Keep it Casual

I know I haven't posted a Make an Effort Monday in QUITE a while, but for those of you who have been through college finals, well, you understand :) 

I typically don't do casual when I dress professionally since, well, the point is to dress professionally, but most schools and offices there is Casual Friday, so it begs the question, "What do I wear that's professional, but casual?" A LOT of people choose to use Casual Friday as a day to wear whatever is against dress code OR a day to show off their most fashion forward outfit. This can turn out okay, but mostly it just changes the view of coworkers and most importantly, students. Wearing something unprofessional just because of Casual Friday is simply unacceptable. As a teacher, student respect is ESSENTIAL, and having a student think less of you because of what you wear is a pretty sad way to lose respect. 

SO, now that i'm off my soapbox, let's get down to some pics of one of my casual outfits.

This outfit is just a step or two down from what I would wear normally. Instead of a skirt or dress pants, just some nice jeans. NOT too tight or anything crazy, just normal jeans. 

You've seen these shoes before on my blog, but on a teacher budget it's important to get those shoes that you can wear with LOTS of different outfits and have them look totally different. 

This is my FAVORITE accessory, and the one I wear most often. It's NOT my purity ring, though I do support purity :) This is my PROMISE ring. To me it represents all the promises I have made to myself,  to others, and to God. 

And then we have another sweater (sigh). I absolutely love sweaters because school buildings have a WIDE variety of temperatures, and sweaters become very important. I also love the gray and purple combo. 

That's really all there is to this outfit! It's very similar to what I would wear on a normal day, just a step down. This is NOT what I would wear to the supermarket on saturday at 10:30 at night. It is presentable and casual. Thanks for reading! Have a great day and may the Lord shine a light through you!