The first thing I noticed when I came in to interview at my school last year was that all of the teachers looked fancy—the men were wearing ties, the women wearing heels…a far cry from the mom jeans and Cosby sweaters I had seen on most of the teachers at the schools where I was student teaching.

So, A) this was super intimidating, and B) I decided that it was time to step up my game.

Periodically, since leaving college, I’ve attempted to Dress Like an Adult, but all that resulted in is a collection of ugly shoes (with modest heels!) that I never wear, and a handful of poorly fitting (and untailored, of course) pants that make me feel even more shlumpy than normal…which is all to say that all of these attempts to look like an adult have failed spectacularly, and within almost no time at all, I’m back to wearing jeans and shirts I bought in high school that only have tiny holes in them, and tiny holes don’t count, right?

But! In September, I decided to start a Pretty Initiative. This basically means that I forced myself to wear the millions of dresses and skirts that I’ve somehow accumulated over the years, and the 1.5 pairs of non-sneakers that I can bear to put on my feet. It also meant I ramped up my make-up game (which is to say that I’m now more or less at what I like to call the “Mary Anne from the Babysitters Club” level—mascara and lip gloss. That’s right. Now that I’m almost 27 (ughhhh), I’m prepared to be as made up as a “very quiet and very shy” fictional thirteen-year-old girl. Victory!)

So, of course, with the exception of The Husband (who maybe only notices because I speak to him frequently about said Pretty Initiative?), no one has noticed, because, why would they? “Congratulations, Gainfully Employed Adult! You don’t necessarily look like a homeless person! We are very impressed! Here is your reward!”

BUT! Today, I was up in the cafeteria (sorry! “café”—we’re very classy here) getting myself some coffee, and I said hi to one of the guys who works there, and he looked up from the cart of cups he was dealing with, and he said, “you have good fashion.” You guys! You guys! No one in the history of the world has ever said this to me before! I have good fashion!!!!

Pretty Initiative: TOTAL SUCCESS.

(Does this mean I can wear jeans tomorrow?)