Teacher Sweaters: "The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one".

Oscar Wilde mustn't have taken the summers off in his job or he'd know that this should really read "the best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without a paycheck". I'd happily take another few weeks of "summering" in Tuscany like a fancy heiress, but my bank statements have interrupted with all their matter of fact about mortgage payments, HOA fees, health insurance, and gas prices. After a big vacation to Lucca, Italy and various domestic adventures to Chicago, Philadelphia, Park City, and Los Angeles, I am acutely aware that the Hilton sisters clearly don't jet set on a teacher's salary. I do love me some shopping while traveling, but my tight budget really restricted my spending to the essentials--food and wine. So, sadly, Teacher Sweaters will not abound with new duds from fancy foreign up-and-coming designers. My daily outfit challenge will remain limited to the duds currently housed in my closet, good finds from my mom's vintage keepsakes, and sale steals at the mall.

Perhaps Wilde was searching for a job in the midst of a massive economic crisis in which hundreds of overly-qualified applicants find themselves competing for the same two openings posted and reposted on dozens of different online job boards. Sending cover letters and resumes into the internet void for a few months sure kills morale. I was lucky enough to make it through 4 rounds of interviews with the Hillel at Stanford University, only to lose out to the other finalist, but the process taught me a few things about my life and goals: I am not ready to leave Boulder, I still love teenagers, I want to lead another Girls Outside hut trip, and if I'm not a teacher I won't have anything to blog about.

As a newly tenured staff member, you can expect to see lots of flip flops and pants that are dangerously similar to jeans. Suck it dress code, I've got tenure, Betch!

Its hard to see how rad my belt is.
Thursday: