Weekend Open Thread: Madewell
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Something on your mind? Chat about it here.
Hunting for something to wear with loose, flowy pants that veers away from PJ territory? Someone (a reader here, if I'm remembering correctly) was just saying that she found that a denim shell is the best thing to wear with those pants because it adds a bit of structure while keeping it casual and fun. This Madewell top looks great, and is on a pretty great sale. I like that there are no buttons to gape or give that “peekaboo” effect that some of the vests do. I could also see the top being great with a maxi skirt.
The top was $98, but is now marked to $49 at Nordstrom, with lots of sizes left. There's a similar option in linen, also marked down (and whoa, Madewell has a TON of denim shells available right now!)
If you don't like the ruching here, there are a lot of similar pieces. I like these at Nordstrom: Favorite Daughter, Ted Baker, All in One, and Yumi, as well as these at Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, and Gap.
Sales of note for 8/21:
- Ann Taylor – 25% off fresh fall styles! Also, there's an online-only warehouse sale — $20 tops, $25 sweaters, $30 pants, and $40
- CVS – Epic beauty sale, $10 off when you spend $30 (Walmart is having its “Beauty Event” as well right now!)
- The Fold – Up to 50% off, further markdowns
- J.Crew – Last chance summer styles on sale
- J.Crew Factory – 8/21 only: 50% off pants and shorts, and free shipping on all orders
- J.McLaughlin – Extra 40% off sale
- Lilysilk – Anniversary sale, save up to 70%
- Me & Em – Sale! Up to 60% off (new lines just added, exclusively online)
- M.M.LaFleur – Lots of new pieces added to sale (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
- Revolve – 20% off most beauty!
- Talbots – End of season clearance, extra 70% off markdown tops and extra 60% off other markdowns
- Theory – End of season sale is on!
Oh, I remember the popular girl circa 1997 having a top like this…anyways. I’ve been applying for jobs lately and occasionally an employer app system will disclose that they use AI to scan and rate/rank your resume and that you can opt out of such scanning if you want. This particular disclaimer says that the score will read “Not Available” if you choose not to permit the AI scanning. I can see the scanning/declining cutting both ways. Any advice from anyone in HR which path to choose as an applicant? (And yes, my resume is loaded with keywords, but there are a million synonyms possible and I’d appreciate a human who understands synonyms reading my resume.)
I don’t think a human will set eyes on it if you opt out. You’ll just go immediately to the discarded pile.
Yep, cutting your nose to spite your face. You can hate AI all you want but companies don’t.
I also had a job search recently, and I felt like ticking that opt-out box would indicate “I’m a high-maintenance employee.”
my instinct, your resume will disappear into to the ether as HR sorts resumes by their AI score and “not available” will be the bottom if it shows at all.
I currently have a 2010 Toyota RAV4 with around 140,000 miles on it. Recently dumped a bunch of money into it, so fingers crossed it should last for a few more years. I have a daily highway commute with dangerous drivers and two teenagers who will both have their licenses in the next 1-3 years. Thoughts/opinions re: getting a Corolla Cross or new RAV4 as an additional car? My thinking is that I’d take that to work and the older vehicle would be for any of us to use around town. My only hesitation is wondering if the newer car should be the one the teenagers use because of updated safety features.
I’d have the teenagers use the newer car. While they should 100% still use mirrors/check with their eyes not a camera/etc. the additional ‘training wheels’ on the new car will likely keep them safer and be more helpful for them vs. you.
I vote that you have the teens drive the old car so if/when they buy their own first cars they’re not accustomed to relying on the safety features that may or may not be present in their future cars. Also worth considering whichever car has better gas mileage should probably be the one driven more (meaning you take the newer one to work).
This re: safety features
Counterpoint: Many of the safety features missing from a 16 year old car are legally required today or very common in recent models. Assuming OP doesn’t buy the top trim level for this new car, her kids probably will have the same features in any future car they drive.
We recently upgraded our old Subaru to a Hyundai Tucson and I really appreciate the safety features, especially blind spot detection. I’m not a big fan of the argument that safety features make you less careful – hasn’t been true for me pretty much anywhere in life. It just provides an extra layer of protection. A lot of people argue that oh if you use a lifejacket for your toddler, you won’t supervise them at the pool, but I do both, just like I check mirrors and over the shoulder and still appreciate the blind spot beep.
I’ve alway read that statistically people do tend to compensate for safety features. But your way is better!
I think it does matter whether you learned with the safety features or not. I have noticed that teen drivers seem to use the safety features as a primary source of information, while I use them as a backup.
We have a Corolla Cross hybrid and are in the process of buying a RAV4. If you are deciding between the two, I would go with the RAV. When we bought the Corolla Cross two years ago it was significantly cheaper than a RAV hybrid. For the 2026 model year, you can’t get a Corolla Cross hybrid AWD any cheaper than the base model of the RAV AWD (now only available in hybrid). The RAV is significantly more powerful and is larger inside even though the exterior dimensions are hardly any different. The extra features you get on the higher trim level of the Corolla Cross at the same price as the base RAV are minimal.
