march things

Trying to #flatlay like some fancy Instagrammer

So my blog and I are both going through some major transitions. I'm starting to feel out doing some other types of posts--style posts or regular favorites posts, maybe the occasional beauty post--mixed in with the crafty, diy posts that I've done during the entirety of this little tiny blog's life. I'm sure they won't be the most amazing style/favorites/beauty posts ever, but I kind of don't care? I want to try. I enjoy writing. It's fun.

In short, recently I've been...

... trying out Shea Moisture's African Black Soap Deep Cleansing Shampoo, and so far, so good. It's supposed to be designed for dry or dandruff-y scalps, which I think I'm going to have to wait and see. It's been quite the improvement over what I had been using, in terms of volume of flakage and itchiness of my scalp. Totally TMI, but it works!

...drinking too much Trader Joe's tea and coffee. It's impressive. I discovered and was very pleasantly surprised by the Organic Ginger Turmeric tea. It's slightly spicy with a lovely, subtle sweetness and absolutely calming when I struggle with sleeping.

...watching British Youtubers like Lucy Moon and Doddleoddle and remembering how it felt to romanticize England when I was younger and dreamed of living in London for a semester.

...playing with lipsticks. The Nyx Soft Matte Lip Cream in Prague and the Burt's Bees lipsticks in Brimming Berry and Lily Lake are kind of making my beauty loving life right now. Though I'm starting to wonder if I might be allergic to something in Burt's Bees lip products? They can dry out my lips so badly.

...reading Frank McCourt and romanticizing the life of the dirt poor Irish boy living in the hovel by the lavatory. Not that I actually want that life. Nope, I'll take central heating and a indoor plumbing.

...sleeping weird hours. See above comment about tea and coffee.

...dreaming about the sun like it's my job. You can take the girl out of the Southwest, but not the Southwest out of the homesick girl.

Happy April and happy spring!

hello spring!

sweater (handknit, this pattern), top (forever 21 via thrift store), skirt (dressbarn)

(Precursor: I've been thinking about doing the occasional style post with vaguely creative nonfiction/essay-ish writing. I'm going to try it out, see what happens. If you have some thoughts, let me know what you think!)

Oh, the winter was long. So, so, so very long.

I couldn't wait to see the sunshine. I wanted to feel the warm air and smell the rain's sweetness. I wanted my eyes to be filled with the bright, verdant boldness of the grass, poking its fresh spiky heads out of the ground, like toddlers. Just a moment ago, they couldn't have been more asleep, but now they are awake in every fiber of their tiny beings.

I don't remember winter bothering me so greatly in past years. Even last year, I was willing to bundle up in layer after layer of scarves and mittens against the 30 minute walk home in the cold, cold night after a late rehearsal. A March snow would not have made me skip with glee, but I remember the idea being less of a terrible imposition and more of just a part of living in the midwest. They put chili on spaghetti and make tater tots into casserole; why not have snow in March? But this year I wanted to see spring so badly I could almost taste the fragrance of budding flowers in the air.

I have discovered that it is not easy to accept the changes of seasons slowly. They come when they will, and there's not really anything that I can do to force the revolution of the earth to happen faster. If only.

project planning: gonna-get-it-done bruyere

I have this horrible tendency to be over ambitious when I make plans and personal goals.

I had a not-so-happy last few months, and my first response is to try to overhaul. Join a yoga class! Join the church choir! Make friends! Rework the entire classroom from top to bottom! Jump feet first into five or six projects at once! Write a pile of short stories! Go big or go home, right? I realize that all this does is leave me wiped out with some halfhearted attempts at different goals and a shaken, discouraged feeling in the pit of my stomach. Instead, I'm trying to shift to small, manageable goals. One craft. One new activity. One change in the classroom. Plenty of room for error and for getting tired and falling short. I've found that giving myself that leeway room is how I actually succeed. 

Small, manageable changes. Illustrated with only the worst and most blurred out of pictures, but you can see that beautiful fabric.

To start with, I'm only committing to making one thing. I bought Deer and Doe's Bruyère pattern as a treat way back during Black Friday. My goal is to make my pretty blue Bruyère by Easter. I've bought this beautiful fabric from Fabricworm, I've massacred a tired, worn out blouse for buttons, and I've decided to be lazy and use the white thread I already have. I even got fancy pattern tracing paper, to save my beautiful paper copy of the expensive, expensive but already beloved indie pattern. It made cutting out the fabric a dream.

Goal set. Let's see how this works out. 

chispita teaches: on being a new teacher

Intentionally chose more than the highlights reel. Behavior challenges, you drive me bonkers.

