Julep February It Girl Box (Kind Of)

In a spectacular display of ineptitude, I managed to skip my January Julep box. When the February Maven window opened, I dove in, determined to score nifty colors and a Valentine's Day-appropriate polish. I swapped out another black for a gorgeous purple, added a sparkly reddish pink, and then opened my box to find a bonus Valentine's top coat! Now that is what I'm talking about.

From left to right: Carla, Becky, Hazel, Ada, and Hartleigh.

Despite photographing these polishes in natural light, I had a hell of a time getting nice lighting in the sad, dim recesses of my first floor. It took much angling, but I finally got a good shot of my hasty paint job. Did I mention that every month is a frenzy of polish-trying because otherwise I will procrastinate forever?

From left to right: Hartleigh worn over Carla, Ada, Hazel, Becky, and Carla.

Hartleigh is a "holographic heart glitter top coat." It delights my elementary school teacher heart. Tons of glitter! Some of the glitter is shaped like HEARTS! I don't go nuts about Valentine's Day, but I have fun wearing seasonally appropriate gear to school.
Ada is a "bright rhubarb fizzy." I have no idea how nail polish might fizz. I love how layered the glitter looked after two coats. Almost 3-D!
Hazel is a "wild violet and bronze duochrome." ZERO REGRETS ABOUT SWAPPING OUT ANOTHER BLACK FOR THIS COLOR. The duochrome didn't photograph well, but it's definitely there and definitely a gorgeous color for any season.
Becky is a "oil slick duochrome silk." Silk, Julep? Whatever, it's lovely and shiny with the same type of colors you see floating at the top of oil.
Carla is a "tea rose crème" and a beautiful pale pink for winter-almost-oh-please-spring.

Bonus shot of my Valentine's Day (elementary observed) manicure:

Someday I will master the art of the neat, perfect manicure.

Feeling nail polish-happy and spend-y? Feel free to sign up for Julep using my referral link.

5 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Teaching

A friend who wants to change careers and become a teacher asked me to write about some things I wish I had known before I started teaching. I could do a year's worth of posts on this topic, but for now, here are five.

1) Student teaching cannot prepare you for the reality of teaching. Teaching is an infinitely complex art that's also an infinitely complex science. You need to track a ton of data, adhere to a ton of teaching standards, make a million lesson plan adjustments, balance learning styles, run parent-teacher conferences, contribute to staff meetings, fill out reports... The list goes on forever. When you're student teaching, you're with a veteran teacher who knows their stuff and has excellent systems in place. Your mentor teacher can help fix any mistakes you make and just provide a second pair of hands in the classroom. When you're a certified teacher, you're on your own for most of the day (unless you're fortunate enough to have an aide), and you are the sole person responsible for your teaching. Your first year of teaching will be so UNBELIEVABLY tiring and you will wish you could spend about two years learning at the side of a master teacher.

2) You need to be good at so many things outside of the teaching scope. Teachers are also event planners, counselors, nurses, and secretaries. If your school does any school-wide challenges (reading, math, fitness, you name it) or fundraisers, then you will be in charge of tracking everything on top of your regular teaching work. You will learn to estimate the severity of a fever based on the feel of a child's forehead. You will call certain parents a hundred billion times to get permission slips signed. Parents will confide in you and ask for advice because they trust you. When you're willing to trust someone with your child, sometimes you're willing to confide other things as well, like a recent escape from domestic violence. My real cross to bear has been event planning, because I am terrible at it. BUT parent connection is important, and everyone will turn out for great food and a nice party. Just try not to let your inner control freak ruin the party for you!

3) Even if you don't adore all your coworkers, the majority of them will be good, hard-working people. I think this is important to keep in mind in teaching jobs, which are super stressful. They're stressful because they involve helping people! Some of your coworkers might rub you the wrong way and you might not agree with their decisions, but most of them come to work and and work hard every day to help kids. Teaching is such a team sport that you have to find a way to work with your coworkers. It might involve compromise, it might involve "agree to disagree," but if you start from a place of respect, you'll be able to work with just about anyone. Oh, and just in case I sound scary--most of your coworkers will be nice people and you'll get along just fine. Teaching attracts nice, helpful people, for some reason.

