Day 279

My three-day weekend began with an early trip to the GTfit (that's short Get Tough Fitness) main site where some major boomsauce was dropped. Check out the last picture above to see what this WOD consisted of. I can't believe I made it to the finish line at just over 44 minutes. When I started GT back in May I was somewhat athletically slim, but very cautious about pushing myself too much. Now I'm constantly chasing after ways to grow - physically, mentally, spiritually - to the point where I'm realizing that I need to aggressively move away from anything and anyone who isn't pushing me to be a better version of me. Let the unfriending start now.

Today's bow comes by way of Laura P. over at Xoelle who is doing some amazing things with plaid these days. Check out her etsy shop here. 

Day 180

I decided to take the fam to our do annual shopping trip at the outlets and boy did I almost regret it. The heat nearly caused me to take off my bow tie earlier than when we were at the beach yesterday, but I received so much positive feedback from strangers we met that I realized I couldn't give up. I needed to keep spreading the word about the work I get to do during the school year, and I enjoyed sharing that with folks as I shopped. Did I find anything, you ask? Oh you know it. I scored an awesome briefcase from the Coach Men's store that was 57% off the retail price. Yup. Every self-respecting man ought to have a place where he carries his ammo. Don't call it a man bag. It's my utility sack. 

Moving on to other cool things - check out this awesome denim bow tie that was made from a pair of old jeans I converted into shorts (which I wore today - what is this like three out of the last four days that my pants match my bow tie perfectly?). Gracias goes to Laura from Xoelle who continues to bless me with her talents and her kindness. Do check out her rad stuff!

Day 147

Today looked so promising. I had a productive morning - picked up some dry cleaning, bought some vitamins and took care of the boys while Mami Vasquez went attended a bridal shower. I even completed the longest WOD yet - an hour of good functional workout. I got the kiddos all bathed, dressed, and as we got ready to go to my mom's for an overdue reunion it happened. Our youngest threw up everything that was in his system. It was all over the carpet, on his feet, on his clothes. Yuck. Yuck to the power of three. So goes the story of parenting, I suppose. What are supposed to be vacation days, spent enjoying warmer weather and developing different hues of skin on nearby beaches are spent at home caring for our little ones. God bless him. We're hoping it's just heat exhaustion and not a stomach virus. 

Today's bow is another one of Xoelle's masterpieces, cut and constructed from a pair of my favorite Lucky brand jeans, which were converted to shorts (Yes, I do wear denim shorts) about a year ago.

Day 19

Woo hoo! Today is a celebratory denim day for students who have read 25 books or more. Teachers were also invited to wear jeans today and I could not pass up the chance to wear my denim bow tie courtesy of Elle over at xoelle. What's special about this bow is that is used to be part of my favorite ripped up pair of Lucky Brand jeans. They were the coolest pair of short-inseam button fly jeans I had ever owned but the holes just got too big - even for me. So what did I do? I had the jeans made into shorts at a local tailor and sent the extra fabric over to Elle to hook me up. She reconstructed the pant legs into this super cool bow tie I get to wear today!

A couple of days ago I mentioned that while I'm loving the donations from all my new friends in the world of bow ties, I really hoped that the conversations about this blog would consistently come back to the achievement gap and how I want to raise awareness and hopefully raise some funds for my scholars in the Achievement First network. I recently inquired about an online math program that offers students the opportunity to practice their math from the comfort of home. The site, called IXL, costs a family about $79 per year and a teacher $200 per 30 students. I was able to get a quote for $650 for 90 of my 6th graders to use the program for a full calendar year, but that's still a pretty steep price to have to pay to get closer to closing the achievement gap. Please consider sponsoring one of my classes so that I can additional assignments to their specific academic needs. If you're interested in sponsoring a class please feel free to contact me directly or click the paypal button on the homepage. Thank you!