A Gift to Me

My very generous in-laws sent M. and me some money a little while back for defending our dissertations and graduating with our doctoral degrees.  Since it wasn't enough to cover a trip back across the Midwest and to purchase gowns and hoods for us and since we weren't really able to mark the occasion the way we wanted because of the move, I knew that I wanted to spend my money on something celebratory.  I wanted to use it for something I wouldn't otherwise buy for myself - something that every time I looked at I would feel a sense of my accomplishment.

I had been coveting and stalking the Wendy Brandes Boleyn Necklace from afar for months, so I knew that it was what I wanted to spend that money on.  It arrived this weekend, and I couldn't wait to wear it!  I wore it for the first time yesterday. Even though I wasn't teaching or going into campus, I had a lot of work to do on Labor Day.  There was a lecture to write about family life and gender roles in the Renaissance, a writing project to get off my desk, and photos of a sixteenth-century manuscript to go blind over for another project I'm working on.  In other words, since I was spending the day largely thinking about things that occurred during the sixteenth century, it seemed fitting to wear a necklace inspired by a sixteenth-century queen.

 1. Dress - Vintage Sears (via Leproust Vintage and remixed), Cardi - Anthropologie (purchased last month), Shoes - Kensie Girl (remixed), Necklace - Wendy Brandes

Although Wendy will make the necklace with the letter of your choosing and my first name doesn't start with the letter B, I knew that I wanted the "B" hanging at the bottom of this chain.  And it's not because I have an Anne Boleyn obsession - in fact I rather dislike her.  But you see, my last name does start with that letter, and I thought this necklace was the perfect way to commemorate the fact that I'm officially Dr. B.  (I know you're shocked that my last name isn't really de Moda!)

I love the necklace, and I anticipate wearing it at least two more times this week.  It was totally worth the wait, and I can't thank my in-laws enough for providing the fundage for its arrival into my life.  Have you ever given yourself a celebratory gift or reward when you accomplished a major milestone?  Is there anything you have been coveting and stalking from afar for quite some time?

And don't forget that you could celebrate yourself by winning a piece of Wendy's gorgeous jewelry!  Just enter our current giveaway for a chance to win one of her Little Woolf Necklaces.

Dr. M!

My brilliant, handsome, and kind husband M. passed his dissertation defense this morning, and he looked quite dashing while doing so if I do say so myself!

 I gave him the Kenneth Cole tie that he's wearing for good luck.

We'll be celebrating his doctorate tonight with dinner and fireworks!  (I don't know why I didn't think to plan my defense right around a holiday with fireworks....)

(Fourth of July Fireworks, New York Rockaway Beach, 2008)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and, for those of you stateside readers, I wish you a safe and festive fourth of July!

A Dress and a Defense

Since a number of you wonderful readers have asked to know a bit more about my defense, I'll tell you a more about it after the snap of yesterday's outfit.¹ I wore this Boden crinkle linen dress to run errands, including taking that stupid Tahari dress back to Macy's and grocery shopping, and to make risotto.

1. Dress - Boden (via Ebay), Shoes - Diba (remixed), Hat - Vintage (won in Leproust Vintage's charity auction), Earrings - Gift from friend (remixed), Sunnies - Esprit (thrifted and remixed)

So onto the defense.  I'll preface these remarks by saying that technically defenses are open in my department, but that no one ever actually comes to them.  We don't give a presentation.  It's pretty much two hours of Q&A, which has its advantages and disadvantages.  While it's not that uncommon for people to fail their candidacy exams in my department, there has only been one person who failed their dissertation defense in the recent history of my program.  The knowledge that there was that one person who didn't make it through their defense put a small dose of healthy fear into me in the days leading up to mine.

To be frank, my actual defense was rather anticlimactic in a lot of ways.  I was sent out of the room at the start, so that my committee could talk about whether or not they planned to pass me and how to structure the defense (or so I assume), and, when I came back in, my committee confirmed that they wanted to spend the first hour of the defense talking about the dissertation itself and the second hour talking about transitioning into the book.  (This was an idea that had been bandied about via email before the defense and had given me some confidence going into that room.)  I received some praise, some criticism, a couple of tough questions, a question that I couldn't really answer, and some questions that I had no problem with.  Before we knew it, we had been talking for about an hour and forty minutes.  At that point my supervisor said that there were only twenty minutes left in the defense so we should talk a bit about ideas for transitioning the diss into a book manuscript.  We bounced some ideas around.  Then my chair sent me back out of the room.  I decided to use the chance to go to the washroom.  When I got out, they had opened the door, and as I walked back in, they greeted me as "Doctor" and there were hugs and handshakes all around.  

