Fashion Friday: My Summer Uniform

I'm back!  

It's technically only been about 2 weeks since my last post, but that's equivalent to at least 2 months in the blogging world, right?

Anyway, life has been super crazy lately between the whole car issue, the end of the school year, and the fact that I've been working more part-time on weekends.  (The bonus of having a boss that likes you...)  

After today I will officially be down to 2 1/2 school days with students, plus another day or so of work time. I'm sooooo ready for summer vacation!  My summer is actually looking to be fairly busy, but I'll still have a lot of downtime for relaxing and recovering from this crazy school year.

Summer Vacation Uniform by conolley featuring animal print shoes

Here's a look at what would be a typical summer outfit...

Colorful Tees - I love basic cotton tees for running around on summer days.  I've been on a mission to upgrade my collection this year with some bright, fun colors and Gap's "Essential" tees have become a new favorite.  Tees can be paired with just about anything, which makes them a great summer essential.

Comfy Denim - I'm totally in love with my cropped boyfriend jeans from AE and wear them all the time.  I'm not much of a shorts person, but on really hot days I bust out my denim shorts.  They're another versatile hot weather item that keeps me cool and casual.

Fun Tote - For running around on summer days I sometimes choose a small tote over a regular purse.  They're great for when I'm taking a class and need space for a notebook or when I just need some extra space for a water bottle and sunglasses.

Cute Sandals - If I could get away with sandals all year, I totally would wear them all the time.  Well, those and my TOMS...  Cute, comfy, flat sandals are totally my go-to during the summer and are another item that's perfect for running around on a hot day.

Eye Catching Necklace - Since jeans and a tee is so basic, I love topping off a look with a cute necklace.  Sometimes a blank canvas like a colored tee is the perfect background for a fun statement necklace.

What is your typical summer uniform? 
Where are your favorite places to get clothing and accessories for the warm weather months?

Budgeting Bloggers ~ April

***Okay, I'm a little late to the party...  As if life was not already busy enough with this time of year, I was in a car accident last week and now have to take on the job of buying a new car.  Thankfully, the accident was not my fault, there were no injuries, and hopefully the insurance stuff will all work out to take care of things, but my 2 year old car is totaled.  *sigh*

Alright, now onto the fun stuff!

Xhilaration Sandals - $17 (Target bogo full price) 

Merona Flats - $5 (Target bogo 1/2 clearance price)

Lower East Side Flats (Payless) - $17

Image via Target

Image via Target

Image via Payless

          

I somehow ended up on a shoe shopping spree at the end of March.  I have to admit, I bought these right before posting my last Budgeting Bloggers post, but I was debating on keeping / exchanging, so I decided I'd  just put it into my April budget since I was exactly on budget for March.  Shoes have been a focus on mine, so spending $39 on 3 pairs was really good for me.

Gap Essential Tee - $7

Image via Gap

One of my goals for the spring was to upgrade my t-shirt collection.  I sold a lot of the ones that were in good condition last month and have a stack of others for a garage sale or Goodwill.  I think basic tees like this are a total wardrobe staple and I love having a variety of colors to pair with just about everything in my closet.  I thought I was getting a mint-y tee from J.Crew a couple months ago, but when it finally arrived it was much darker than expected.  I kept it, but still had my eye out for a mint colored tee.

Gap Block Print Cardigan - $30

Image via Gap

One of my goals for the month was to stay away from Gap...  We'll consider only 2 items from there a decent success on that goal.  I popped in to get a baby gift and walked out with a baby gift AND this cardigan that I thought I'd just pinned on Pinterest.  Even better, it was 40% off!  It's super cute, but totally out of my element being that it's blue and a pattern.  It makes me want to buy a cute white dress to wear with it!

Banana Republic Draped V-Neck Sweater - $38

Image via Banana Republic

I have a weakness for gray sweaters, particularly those from Banana Republic especially when 40% off.  This is a great spring sweater...  Slouchy, lightweight, and a versatile light gray.  For reference, I'm between sizes at BR and I went with the larger of the 2 for a little extra length and slouch.  (Side note:  In store this is called the "drapey" sweater, not "draped" like it is online.)

J.Crew Factory Button-Back Sundress - $33

Image via J.Crew Factory

This dress tempted me last year when it was at J.Crew, so when the Factory came out with their own version this year I was even more tempted.  The color of green is much more of a bright true green in person, but it's very comfy and fun.  I wish I'd been able to try it in store because I really can't quite figure out J.Crew's sizing for myself.  This dress is a tad smaller than I would prefer, but not so much so that I feel like it needs to be returned.  (Plus, I'm getting back on track with diet and exercise after a slump and I think going a size larger might have been too much.)

Tarte Femme Naturale Eye Palette - $22

Image via Sephora

My makeup shopping ban was over the day before Sephora's spring Beauty Insider sale started...  How convenient?!?  I behaved pretty well in the store, but found this baby on sale online.  I debated for a few days and finally decided that at $22 this was a really good value.  Even though it's another neutral palette, it's very different from my Naked 2 and I've been wearing it a lot.  It's sold out on Sephora's site now, but you can get it at full price from Ulta.