I haven't written anything here in a while. And the odd thing is, unlike my last, large chunk of radio silence, it wasn't what I wanted to do. Did I have a ton of ideas about what I could write? No. But I wanted to be writing. I wanted to be creating. I wanted to be doing something that established an identity outside of being a teacher.

When I think of my first few months teaching, I keep thinking back to my first crocheted pieces. They were made out of some scratchy acrylic I picked up at Hobby Lobby and I didn't know how to count stitches, so they all fanned out like lopsided aprons. My stitches were pulled as tight as can be, but I was learning. I was proud of those useless crocheted trapezoids. This year, I feel like everyday looks like those mistake-riddled first crochet practices. I have had more moments than I'd like to admit when I looked out at the room and thought, "I have no idea what to do here." But I've had other moments when I've looked out and felt something click together.

Those are the moments I love. Looking out at all my little readers working during our reading workshop. Seeing their smiles when they first come in in the morning. The growth that some of my shouter-outers have made in the past few months. Reading their writing in all its bizarre wonderment, and especially seeing the growth they've made since that first writing piece. Those moments when I help a student calm down who was having a tough time controlling his emotions.

I'll be honest, there are days when I have to remind myself why I'm doing this. But there are moments when I know all the way down deep in my toes that this is where I'm supposed to be. Pulling guided reading groups and modeling math strategies. I love what I do, when I'm not slowly devolving into insanity.

The changes that have happened in my life over the past few months have been immense. I want to sleep so much more, but I've gotten even worse at sleeping. My most common crafting involves cutting up paper for student projects or coloring in a sign for our calendar or creatively DIYing my own worksheets, to save a penny or two that I'd otherwise throw at Teachers Pay Teachers. I have two enormously messy unorganized rooms instead of one. I can count on one hand how many times I've gone out and done things in the past two months. I'm more anxious than I've ever been in my life. There are more moments of struggle and failure and learning than honestly I've ever had in my life. But I remind myself that after lots and lots of practice, my crocheting stopped looking like a mess of twisted yarn and started looking like the pattern pictures. And some day, teaching will feel less like an experiment in Not Drowning and more like an exciting challenge.

And you know, I think it won't be long now.

a post-grad capsule wardrobe experiment

What interested me most about capsule wardrobes is the degree of intentional consideration that they require. There's this slow thoughtfulness that seems to color their particular flavor of consumption in a way that I find fascinating. As a recent post-grad moving from a mix of yoga pants and cute dresses to first grade appropriate attire, I'm particularly intrigued by the idea of capsule wardrobes and how the framework lends itself perfectly to good ol' fashioned wardrobe analysis. No matter who seems to be the speaker, all the guidance seems to boil down to two useful questions.

What do you have in your closet? 

What do you need in your closet?

As I said, I'm coming out of college. My perspective is more geared towards building a teacher wardrobe from the ground up, particularly as I've recently realized that with this particular group of students my beloved skirts are not an option. Which I am trying to accept with serenity and grace, rather than getting huffy (as I keep telling myself, next year will be different).

When I started this journey, I think I started with the perspective that I didn't have enough clothes to get me through my teaching year. I was a college student; I'll need so much, I'd think, while poring over websites with clothes I honestly could not afford as a student and still can't as a teacher. But when I looked over my closet before beginning this fall. I realized that I had more than I'd ever thought. Enough for a workable short term feminine/business casual/classic teacher capsule wardrobe. Since then, I've realized the dearth of pants (I had two pairs of jeans in there and that was it), but to start with, I'm fairly well set up. 

It's not perfect, but I'm embracing something I consider the essence of capsule wardrobes: accept that the "just right" closet doesn't happen overnight. Even the people who can afford to spend $500 on clothes every capsule don't get everything just so the first go round. That's the idea of investing in clothes. You have to be patient and wait. So yes, I will be occasionally wearing my 100% polyester blouses that I got for free from my roommate last year that fit and look like scrubs and feel like wearing a plastic bag. I have other needs (see: pants) that are more urgent than making sure that laundry day feels as cute and put together as the first day of freshly laundered clothes.

late summer favorites

I've started school already, so my mind is still a little confused that there's still almost a month of summer left to go before we get into fall, based on the calendar. Here's what I've been loving this summer. 

The Office: Jim and Pam make my life feel better, amidst a complicated move, a depressing world, and helping my sister with her wedding. 

The Batman: My brother and I watched The Dark Knight together, and it was amazing. Absolutely, indescribably amazing. It’s kicked off a nostalgic desire for the Saturday morning superhero cartoons I watched when I was a kid, so I’m gleefully devouring The Batman on Netflix, even if back in the day, I only watched Batman when Batgirl joined in Season 3. 

Breeberry’s bullet journal: I’ve been trying to get more into designing my bullet journal, and her weekly spreads have been super inspirational in that quest.

Burt's Bees lipstick in Lily Lake: Mine was unfortunately destroyed after not too long of owning it, but I loved the color, the practicality of the application and opacity, and the feeling of finally having a truly moisturizing lipstick. 

Tarte Tartelette in Bloom palette: Though I haven’t really had anywhere to go that really merited a dressed up eye look, I’ve really enjoyed the pigmentation and the longevity in my simple little day to day looks. Rocker is one of my favorite, favorite, favorite easy eyeshadows for days when I want to look neatly put together, but not futz around with more than one color.

The Brown Bag Teacher: As I've started teaching, this blog has helped me think through my classroom in ways I hadn't even previously considered. Teacher hero right there.

Colette Patterns Dahlia: This pattern was supposed to be my graduation dress, but it turns out that sewing a dress while studying for finals, being sick, and well, graduating is almost impossible. I’ve instead been chipping away at it during the summer, and the amazing instructions and high quality fit (straight from the pattern!) have me sold on Colette patterns. And probably indie patterns in general.

Unfancy: I’ve loved this blog for a while. Caroline’s style in every possible way is beautiful, from her clothes to her photos to her web design, but her words are even better. I find her take on a simple, “just enough and just what is needed” lifestyle inspiring. Maybe it’s because I’m moving twice this summer, maybe it’s my itch for cleanliness and order that comes with transitions, but I find myself drawn again to her pages, after I daydream about mass consumerism, of course.

hello again

Hi blog.
Long time no see.

I'd kinda lost interest in blogging after my student teaching ended. That particular over share story can wait for another day, but suffice it to say, when I sat down to start a classroom blog, I was surprised to find posts ideas popping up for this on. For the first time in months, I thought about writing for the Internet again. Or rather, writing and publishing it on the Internet.

So what have I been doing?

I graduated college, with the appropriate pomp and circumstance and silly hat.

I got a job teaching first grade at the very same school where I joyfully student taught last fall.

I decided to move back to St. Louis, where I’ve been living for the past few years.

I choreographed for a few different productions, essentially staging my choreographic swan song.

I sewed a top, tried sewing a graduation dress (that I’m only just now finishing), and knitted a sweater.

I joined the smartphone generation and got an Instagram.

I got a car and named it Judy and made some new moves towards adulthood.

I decided to experiment with a capsule wardrobe for this fall to see how it works at helping me develop a work/adult wardrobe.

I’ve decided I want to come back but in a slightly different way. I do want to write and publish more. I think I like this blog during my transitions -- and I’m facing my biggest transition ever in the coming months -- so I want to come back to the creator side of the blogging community and make something, even if it’s just for me. And with that in mind, I think I’m going to write a greater variety of posts. I’m unsure what that’ll look like, but I know that a few things won’t be first and foremost in my mind, growing an audience or trying to be any one thing in particular. I’m a chispita, unique and prone to going her own way. After all, that’s what sparks do.

me-made-monday: making it work skirt

I look surprisingly angry in this picture. Don't really know why. 

Once upon a time, I thought a fun thing to do would be to post an outfit with at least one me-made item every week. What with the busiest semester of my life, it hasn't worked yet, but no time like the present to start! I'm hoping to get a bit better and a bit braver about taking pictures of myself. 
At the beginning of the semester, my roommate was going through a closet purge, much to my benefit. Shirts, a skirt, an absolutely gorgeous red silk dress--her castoffs got me through student teaching. This skirt started as a lovely, but not quite me dress. I wasn't a big fan of the coral under the lace or the slightly too big fit, but I loved the pockets. So I took it apart and gathered up the skirt into a nice wide piece of black elastic--perfect teacher wear!

I wore this exact same outfit on a typical boring school day and also to parent-teacher conferences. I felt so professional and chic and teacher-y that it deserved a repeat!

the view from sunday

A boy gave me flowers. His name is Trader Joe.

Did you ever read the E. L. Konigsburg book The View from Saturday? I loved it in grade school, feeling that it was clever and brilliant and loving how it taught me that posh once was an acronym for "port outward, starboard home." Right now, I'm remembering all these books I loved as a little precocious reader because I have a little precocious reader in my first grade class.

I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed by the vastness of my to-do list (which could span a dozen pages, at least) and the importance of most of it. Some of it is only reading for classes, but I also have a number of things for my teaching certification. My lifetime, will-I-graduate-and-be-able-to-teach-and-be-a-successful-adult things. So this Sunday I am trying to clamber to the top of my to do list and feel like I'm staying afloat, instead of slowly drifting to the bottom of the pool.