My advisor told me later in an email and then again at the small dinner party that he held for me a couple of days after the defense that the outside faculty rep (who was in Neuroscience) had said that I was very poised.  I didn't necessarily feel that way, but once I started talking I hadn't really felt nervous either.  I've had a fair amount of experience presenting my research and handling criticisms and questions.  In the past six years I've defended my MA thesis, my candidacy exams, presented at numerous conferences, had job interviews, and given a job talk.  It's no less true for being a truism that when you are defending your dissertation, you are the expert on that topic; you have read far more and thought far more about it than anyone else in that room will have.

Honestly, the thing that was most difficult for me during my defense was handling praise from my committee.  I had steeled myself for tough questions and maybe even a bit of hostility, so I found myself caught a bit off-guard when my co-advisor and one of my committee members began their comments and questions by praising my project and the work that I had done.  It was particularly meaningful -- albeit disconcerting -- to me coming from one of my committee members, who is a woman and whom I very much admire as a mentor.   I didn't cry during the defense, but I did later when I told M. and my best friend, Herr Doktor, about their praise.

That's pretty much it.  The two hours flew by.  I'm glad that it's over with, of course.  But in the end, the project isn't finished.  I have a few changes to make before I deposit the dissertation.  Even that is just a draft, though.  In the next year or so, I'll be working to turn it into a book.  I am, however, going to take a couple of months away from the project after the deposit to get some other things cleared off my desk and to come back to it with a fresh eye.

If you have any specific questions, feel free to leave them in the comments or to email me. 

Dr. de Moda!

Today I successfully defended my dissertation.  A few days ago I started thinking about what I would wear to my defense.  I initially planned to wear my LBS (little black suit).  Then, I started thinking if there wasn't a way to show a little bit more of my personality but to still look polished and professional.

I found a lovely pink and black Tahari Dress at Filene's Basement last week when I was shopping with the Dissertating Yogini, but they didn't have it in any size close to my own, and I knew I wouldn't have time for alterations.  So on Saturday in an attempt to occupy myself I went to the mall just to take a spin around Nordstroms and Macy's to see if I might find anything wearable and on sale.  I figured that if I didn't I could find something in my wardrobe or revert back to the LBS idea if push came to shove.  I found the Tahari Dress again in a size that fit.  It was full price, but I figured even though I'll only defend my dissertation once, I could probably get more usage out of it as conference attire.  Boy was I wrong about that!  When I put in on this morning, I realized that I could see any and every line and bump in the mirror.  Even with a slip lines that in no way should have been visible were, so I put on hose.  I checked the mirror again, and saw that a huge line running up the middle of my butt was then visible thanks to the hose. What the fuck, Macy's mirrors?!?!?  Thanks for nothing.

Possibly no one but me would have noticed, but I couldn't imagine going through a defense already feeling horribly self-conscious about lines on my ass.  So I went for my old standby purple plaid dress with my old standby combo of dress + blazer and my briefcase.¹

1. Dress - Rabbit Rabbit (remixed)

Blazer - Calvin Klein (remixed)

Shoes - John Fluevog (remixed)

Briefcase - McKlein USA (remixed)

Cameo earrings - Secondhand via Ebay (remixed)

By the way if you google "dissertation defense attire" or "what to wear to a dissertation defense" or the like you will get hit upon some interesting threads.  According to one forum, most physicists would be laughed out of the room if they wore a suit and some economists had the impression that you could fail if you weren't dressed up enough because it might be a sign you weren't taking the event seriously. While I realized that my sartorial choices probably had no effect on the outcome of today's events.  I wanted to feel good about my appearance, and I wanted to feel like myself.  And since all of this outfit was remixed I felt comfortable in pieces that I know and love.

Have you ever had a similar outfit malfunction?  Would you have changed under similar circumstances or would you have forged ahead lines and all?

Wardrobe problem aside, I'm relishing this moment!  I'm off this evening to celebrate!