Fashion crisis

I need your help.

I live in the middle of nowhere. The only places to buy clothes are the feed store and a walmart, but I can't go to work naked.

I need some online shopping suggestions. Ann Taylor / Ann Taylor Loft 's tops and pants fit me well.

The problem is, I need some more teaching clothes. I also have to go to a wedding in the coming weeks, so I need a dress. Any suggestions of online places to buy business casual clothes and/or dresses suitable for a wedding (HELP!!), would be appreciated. Must have good return policies.


THANKS!!

The two-body problem

Although I would like to believe that if I just don't think about something, it doesn't exist, I can only avoid the two-body problem for so long. As I've mentioned before, N.A. has a tenure track position at a school many, many states away. It is a state I would love to live in. So while this makes our two-body problem somewhat easier--at least in the sense that I wouldn't be giving up anything location wise-- there is a catch. I have to freakin get a job offer in the state!

Something that both N.A. and I have been trying to sort out is how best to leverage his current position. I don't think I want to work at his school, but there are several other colleges near his. Should we advertise that we're attached in order to try to procure a job for me? Should I not mention our connection at all?

I really don't know what is best. We're not married, so I'm not sure if our relationship would even HAVE leverage. I also have some reservations about not getting a job completely on my own merits-- but then I also realize that I should use whatever I can to get the job I want.

Sigh. What to do? Any insight is appreciated.

In happier news, N.A. and I finally settled on travel plans! 11 days and counting!!

What a difference a location makes...

It's so refreshing to return to my liberal arts roots. LargeU served its purpose: I got my degree from a top institution. But what a difference the change in location is.

My position at TempCollege is a temporary, one year position. In the coming months, I will be applying (again) for jobs. I want a tenure-track position at a small, liberal arts school. Preferably near N.A. (The two-body problem is so stressful, that I'll have to post about it at a later time.) We'll see what happens.

At LargeU, professors were stopping me in the hall to tell me what a tragic mistake I was making. They recognized (as I did) that by choosing to go the SLAC route, I would be removing myself from my current research field. "You're too good! Why would you not do a post-doc and apply for better jobs?" I heard this several times a week. However, I knew what I was doing. The product of academic parents, I grew up in the shadow of a huge R1 institution. I do not want that lifestyle. Although there is a lot of discussion in the blogosphere on how things should change, etc. etc., I know that they won't in my lifetime...or at least tenuretime.

Even though classes haven't started, I already feel at home at TempCollege. My colleagues are amazing, and I've met numerous faculty from other disciplines. Everyone is exceptionally warm, helpful, and supportive. Here I am actually encouraged to go the SLAC route (of course), and phone calls have already been made on my behalf.

By this time next year, I'll either be starting my dream job or be scrambling for work. Let's hope it's the former!

Life after grad school...

...is good. Really, really good. Like, much better than I ever would have thought. When I last left LargeU, it was nearly 11 pm, and I was exhausted from hours of packing up my apartment followed by a frantic 2 hours of packing up the office. I cried the whole way to the hotel, had a restless sleep, and then got the hell out of LargeUtown with the sunrise.

Although much of my life is still in boxes, I've gotten settled in to TempCollege Village. I've figured out where to buy most of the essentials. The rest I've added to my amazon.com shopping cart. I've gotten most of my books in my office.

Oh, yeah. My office? Huge. Well lit. Biggest. Desk. Ever. I've drafted my syllabus, finished my prep for the first day of classes, and written up a pre-semester survey for my students. I've been going home at 5 pm each day. I haven't been working at night. At all.

I've watched countless hours of Olympics. My ironing is done. My laundry is caught up, and my apartment is clean. I've been blowdrying my hair and wearing mascara.

Life could not be more different than grad school.

I know that things will get crazy once the students arrive. My fellow faculty give me this knowing look when the subject of free time comes up. "Just you wait," they say. "You won't have any time once the semester starts."

While I'm sure they're right, I can't help but think: I'm used to cramming classes and teaching AND research into my week. Here, I'm just teaching. N.A. is many states away. I have no family here. No distractions (although N.A. would be a WELCOME distraction).

