Tag: wiwt

Power outfits for defending, pt. 2

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…

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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.

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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! 😀

Teaching when it’s hot out pt. 4

CULOTTES FOR PRESIDENT

Hi all. Just popping by to say OMG IT’S AUGUST I BETTER MAKE A SYLLABUS. It’s also the last week of summer school so here is one more outfit I’ve been relying on frequently to get through teaching when it is sweltering outside. 

For about 2.5 years I resisted buying culottes because they reminded me of middle school (my mom bought me a pink pair in 7th grade and I thought I was the sh*t). But then after a couple glasses of wine I went into Madewell (Wine shopping is highly recommended, btw) and tried these on and I was like WAIT culottes are awesome. Just goes to show that you should always try things on!

So now here I am, combining these culottes with everything imaginable, including this button up from Target, which has lots of cute fall business clothes if you are in the market. 

I hope the August grad school panic is treating you all well. ❤

Summer 10×10 Day 1

Wahoo! I’ve picked my 10 clothing items and am ready to mix and match them to make 10 outfits over the next 10 days. This is perfect timing for me because my summer school class starts tomorrow, and this challenge will guide me through the first 10 days of teaching. Here are my picks:

I have three t shirts, one blouse, one dress, one skirt, and one pair of jeans.

As one of my instagram friends pointed out, I am dumb, and this is only 8 items. I had a pair of sandals on my feet when I took this picture that I knew were going to be part of the challenge, but even so, I’m only at 9 items of clothing. Suddenly I have decision fatigue and am drawing a total blank on what my tenth item should be! Suggestions welcome. I think a light cardigan would be good but I don’t have one that totally “goes” and I think going out shopping for one is counterproductive to a challenge about working with what you have.

For now, I’m just working with 9 items. Here is my day 1 outfit, the wildest thing I could think to do to start the day–make a shirt into a vest.

When I put this on I was all “noooo this is awful” but you know what I photographed it and then I thought it didn’t look so silly and now I’m accepting this idea of shirt-as-vest. So, this challenge is already a success for me! I’m excited to pick an outfit for tomorrow for my first day of teaching as well. Be back then with what I decided one!

I love 10×10 challenges because they make me really reach to try to find new and creative ways to wear my stuff. If you’re interested in starting one yourself, click here.