Maybelline Color Whispers - $6 each
Revlon Balm Stain - $8
(purchased with gift card)

Lip products were one thing that I was really having to fight off buying during my makeup ban.  I feel like as soon as I banned myself from getting those things, TONS of new products came out!  I still had some gift card money for Wal-Mart and since I hate that place so much, I decided my reward for going to that place would be some new lip candy!

Total = $169

I was over my goal of $150, but under my cap of $200.  I think the BR sweater was my only real impulse buy, but it's a great basic that's already gotten a lot of wear and will be perfect in the fall.   I fought off temptation to get some new accessories at Target (clearance purses!) and overall, I'm happy with my goodies!

May Spending Plan:
I've made 1 purchase  for May so far, but until this car thing thing is taken care of I'm trying not to spend much unnecessary money.

Other than that, I really don't have much planned for May purchases...  I need new workout shoes and will probably make that a priority for this month.  

At some point in the near future I'll share my summer wish list and budget plan.  I think for the summer I am going to set one budget for June, July, and August and see how far that can stretch me.  I'm hoping to make at least 1 trip out of town and do some shopping, but other than that my summer will be spent relaxing, doing some part-time work, and taking some classes!

Don't forget to check out and link up with the rest of the Budgeting Bloggers over at Franish!

Whole Group Reading: Teacher Read Aloud

When we started Literacy First, I was kind of surprised that having a teacher-led read aloud was part of our whole group time.  In the past we'd had our reading series dictate the story we read that week and we had a few novel studies on top of that.  I always did a chapter book read aloud with my class on top of that, but I really didn't think that reading story books to third graders (or older) was all that necessary.  

I've come to enjoy our read aloud time a lot, though, and it's given me a lot more opportunities to read a variety of stories to my students.  We're supposed to incorporate a lot of non-fiction into our read alouds (about 50 or 60%). 

Here are some of the books / themes that we've done this year:

• Friendship
• Pets / Animal Heroes
• Christopher Columbus
• Elections 
• Presidents 
• Thanksgiving / Native Americans
• Christmas
• Penguins 
• Johnny Appleseed
• Martin Luther King Jr. / Civil Rights
• Inventors
• Titanic
• Butterflies
• Ramona Quimby, Age 8
• The Mouse and the Motorcycle
• Muggie Maggie
• Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing
• Charlotte's Web

There are even more I would like to try to do in the future, but I just haven't had time to fit in or plan for!  We also do some weeks where we just read stories and focus on a certain comprehension skill or text structure...  For example, we might spend a week reading books and focusing on a skill like retelling or compare and contrast.  Some themes extend more than just 1 week and the novel studies usually take about 2 weeks each. 

My kids really love the nonfiction books and learning new things through these books.  We're in the middle of our inventors unit right now and we studied old school inventors like Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell and now we're reading about Steve Jobs.  They're loving it!

I wanted to share the reading planner than I created last spring again.  It's been good for planning things out and it's definitely going to help me in doing some better planning for next year!

Reading Theme Planner.pdf 

One of my current goals for now and into the summer is better organizing all of my theme resources.  I'm considering some tubs like these:  

Image via Really Good Stuff

Target also has some similar boxes...  I think these would be perfect for putting my books and files for themes into one common spot and would be super convenient for sharing with my coworkers!

I'm hoping to get back into some school-related posts again in the coming weeks and months.  Sometimes mid-year I get sick of even thinking about school when I'm not there, so blogging about it isn't exactly at the top of my list!

Sunday Social

It's time for Sunday Social over at A Complete Waste of Makeup!

I skipped last week's because it was all about Twitter and I'm just not really into Twitter.  I've tried and more than anything else I find it annoying.  Okay, I'm done.

What is your shopping weakness?

Gap is probably by biggest weakness when it comes to clothes.  They have super cute stuff again and they always seem to be running the best sales.  I never pay full price for anything there.  It probably also doesn't help that it's closer to my house than the actual mall, so I just happen to pop into there way too often.  Target is another big temptation for me.  I went there last night and had to talk myself out of buying 3 clearance purses!  

Image via Gap

What is your food weakness?

Okay this may sound weird, but I love LOVE Kroger's version of the creamy broccoli Tuna Helper.  Here's the weird thing, I don't actually like the real brand of the Tuna Helper, but just the Kroger store brand version.  It's sooooo much better.  I thought they were getting rid of it a while back (thankfully they just changed the packaging) and I went to multiple grocery stores to hoard it.  True story.  Totally not what would be considered a healthy meal, but it's quick, easy, cheap, and yummy.  Sometimes you just have to have some meals like that on hand, right?!?

What is your go-to movie when nothing is on?

"Back to the Future" has been my favorite movie since I was in kindergarten.  I went to school in the afternoon and went through a phase were I would watch it (in rotation with a few other movies) in the morning.  (I have such fond memories of functioning on that schedule...  It was the best!)  I still watch it when it's on TV and of course pop out the Blu-ray every now and then as well!  This movie is perfection!

What is your go-to breakfast food?