4) All the "extra" projects can be the most memorable, meaningful parts of school for the kids. No, I'm not talking about the generic art projects where everyone colors in the same thing, cuts it out the same way, and glues it to the same paper. I'm talking about the cooking projects. I'm talking about making playdough, or Ooblek, or interactive dioramas. I'm talking about constructing strong bridges, or "boats" that can hold the most pennies. I'm talking about meaningful explorations of an art style or technique that result in kids creating their own artwork. You learn a ton about engaging, meaningful lessons in educator prep programs, but when you get to a school, you're typically handed a curriculum and told to follow it. Most of the "extras" need to be built in. For instance, my students have to write "how to" books, but it doesn't say in the curriculum that you should DO some sequential projects like cooking, then have the kids write about what they did. Putting steps in logical order and writing supply lists are so much easier when you've already experienced them!

5) Say no, and say no often. You do enough work already. Your educator prep programs will make sure to tell you that teachers lead "rich outside lives" without providing you any ideas for ensuring you have TIME for any kind of outside life. In your first few years of teaching, it's easy to let it consume your entire life. You'll feel kind of like you're back in high school or college, only this time you have 500 times the homework and should not sign up for any extracurriculars until you have a year or two under your belt. Just say no to committees! If you must join one, pick one you are truly passionate about, like faculty senate or coaching a sport you adore. YOU HAVE ENOUGH WORK ALREADY. YOU HAVE ENOUGH WORK FOR TWO PEOPLE. JUST SAY NO TO MORE WORK. Teachers are overachievers by nature, but JUST SAY NO. In your first year of teaching, when you are sick for the third time in two months and coughing all over your laptop as you try to fill out report cards, you will think, Wow, at least I don't have to prepare a PowerPoint for the school climate committee meeting later today, or even stay after school for it! and thank me for my wisdom. JUST SAY NO.

I'm sure I'll think of plenty more things once I hit Post, but we'll leave it at that for now. I think that educator prep programs are great and teach a lot of important information. I also think they shy away from some of the uglier realities of teaching (the way it consumes your entire life, for instance) because they're afraid of scaring students away. I don't want to scare anyone away, either! I just want brand new educators to know that it's normal to feel overwhelmed and to need a long time to truly get your sea legs, so to speak. Teaching is something that you have to work on continually. There is no Perfect Teaching Forever trophy that guarantees your success. I am not the source of all teaching wisdom, but I hope I've acquired some over the past five years.

Honest Winter Fashion

 I love to read fashion blogs. I think knowing how to make yourself look great is an important skill, plus it's fun. But all this "winter" fashion with bare legs and coats left unbuttoned to display beautiful outfits, worn on magically slush-free streets? I had to laugh. Then I had to do a post about the winter "fashion" I've sported in Boston. In case you haven't heard, we got 7 feet of snow in 3 weeks and our public transit system is broken forever.

To review, here's what fashion blogs think represents winter:

"Tra-la, I hope my earrings don't get caught in my skis once we get to the lodge!"

And here are seven looks inspired by actual winter in good ol' Boston:

Look #1: Wake up and stumble to the bathroom because your room is an icebox.

I woke up like this. (Cold. Very cold.)

Look #2: Wear the thickest and most unflattering clothing you own. Wear them in the least flattering way possible because it's just that cold.

My look of resentment says it all.

Look #3: Why not wear BOTH of the thickest sweaters you own? You are now somewhat hopeful that you will ever feel your fingers again.

Stylin'.

 Look #4: Cook at least two dishes a day to warm up your house. Now you don't have to worry about your sweaters hiding your waistline.

Brownies and clementine cake will keep us alive, right? 

Look #5: Bundle up in all of your winter gear. Regret buying a light-colored winter coat because public transit has left grime you can never dry clean away.

Secretly, I regret nothing. PINK COAT!

 Look #6: Give up and sacrifice yourself to the frost giants. The snowdrifts will carry you to the afterlife and the sun will return.

I'm honestly surprised our grill has made it this far.

Look #7: Wonder why you thought this was a good idea. You're not even getting paid.