Victorian Tea

Dress: Vintage French / Shoes, Hat, Gloves: Thrifted / Necklaces: Grandmother's, J. Crew final sale / Earrings: Vintage

After a month of studying Victorian and modern etiquette, including the etiquette of wooing, writing illustrated love or advice on love letters, reading two novels, holding an etiquette debate, and preparing etiquette presentations, I got to play Queen for the day and host a British Etiquette Tea for my seniors. It was wicked fun, even if I was up till 3 a.m. making 200 scones the night before. After preparing and dressing for the event, I completely understand why Queens have so many servants...

Our community coordinator found / made costumes for my students. She even found some Steam-punk attire, and she reserved this gorgeous vintage French gown for me. She dressed me up like a doll, made the hat to go with the dress, and even did my hair the morning of the event.

During the tea, she snapped several photos of the gorgeous get-up she created for me from various angles:

 Then she insisted upon posing me for photos afterwards. I didn't complain... 

See that? My very own Prince Albert even cleared his schedule to attend the grand event. Unfortunately, the presentations went a tad bit long, and he had to leave before the end, so this is the only photo I've got with my Prince.

Our math teacher made lemon curd and gingerbread, brought loads of dishes and linens, and, while helping set up, decided we needed fresh flowers for the tables and was off to get them.  Our health/gym teacher also brought loads of fancy dishes, linens, and gold silverware, she made dessert, and she helped set up. The principal, who created this event when she was the English teacher, made tiny sandwiches and also brought in sparkling glassware, delicate china, and darling teapots. Our parent coordinator made tiny sandwiches, got all the food out onto the tables, and did loads, and loads, and loads of dishes.

I know I complain a lot about my job. Being the only English teacher at a 180-student charter school, teaching all grades 9-12, hasn't been easy. But being at a small charter school has been fabulous. I can't imagine a better, more dedicated, and helpful staff. So many of them sacrificed their own precious time for my little tea party. Merci mille fois à toutes!

P.S. I'm hesitant to post photos of others on a public blog, especially students, so go here to see more photos from the event!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Merci mille fois à toutes! = Thanks a million to all!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today I Was Pi-ed.

 Dress: Asos clearance / Sweater: Gabes / Shoes: 6pm / Belts: H&M / Necklace: Bluefly clearance / Watch: Fossil

Happy Pi Day.

I had my students write Piakus and Pi Limericks.

Then I was chosen to have a pie thrown in my face. A real pie, not a pi, unfortunately.

I thought for sure I was in the clear. The students bought raffle tickets and put their name and the name of the teacher they wanted to pie on it. Three were to be drawn. All day students were telling me that I had the most tickets, so I knew my chances weren't looking good.

#1 wasn't me. I gleefully high-fived the teacher who had the 2nd most number of tickets.

Then she got drawn for #2. I may have snickered a bit.

The kids noticed. When teacher #1 got drawn again to be teacher #3, suddenly everyone was chanting to make me teacher #3 instead.

I put on my very best sad face.

 Me? Surely you don't mean me!

When that didn't work, I threatened, "essays for everyone!"

Are you sure about this? You really wanna mess with me? *wags finger*

They weren't buying it. Before I knew it, I had a trash bag over my head, and a pie in my face. Then a bunch of students shouting, "look here!" with their phones. And then the lady from the paper came over to get the correct spelling of my name. Apparently, my pie-face turned out the best photo.

This is what my hair and face looks like after wiping off a bunch of whipped cream and letting it get all sticky for a good few hours.

Clearly, this is what happens when you dedicate an entire day to math. Now, whose idea was that, and when will we have a day to celebrate spoonerisms? A spoons tournament would be fun, no? Though I don't know that spooning ought to be encouraged...no, not for drama-thriving, PDA-loving teenagers. Perhaps puns, instead. Yes, puns with buns. We could make sticky buns. Or hot cross buns! Who wants to start it?

{ Pardon the geeking out, SVP* ...and excuse the lack of pie-face photos. I'm sure I'll be getting some soon. }

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*SVP = s'il vous plaît = please

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Courtesy of the Husband: Cassi with a pie in her face
{ Gotta love the fluorescent lighting. Also, I'm pretty sure every kid in the school has my picture on their phone now...Lovely.}

One Year Later...

 Top: Ruche / Dress: Old Navy clearance / Skinnies: F21 / Shoes: Blowfish / Belt: J Crew final sale / Necklace: Secondhand Brighton / Bracelets: J Crew final sale / Watch: Fossil / Earrings: DC Street Market

My one year blogiversary came and went and I didn't even notice.

I guess that's about on par with how my first year of blogging panned out. Sometimes my life is just too busy to keep up with consistent blogging.

I've got mixed feelings about this little landmark. While blogging is certainly fun, and I still stand by my initial reasons for starting a style blog, there are a few downsides.

Like, I need a budget. Shh...Let's keep that from the Husband, shall we? Do you see that Ruche top and those Blowfish shoes up there? I didn't even know those shops existed till I got sucked into the fashion blog world. Though I'm sure glad I know them now...

And thrifting. Boy, is it fun. But it's not an excuse to buy everything fab item you see just because it's a ridiculously good deal. That's a tough lesson to master. So saith she who just returned from a trip to Portland where she hit up Value Village, both Buffalo Exchanges, and 2 Goodwills...

And I've pulled far too many late-nighters for this blog than I really ought to have done. For example, it's 1:49 a.m. and I'm desperately trying to fit in this post after a long weekend in Portland and before EBEW tomorrow morning. Oh yea, and before going to work, too. Those pesky "real jobs"-- mustn't forget about them...

Also, pretty much everything Jentine says here. She states it all so well.

Sometimes I feel just a little bit like the last kid left on the playground, waiting to be picked or labeled "cool." I don't know why I let blogging do that to me. It's a blog, and I'm an adult now. But every once in awhile, I'll see other bloggers who've just reached their year mark, and they've got over a THOUSAND followers and are celebrating with a fab giveaway {or ten} from one of multiple sponsors. Or maybe they're like Jentine and got 68 comments on their one-year post. Then I look at my stats and feel like slinking into some dark corner, hiding my face, and pretending like I never tried to be a real style blogger, after-all. Denial is so much easier to accept than failure...

But then I remember that I didn't do this for stats. And I don't advertise my blog, like, at all. I don't ask people to follow me, and I don't follow people so that they'll follow me back. I've no time for that. Besides, I didn't do this to be a business. I did this for me. Because it's fun. And I certainly didn't fail at having fun. Non, pas du tout.*

Isn't it fitting/ironic that this post would fall on the day that Everybody, Everywear does a "Green with Envy" theme. Oh, little green monster. I officially karate chop you out of my life.

Hi-Yah!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

*Non, pas du tout = No, not at all -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------