Today is a day for buying a delicious cup of coffee, grateful for kind friends and gift cards. It's a day for walking around in the grey mistiness.  It's a day for getting one thing at a time done. It's a day for lighting a candle and breathing in the sweet smell of evaporating stress to the tune of Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday. It's a day to think of picking up writing and creating again.

It's also a day for lesson planning and for slowly ticking off things I need to do, for making beans and tea and feeling like my budget will survive this moment. When those things, the practical things of my life, are paired with calm, I feel less like crumbling into a mess of worry.

It is easy for me to pretend that next week, next month, next year, will usher in a season of my life that will be easier to handle. But living in the future will not help me with the very real here and now. Here and now, I have a life, a good life, full of joy and wonder, if I can only stop long enough to see it. Yes, it is on a strict budget. Yes, it's full of things to do and complete and finish. Yes, it's busier than I would like. But it's also more fulfilling than anything I have ever done before in my life.

The view from Sunday is not as bleak as it may have seemed Saturday night or Thursday morning. The view from Sunday demands taking a deep breath and accepting this here, this now. This is my life now, and from Sunday, the view is pretty spectacular.

finished: the changeling sweater

Two years ago, I made a sweater. It was beautiful. I loved it. And I promptly sent this mostly wool sweater through a dorm room wash-and-dry cycle. It now fits my younger sister beautifully. I'm finally returning to the pattern, after a fully appropriate two year mourning period. Same beautiful silk/wool fiber and everything, except now in wine, instead of blue.

This time, though, the fey folk got involved. During the process of working the body, I frogged from almost the armsceyes to the waist twice because of silly little mistakes. Then the same nightmare happened with the sleeve caps. My current theory is that the changelings are mixing up my work at night, because it couldn't possibly be that I have knitted the entirety of the sweater in my living room with varying levels of chaos, at varying levels of alertness, with a constant stream of reading material or videos to distract me. Nope. It's definitely the changelings messing up my work.

Pattern: Lepidoptera
Yarn: Knitpicks Gloss Lace in Port

Also important note: I left my house. These were taken in the alley between my house and the house next door. Don't they have the sweetest giant plant? Sometimes (as in a few weeks ago) it has the most gorgeous giant pink and white flowers. Those beautiful, beautiful flowers inspired me to take pictures of this sweater outside, but then I dragged my feet, and the flowers died back. Typical.

I feel like a lot of my thoughts on this sweater, this fiber, and this pattern have already been said. To be sure, this time the changelings inspired me with all kinds of mucky ideas about the sleeve cap, and now it lays funny (I sense yet another unpicking coming up), but for the most part, it's the same lovely, comfortable, elegant sweater last time around, just red as the wine sitting in my fridge.

So I'll just leave you with a deluge of pictures--most of which, to be perfectly honest, came out super weird. Like this one. Look at that weirdo!

Long story short: I love the sweater. I love the color. I need to redo those sleeve caps, so that they stop feeling funny. Also, some days I can't take a normal person picture to save my life. 

finished: fourth of july shorts

I didn't actually wear these on the Fourth of July. I did, however, cut them out that day. Also, high waisted shorts instantly feel vintage and a little forties-style patriotic to me--I decided on the styling for these photos while cutting out the fabric!

I may have then suddenly realized that the forties/vintage/patriotic poses that worked so well in my mind didn't really feel like they worked in photos. At least, not this time, with my camera self-timer ticking precariously away atop a kitchen chair.

The deets
Pattern: Simplicity 5499, copyright 1982
Fabric: 7/8 yd denim, maybe 1/2 yd of random lining fabric my little sister let me use
Size: 12 (26-1/2" waist, which explains a lot about that waist)
New techniques: "round derrière" alteration, waist alteration, fly zipper, making trousers in general?

Inspiration {sources: 1 (the pattern), 2 (Nina Leen), 3}

I found these beautiful shorts on Modcloth towards the end of the semester, and fell in love--the sweet, subtly vintage styling possibilities were just too much. Unfortunately, I'm a broke student, and I don't have $40 plus shipping to spend on one pair of shorts, especially because I can't wear them this fall for student teaching--broke chispitas gotta prioritize. Obvious answer? Make them for less--yes, sewing can still save you money! But I'd never made trousers before, and I'd never really tried to do serious alterations. And with a round, full bum and a distinct pear shape, alterations are not an option for me when it comes to trousers. Here, I did a "round derrière" alteration (maybe a little too much of one) and took in the waist (not enough--I probably really need to do a sway back adjustment).

