An amazing end to an amazing journey

I’ve been on cloud nine since Friday, nothing can shake this positive buzz that I seem to be eating and breathing right now.

Me having a Harry Potter moment in my robes

I had the day off work to go back to school and to attend my PhD graduation. If you are not familiar with my self-esteem issues that I experienced during my PhD and searching for a job then you can catch up here. Frequent readers of my blog will realise what a big deal graduating is to me- I dodged the hurdles and made it to the end!

The weather was just beautiful, but it made the day even more perfect. After awhile I did begin to suffer in the heat though because it was really hot under those robes. Despite my eventual love of them I was glad to take them off after all the family pictures had been taken.

It’s official!

Unfortunately, there are no clear pictures of me actually going onto the stage to get my certificate from the Chancellor. My family were cheering too loud when my name was announce…ha! =)

They read a really beautiful and poignant poem at the ceremony called Ithaca by Constantine P. Cavafy. This poem really resonated with me-it’s not the destination that’s important, it’s the journey that gets you there:

When you set out for Ithaka
ask that your way be long,
full of adventure, full of instruction.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon – do not fear them:
such as these you will never find
as long as your thought is lofty, as long as a rare
emotion touch your spirit and your body.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon – you will not meet them
unless you carry them in your soul,
unless your soul raise them up before you.

Ask that your way be long.
At many a Summer dawn to enter
with what gratitude, what joy –
ports seen for the first time;
to stop at Phoenician trading centres,
and to buy good merchandise,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensuous perfumes of every kind,
sensuous perfumes as lavishly as you can;
to visit many Egyptian cities,
to gather stores of knowledge from the learned.

Have Ithaka always in your mind.
Your arrival there is what you are destined for.
But don’t in the least hurry the journey.
Better it last for years,
so that when you reach the island you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to give you wealth.
Ithaka gave you a splendid journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She hasn’t anything else to give you.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka hasn’t deceived you.
So wise you have become, of such experience,
that already you’ll have understood what these Ithakas mean.

When we finally left we headed to one of my favourite restaurants The Saxon Mill for a wonderful meal out on the balcony.

The view from the balcony was just incredible, we all felt that we were on holiday!

Of course it just had to be Pimm’s to start of the celebrations!

I had the lamb rump served with soubise sauce, asparagus, peas & chorizo dauphinois.

Dessert was pretty epic…

Banana, dulce de leche, brownie and Italian vanilla gelato coupe

In fact it has been a pretty fantastic weekend in all. Alfie and I went shopping yesterday to check out the sales for our honeymoon wardrobes. Before we headed off I made a cherry and banana smoothie in a bowl:

Complete with sour cherries, almonds and cacao nibs…heaven!

Amongst other things I received these sour cherry preserves and syrup from my new advertiser Olive Life. I’ve just made some ice lollies using the sour cherry preserves, yum!

Even though it was much cloudier yesterday I was still determined to wear a summer dress…

OOTD: Dress, mango//vest top, Primark//sandals, Primark//braided rope belt, H&M//bag, Mulberry.

We picked up a few bits and a lovely floral dress from Joules…

…I just love this print! Now I have the hard decision of whether to wear it or save it for our honeymoon. I have a post planned of all of my honeymoon buys in a later post.

For lunch we stopped at the crepery where I had a mozzarella, sunblushed tomato, basil and mushroom crepe. It was so good!

Later for dinner I cooked some salmon in a bamboo steamer which we got as a wedding present. I’m saving the recipe for a series of posts that I have planned for the blog so watch this space.

My workouts were basically the same as last week: cardio mixed with strength with yoga in between. We are off out on a bike ride through the countryside later though, which will be a nice change.

Have you been to a graduation ceremony before? How did you celebrate afterwards?

What have you been getting up to this weekend?

