Coffee Break: Flower Charms
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In general, I'm not a fan of the “charms” trend for bags — I appreciate how they're supposed to add a whimsical touch, but I usually feel like it's so far from the vibe of the bag that it's distracting. But these leather flower charms from Cuyana are lovely.
There are two main varieties, the poppy (pictured) and the orchid. They feel whimsical, yes, but they also feel like they elevate the bag instead of cheapening it. They show the charms on a number of bags if you click around the site and they look cool on almost every bag they have.
I'm not a huge fan of yellow and orange, of course, but those are some of the main colors of Icelandic poppies, so it's just as well.
The charms are $78 each, at Cuyana.
Sales of note for 4/24:
- Ann Taylor – Friends of Ann Event, 30% off your purchase PLUS $50 off $100! Readers love this popover blouse, and their suiting is also in the sale.
- Boden – 15% off new styles
- Brooklinen – 25% off sitewide — we have and love these sateen sheets
- Evereve – Now through Sunday: up to 70% off! Markdowns include Alex Mill, Michael Stars, Sanctuary, Rails, Xirena, and Z-Supply
- Express – $39+ Summer Styles
- J.Crew – Friends & Family Event, 30% off your purchase! Good deals on blazers and boots
- J.Crew Factory – 40% off everything, extra 50% off clearance, and extra 20% off $125+
- Lands' End – 50% off full price styles and 60% off all clearance and sale – lots of ponte dresses come down under $25, and this packable raincoat in gingham is too cute
- Loft – Friends & Family event, 40% off entire purchase + extra 15% off + free shipping
- M.M.LaFleur – This weekend only, save 25% on dresses. Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off.
- Nordstrom – 1500+ new women's markdowns
- Sephora – Up to 50% off hair deals today only – includes Shark Beauty tools! (See our recent discussion on how to upgrade the Revlon brush.)
- Talbots – Friends & Family event, 30% off entire purchase – today only, free shipping, no minimum
- TOCCIN – Use code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off!
- Vivrelle – Looking to own less stuff but still try trends? Use code CORPORETTE for a free month, and borrow high-end designer clothes and bags!
What nutrition trackers are you all using now that the latest update has rendered MyFitnessPal useless? I am looking for something that will show calories, protein, fiber, and sodium for each individual food along with totals by meal and for the day. I also need to be able to enter my own recipes. The MFP website hasn’t taken away these functions yet, but it’s clunky and doesn’t allow you to search your recipes (just the MFP food database).
Macrofactor is the GOAT.
I wish macrofactor could track fiber though!
It does! From the dashboard scroll down to nutrition and click on “see all,” then scroll down to fiber under carb breakdown and click it.
It definitely does! You can edit your dashboard to make it more prominent if you want.
Like I don’t have to click “see all” because I put it right after Fat.
I still use cronometer.
I am using Cronometer as part of a fitness program and love it
LoseIt. I bought the premium subscription a couple of years ago. It is fine (I’m not the most consistent with logging).
I like Cronometer, and my understanding is that it’s generally dietitians preferred. I no longer recall exactly why, but they deal with a huge volume of nutritional logging, so presumably have a good view of the options in the marketplace and their various pros/cons.
I am dealing with someone in a semi-professional context who is just going out of her way to be a bitch for no reason in an incredibly low stakes situation. 90% jesting: are there any services I can hire to send her a lump of coal at Christmas?
There’s companies which anonymously send a bag of phallic gummies. I’m a fan of that.
There is a service that will anonymously send her a bag of gummy male body parts, with an invitation to eat a bag of them.
🤣 jinx!
Ugh, the worst. Fantasize about her opening a box of glitter.
https://thenaughtylist.com/
On a whim I typed “lump of coal” into the Amazon search bar, and yup!