The guts--also look at the Fourth of July pockets!

The pattern itself was great just because it walked me through every possible trouser alteration. I totally could have looked up trouser alterations in one of the multitude of sewing books somewhere around the house, but I really appreciated having the alterations right there in the pattern, specially tailored towards pants with a back yoke, like jeans, as opposed to darts. While I still ran into some problems (probably stemming from lack of belief that I would need to take that much out), the instructions themselves were excellent. (Fun fact: My mom made these pants waaaay back in the day, when the pattern was much, much newer. She even had the little card she made of her measurements and planned alterations inside the pattern envelope. It was so much fun to see! And also made me understand where my pear shape comes from.)

Do these fit perfectly? No. You can see the little roll of fabric above that is either too much of a FRA (Full Rear Adjustment--I'm not saying round derrière again) or proof of my sway back. Next time-- and there will be a next time--I'm going to do a sway back alteration and make that waist fit tighter. But with a belt, they fit pretty well, especially around my bum. And my mom told me that they were really slimming and flattering on me (take that, all you advice for pear shapes that say I should never wear high-waisted trousers!).

I love these shorts so much, even with the little extra fabric round my waist. I feel so unobtrusively vintage-y in the best possible way. And for the first time since maybe sixth or seventh grade, I feel good about how I look in a pair of trouser-y shorts, particularly from the rear. While doing the FRA, I kept thinking about how sad wearing pants has made me feel, ever since I started developing hips and a round bum. The spandex-y jeans just make me feel like I'm too big, too curvy to really wear jeans. But these make me feel okay about myself. They make me feel like I can be beautiful in a pair of shorts, instead of feeling like I should go back to hiding.

Classic Lisa blog photo--had to have one!

In other news, if all goes as planned, I'm teaching a math lesson for observation (eek!) as this post goes up. Student teaching has so far been an amazing process, and I can't wait to keep learning so much from my cooperating teacher and students. Happy Wednesday!

building a wardrobe

all from my pinboard here

This fall, I start student teaching, which is beyond-possible-words exciting. Except I need to be able to look like an adult five days a week. And for the past three years, I have grown to rely on the fact that A. people who see me on Tuesday don't see me on Friday (repeat outfits), B. I'm an adult and can keep myself fairly clean (unlike children who can and will spill who knows what on everything), and C. leggings with a long sweatshirt can form acceptable attire. Essentially, I can wear whatever I want, within reason of course. But in the classroom, I have to look like a professional teacher while wearing machine washable clothes, because I'm working with first graders. On top of that, most of my store-bought clothes are cheap/secondhand finds from before my freshman year of college, and they're falling apart at the seams.

My goal is to plan and make a wardrobe that is comfortable and clean and cleanable and professional. I looked at it from the perspective of trying to make capsule wardrobes: one for warm months, one for cold. 20 items each for some variety. Then I somewhat randomly assigned quotas for tops, bottoms, and dresses (which I love and will just pair with shorts to make them appropriate for the classroom). And then I realized just how big the holes are in my wardrobe. Example: I do not have a lightweight cardigan. I just don't. Which is frankly ridiculous, considering how much I love cardigans.

In true Internet fashion, I've started a pinboard to collect all my inspiration and ideas. More importantly, I've started a couple of projects this summer--including one that's already to show off to the internet!--but my main goal right now is still to nail down exactly what I'm looking for, style-wise and to fill the holes. Right now, I think I'm going to try some of the exercises in Colette's Wardrobe Architect to kinda solidify what I figured out from my first capsule wardrobe drafts. I want to be extremely intentional about how things work together, so that I have a wardrobe, not a closet full of individual pieces. I'm really excited about this challenge (and let's be honest--about the opportunity to make a lot of stuff)! I'm hoping to really get a lot out of looking at my closet and trying to figure out how to make it work better for me.

finished: basic-but-not-boring tee

Confession: I really like hand-sewing. I love it, in fact. This doesn't really ever seem to help my mending pile, unfortunately, but sometimes it leads to me making clothes or storage to hold all my medicine.

I finally finished my Plantain recently, despite the fact that it's not winter. Spring is here, and I'm yearning for short-sleeves and bare legs and running around in the sunshine like a tiny little toddler. Yet here I am, willingly wearing a long-sleeved, winter colored shirt. Then again, I don't really wear spring pastels. So there's that.

