

Within the last month, I was introduced to a free, phenomenal, educational resource called Prezi.com.  Prezi is like a more interactive and engaging PowerPoint program.  In the beginning, a large picture is presented to the audience and each slide is hidden within the larger picture.  To get to each new slide, the presentation keeps zooming in and around the "larger picture."  In order to see what I mean, please look at my first Prezi presentation on MLA format: here.

Positive

• Students are more engaged with this new program and are waiting to see where the picture will take them next.
• Presentation is on the internet and is available for students whenever they need to refer back to the information.

Negative

• Teachers may already have presentations available and saved in PP form.  
• Also, this program isn't as user friendly when it comes to saving on the computer. (It takes a little longer).  You have to save the presentation as a pdf file so you can print the slides.

What do you think of this program? Have you used it before?  Will you take the time to transfer your presentations to this format?

OOTD- Floral Pink Blouse

Top - Forever 21

Pants - Kourtney Jeans by the Kardashian Collection at JC Penney

Shoes - Soda shoes - Marshalls $10

Watch - Francesca's $18

Gold Link Bracelet - Kenneth Cole - Nordstrom Rack

This was a Friday work outfit.  Whenever I wear jeans, I wear a nice top (blouse) with it to still salvage some form of authority in the classroom.  I do believe the way we dress as professionals determines the amount of respect we receive. Not that I agree with that being the way it should be, but that IS the way it is.

My boyfriend decided he wanted to get into my blogging life and requested a pic be posted of him.  I was courteous and not only uploaded him, but uploaded the sandwich he made for me to have for lunch as well.  Shout out to those of you who get your lunches made. Raise the roof.  Ok, I'll stop.

Do you wear denim jeans to work?

Teaching Tip of the Day- Booksapp2

Track your classroom book collection with this nifty app! Booksapp2 claims to store records of your books on your iPad by only scanning the barcode or book cover and voila. Well it doesn't do that... BUT it is pretty great still. Just add books by ISBN and it will conduct a google search. Once it identifies your book, it will add it to the collection you choose such as "school" or "home."

It tags the books with categories such as "thriller" or "romance" which makes it especially easy to track your inventory. When a student borrows a book from me, I document it in the notes section of the description page of the book.

Loving this app. Download it for free! How do you track your classroom book inventory?