I know it's bad, but I'm not a big breakfast eater on work days.  I try to take something small like a cereal bar, yogurt drink, or Cuties drink to have before school or during my break around 10 a.m.  I love breakfast foods, but I've never really been a fan of actually getting up and eating breakfast on work / school days.  On weekends I enjoy some Archer Farms blueberry or strawberry granola (from Target).  It's the best!  I love eating that with either skim milk or some vanilla yogurt.

Do you drink coffee and if so, how do you take it?

I usually go through a coffee phase during the winter when I crave something warm.  I'm a sissy coffee drinker and go with something like flavored cappuccino or plain coffee heavy on the flavored creamer.

Don't forget to head over to A Complete Waste of Makeup to link up with us today!

April Birchbox

March somehow escaped me without posting a review of my Birchbox, so I wanted to be sure to post about my April box!  

This month's box was a collaboration with Women's Health.  This is probably the best box I've received in a while!  I was super pleased with my goodies this month!

 Kiehl's Powerful-Strength Line-Reducing Concentrate - I've recently taken more interest in anti-aging products, so I was super happy to get this sample.  I like that it's in a bottle and although small, I think it will be enough to get a good idea on how much I like the product.

LAFCO Fleurs de Baies Bath Soap - I could smell this soap as soon as I opened the box!  This is another great sample size that will be great for setting out when I have guests.

Mirenesse Glossy Kiss Lipstick - Full size alert!  This lipstick is valued at $26.55 on the Birchbox website.  I  wasn't sure about the color at first, but it's a good neutral that's a little more on the red side than some of my others.  

 

Nexxus Youth Renewal Rejuvenating Elixir - I haven't tried this yet, but I do think it's interesting that they're coming out with anti-aging products for hair now!

Simple Revitalizing Eye Roll-On - What, what!?!  Another full-size product!  This was the "Birchbox Find" of the month.  

Birchbox, you need to have more boxes like this one!  This month really exceeded my expectations and was well worth my $10!  A coworker who also subscribes brought in her box to show and the only common item we had was the Nexxus stuff.  She also had a pretty good box, but I think I liked my products better.

What was in your April Birchbox?

Fashion Friday: Spring Dresses

I love dresses.  It was unseasonably cold this week and I wore dresses twice just because I was having a major craving to wear dresses.  (That and I'm down to only 1 good pair of black skinnies for work.)  If spring ever decides to actually arrive, I'll be even more excited to rock dresses for work, church, and other events!

Springtime Dresses

Here are 5 picks for great springtime dresses:

1. This is my favorite style of dress!  This dress from Banana Republic is a little dressier (and pricier) than the ones I own, but it would be super versatile for all sorts of events.  I love a basic dress that can be styled differently with jackets, cardigans, and accessories.  You can change your look every time you wear it!
2. I bought this black striped maxi last year at Target and have gotten a lot of good use out of it.  It's great for those days when you want to be comfy and dressy.  I wore this one with a jacket to school the other day and got tons of compliments from teachers and little girls! 
3. This bright pink shirt dress was my Easter dress this year.  It's super comfy and a fun change from some of my other basic dresses.  I'm planning on rocking again next weekend when I host a baby shower!
4. This green dress is heading my way!  I'm hoping the fit and everything works out, but I thought this would be another fun addition to my wardrobe.  I love the green!
5. I have last year's version of this basic black dress from Banana Republic.  (BTW, I love their dresses and have scored some a-MAZ-ing deals on them!)  This is my go-to for when I want to look polished, but comfortable.  I loved the 3/4 sleeved version so much that I bought the short sleeve version as well!

Do you love wearing dresses during springtime?

What are your favorite stores to get comfortable and cute dresses?

(Late Night) Thursday Confessions

I feel like the past week or so has been super busy and super tiring for no good reason at all.  I've had a few extra meetings and our third grade music program, but other than that nothing all that crazy.  Maybe it's just this time of year?  I'm soooo in need of summer break!

So, since I've been having a little blog writer's block lately, I thought I'd share a few more Thursday confessions.  

• I love eating slightly under-cooked and over-milked instant oatmeal.  It's like warm cereal without being too mushy.  Oh so delightful!  I'm going through a phase right now and it's been my evening dessert lately.
• After this school year I could write a 1,000 page book of dumb stuff (for lack of a better word) kids say.  I feel like I have more kids than usual this year that have no common sense whatsoever.  It's kind of to a point that it's so sad it's funny. 
• I really like the show "Dance Moms."  Yes, Abby screams at children and the mom are all crazy, but it's a total guilty pleasure.  
• I "dress up" 3 out of 5 days at work each week and I totally wore my denim jacket on all 3 of those days this week.  I didn't realize that until today, but I wore it 2 days with dresses and 1 day with a button-down and cords.  It might be because this crazy Kansas weather has been really hard to dress for.  This week has been completely less than spring-like!
• I am in love with Jason Bateman.  I really started crushing on him about 5 years ago and may have once spent a weekend watching TV shows and You Tube clips featuring him.  I am beyond excited for the new episodes of "Arrested Development" that are coming out next month!

Jason teaches Elmo about the word "comfort."  Jason would be allowed to comfort me anytime! ; )

I hope you have a great Friday!