Day 5: ugly sweater party

That's right, you heard me. UGLY SWEATER PARTY.

Last night we had a singles mixer between my MBA program and the MBA program of the school down the street with a similar name who people sometimes confuse with my school and which, at the time I started grad school, had an inferior MBA program but since MY school tanked in the U.S. News and World Report rankings last year they have since jumped ahead of us.

Anyway, and there was an ugly sweater theme. It was pretty great.

So here is my outfit:
And HERE is my outfit with my ugly sweater:

HOW GREAT IS THAT SWEATER? Pretty great. I'm going to go out and say that I might have had the ugliest sweater at the party. I win the nonexistent prize!

Anyway, I am rocking the skirt and boots yet again. Because I still haven't done laundry and my good jeans are sitting in my hamper. But you know what? I've still made it work, yo. And there is pretty much nothing I don't like about this outfit, with or without the sweater. It's flattering AND comfortable AND cute. So, my grade today (yesterday) is an A. Boo. Yah.

And in case anyone is interested, going without soda has been pretty easy thus far. Though I realize there are many days left in December. Dun dun DUN.

Day 4: smelly but pretty

I had to go to work this morning, and when I got home I had about enough time to watch last night's episode of Glee, throw on some clothes and run out the door. So I smell a little bit and I'm not looking my finest, but I think none of you will argue with the fact that Glee takes precedence over showers or makeup or...well, anything else.

So here we are on day 4:
It's a pretty dress, leggings, and flats. And since Lacey advised that I start taking pictures of shit instead of being like "I'm also wearing this thing that you can't see," here are my shoes:

Also, this dress has super cute ruffles! See? Sort of?

And of course my lovely Michal Negrin necklace that I purchased in the mother land, Israel.

What I like about this outfit:
- the dress. So cute.
- I love wearing dresses and leggings in general

What I don't like about this outfit:
- yet again, it's very dark. It needs something else. A belt, mayhaps? When I tried the dress on with jeans at the store my mom went crazy and said it was super great and I had to buy it. Jeans would help it not look so dark AND the dress might be more flattering that way
- hair in a ponytail does not constitute looking nice, at least when it concerns me. But hair down after working wouldn't fly

So, while I am super excited about this dress because it was THE dress that started this whole thing, I'm not lovingggggg my outfit. It's not messy, which is the point of this challenge, but it lacks pizzazz. Overall grade: B+

A different anniversary

Today is the 10th anniversary of when I got my knee surgery.

I have no idea why I remember things like this yet I can't tell you what happened in the last book I read, but there you have it.

For 10 years I've had a pretty big scar on my knee that for a few months caused me to be pretty self-conscious. After another few months I grew into accepting the scar, and now I flat out just don't notice it until people point it out and ask me about it (which, for the record, I am totally cool with). I do notice other peoples' scars, though, and then we bond over being ACL buddies. 4life.

When the surgeon went in to repair my torn ligament, he saw that the cartilage was so messed up that it was beyond repair. And so he took it out. I now have no cartilage in my right knee, which means I am strictly forbidden from running and taking stairs unless I want to have arthritis at 30. I don't. This, along with the fact that there is a tiny spot on my knee that never regained feeling after the operation, and the thankfully very rare bout of pain, are really the only ways in which the surgery affected me. So hip hip to that. Plus, I like to think that the scar gives me character.

If I'm going to have an "injury" for 10 years (as I am forever saying I have a bad knee, because it's sort of, kind of technically true), this is a pretty good one to have.

And in case anyone cares, I tore my ACL doing hurdles at a high school track meet. After I hobbled off the track, I started crying. Not from the pain, but because I was in the lead when I fell and I would have won. Not that it really mattered, since even though I had only competed in one meet, I did well enough (i.e. I came in first out of all 3 schools competing) that I still lettered in track that year. God I'm awesome.