Shortchange

Our union made sure to navigate the district away from another year of salary freezes, but you can bet we will be feeling those budget cuts elsewhere this year.  Our staff retreat, for example, is a clear reflection of how our funds have steadily diminished since I started 4 years ago.  In that first year, we loaded up cars and caravanned up to Estes Park to spend 48 hours bonding in shared bunks over cafeteria food while taking in the Rockies, but this year it was a mere 7 hours at Montclair Park in Denver.  While the location and duration have shifted, its refreshing to be part of a community that has not allowed the financial crunch to change our traditions. I value our time together outside the building.  Taking the serious conversations into a not so serious environment shapes the culture of our staff each August--it reminds me how lucky I am to work in such impressive and enjoyable company.  It also helps that we can wear whatever we want...
Friday:

I went through a phase in my mid-twenties where I thought I had to start wearing long-ish shorts to be "proper", but now that I've hit late-twenties,  I say fuck it.  When you're pushing oh-so close to 30, might as well flaunt what you've got, and I've got me some skinny little legs that are tanned and toned from miles of running and hours of yoga this summer.  So, inspired by my new appreciation for my physique, I sought a trend to match (you will NOT catch me sporting any half-shirts no matter how much of a comeback they may be making),  and I was totally getting excited about rocking my short shorts with tights to roll my summer essentials into fall faves!  I am all for a trend that increases my wardrobe without cracking the wallet.  However, today all my opaque-Hue hopes and patterned-DKNY dreams were shattered as I learned  that we have instituted a new dress code in which our skirts/shorts can be no more than 2 inches above the knee.  Damn you, professionalism!  So, this might be the last you'll see of my shorts after all...sad sad day.
Monday:

Those private school bitches win this round: