J Brand Jeans for City Year--My Job!

I realize I haven't yet posted about what I'm doing this year, but I figured now is the perfect opportunity. Give me a second to explain, and then I promise I'll get to the style and fashion tie-in!

This year, I am working for City Year Los Angeles, a national non-profit organization that places 17-24 year olds in urban elementary and middle schools to help combat the dropout crisis. We provide tutoring, mentoring, in-class support, and after school programs for under-served communities in 20 cities around the US and two international affiliates. In Los Angeles, 200 dedicated Corps Members are currently serving in 17 schools across the city.

The statistics are staggering. Almost 50% of students in low-income communities will not graduate high school. More than 1 million students will drop out of school this year. High school drop-outs are 3 times more likely than college graduates to be unemployed, and 8 times more likely to be in jail or prison than high school graduates.

Personally, I could not let statistics like this go unchanged. After graduating college this past year, and hoping to start a career in education, I decided to join City Year to (hopefully) be a part of a solution. I am doing my year of service in a 5th grade classroom at an elementary school in South Los Angeles, and I honestly wouldn't want to be anywhere else. It sounds cliche, but I know that I am making a difference every day when I get to help these kids get up to grade level, understand what they are learning, and get back on track to graduate.

So, why post about this now? Well, it turns out that City Year just recently partnered with J Brand Jeans in an awesome move that is both fashion-y and do-good-y. J Brand Jeans is debuting a special limited collection of 3 colors of jeans (vine green, berry and taupe) with 100% of profits from these sales going directly to City Year Los Angeles. The collection will be available online only (http://www.jbrandjeans.com) starting October 18th until it sells out.

To be perfectly honest, there's no way I could afford a pair of these jeans (they call it "a year of full-time service" and not "a year of full-time well-paid work" for a reason, people!), but I really, REALLY hope that you can. And that you'll consider buying a pair and supporting this amazing, effective cause.

To learn more about City Year, check out their website.

To learn more about the J Brand Jeans partnership, check out this piece from The Hollywood Reporter.

And please, let me know if you buy a pair! Also, if you'd like to repost this or spread the word, I surely wouldn't mind. ;-)

Thanks so much for reading.


*Now's probably a good time to say that anything I post in this blog is my personal opinion and not representative of City Year or AmeriCorps*

Skinny Jeans and Striped Tees

 

 Top: Anthropologie sz s ($19.95 buy here) / Pants: Gap 1969 Always Skinny Jeans sz 0 / Shoes: Macy's / Bag: Vintage Coach (ebay) / Sunglasses: Target / Hat: Target ($9.00)

  Thank goodness for Friday. This weekend, I'm going to the beach, doing a bit of shopping, and sleeping in (and by "in" I mean "until 8," because that's how I roll these days). I'm also hopefully spending it all in outfits like this. Tee shirts and jeans, here I come!

 Hope you have a great weekend!

WorkWorkWorkWork

 

Sweater: Gap / Top: Forever 21 / Skirt: Forever 21 / Necklace: Bought in Italy / Shoes: Macy's

 
You guys, these pictures lie. I am not this chipper right now. I worked 12 hours today, 10 of them spent teaching 5th graders (per usual) sooooo....zzzzzzzz. How about some happy-looking photos to cheer us all up?

  Ok, can't even type more right now. Sooo sleeeppyyyyy.
There, this is more what I look like right now:
 
Hope you all are having a good week! 

Orange Skirt

 Today, some photos from the pre-face-unveiling era (and one with half a face!). I wore this outfit to Rosh HaShanah services a few weeks ago, and was happy to remix this new addition to my closet: the bright orange skirt.

 

 Top: Gap sz xs / Skirt: Zara sz xs ($10.00) / Shoes: Target sz 7 (old) / Bag: Vintage Coach, eBay / Necklace: Amrita Singh

 I wanted to bring out the blue in the skirt, and I was happy to notice that it was almost the exact same shade as my new (highly, highly discounted) Amrita Singh necklace.

 

I was worried about being able to work this skirt into my wardrobe, given the fact that I own zero other orange-colored clothes, but I'm happy to find that it's fitting in nicely. Granted, both times I've worn it so far it's been with a white shirt, but....baby steps.

Any other thoughts on how to create outfits around this bright orange skirt?

Oh Hai

 
Sweater: Cashmere, Bought in Scotland / Top: Urban Outfitters / Jeans: Gap 1969 Always Skinny sz 00 / Boots: Urban Outfitters / Scarf: Gift, from Chile

The title? Don't judge. It's what Flickr said to me when I signed in this afternoon. Good enough for me. Also because, oh hai, here's my face:

I haven't been showing my face in photos as of yet for a few reasons. At first, I was weirded out because...the whole internet? Merh. Then...I kind of got over that as I read more style blogs and saw other ladies who were confident enough to put themselves out there. Also, my mom puts tons of photos of our whole family up on her blog already! :) Yup. She has a blog. Go read it!

I also was feeling like I didn't look cute enough/put together enough/make-up-y enough/done-hair-y enough to put full photos out there for you all to see. Now? I guess I'm kind of getting over that too.

  If I go around all day with my non-makeup-ed face and talk to everyone in my life and feel just fine, then I shouldn't worry too much about being seen that way in photos!

I'll probably switch off between full and cropped photos from here on out, depending on how weird the faces I'm making when I take pictures are.
 

So, hi there. Happy to see you!

Sunday Funday

 
Sweater: Macy's, men's sz small /  Shorts: Urban Outfitters sz 00 / Boots: Urban Outfitter sz 7 / Socks: Target

 This is quickly becoming my brunch-and-farmers-market-and-chilling-around-the-house-on-Sunday look. I have woken up for the past few weekends, put some variety of this on, and been sooooo happy all day. I like the play of the covered up/loose top with the tight, tiny shorts. And the boots, of course. Because it's almost fall in Los Angeles (kind of?) so I'm definitely prepared to justify boots.

Man, I wish it were Sunday right now...

Party Dress

 
Dress: Ross sz xs ($12.50) / Sweater: Ross sz z ($10.00) / Belt: Forever 21 sz xs ($3.00) / Shoes: H&M booties sz 7 ($24.99)

 
I've had this dress in my closet for about a month now, but hadn't yet had the opportunity to wear it. Not only was it cheap (yay, Ross!), but I really like the pattern, colors, and flowy material. Can't wait to break out the tights and wear this look all through the winter....
 
 Hope you're all having a great weekend!