Tuesday’s Workwear Report: Long-Sleeve Love Letter Floral Blouse
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Our daily workwear reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices.
This blouse from Cinq à Sept is one of the prettiest fall florals I’ve seen in some time. While I would usually include sheer or semi-sheer blouses as an absolute “don’t” for the office, I think the cut and style of this one could work with a black cami, especially if you’re layering it under a blazer. (I would advise against doing something that’s nude-for-you, just to avoid looking like you are, in fact, nude underneath!)
What say you, readers? Would this fly in your office?
The blouse is $365 at Bloomingdale’s and comes in sizes XXS-XL.
Sales of note for 8/14:
- Ann Mashburn – Seasonal sale, up to 50% off – we just included them in our updated Top 10 Brands for Comfortable Heels!
- Ann Taylor – 25% off all suiting! Also, extra 60% off clearance — readers love this blouse and I always love the variety of colors/textures for this jacket (it's a great separate)
- Anthropologie – Extra 40% off sale!
- The Fold – Up to 50% off, further markdowns (new lines added)
- J.Crew – Up to 30% off
- J.Crew Factory – 40-60% off sitewide, extra 60% off clearance
- J.McLaughlin – Summer sale, up to 50% off
- Lilysilk – Anniversary sale, save up to 70%
- Me & Em – Sale! Up to 60% off (new lines just added, exclusively online)
- M.M.LaFleur – 20% off pants (Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off on other items)
- Nordstrom Rack – Clearance, new markdowns up to 75% off! Nice selection of Vince, Veronica Beard, Reiss and Rag & Bone, a ton of affordable work dresses from Calvin Klein, Maggy London, Eliza J, and Donna Morgan
- Saks Fifth Avenue – Take 25% off one item (ends Mon)! Great selection of Veronica Beard, L'Agence, Vince, and more.
- Talbots – End of season clearance, 60% off all markdowns. $24.99 pants and jeans
- Theory – End of season sale is on! Love all the colors their best-selling sweater tee comes in, and some colors are on sale.
- Tory Burch – Private sale, ends 8/19!
Finally decided to give a glp-1 a try. For almost 6 years I have been making different efforts to lose postpartum weight and had some success, but it’s been so hard to stay consistent. RTO resulted in even more weight gain. I finally wrapped my head around the idea that I could use a glp as a tool. Starting wegovy this week and I can’t wait. Need to lose about 30 lbs. Please share any and all tips!
congrats and good luck! I had nausea at the start but it did go away over time. Make sure you’re eating enough… I was finding that Rybelsus was working SO well that I was getting light-headed from under-eating. Smaller, more frequent meals work best for me, and make sure they are nutrient and protein dense. Don’t be afraid to talk to your doctor about changing the dose. I found that the mid-level dose worked well for weight maintenance while still giving me enough food energy to exercise.
I’m attending a close friend’s 40th birthday party next month. Should I bring a gift? I haven’t been to many adult or 40th birthday gatherings in recent years, so I’m not sure what the norm is. For additional context, I’m flying from out of state to attend.
I would bring a gift, unless the party is a dinner at a particularly expensive restaurant and you’re expected to pay your own way. (And even then, I probably would bring something small.) I think a small, preferably edible gift is the way to go. Maybe something from your locale? (E.g., New Jerseyians could bring saltwater taffy, etc.)
I’ve never gone to a milestone party at 40+ where anyone is expected to pay their own way. These are definitely bring gifts occasions.
Yes, or send something ahead of time to her house.
Does anyone know if Tuckerneck runs big/small? I’m looking at their size chart for shirts and for example it says a size XXS bust is 40 inches, while on the Banana Republic Size chart that would be a size L. Maybe I’m reading something wrong here.
Okay it looks like it differs depending on the item you’re looking at. Why am I still right between 2 sizes smh
I suspect the size chart is providing the finished garment measurements and not the measurements of the body those garments are intended to fit.
If you have a similar style (drop shoulder with “ease” in the body, for example) in your closet that fits you well, measure that item and compare to the size chart.
yes- if the measurements seem really off for the size, this is probably the answer.
Those are finished garment measurements.
The CEO of L3Harris was ousted due to an unspecified code of conduct violation, and the WSJ ran an article pondering why boards keep giving chances to misbehaving executives. It made my blood boil because the article makes it seems gender neutral when it’s not. Boards give chances to misbehaving men.
Hoping for some NoVa recommendations: I might need to hire a private driver to get my kids to/from school on days when I can’t leave the office in the middle of the afternoon to pick them up. Any ideas on where to start? They are almost old enough for Uber Teen accounts, but that’s not an option yet.
Is there no transit options, biking or walking?
No specific recs but when I was looking for this, I posted and searched the local parent facebook pages. My current sitter’s previous job was driving a family’s high school students to/from activities. This provides more accountability than a Teen Uber account.
+1 – a ‘driving nanny’ is very common in my area, we found ours via Facebook but word of mouth is also common. You may also want to ask the school – my kid’s high school connects parents for carpooling since the parking lot is under construction and the on campus parking is now seniors/faculty only.
