What the Art Teacher Wore #28

Brooklyn Bridge Monday: dress: Anthro, sale, couple summers ago; necklace: dunno, Target maybe?; hair accessory: the marvelous Peachy Tuesday

Please pardon me if I sound a little bit Eeyore-esque in this post but I said good bye to one of my favorite friends this week: Summer. On Thursday my days of traveling, estate-saling, fro-yo-for-dinner'ing ended. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled for the upcoming school year and our European theme in the art room. It's just that, well, I'm gonna miss all of my free time. And fro yo. 

Along with WIWTW, I'm sharing some more photos from my NYC in 48 hours. Well, with the exception of one day...I'm sure you'll be able to figure out which when you do some downward scrollin'. 

In other news, the polling has closed on the DIY Eiffel Tower Dress. If you recall, the question was: Should I bedazzle the dress some more or leave it as is? It seems the majority of you are on the side of my hubs (thanks a lot, ya'll. Humph.) and are in the please stop the tackifying camp. I appreciate your taking the time to vote and I've decided...to leave the dress as is. Partly because you are right and the other partly because my ADHD has caused me to move on to other things. Like more poodles. Possibly in tutu's. Definitely wearing berets. Is it fro yo time yet?

Such a beauty, the Brooklyn Bridge.

Traffic in NYC Tuesday: "Well, as you can see, Bob, the traffic in Chelsea is flowing along just fine." This silly photo was taken on the High Line in Chelsea. dress: thrifted, Issac Mizrahi; bow belt: Anthro

Just a glimpse of the awesomeness that is Purl Soho.

Back to School Thursday: That's right, I skipped Wednesday. It was a bit of a long day what with flying home and heading straight to the eye doc afterword (notice the glasses?), grocery shopping and unpacking. By the time I remembered I hadn't taken a photo, I was in my pajamas. And I'm not ready to share that much with you. dress and sweater: sale, Anthro; sandals: Frye

Dino bones at the Natural History Museum.

Eiffel Tower Dress Friday: This is my first Bernie Dexter dress and I love it. It's so well made and I adore the little red piping. Not to mention the Eiffel Tower print -- eep! Must make more room in el closet for her designs. She even has a dress with a Matisse print. dress: Bernie Dexter; shoes: BC, old; hair flower: made by moi

A student project with a Barbie theme on display at FIT. My fave is the Barbie and poodle on the left.

Back in Tennessee Saturday: My family (my mom and my in-laws) were in town this weekend. We decided to go see the stock car races in Clarksville which is always an adventure. This particular race track is a clay track. That means every time the cars came around the bend, they were spraying us with clay pellets. Yeah, we ain't in NYC no more, kids. dress: vintage, dyed and altered by me; sweater: Anthro; sandals: Chacos

Crazy fun. By the end of the night we were picking clay bits out of each others hair. If it looks like I have a spray tan in the above photo, I do. We call it the Stock Car Clay Spray Special.

I do believe the rules of the track apply to my art room.

My sweet students arrive this Thursday! I cannot wait to see them. Until then, it's more meetings for me. Maybe a "pill draw" window would help me make it through those. Kidding, kidding!

Enjoy your week.

Read more »

Summer Adventure: NYC in 48 Hours

How does one manage to get their photo taken when traveling solo? Why, you kindly offer to snap photos of families...and immediately afterwords, shove your camera into their hands with an "okay, now you do me!"  Works every time.

 This here extremely photo-heavy post is brought to you by a 48 hour trip to New York City. Hubs often goes there for work and this time, after just a wee bit of nagging (and by "wee bit" I mean only minor kicking and screaming), I was able to tag along. The only catch? As soon as the plane landed on Monday morning at Laguardia, I was on my own. Me. The person so directionally challenged, I still have to hold my hands up to see which makes an L for left. Which got strange looks on the subway. Even from the lady talking to herself. 

Despite all of that, I managed to take to the streets of NYC and pack in as much as possible. I thought I'd share with you some of the must-do high-lights of my super-short trip. And if I managed to miss something, please let me know. I'm sure I can manage to muster up another fall-out-fit the next time hubs needs to take a trip.

I've been to NYC many times and never walked the Brooklyn Bridge. It's amazing! Although getting there proved to be quite the feat. From the airport, I had to take a bus into the city to get onto the subway. Then I took the subway back out of the city to get to the Brooklyn side of the bridge. It was definitely an adventure and I loved every minute.

After arriving in Brooklyn, I made the Must-Do rounds: Jacques Torres Chocolate for the most amazing peanut butter and chocolate cookie, Front Street Pizza for a slice and a cone of the chocolate chunk chocolate ice cream at Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory.

Stuffed to the gills, I walked the bridge. Do you know anything about the tragic history of this bridge? It goes a little something like this: It's creator, John Augustus Roebling, managed to crush his foot before construction of the bridge even started. The amputation of his foot lead to tetanus infection that caused his death. His son, Washington, took charge of the bridge but later suffered from the bends which left him bedridden. Under his guidance, his wife Emily took over the completion of the bridge. Not long after the opening, a rumor was spread that the bridge was going to collapse. This caused a stampede at which 12 people were crushed.

The NYC skyline from the bridge. Lady Liberty was off to the left, just a tiny patina green speck in the water.

Just a peak at the Manhattan Bridge that runs parallel to the Brooklyn.

Once off the bridge, I left the Tribeca area (Museum of Finance? Um, no thank you) and took the subway to one of my favorite areas: Nolita. You've heard of Soho? That means South of Houston Street. And Noho? You guessed it, North. Nolita is in between Little Italy and Noho. It also happened to be where they were filming...wait for it...PROJECT RUNWAY!

Purl Soho, how I love thee. I have been a huge online fan of this shop forever...so to finally venture inside was wonderful. But the best part? Walking out side and seeing TIM GUNN! That's right! All done up in a sharp navy suit with his silver hair gelled back. And just when I was recovering from that, I see ANNIE LEIBOVITZ. Yes, I'm shouting. Because that's what you do when you see genius like that walking the streets. I managed to get THE BEST PHOTO EVER of the back of her head. Yeah, picking my jaw up off of the ground proved to take a mighty long time.

I did my shopping rounds in Soho: Madewell, Topshop, the vintage shop Screaming Mimi's, and my fave shoe store John Fluevog. After all of that shopping, I met up with hubs and some of our favorite New Yorkers (thank you Al, Laureen and Vito!) for an amazing dinner at Becco on Restaurant Row. The food was incredible but I dare say the company was even better.

The next day, I had hubs to accompany me so no more harassing strangers for photos. Our hotel was in Chelsea so we decided to walk something called The High Line.

The High Line was created back in 1999 from an old freight track. Instead of tearing the track down, the city decided to create it into this amazing walkway. It rises above Chelsea and the Meat Packing District. Planted along the line are wild flowers.

A view of a mural from the line.

Near the end of the line is The Chelsea Market. Housed inside of the old Nabisco factory, this place is filled with the yummiest of delights and...an Anthropologie. Which seemed a little out of place...but I was sucked into it's evil vortex and came out with a shopping bag nonetheless.

I took that Big Apple and made it my, ahem, new friend in 48 hours, yo!

Hubs and I on the High Line. Where we managed to find a stranger to take our photo. This time, we didn't have to play any mind games, this kind local offered to snap this herself.

 Thanks for putting up with my endless photos and blabbering commentary. Enjoy your week!

Read more »