I got violently ill overnight after a day when I ate breakfast (same daily) and lunch (ate this dish without incident for years) and then had dinner out (salad, likely from a bag, at restaurant staffed by teens). Is the salad the likely culprit? Is there a price point for a restaurant below which you wouldn’t consume raw veggies? I haven’t been that sick in ages and there are OMG so many burst blood vessels around my eyes down to my cheeks. It was about +7 hours after eating dinner. I usually don’t get sick..
I don’t know that either price point or age of server is a reliable signal of food safety, but I will say that I no longer eat at the “slop bowl” places after experiencing too many digestive issues. The combination of prewashed greens + poorly cooked meats + cold and hot food sitting uncovered on assembly lines for hours seems to be especially risky.
Bagged salads in general are a gamble.
Sounds like the salad, and no, there’s no price point for me.
It’s likely the salad. I have had food poisoning multiple times from pre-cut fruits/veggies at high end places (Whole Foods, high end airport lounge, local brunch place).
I’m sorry you’re feeling so badly!
It’s probably the salad, but it’s probably the salad because lettuce is the most likely vector for things like e coli. I wouldn’t eliminate the two other meals just because you’ve stomached them fine in the past, though. If one of them is, like, beef tartare, the fact that the beef has been properly stored historically doesn’t prevent the possibility that it wasn’t properly stored this time.
Eliminate = eliminate them as suspects.
If you’re in USA, food safety really isn’t what it used to be even not that long ago. It would not be unreasonable to be tested since this is how food borne disease surveillance works in a lot of the country now for a lot of known pathogens.
Many very expensive restaurants barely wash lettuce and rely on the same food systems, so I don’t think price point makes a difference. Maybe something really farm to fork where the lettuce was grown out back or nearby would at least avoid picking up pathogens at centralized processing and shipping locations?
US food safety is so scary. In addition to the abysmal standards there’s basically a complete lack of inspection and enforcement.
It is not “so scary” for those of us who routinely travel internationally to non-rich countries.
It’s not about being scared but taking appropriate precautions. Those are known for many travel destinations, but Americans are still adapting at home.
Adapting… that’s one way to put it.
Well, this person said it was “so scary,” and it’s only “so scary” if you have an anxiety disorder.
It’s probably the salad. Lettuce can harbor all sorts of bacteria. I have a sensitive stomach (IBS) and only eat salad at nicer restaurants. I’ve gotten sick from fast casual places too many times.
Price point has nothing to do with it. Lettuce and other raw vegetables can easily arrive at the restaurant contaminated and washing often doesn’t help. And for that matter, the food you ate at home could also be a problem. Just because you eat the food frequently doesn’t mean that you can’t get a contaminated batch. But anything raw or undercooked is more suspect, so the salad is much more likely than oatmeal you ate for breakfast, but any meat (including deli meat) or eggs or raw fruits and veggies could also have been an issue.
Most of what people think is food poisoning is actually viral gastroenteritis like norovirus. It lingers for weeks in people’s poop so it can be spread long after the person who had it appears healthy again. I’d assume you picked it up at the restaurant, but not that there was something wrong with the lettuce. More likely just a restaurant staffer who didn’t wash their hands well.
This.
Yes, I would suspect norovirus over food poisoning, although that may be colored by the fact that norovirus has been making the rounds in my area for several weeks now.
Another reason it can be helpful to get tested and know what you actually had.
Agree that norovirus is a very common cause of this, but if it’s spread by food, then it is food poisoning, though you can also pick it up in other ways. Many other types of food poisoning also originate from the unwashed hands of people handling your food, and then there are some that originate in animals, either the ones we eat directly or that poop on our food, plus some things that are contaminated by environmental contaminants somewhere in the food processing pipeline.
Yes even if it’s an infectious bacteria like c. diff it’s still food poisoning if it made it to us via food!
