Showing posts with label vintage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vintage. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

If I Watched Mad Men...

... and I ever went to a Mad Men themed party, I might wear this dress. Definitely the pearls, because pearls just scream dinner party apparently (ala Pretty in Pink...). And if I smoked cigarettes, I would be right now. Er, well, in the photo. Although, I guess if I smoked I quite possibly could be doing it now too. Anyway, sorry I look so unhappy in these pictures... I feel like I look cheesy when I try to smile, haha.

 -Anna-
dress, shoes, necklace: thrifted
tights: Forever 21
earrings: Icing
watch: gift
Today was a good school day. Not to say I have bad days, but today was especially pleasant. We had to give a months/dates test to our 6th graders who hadn't passed the first one. I have a morning class Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, where 13 or so students come in for extra help. There are about 7 who are especially behind. Today I drilled those 7 students, who were all going to retake the test later that day or tomorrow, on the months and their spelling, hoping I made an impact.

We had two 6th grade classes, who included one of my most remedial students, Ingi. He is the cutest, sweetest kid, who happens to love English and me. But bless his heart, he has trouble writing English. On his first date test, he scored a 2/20. But today he scored a 14/20!! Oh, I was so excited! There were a number of my other slower students who scored perfect (yaaay!!) or high scores too (and then a few who still don't get it. We'll get 'em next time).

Not only am I proud of them for sticking through it even when it wasn't making sense or when it seemed too hard, but, I'm going to go ahead a gloat for a second, I'm proud of myself too :) While I am out here teaching English, I've never thought I was the most qualified person for the job. But seeing students of mine succeed with some extra direction from me makes me feel as though I'm actually making somewhat of an impact.

Ingi ^^

-Anna-

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Jean Jackets Are Cool

Today was a busy day at work, but that's okay. I like being busy, it makes the day go by more quickly. I had three 80 minute 4th grade classes and a 40 minute daycare class. Also, my computer was removed from my classroom yesterday afternoon, so I was without a computer. I guess they're taking it away so they can convert it to English (because all the programs are in Korean...), so I can use my computer more efficiently, instead of mainly using it to check up on facebook or youtube or tumblr... I mean.. what? Who does that....

The day was so full of classes, though, that it hardly mattered that I didn't have a computer. Plus, I was able to delve deeper in the futuristic world of Panem. That's right! I'm reading The Hunger Games. I like it so far. I'm about 150 pages in to the first book, and I'm hoping to finish it by April 5th, when it will be released here in Korea.

Today is the first day I went to school without a winter coat! Hooray, spring has arrived! Later than Chicago, it seems... And what better way to celebrate Spring but with a floral dress and a denim jacket! Cole hates it, but what does he know about lookin' fly? Very little. I'll reiterate my point: jean jackets are cool.

I took these outfit pictures after work today. I forgot to put on a slip under my skirt when I left, so it kept bunching when I walked! But I couldn't go home to change once I got to school. When I got out, though, I returned home, adorned a slip (talked to Cole via skype for a bit...) and then went back outside to take advantage of the daylight (even if it was a little overcast). I decided to explore close to home, and found a small park by my school. I was visited by some students of mine who were playing at the nearby playground. First the boys came over, then a few girls. Of course they were curious what their "Teacher Anna" was doing, with her self timer camera. I explained that I had a blog, and they seemed to understand. Maybe they'll come check it out! (So let's keep it clean, Marybeth ;) ).


reverting back to my ballet poses, hahahaha.
-Anna-
dress, denim jacket, shoes: thrifted
belt: Toona (Korea)
earrings: icing
tights: Forever21
lol, another ballet pose....?
i regrettably forgot all my belts at home! i'm going to ask my mom/sister to pack them up and send them here though! but this was a good replacement. cute little bow, right?
a few 6th grade boys. aren't they cool? too cool for school...
this is something korean girls do to cover their face. sometimes they'll just do it to cover their jawline because they think their faces are too wide (which is crazy, because they're not). korean's have a very specific idea of beauty. these girls are just being shy.

