I’ve been on the hunt for a good leather jacket for several years now. Yes, years. And in that time, I’ve owned 2 jackets that were almost perfect, but not quite–both because I was trying to jump the gun when I saw them on sale. Anyway, this time, I decided to decide on exactly what I wanted in a leather jacket (minimal hardware, that cool waterfall effect on the front) and then wait until I found THE ONE.
Continue reading “One fancy buy for Fall: A leather jacket”A new series where I show off what other stylish grad students are wearing (if you want to be featured, message me!). This week I asked my friend Sam, a MA student, to show us what she wore.
Monday
I never wear my hair up because I don’t like my chipmunk cheeks, but I think it’s always good to stretch yourself. As a curvy woman, I love a set of good fitting jeans. These jeggings are from American Eagle, one of the only store that fit my wide hips and smaller waist. I thrifted the boots from Goodwill.
Continue reading “Outfits with Sam”I’ll keep it brief: Madewell is my favorite store. Almost every item I see makes me do grabby hands and say “I want to go to there.” But, Madewell is also a little too expensive for my life. Here are some ways I find it cheaper and on sale.
1) 30% off clearance
At the end of every season, Madewell does a week or so where you can take an extra 30% off clearance items–this is standard for so many retailers, but Madewell keeps the sale rare enough that I actually jump on it when I get the email. And it’s happening right now. Here are my current picks:
I know there’s a bigger sale getting hype on the internet right now (every influencer in the world is blogging about it, rhymes with Pordstrom, no more hints), but I look forward to July because that seems to be the time J. Crew puts their clearance on sale for an extra 50% off, aka the only time I buy their clothes. Here are some of my picks if you’re looking for back-to-school teacher stuff:
Oh wedding season..that joyful time when you remember that you’ve spent an entire decade on your PhD while some of your friends have gotten jobs, houses, and, yes, found their for-life person. I am (mostly) at peace with this, especially because there is cake and wine. However, prepping for weddings can be a daunting task, especially if you’re tapped for the bridal party, which can cost over $1000! So, my first piece of advice as a grad student is that you communicate what you can afford to spend, before committing to being in a wedding party (this article spells out more of your rights and is totally fantastic).
But, besides that, how do you minimize money spent on wedding apparel? Here are some of the tips I’ve gathered to survive wedding season.
I’m so excited to say I passed my prospectus defense yesterday–I wrote 100 pages about what my dissertation will be about (1/3rd of the length of the full product!) and had to defend that before collecting data. Here’s what I wore…
Defenses are really weird. The build up is big and then the let down can be…like nothing even happened. As one committee member likes to remind me, a defense is just another meeting for professors. Fair, but it also DETERMINES MY ENTIRE FATE so yeah it’s a little scary.
This defense was also downright weird–we talked for 1.5 hours and then were running out of time, so everyone was just like “yeah, good meeting!” and left…but usually at the end of a defense in our dept committee members meet without the student and then announce to you if you’ve passed or not…and they just…didn’t do that?? So I left the room like “ok! that’s over!” and then got half way down the hall before I was like “wait did I pass?” I spent the next 2 hours on an emotional rollercoaster about that before my advising meeting, where I asked my advisor, who replied “yes, wasn’t it obvious?”
Um, no. I am in grad school. Validate me always. Thanks.
So with that flood of relief, I promptly changed outfits and went out looking for wine and a patio.
All in all, a fine day. Weird, but better than the time the department lost my comprehensive exam answers. But that’s a story for another time. To anyone else defending as the semester ends: good luck! 😀
Ootd from our sushi date last night, when I learned that everyone has the idea to go out the day after valentines and that is not a good strategy to avoid crowds. Good things this week:
-turned in a draft of chapter 1 and was given the go ahead to finish it
-bought myself new perfume/wasted time at sephora testing perfumes (this is a really good work reward!!!)
-started my new tiny several hour a week job w/ a leadership coach
-made plans to finish a book chapter
-a plant I thought was dying started growing a new leaf (yes I’m a crazy plant mom it’s THE LITTLE THINGS OK)
-had a very random 3 hour office hang out with a grad student I never see anymore. Talked clothes the whole time, as it should be 🙂
I just reread Karen Kelsky’s The Professor is In, a book all about how to land the tenure track job at the end of the grad school tunnel (cannot recommend this enough, also has useful tips about leaving academia). I forgot that not only is Karen Kelsky a career genius she is also full of clothing tips on everything you need for the campus visit. Here’s her list:
Snow day dissertation writing
Trying to finish an outline of chapter 1 by tomorrow
Winter 10×10 day 1: teaching and reading for my prospectus. It’s really weird to be done with course work. I only have obligations to show up somewhere 3 hours per week! Getting dressed helps with the accountability.