21 Day Challenge, Day 12: Jazz Up Jeans

Jazzing up jeans is not really something I typically do these days. Usually I reach for jeans because they are easy, and at work more often than not I'm wearing some obligatory T-shirt with them. Witness today's shirt: Geek the library is a national campaign to promote public libraries, their value to communities, and the services they provide. The library where I work kicked off the campaign locally this week. It makes use of the word geek as a verb meaning to be passionate for or really interested in something. Whatever you geek, your local public library has resources to support your interest. So if you geek fashion, you may find the library has subscriptions to your favorite fashion mags, and if you geek church history your library may have or can inter-library loan books on that topic. Libraries offer all kinds of resources to help you get your geek on, like wi-fi, community rooms, instructional DVDs, online classes and materials, programs, and, yes, books. So if you haven't visited your local library lately, you should check it out. And if you're already a big fan of libraries, you might want to see what you can do to support library funding in your community. Library funding has taken a hit all over the country, and library use goes up during economic downturns. Unfortunately, libraries tend to have the least money when we have the most users. /public service announcement

Since we kicked off the campaign this week, I wanted to wear my T-shirt, team player that I am. I would probably have worn it yesterday with my skirt, and gone with something a little jazzier today if I had known today was going to be just jeans, not jeans and a tee. I think this would be more fun with another pop of red, like a red belt, or some big red beads. However, I had to work with what I've got, so I did what I could with red heels, and ”fancy” jewelry. I also added this belt since I learned last Friday that a belt and heels go a long way to dress up jeans and a t-shirt. My assessment of this outfit: not bad, but room for improvement. Since we will be running Geek the Library through the spring, I'm going to have to get some red accessories.

Jeans: Old Navy, thrifted; T-shirt: www.geekthelibrary.org; Shoes, bracelets, earrings: Target, Belt: came with a dress

Library Cat

Yesterday we had an unusual visitor at the library where I work. It is in a residential neighborhood, so from time to time we have cats wander in or find them hanging out in the parking lot. Thankfully this cat was tagged, so the owner was contacted. Last year a cat stayed with us for several days while library staff tried to find out if it had an owner, and eventually one of the library volunteers adopted it.

I work in a very large room that is not open to the public, so this guy got to spend some time with us. He was very social and liked attention, but as you can imagine, he was not too keen on being trapped in an unfamiliar place. He spent a lot of time prowling around and giving his opinion about the situation. This made it a little tricky to take his picture. I had to catch him whenever he paused. He explored every part of the room and jumped on every desk, counter, table, and cart, but eventually he settled down. Librarians tend to be cat people, so he also spent time in some other offices. He was a welcome distraction, but I'm very glad he had a tag so he could go home where he belongs. I'm sure he was glad, too.