On an unrelated note: I went walking to the market the other day (which, by the way, is right down the street from my apartment building. yay!) and I found this little shop, Vintage Story. Well, I had to go in, right? I've been wondering if there are any stores around here that cater to my thrifty/vintage sensibility, and I seemed to find one nearby! Now, I only stopped in for a moment, because I was meeting someone, but I went back with the few friends later in the week. It's a very small store, and there were 5 of us, not counting the 2 women who were working there, so there wasn't much room to move around. Regardless, I intend to go back and do some more rummaging. I did manage to buy some shirts at the market for pretty cheap (they have a lot of random things there...). I'll post pictures of those soon!


also... moss covered teapots?
And we'll end on this Alice in Wonderland meets Secret Garden display I walked past on my way to the market. You can't climb inside, I already checked...

BYE!
Anna

edit: i had to remove a photo with some graffiti in the background because it said something inappropriate in korean. as a teacher, i suppose i shouldn't condone that... oops. my bad!

Monday, January 30, 2012

A night down town


Here's a little tribute to one of our favorite vintage stores in down town Elgin. It's Keeny's, of course! A sporting goods store on top and a vintage treasure below. We had to buy our middle school gym uniforms from here and that's when I first found out about what the basement held. Such AMAZING clothes!! Although, I didn't fully enjoy it until I got a little older. haha The owner's name was Patricia Keeney. She was a funky little old lady. She always had on all this crazy cool jewelry and she'd always be watching some soap opera up in the sporting goods area. She passed away recently and even though her fellow shop owners kept her shop open for a bit after that, I only ever see it look like it does above lately. : / I miss Keeney and I miss her amazing collection of clothes, jewelry, dishware, magazines, books, toys, and so much more.   





















Store front window display


















On Friday, Anna and I went out to dinner with our parents. We went to Al's cafe and creamery. I may or may not have already mentioned Al's before. I lovelovelove Al's! And isn't it such a cute place?? I think it used to be the post office or an office building. I'm not sure. It's just really old and still has a lot of features from whatever it used to be inside.























Featured is a picture of their amazing veggie cheese burger, my favorite. Also a picture of an onion that I thought looked like a power ranger and Anna thought it looked like Nacho Libre. What do YOU think?!


So on our way home after dinner I had our mom pull over so I could take some pictures of Keeney's and of course an outfit shoot. Our first public shot, apart from those people in a van in our driveway. haha I have to admit, it was a little awkward. I feel awkward enough taking pictures in front of Anna but add in my parents and complete strangers! AWKward. haha
























~Marybeth~
Denim jacket: Thrifted
Dress: Thrifted
Scarf: Borrowed from my mom
Belt: Thrifted
Socks: Borrowed from Anna (Forever 21)
Shoes: Thrifted
I styled my hair in a cute bun thanks to Ticktockvintage!


Chilly out!
 Count down 'till my birthday is 6 days! AH! Time can't move fast enough. :] I'm even more excited for next weekend because that's when we'll be going to Chicago for my birthday party! I'm still unsure of who is all going but I know that it'll be a hoot and a hollar. I hope Max's brother, Kevin, will let Max use his i.d. so that Max can come too and out to the bars with us. I wasn't sure what we were going to do with Max and for a while there it looked like he wouldn't be coming at all, but hopefully things are looking up! I'm staying positive and hopeful. It kinda sucks that my boyfriend and most of my friends aren't 21 yet. I'm totally a girl who will buy liquor for everyone, but who wants to go to the bars if you can't go with your friends? *Sigh* BUT soon enough we all will be! And what a joyous occasion that will be. MMHMM! I'm just worried about being carded EVERYWHERE I go! haha I mean, I get carded 3 times trying to get into an R rated film at the movie theater! Who knows when the "mature" look will finally kick in. Then again, when it does, I'll probably weep for my younger years. But that's all in the future. Let's just make it to Sunday first. ha!


See ya guys then!
Marybeth