What to Wear?

All I can think about these days seems to be finally, finally graduating.

I got my regalia in the mail yesterday and was modeling it for D. The robe I have to wear looks kind of silly. He said those weird extensions on the sleeves are for holding scrolls. I understand it's a tradition thing, but it just looks plain strange.

I also couldn't figure out how to get the hood to sit properly. At least the hat is easy to fathom (I get a black tassel this time around). I think the hood will be easier to manage once I get the special little cords and medals with which I can adorn it. This isn't something I tell everybody -- although if you hang around the husband long enough, he'll eventually tell you, he loves to brag about me -- but I'm kind of in the mood to boast about it myself right now: When it comes to my school, which is among the top schools in the country for my field, I'm kind of a big deal. To wit: I finished my graduate courses and research in one year, two semesters, instead of in two years, four semesters. And I did it with a 4.0 GPA.

Of course, I didn't have a life during that year.

So what that means is this: I got invited to join a national honor society (aka academic fraternity) in my field; this particular chapter was the very first chapter in the society. It also means I have another ceremony to attend for the induction, bringing the grand total of graduation/commencement places-I-need-to-be-at-a-certain-time to three, spanning two days. It also makes one person's suggestion (that I wear nothing under my regalia) somewhat impractical, although I'm sure I'll be wishing that were the case when I'm hanging out in the midwestern heat and humidity in a black robe.

I do still have friends in town whose showers I can use, however, so I won't be completely dirty-hippied out while attending these ceremonies, despite the campsite accommodations.

And because my mother will not be there, I find myself being able to pretty much pick exactly what I want to wear without getting any grief about it from picture-taking family members.

I'm thinking for the graduate-school ceremony (the first of the three), I might dress a bit more professionally: black top, red-and-black skirt, round-toed black kitten-heeled shoes.

But for the following day, which will include the honor-society ceremony and the undergraduate/graduate ceremony for my school, I think I might break out the dress I got married in. It's a sage-green spaghetti-strap number with pink and white flowers embroidered all over it. It's supposed to look kind of wrinkled, so I won't have to worry about messing it up, and I can wear my awesome white espadrilles with it (which means that at some point I'm going to have to paint my toenails, for the first time since December).

I have, unfortunately, gotten a teeny bit fatter since I wore that dress. So it's going to mean hot yoga classes and good-for-me food until I have to squeeze back into it. But I've been looking for another excuse to wear it, and this seems like the perfect reason. It's not a super-nice dress by any means -- it cost me $35 brand-new -- but I do love it.

I'm going to have to stash some flip-flops, though, because I'm not wearing those espadrilles all day. They're super cute, but not all that comfortable. Maybe I can put the flip-flops in my robe where the scrolls are supposed to go?