25 Comments

El Yates on July 21, 2013 at 11:28 AM

Congratulations on graduating! A PhD is a massive achievement I could only dream of (I am yet to graduate with my degree). You also look stunning. Happy days 🙂
- Jemma Andrew on July 22, 2013 at 9:35 PM
  
  Thanks El! Keep working hard and you will be graduating in no time.
sonja on July 21, 2013 at 2:13 PM

congratulations!! I’m still in that place wondering if I will ever get my phd finished at all 🙂
- Jemma Andrew on July 22, 2013 at 9:35 PM
  
  Oh you definitely will! 🙂 Just keep chipping away at it and your time will come. 🙂
Sabrina Christine Lopez-Colon on July 21, 2013 at 2:21 PM

Oh my!!! Congrats chick that is amazing! I am glad your day was special you totally deserve it 🙂
- Jemma Andrew on July 22, 2013 at 9:30 PM
  
  Thank you so much! It was the best day EVER!
Jess on July 21, 2013 at 2:44 PM

I actually never went to my undergrad or postgrad graduations…they’re just not for me. I can’t stand being up there in front of so many people, plus they take a heck of a long time and I’m not apt to sit down for that long without being in a world of pain.

You’re the only person I’ve ever seen to make those robes look fashionable! You really do look amazing – you’re positively radiating happiness. I’m so pleased for you 🙂

xxx
- Jemma Andrew on July 22, 2013 at 9:30 PM
  
  Thanks Jess, it was quite a day! The ceremonies are long I think I was 3rd on the stage, so then we had to wait for the other 420 graduands to be called on too. It was nice seeing the younger Bsc’s graduating though…so much optimism and positivity in their faces.
Claire on July 21, 2013 at 5:46 PM

Massive congratulations Jemma, so glad the day was just as beautiful as you deserved after all that work!
- Jemma Andrew on July 22, 2013 at 9:22 PM
  
  Thanks Claire, it really was a special day.
Laura Agar Wilson on July 21, 2013 at 8:06 PM

Congrats, that looks like a perfect day! My MA graduation was in January at Durham cathedral, I’ve never been so cold in my life!
- Jemma Andrew on July 22, 2013 at 9:22 PM
  
  Thanks Laura! Cathedrals can be freezing I bet your robes didn’t do much to fight of the cold.
Maria @ runningcupcake on July 21, 2013 at 9:07 PM

Massive congratulations!!! It makes all your hard work worth it- and really if something is easy then it is not such a great feeling when you finish.
I am going to show my age now because when I graduated it was when England won the rugby world cup (is it called that?)- we had torrential rain as it was a Saturday in November- I also had tonsillitis and felt awful- you tend to pick up all the bugs in your first year of teaching! I went straight home to bed! But it was still fantastic.
- Jemma Andrew on July 22, 2013 at 9:09 PM
  
  Thank you Maria! Oh no…it’s great that you still managed to have an amazing day even with all of that drama.
Fran on July 21, 2013 at 9:40 PM

A huge congratulations, I hope you are extremely proud of yourself. It hasnt been an easy ride and you have worked incredibly hard. That is a beautiful poem, and you look beautiful too! x
- Jemma Andrew on July 22, 2013 at 9:13 PM
  
  Aww Fran thanks for that! You are right it hasn’t been easy, but all of the struggles were definitely worth it.
LilyLipstick on July 22, 2013 at 8:52 AM

Congratulations on graduating! I’m glad you had such a lovely day after all your hard work and you look beautiful in your robes and hat! x
- Jemma Andrew on July 22, 2013 at 9:12 PM
  
  Thanks Lily. It was so surreal and a lovely day all round.
Persistence Over Perfection on July 22, 2013 at 8:54 AM

Congratulations on your graduation Jemma – it sounds like you had a wonderful day 🙂 You’ve done so well – such a massive achievement xx
- Jemma Andrew on July 22, 2013 at 9:12 PM
  
  Thanks lovely! You have been there and know what it’s all about. It was a fantastic day! 🙂 x
Kristy @ Southern In-Law on July 22, 2013 at 10:15 AM

Congratulations on graduating! How exciting!

I absolutely love your style – and the print on your new dress is divine! So summery and girly.
- Jemma Andrew on July 22, 2013 at 9:11 PM
  
  Thanks Kristy. I’m loving my new dress and it was on sale too…score!
AnnaTheApple on July 22, 2013 at 4:23 PM

Congratulations! Lovely photos 🙂 glad it was sucha great day. And that photo from the restaurant is just beautiful!
Ohh I need to get some summer shopping done soon :-S
- Jemma Andrew on July 22, 2013 at 9:10 PM
  
  Thank you! That restaurant id one of my favourite not only for the food but also that view!
Lauren (@PoweredbyPB) on July 23, 2013 at 7:37 PM

Congrats! Looks like you had a lovely day. I went out for a nice meal with my family post graduation and then went out with my best friends in the evening to celebrate.