Day 264

Eat clean. Train dirty. I woke up extra early to train a bit with my new elevation mask. As a treat I ordered myself a nice big salad from Green Streets Salads here in Bushwick. Awesome stuff - just like this bow tie from Carlos over at Knot Now bow ties. 

Day 261

There's nothing like plaid on plaid to brighten up a gloomy day in Bushwick. Today's bow was gifted by the generous folks at Aaron Michael. Check out their selection of bows here.

Day 248

Happy Tuesday, friends. I can't believe we're already on Day 15 at school. Things are getting ever so close to becoming a steady state around here. Dividing with decimals as the dividend - here we come.

Today's bow was acquired at a J.Crew outlet store.

Day 211

A new school year has begun!

Here's a bow tie by Xoelle.com that was made using parts of a pant leg. Amazing!

Day 191

I've worn this xoelle tie before so I opted not to take a close-up. I trust that's ok with you. Instead I took a candid of my favorite donuts of all time. Yup - Krispy Kreme beats any other donut out there. It's so light yet rich in flavor - I could eat three dozen at a time. Not really. After the boys and I picked up Mama Bear from a spa appointment we just had to visit the only remaining Krispy Kreme establishment in the city state. What? It's in Penn Station? Even better. The side mission took us two hours out of our way because of NYC traffic, but like wearing bow ties with polo shirts - it was so worth it.

Day 187

How do I beat the NYC heat wave? Try to look cool, of course. I can't do much about feeling cool, so at least looking so will have to do. Bow ties don't get much cooler than those that come with a chain attached. Check out this bow tie beauty from 80spurple.com. Stay hydrated, folks.

Day 182

The boys and I decided to wear matching guayaberas, shorts and bow ties. Can you pick out which of our boys actually wore the same Xoelle bow tie as I did?

Day 158

Ok folks, so I'm officially out of my mind - strike that. I'm out of my comfort zone. I decided to put this training to use and signed myself up for my first Spartan Race. I know. Crazy, right? But is it really? The more mornings I get myself up to train, the healthier my food choices are becoming, the more resolve I have to evolve, the more I realize that our society's standards for living life to its fullest (think YOLO) are so skewed. Even with this crummy congested head, I haven't felt this physically alive in my life.

Back to anothering exciting topic - my bow tie of the day comes via Bonobos. I absolute love double sided bow ties.

Day 154

It's such a lovely Saturday in NYC, although it didn't look to start that way. In fact, when I went out for a morning jog after a WOD I thought it would rain. Instead, the sun came out to play and I took to my sewing machine to clear my head a bit while the little ones got themselves into, out of, and back into trouble. Oh, dear.

Today's bow came via the good folks at Forage and features a combination of orange, brown, blue and white on this awesome plaid cotton. It's totally my kind of bow. Check out the bows that joined the family today. I made a clip-on animal print for the boys and I decided to make another Superman bow after my previous one sold. It's been bittersweet to actually start selling off some of my bow tie creations. I really don't know how folks do this for a living. I get too attached to things I have a hand in constructing, I guess. Happy Saturday, friends.

Day 146

What have I gotten myself into? With a few of our television shows have their season finale over the last few weeks I decided to give Game of Thrones a try. I think I've watched 7 or 8 episodes over the last two evenings. There's a lot going on there! I have to admit fast forwarding through some questionable content, but the storyline is so compelling I keep coming back for more, despite how early I have to get up!

Speaking of all things compelling - check out this beautiful bow gifted to me by Xoelle. It features a combination of a couple of favorite colors - brown and green on white cotton. Who's ready for a three-day weekend?

Day 141

Here's another Vasquez original I constructed out of fabric purchased on ebay. Gotta love online auction sites. So who else is looking forward to the Miami Heat losing to the Indiana Pacers?

Day 136

Today I'm reppin plaid, seersucker and aliens - all in one shot. Take that, Tuesday!

Thanks to my peeps at Bonobos for making this happen.

Day 32

Happy Wednesday, kids.

Today's bow comes by way of the ninjas over at Bonobos. It's an awesome double-sided tie featuring a minty seersucker and soft blue plaid. What's even cooler than this rad bow tie is the fact that the folks behind Bonobos are also supporters of education. In fact, their CEO, Andy Dunn, sits on the board of Blue Engine, an awesome outfit that works with hundreds of New York City students across three grade levels—eighth, ninth, and tenth—and three subjects—Integrated Algebra, Geometry, and English Language Arts.

Day 30

It's about two weeks until my birthday, kids! Actually, it's felt like I've celebrated a birthday everyday for the last couple of weeks because I've been blessed with a bow tie package nearly everyday. I'm still holding out for folks to start looking for other ways to donate to the cause - like, say, check out the Achievement First site for more info! 

Today's bow comes by way of Margarita G. all the way from Spain at Speak Louder. Please check out her collection of Spanish beauties.

Day 23

This is going to be a great week, kids. Today we begin a new unit of study on Geometry starting with a bit of what I hope will be a better understanding of what area is. I hope Gallon Guy won't be too upset he's being tossed into the cumulative review part of class. For now, he gets to chill on my teacher cart.

Today's 100% cotton bow tie comes by way of my new friends (I'll never get tired of saying that btw) over at Jean & James. I hope you'll agree that this is a super cool tie and I'm glad I get to pair it with the warmest sweater in my closet.

If you missed out on the how to video I prepared over the weekend, check it out here. I'll be setting up a new part of the site where folks can also find it there. Have a great Monday!

Day 20

   

It's Friday B, kids! One Friday a month, or thereabouts, our school provides a day off from instruction for content teachers to engage in some professional development. I think it's a great idea to have some face time with my colleagues, share ideas and continue to find ways to strenthen my areas of professional growth, but I personally prefer to stay in the classroom with my scholars - hence my looking toward the weekend face up above. We're actually taking a look at some Japanese methods of teaching math today so I'm actually looking forward for ways to step my game up.

Today's  bow tie comes by way of Elle (XOELLE) who took another pair of unloved pants (seriously, they had been hanging in closet for years and never made it to the tailors to get hemmed) and reconstructed them into this lovely bow tie (and a matching clip-on for my son) for a fair cost. If you haven't checked out her work, do yourself a favor and check out what this former teacher's done. It's pretty fabulous and I look forward to sending her more projects throughout my campaign.

Have a great weekend!

Day 9

I decided to sport another new tie for the first day back to work. This one was part of a set of two lovelies donated to me by my new friends at Forage. Most weekday mornings I'll also rock a cinnamon chewing stick because I won't have time to eat breakfast and the feel of chewing on something helps me take my mind off of wanting to eat!

Day 4

With the temperature dropping into the teens this morning, nothing keeps me warmer than the thought of bow tie enthusiasts joining forces for the greater good. I got this lovely piece of art from Elle, whose pledged to support the cause by adding me to her Bow Tie of the Month Club and sending me a unique bow tie every month until my campaign is over. What's so cool about Elle's work is that her ties are truly "smartly repurposed from unloved clothing." You can either send her fabric, as I've done in the past, or just choose from the collection she's already remastered. I'm so grateful that a colleague of mine took a moment during her vacation to send me a link that highlighted Elle's work. I'm hooked!

Day 1

Happy New Year!
This bow tie was reconstructed from an old J.Crew shirt by Elle over at xoelle.com.

No NY celebration is complete without a cake from the Cake Boss himself. The pink bow and dot cake can be found at Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken, NJ.