Pattern: Deer and Doe's Plantain
Fabric: mystery Amazon jersey, used earlier in my magic switch-y dress
Size: 36 (no alterations)

The pattern itself was a bit of a challenge. Not because the actual construction was difficult--I didn't even need the instruction. But wow, PDF patterns can be tricky. The taping together, the trying to match sides up correctly, it made the cutting-out-part of the pattern much tougher. Add to that a slippery jersey that folded and scrunched and stretched under the paper and my carpet floor turned into a cutting surface, that was very much not my favorite part of the pattern.

But the pattern is also beautifully designed. The scoop neck is graceful, the sizing is accurate, and the A-line, hip-skimming cut is really elegant. I even liked the fabric, which for a dirt-cheap Amazon buy holds up pretty well and is super soft. Sure, it's probably 130% polyester, but it's still cozy and comfy, while still looking pretty nice. The look in general suffers a bit on close inspection from the typical pulling I always find with my hand stretch stitching, but I think that's because my stitches are a little too big still.

I did piece the neckband, because I didn't have enough fabric in the right direction to cut it in one long piece. But I don't think it's too noticeable. And the biggest secret of all the secrets: despite taking the time to hand-finish every single inside seam, I have not hemmed it. Sleeves or the bottom.

All in all, I know the product is an extremely wearable tee (proof: these pictures were taken on three days when I actually, in fact, did wear it). Also, several of these pictures are super out of focus, but three. times. taking. pictures. I got bored of putting on a shirt that was too warm for the day just to take pictures.

february things

Fun fact: almost all of January I had a post sitting here, just waiting to be posted, but then I went through a little moment of questioning the narcissism of posting things about my life online and then a moment of I'm-really-busy and now I'm just tired and bored of reading fifty page documents about classroom management, while waiting or class to start. I know February's only been for like two days, but here we are, and the month is short, so, yeah... Sleepy brain doesn't write too well.

Recently I've:

...cast on for a pair of mittens to replace the ones that let in more wind than they keep out.

...cut out a Plantain from the leftovers from this dress. First PDF pattern, folks. I'm branching out into the 21st century.

...cut myself some DIY bangs. That's very recent, 'cos I did that this morning with my new fabric shears in front of my bathroom mirror. I've done it before (several times in fact), but I found this tutorial super helpful for stepping up my bang-cutting game this time.

...rediscovered makeup blogs and vlogs and tutorials. Feels very vain to say that. Oh my gosh so much narcissism in one little post!

...read The Financial Diet cover to cover (end to end? first post to last post? I'm gonna stick with the bookworm description) like a dork, because the advice A. feels fairly relevant to my status as a broke college student living on a very fixed income, B. makes me feel like a grown up. Even if I still can't purchase wine.

...made some delicious muffins loosely based off this recipe, but very, very changed. I might actually put the recipe here because they were so good and I want to make sure I get the recipe down.

...made a social studies journal, invented several math games, and played with water-based markers as alternative watercolors and with actual watercolors as watercolors. Oh, education classes I love you so.

...consumed a lot of tea and a lot of coffee and a lot of chocolate. None of this is probably that great for my health, because it's being done to counteract being on campus for weird hours and sleeping like a baby (not like the proverbial baby who sleeps peacefully for a perfect, refreshing eight hours, but like a real baby who wakes up every two hours starving and then can't fall back to sleep and therefore looks at recipes on Pinterest.)

...found out just how much fun a pair of "teacher shoes" (the kind with heels that make the click-clack sounds as you walk down the hallway) can be. Guys. It's like an instant power/confidence boost, as long as you stay within the limits of what you can walk in.

(Forgive me for the really bad collage at the top. I was trying to illustrate this! This is the source for the makeup photo.)

why homemade?

(I wrote this essay of sorts a while ago, and I've realized it's kind of a great mission statement for the kind of handmade life I want to lead. Just thought I'd share it here, as I set goals for the new year.)

I can admit that I'm proud. Proud as a peacock with all his new feathers. I'm very proud of being able to say, yeah, I made that. From a piece of fabric or raw ingredients or a pile of cardboard and string. I'm even more proud if the end result looks or tastes good.

But I don't just make things myself for the rush.

I can admit that I'm a bit of a purist. I like starting from as close to scratch as I reasonably can. Starting with quality, adding my highest quality labor, ending with higher quality than I would get in a store. Fewer preservatives, less polyester, better flavor, better drape.

But I don't just make things myself for the higher quality.

I can admit that I'm a very small bit of an activist. I cry for the mistreatment of overseas textile workers, for the closed doors and sometimes maltreatment of the meat industry, for steamrolling of small farms and industries by big business. I get mad about mystery synthetic chemicals that lace our food and for the complete disconnect that our society has for the sweatshop worker in Taiwan when we pick up a $5 sweater in Forever 21.

But I don't just make things myself to avoid a culture that ignores the dangers to ourselves and the world around us caused by our desire to consume.

It's all that and then some. I believe there is intrinsic good done when you take raw materials and do the processing themselves, whether that's growing their own food, knitting their own scarves, or crafting their own decor. I believe there's nothing more empowering than learning a skill that can be used in your day-to-day life, like cooking or sewing ('cos you wear the garments or see the pillows on a day-to-day basis). I love the act of creation that pushes my mind to think critically and creatively to discover new solutions to the problems I pose in my head. I love that it's so different from the culture of academia, where I feel like the goal is sometimes just to consume as many articles and texts as possible and then to spew them out upon command. It connects me to my ancestors and helps to keep what could be dying crafts alive. It also doesn't hurt that making my own stuff saves a pretty penny over buying the same quality products, which makes my college student budget much, much happier.

That, all smashed together and mixed up and super-glued at the edges, is why homemade.

november things

Getting ready to see this out my window again!

It feels crazy to me that it's already November. But here we are, facing our first snow, talking about Thanksgiving, getting ready for the fall recital, counting the weeks down to finals and home. November is shaping up to be a busy month for me, but it's all good busy. The retreat I've been prepping for all semester, rehearsals, it's all coming together now!

• I am a firm believer in the importance of tea. Perhaps twice a day. Or more. As I told a friend recently, I basically live on the stuff. So tea lattes naturally happen, and that Emileigh's new recipe looks super yummy. 
• I've been pinning late 20th century stuff like crazy for my costume design class. And I have to take back what I've said about the 80s. There's some stuff that's not abysmal.
• But really, Charles James is where it's at. Forever. Oh my gosh, every dress is so beautifully designed!
• My newest favorite food blog: Half-Baked Harvest. Can I afford nice cheese and maple syrup? No. Do I want them anyway now? Yes. 
• Dirty Dancing. I want to be Baby, but only in the dancing scenes. Mambo!
• I'm starting to plan something of a Thanksgiving menu for myself, because I'm staying at school. Chipotle pumpkin soup sounds good, or maybe spaghetti squash with garbanzo beans and kale? Maybe I'll make some more pumpkin muffins or finally buy a loaf pan and bake some bread. Regardless, it'll be delicious. 
• So many papers. And now, 'cos I'm getting into the truly preparatory part of my teacher ed program, lesson plans. I can see the end coming and then I'm going to be a real person full time and do this all the time. Kinda crazy and more than a little bit scary!
• I really want to sew and knit everything. I'm optimistically hoping to whip out a Plantain during Thanksgiving. We'll have to see though. 

october things

• Right now, basically everything I eat is made out of pumpkin. Not really joking either. One of my favorites was this homemade pumpkin spice chai latte (with Trader Joe's pumpkin pie spice, because it was super cheap and is also delicious.
• I recently watched Roman Holiday and was reminded just how amazing Audrey Hepburn is again. I may or may not kinda want a handsome, kind stranger to swoop in on a moped and sweep me off my feet too.
• Right now I really badly want to sew a full skirted three quarter sleeved red dress, reminiscent of this one and this one. Basically, I want a better fall/winter dress with sleeves. 
• I also really need a light cardigan to carry my summer dresses into fall. Especially 'cos I feel like I can't just wear my flannel or a floppy sweatshirt everyday because I'm observing in a school/kind of being a real person, which requires looking quasi professional. I hate having holes in my closet.
• New blog discoveries/loves: Top with Cinnamon (it's so beautiful and this loaf cake is now on my "to bake" list), these muffin/cupcakes from Sally, MP by Maude, and Poires au Chocolat.
• I learned how to watercolor for a costume design project last week, and it was surprisingly fun. I may have made some art that I'd actually be okay with hanging on my wall! And by art, I clearly meant costume renderings. No Dégas over here. Just a rough, but acceptable watercolor.
• Speaking of art, I don't have a kiddo and won't have one for a while, but I do get kid's art from working with them. I loved this idea for making them into super artsy prints. (Sidenote: I have a friend in art school who impressed a professor by using kid's art in his art project. 'Cos nothing is artsier than kid's art.)

So that's where I am, halfway through October (halfway through the semester too -- eek!). Here's to a good continuation of fall and to fall breaks everywhere!

fo: bucket-y bucketness

Forgive me for that title. I'm in the midst of midterm projects, actual midterms, sleep deprivation, and what looks like the slight beginnings of a cold. But I'm observing pre-K students who are basically little germ factories, so sick happens.

