Hot for Teacher?

      Soooo I wore this outfit last week when there was a judge's conference and there wasn't any court for a week.  Not having to go to court allowed me to wear outfits that don't HAVE to work with a blazer.  Its actually pretty funny.  On days when I go to court, generally Monday through Thursday, I end up "wearing" 2 "different" outfits.  One that works with a blazer that I wear for a total of 30 mins to an hour.  And another outfit for the rest of the day that does not include the blazer.  These aren't drastically different outfits because they include the same top and bottom, but the lack of blazer makes a difference.   At least I think so.  Which has led me to make sure that I have a complete outfit both with and without a blazer. 

    Back to this particular outfit.  Over the summer, when I was on my studying for the bar hiatus, there was a J.Crew factory store sale in town.  (This is actually one of the things I wanted to update you all about that I mentioned here.)  Well, I had never bought anything from J.Crew because as a general rule the items in store just aren't within my price range.  Also, the town I went to law school in didn't have a J.Crew at the mall either.  So, my friend Jenn and I found a coupon that would give us an additional 20% off on top of the outlet prices.  Armed with our coupons we tried to go the first day of the sale during our bar prep lunch break.  No dice.  The line was around the building to get in and we decided to just grab lunch and go back later that afternoon.  When we did, there wasn't a line anymore and we were able to waltz right in.  What met us inside was crazy.  There were tables lined up all across what used to be a store and was now a large room with concrete floors.  There were curtains in the back of the store to separate merchandise that was on the floor and stuff that would be put out later.  Each table had at least 8 boxes on top of it with an additional 8 under it marked out by size and type.  IE Dresses size 12, shirts size S, pants size 10.  This filled the whole room.  

     So Jenn and I started at the front where they had dresses and lo and behold, I found this red dress.  It has loops for a belt, but there was no belt to be found in the box that contained all different types and styles of dresses that I found the dress in.  Oh!  Did I mention that there weren't any dressing rooms?  So me, dressed in a tank top and sweat pants got to try this dress on on top of my clothes to see if it fit.  Well it did fit so I took it home.  I also found a navy blue dress as well.  (And I also found a wedding dress the second time Jenn and some other friends of ours went.  But that's another story altogether.  Oh and that wedding dress, $32.33. :D ) 
    From the second I brought this dress home, I knew that I wanted to wear it as a jumper.  The neckline and the back in particular, are too low for me to wear it to work without something underneath it.  As a result this dress has sat in my closet for 2 months just waiting for it to get chilly enough for me to layer a button down under it.  And finally last week was the perfect opportunity to wear it.  I thought about adding my black knee high boots to the ensemble, but realized that you wouldn't see a single bit of my leg, so I opted for a shorter boot and some incredibly soft tights.  To tie the black from the bottom back into the dress and create a waist I added my very versatile Target belt.  

I look like a teacher, don't I?

    I felt really comfortable in this outfit, and what's more, I felt like I was dressing for me and for fun and not just because I had to put clothes on.  For the past 2 months I've been a very busy bee and for fear of making too many waves in this little town of mine, I've not been terribly creative with my wardrobe.  But I feel like slowly but surely that will change as I get more comfortable here and more integrated into daily life.  Speaking of changes, what do you all think of the new background?  What about the large photos?  Yay or nay?  Thoughts?  

The Details:
Dress: J.Crew Factory Sale
Blouse: Banana Republic
Tights: Hue via Steinmart
Boots: Nine West
Belt: Target