See this brick wall? It’s my old elementary school where I attended grades K-3. It’s an old abandoned relic now, and I’ve wanted to take photos there for quite awhile…
THE STORY
…Saturday I decided to stop by and give it a go; there’s a plethora of cool spots and you’ll definitely be seeing more of it in the future. This particular wall though? There’s a story behind it, thus the reason I chose it.
You know how there are some memories from childhood that are indelibly burned into your brain? Well, this is one of them. I was a mere five years old and had just begun my adventures in public school education. Of course the highlight of any five year old’s school day is recess. Since we’re talking about the early 1970’s here, the playground was one of those metal constructed death traps that we somehow all survived; perhaps that’s what made those of us in our age group such bad asses. Seriously, if you can willingly go down a metal slide that has been baking in the sun all day and melt all of the flesh off your little baby bum and fight for a spot in line to do it again…you’re a bad ass in my book.
Anyway, there was a busted up metal merry-go-round on the playground. It sat there all uneven and sad looking, but since this was the pre-lawsuit era no one bothered to remove it. We weren’t allowed to spin it, but we were permitted to sit on it and play with our dolls and whatnot. One day about ten of us were perched on it minding our own business when some rabble-rousers came running by and gave it a huge spin…and of course bolted after they did it. So there we all are, dragging our feet through the gravel (old time playgrounds were downright medieval; no cushy mulch to fall on) trying with all of our five year old might to stop it.
Lo and behold, our teacher, whom I swear to God was a harpy straight out of Greek mythology, swooped down us with all talons out. She abruptly stopped the spinning and ordered us all to line up with our backs against the aforementioned wall. I’m sure we looked like a mini firing squad line up. She then proceeded to start at one end of the line and work her way down, one by one, grabbing each of us by our shoulders and shaking us with a force that felt like a blast wave. I’m tellin’ ya, the woman was off the hook. I still remember trying to hold back the tears from the pain of my head ricocheting off that damn wall.
I suppose that was the beginning of my rebel nature; when I didn’t outright cry like the rest of my brethren in playground crime, she got angry. Me? I just stared back at her with my best five year old F-you look, even though at the time I didn’t necessarily know what an F-you look was. What I did know was that she was wrong and I was not backing down. After a few moments, much like staring down your dog, she gave up, blew her angry whistle and made us all go inside and take a nap. Another excellent pedagogical decision considering the wench had just in all likelihood given 50% of her class a concussion. Fortunately, I survived and now I’m back showing that wall who’s the boss.
THE OUTFIT
Honestly, nothing special going on here today. Just another day of me fighting the good fight, convincing women that destroyed denim is your friend no matter what your age. As usual though, when I’m wearing something super basic i.e. jeans, a gray tee and Puma sneakers, I added some killer extras. A peek of strappy bralette, a white men’s button down, and the pièce de résistance…the hand harness all work together to make a basic look a little livelier.
THE TIP
Here’s a little secret for rolling sleeves on a shirt and keeping them in place. Hair ties…pony tail bands…whatever you’d like to call them. Simply stretch a pony tail band to it’s breaking point; you know, that point where it’s still stretchy, but too stretched out to use on your hair. That step is important, otherwise you’ll cut off your arm circulation and nobody wants that. Place it over the sleeve at the point where you want the roll to be and then roll your sleeve and tuck it over and around the band. Voila! A perfectly rolled sleeve that stays in place.
THE LINK UPS
Check out the weekly link ups I participate in for even more fashion and style ideas…
Button down shirt: Kohl’s (Similar); Tee: H&M (Similar); Jeans: GAP (Similar); Sneakers: Puma via Amazon; Hand harness: Ettika