When you move into an apartment for the first time, it's this giant empty slate. Maybe you have some furniture that you acquired from the previous tenants. You have a couple of tchotchkes or knick-knacks (by the way, I love the word tchotchke and I wish we used it more often), but mostly, you have an empty room.

I wanted a little more storage, so I decided to make a bucket bag based on this tutorial from Victory Patterns. It took me three times longer than it normally would, because I had to hand sew the whole thing, but the result is that I finally have somewhere to stick my bobby pins, headbands, and hair ties. They used to be sprinkled liberally around the room. Not cool.

I used some mystery fabric I got from a friend for free and some leftover heavy interfacing instead of buckram, because I already had the interfacing and I figure they serve essentially the same purpose: make something not stiff act stiffer. The tutorial itself had clear enough instructions, for the most part. I didn't have to look anything up, and the techniques were basic enough, especially when you're making the whole thing using hand stitches you learned when you were five (whipstitch and running stitch for the win). Really, there's not much to say about it, except that it very perfectly fits its niche.

september things

Not quite fall, not summer anymore. Just September. Sidenote, does anyone remember Self-Stitched September? Like Me-Made May, except at a time when I feel more like taking pictures of what I wear (totally honest, once I'm home after finals, all I want to wear for like two weeks is my pajamas). I wanted to do it this year, and then I realized that no one apparently did it anymore.

• Lots of North and South. Early Victorian period drama with complex characters and social justice. Bestill my beating heart.
• Kinda the same note, but I procrastinated studied while watching TV last night and the TV shows coming out this fall was unimpressive. Every single character just felt like a flat trope, and dialogue seemed canned.
• Sketching from original Godey's Lady's Book fashion plates for my costume design and history class. AKA the best. 
• Loving fall -- sweaters and boots weather will always be my favorite! (Specifically, this sweater and a pair of brown lace-up boots; I've been feeling rather rustic and cozy in my style.)
• Figuring out how to grocery shop/cook for one person. And then there's the two days before grocery day when I eat peanut butter, and I pretend that's okay. Um, so basically that's tonight. 

A little bit of inspiration from around the web:

• This recipe for black bean soup. Yay for long lasting shelf stables!
• And this recipe for roasted garbanzos. And then after that, this recipe for cinnamon sugar ones. And 'cos it's all garbanzo beans and protein, you pretend it's all healthy.
• But maybe my questionable food habits will get better, because I really want to cook more like Kate's supper suggestions here. (Sidenote: I love her blog so much. Might be a little excessive.)
• I love winged black eyeliner. It's probably that dance life. So obviously, I loved these tips for making a better cat eye!
• I'm still slowly chipping away at this bag. I always forget how long sewing takes when I'm doing it all by hand. But never fear junk around my room! It will get done. Just...eventually. 
• Also, I'm super excited for pumpkin baking season. Pumpkin spice lattes are okay. But pumpkin bread is where it's at, folks. Just need to go buy some pumpkin!

I hope you're having a great start to fall! Go have some spiced chai or the requisite not pumpkin-pumpkin spice latte or cider or whatever your favorite fall beverage is.

thoughts on style: a color palette

I find exercises in minimalism and thoughtful consumption fascinating, but it's not really something I need to do in this season in my life. Much as I may love capsule wardrobes, I'm a broke college student with less than 50 items of clothing, not counting dancewear or shoes or things like that. If I "cull my closet" much more, I won't make it through my 2 week laundry cycle. And who has time to do laundry every week?

No, my problem is more that as my life shifts from being a college girl to a full-time teacher, I need my closet to also shift from "neatly dressed student" to "professional-looking adult." But basically what the Wardrobe Architect series and 30x30 remixes and capsule wardrobes try to achieve is a thoughtful analysis of what you have in your closet and what you use and how, and that's something anyone can use, especially to plan what comes next. I'm a college student - analysis is what I do, and planning out this next wardrobe shift sounds like a better idea than making/buying willy-nilly.

I tried out the color palette exercise in the Wardrobe Architect and this is what I came up with. The last four colors are ones I have in my wardrobe for one reason or another and really like in theory but don't always love in practice (actually this sweater and this sweater are what I'm thinking of). I really like the top two rows of colors though, especially those neutrals and dusty blue, which is kind of a neutral. Sometimes, I just want to have a closet of neutrals, a lot like Caroline from Unfancy. And then I remember dark reds. It's always the dark reds that get me.

My goal is to sew and knit and, if I have to, buy clothes within an intentional color scheme. That way things will go together nicely

Do you ever get analytical about what you wear and your closet? What are your thoughts on those minimalist experiments?