+2. This is what you’re looking for!
Low stakes question of the day: What are your favorite and least favorite home chores to do, and why?
Fave – laundry and ironing. I find it therapeutic.
Least fave – emptying the dishwasher, unpacking groceries, putting clean sheets back on the bed
Outsourced – biweekly cleaner means neither of us need to do any serious deep cleaning of kitchen or bathrooms
Oof wrestling the sheets back on is definitely the worst. I don’t mind folding clothes, or doing some organisation.
I hate changing sheets on beds and deep cleaning/scrubbing the grout in the one steam shower that never quite gets all the way clean. I hate deep cleaning the oven, it’s done one once a year, max. Spills are wiped out quickly and nothing is burned on, but the window is very greasy.
Cooking, folding laundry, organizing, and vacuuming are generally enjoyable or at least neutral in my book.
Hate dusting, love vacuuming.
Favorite – laundry (which is good because I am doing it constantly)
Least Favorite – vacuuming, which gets outsourced to our house cleaners for the most part and taking out the garbage which got outsourced to my spouse.
I like cooking dinner. My husband does the dishes and we outsource all other cleaning. Oh I do like organizing closets.
I have an 11 year old who just started middle school. She is delightful, a great student, has lots of friends, is kind and funny and generally a great kid. Since she was little, she has had next to zero interest in getting involved in any activities. She has tried a few things–dance, ceramics, tennis–and enjoyed them, but feels like if she isn’t “good” at it, she doesn’t want to continue. I promise that her dad and I have no expectations for her beyond just having fun, we don’t pressure her, we honestly do not care what activities she does. But both of us were involved in activities when we were kids–I was a competitive swimmer, I did dance, cheer, tried violin, etc. and my husband was about the same. And so we know that there is a huge value in learning a new skill, gaining the discipline to get better at something even if you don’t “win” or aren’t “the best,” at being part of a team, being a gracious winner and accepting that you don’t always win, etc. I see so many benefits to finding something, anything!, that you enjoy and make an effort towards, even if its just for the simple pleasure of knowing that you can. I have already noticed a lack of self confidence in her, and I know that participating in either individual or team activities could really help her build that confidence. We’ve tried convincing her but she is not interested, and when we ask why she says because she “won’t know anyone” (even though she’ll probably know at least a few kids) or “she isn’t good at it” (even though she’s never really tried it) or “she wouldn’t want to embarrass herself by letting a team down” (even though we have gently suggested that she doesn’t have to do a team sport, she could do something individually). And so on. So, my question for you is–do we push her on this or do we just let it go? I don’t want to force her to do something she doesn’t want to do, but I also don’t want her to get older and realize that all of her friends are involved in activities that they enjoy and she is left out. And again, I also know that I got so much out of it myself–I was a good swimmer but not amazing and I stopped in high school, but I still love knowing as an adult that its something I’m good at and that I worked hard to get good at and its something that no one can take away from me. What would you do or what have you done with your own kids? We love her so much and don’t want to her to have any regrets. Sigh. TIA.
I’m sure others will disagree but I would push. There is tremendous value in getting past that “but I won’t know anyone” stage of participation. Sports in particular are so, so beneficial for girls, especially during puberty. My father pushed us to some extent (not to the level I see in our higher-pressure town we live in now) and my brothers and I are all grateful for it. Now that we’re adults, we have so many more skills that we never would have gained sitting home. We all ski at an expert level, we can play pick-up games of essentially any sport, we can navigate the outdoors, mountain bike well, etc. I plan to push my son when he’s old enough – our tentative approach is to require one active activity (sport/dance) and one creative activity (art/music) each year. He can have plenty of freedom to pick what the activities are and if it’s not a fit on the first day (or possibly first week depending on how many meetings/practices there are), he can drop and pick something else, but otherwise he will need to finish the season.
Can one of her friends take her along to a club that they do? Obviously that would work better for an after-school activity that is open to all instead of something like music lessons or an organized sport.
If her school has one, I would recommend joining a Lego League robotics team, teamwork to build and program a Lego robot that does specific tasks, not at all dependent on physical skill.
What kind of activities do her friends do? Is there anything you can get her to do with a friend that will solve the not knowing anyone problem? That won’t necessarily work for an instrument or a lot of sports, but it could work for school clubs, a class like choir, individual sports or activities like running, hiking, or climbing, joining the cast or crew of a play, etc. I wouldn’t force her, but I think gentle encouragement and assistance is fine.
Force her. Make her pick one activity a season. I have the same personality and wish I’d been forced.
It will also give her an out that her parents forced her to do it. She doesn’t have to claim it as something she wanted to do but can instead blame you. Do it now while she’s just starting middle school so she’ll have practice stepping out of her comfort zone by the time she gets to high school when it matters.
We made my now 9th grader try one in school sport in 7th grade when she became eligible. She didn’t want to do it and she’d never played the sport before (field hockey). It worked. She liked it. Turned out she did know other kids on the team. She made new friends. And she’s trying out for JV in high school.
I’d let it go. I did everything and loved it, my husband did nothing and we both ended up happy successful adults.