It's going to be a good semester.

Wedded Bliss...?

N.A. and I have only been dating about half a year, but we are both old enough (and..um...mature enough?) to know that what we've got is a good thing. The M word has come up because neither of us believed that it would be worth the emotional (and financial, for that matter) strain to put us through a long distance relationship if we didn't think that we might one day make the ultimate commitment (and I don't mean sharing a cell phone plan).

Still, I'm a practical person. I've never been one of those girly-girls who day dream about their wedding day. I don't know if it's all the nesting I've been doing as I get settled or just the TempCollege Village water, but the other night, all I could see was Wedding!

It started innocently enough. The book I'm reading has illustrations each chapter. Since it's about a wedding dress designer, the pictures have to do with dress designs. Curious about the neckline pictures, I googled one of them (portrait). 20 minutes of dress browsing later, I was startled by my cell ringing.

"What're you up to, sweetheart?" (yes, N.A. calls me that).

"Uh...uh..." I reluctantly admitted my embarrassing googlings, but insisted that it didn't mean anything. Needy wedding-crazed woman I am not.

My explanation was met with silence. After a minute or so of that, N.A. finally spoke. "Well, I wasn't going to say anything, but today, during my driving tour, we stopped at this great reception hall and I got a brochure. I know it's silly, but I wanted to look through it."

From there, he directed me to the hall's website. That quickly led to us searching together (via cell phone on our respective MacBook Pros) for caterers which of course led to the discussion of appropriate flower decorations for the church. We were just starting to discuss the guest list when we both abruptly stopped. We were laughing too hard to continue. What were we thinking? We weren't even engaged, so what the hell were we talking about?!?


Okay, so we got wrapped up in the moment. But how refreshing to be dating someone that isn't afraid of commitment!

Now if we could only commit to dates for a weekend meet-up....

Age = just a number?

During my move across half the country and then my first few days here in TempCollege Village, I've had the following conversation no less than fifty times (and yes, I fully acknowledge that I'm prone to exaggeration, but that is an underestimation, promise):


Random person: So are you here for school?

Me: Um, no. I moved here for work. A job at TempCollege.

Random person: Oh yeah? What are you doing?

Me: Teaching. I'm a one-year faculty hire.

Random person: But-- but you're too young to teach!


A few comments about the above broken record.

First, I'm extremely uncomfortable with identifying my overeducation to nonacademics. I'm the product of an academic family from a very academic town, so I was brought up surrounded by white collar types. So I'm very hesitant to outright tell people I am faculty (and therefore Dr. Unreaction). If I would just tell them from the start, maybe I could nip such conversation in the bud?

Second, I've recently been actively TRYING to dress older (I haven't worn one t-shirt outside of my house, promise!) yet even today I was given the student tour of the gym facilities (including a semi-sketchy run-through of some underground tunnels for 20 minutes until I finally interrupted the poor kid and said "yeah, I think you should show me the location of the faculty locker room instead since that's what I'll be using." ...yes, I don't know why there are separate student/faculty locker rooms either, but I like it!)

Yes, I realize that my youthful appearance will serve me well in 20 years or so, but for now, I'm just ready for some 18 year olds to get back on campus so I can at least (by comparison) appear older!

I can has internets?

...well, at least for this moment. Although I'm in primarily faculty housing, apparently one of my neighbors hasn't password protected his/her wireless internet. With my cable/internet hookup appointment still four days away, I am very excited for this fact (which I just discovered this morning, lying in bed-- only place I can get a signal).

So much to post about my big move, but I am overwhelmed with unpacking and the newness of it all. I'm also insanely behind in reading all of your blogs. I'll catch up soon; I'm going to take the next couple of days to figure out the area (it is COUNTRY) and what all TempCollege Village has to offer (not much).


Quickie: my apartment is gorgeous-- part of a Victorian house, so I have 12 ft ceilings and wood floors. TempCollege Village seems to be full of mostly helpful people, and here is the best news of all for this super-isolated area: a Walmart is opening 10 miles away later this month!! (yes, I do know that Walmart is evil, but the only shopping options here are the grocery store, farm equipment shops, and Dollar General).