Could be the salad. Could have been warm or cold food held or stored at the wrong temp — why you don’t leave food out when serving it. Could also be a norovirus spread through a ventilation system or E. coli from not washing hands. The price point and raw veggie issues aren’t a guarantee you’ll never get food poisoning. It can just as easily happen in a friend’s home.
the last time I got food poisoning it was from a very high-end seafood place (not sure if it was the fish or the veg) so unfortunately I don’t think price point really matters. And I eat at a lot of dive bar esque places, generally don’t have a sensitive stomach, etc.
If it’s food poisoning, just the thought of the offending item will make you want to hurl for the rest of your life. Bad eggplant in an Aldi dip put me completely off eggplant. Absent that it’s like norovirus which is going around this year.
My anxiety has been through the roof lately. I take medication, but what are some things that work for you in the moment to slow your heart rate/ease up that butterflies in stomach feeling?
A weird one: listen to the song Weightless by Marconi Union. Read about how it had been studied, and was shown to reduce anxiety. I think it works for me!
The usual suggestions but also … my cat has a sixth sense and likes to aggressively demand to sit on me in those moments and require undivided attention (including by headbutting my phone out of my hand). Other options are to run down the plant check list – I am fed (including something with fiber and not too much caffeine), watered and got a bit of sun? If no to any of those, address as half the time the feeling is really low blood sugar and/or stress coffee consumption.
Not all of these are relevant practical for all situations but my go-tos:
– if inside, get outside (ranging from stepping outside of my office building for just a second and trying to focus on the sounds around me to going for a hike)
– exercising (cardio if possible – yoga or slower activities can make me more anxious at times like these, personally)
– drink water
– if at work/in a meeting, step out briefly to go to the bathroom and let the water in sink run over your hands for a full minute or as long as won’t be noticeable
– eat something (when I’m anxious, I’ll often under-eat, which makes it worse)
– not something you can do in the moment, but my anxiety is made significantly worse by any amount of alcohol and diminished sleep. Even one glass of wine a week will wreck both for me, so I cut booze out entirely.
I’m very sorry — I also suffer from anxiety.
Try to get some focus, real focus, on your body. Splash very cold water on your face, hold an ice cube in your hand, hard exercise (even some jumping jacks).
For literally in the moment…..
Close your eyes.
Belly breathing / slow breaths. Start at 25, and count backwards for each breath.
Palming.
5-4-3-2-1 technique.
Stand in place, then run run run run in place hard for like 20 seconds.
Try them. All are easy to learn. See what works.
Sex.
Re: bag charms and keychains.
The kids love keychains. I mentor a teen and she has no less than 15 fun keychains on her backpack. I also love keychains and have 3 fun ones on my work backpack (which is mint green). I do not care if its professional :)
We have one of those master baths with the toilet in its own tiny room, and until recently I had a blue rug in there. I tried to wash it and it got all bunchy. So now I’m looking for something new — can anyone recommend a really fluffy, warm but washable rug that is only like 2′ wide? Preferably in a bright color?
Not what you asked, but perhaps an alternat solution: I put ultra thick rug mats under our supermarket-quality bath mats a while back. Those cheap bath mats are now so plush and luxe. And if they don’t survive the wash, it’s not so precious to replace them.
Ugh. Skip the rug. Too germy.
seriously, especially if you have any male visitors (sad to say)
Nordstrom has a bunch of bra brands. I would go in person and have someone help you.
Need bra help: I don’t know how this became a unicorn but I need a racerback bra with molded cups (but not padding!) and adjustable straps. Strongly prefer no itchy lace and sane colors like black and skin tones.
I’ve been wearing the Natori ones for years but the cups barely work for modesty and the bra is lacy, which feels like too many things are wrong with them for being a pricey bra. The Spanx one looked nice until I realized the straps aren’t adjustable (wtf?!). The Pepper one has push-up pads (to celebrate small cup sizes, as they claim!) and the Wacoal one available for smaller cups (I’m a B) is just fabric with no thickness. Help!!
I’m wearing a bra with this exact description from Aerie. I bought in person so I can’t tell you what it is called.