We are giving our Corolla Cross to our college kid. I do like the Corolla Cross for a newer driver because it feels and handles like a smaller car, even if it actually isn’t. But if we were buying her a new vehicle this year, I’d still buy her a RAV.
+1. I would also get the RAV4.
Doesn’t really answer your question about which car your teens should drive, but just as a heads up, the backseat in the Corolla Cross is tiny. We recently had one as a rental car, and while it was otherwise a fine car, my average sized 7 year old even noted how cramped the backseat is.
I would not let a teen drive a car without a backup camera and blind spot warnings. I would prefer pedestrian detection and auto-braking for collision avoidance as well, but I would turn off the feature that wrests the steering wheel from the driver’s control because for me it interferes with safe driving more than it helps.
The feature that is inexplicably on my older base model Prius but not my new higher trim-level Corolla Cross is parking sensors. Those are very helpful for a teen.
I’m of the unpopular opinion that the teenagers can learn to drive on the older cars. It isn’t the 1990s, where older cars lack airbags and seatbelt tensioners; modern cars are quite safe all around.
There is a value to learning without the extra help of alarms and cameras and such; it teaches them to observe their environment, not what the car tells them about their environment.
More importantly, consider the scale of potential harm. If your commute is a dangerous highway commute, extra features can save your life; those features would stop the teens from getting into a fender bender on their way to school. You can fix a bumper that got a little smooshed because the kid doesn’t have a backup camera; you can’t fix a highway fatality.
The above post is timely. I last looked for a job a WHILE ago and found my current position through just being friendly enough with the opposite side of a deal team to discuss that I was looking for another job. The job has changed a lot since I started, but the employer has been the same.
Can anyone catch me up on how job searching has changed in the past 10ish years? Do people use LinkedIn? Lunch with everyone in your network in case they have a need or know of one? IDK how you even do this now that doesn’t feel like yelling into the wind. I guess everyone uses a neutral-named (not “spicygal98”) gmail.com address (vs hotmail or g-d forbid AOL).
your way is still the most effective way IMHO – people who know your work wanting to hire you or refer you. And, quietly letting old colleagues or trusted current colleagues know that you’re looking.
This is how DH and I each landed jobs in the last year after being at our previous employers for 12 and 14 years a piece. We’re elder millennials (’84 babies) and both feel that LinkedIn is useful but not a be all/end all. I like it for doing research on companies and looking for warm leads/contacts I’ve lost track of but pop up in interesting places. DH did apply to his previous job on Linkedin and got it, so I think it’d be wrong to fully write it off – it is a good repository for live listings, but you have to ignore the “9287450234 people clicked apply!” stat because you can click apply or you can actually submit to apply.. and those are very different stats (as reported from my HR team).
I actually found my job most recent job on LinkedIn, realized it was for a very good, close client, and then reached out directly. They didn’t know I was looking but the personal relationship was close enough that reaching out was a very, very warm call/conversation and I had an offer in 30 days.
I had to job search a couple of years ago after being laid off from my previous job where I was for 20+ years.
I used LinkedIn to find job posts and applied directly on company websites. I also used the site hiring.cafe to find job listings.
I did set my LI profile to “open to work” and I had recruiters contact me. I got interviews out of a few of them.
Ultimately, I got my new job by talking to a former coworker. She passed along my resume to another group at her company that was hiring.
I lurk on some recruiting subs and it seems like the biggest issue these days is people spamming job posts and applying for 100s of jobs using AI, even if they aren’t qualified. It seems like a lot of garbage to sort through. Given that, I think it’s a numbers game and you should apply for jobs quickly when you see it posted.
Networking is the only way to get an interview now, and often that’s not even enough. If you only apply on line, even through the employer’s own system, you will be competing for attention with at least 500 other applications and will get screened out by AI.
Are you in HR?
LinkedIn is where you mostly build presence which most job seekers are required to have. There are just so many unemployed people at the moment that companies have their pick of people. In my wider circle of people currently on the market, at all levels and across the country, even networking is hard. You essentially need to be an ideal, near perfect match and it will still be hard.
I’ve had the pleasure of having to job search a few times in the last decade. Yes networking is great, but most of my job offers have come from an application for a job posting I found on LinkedIn or Indeed. This may depend on factors like how senior you are, how specific your skillset is, whether you’re willing to relocate (and I’m on the more specific as a senior lawyer/in-house specialist). Do both, but don’t let the “putting in applications for known open roles” fall behind in the name of networking.
How do you manage email? I’m a law firm partner. I have many days a month when I am in meetings or calls (sometimes unexpectedly) for 5+ hours a day. My inbox will get out of control and it’s so hard for me to get through it, respond, add to to-do list, delegate, etc. I am convinced that someone out there has email figured out. My firm is small so I have a fractional assistant who cannot keep up with email herself, so I need something that I can do, not rely on a system or someone else to handle. I am willing to paying <$1k/year out of my own pocket if my IT will clear a system if it is actually helpful especially for storing and searching. My firm uses Outlook.
Things I have adopted that help: try to read email within one business day, even on horrid days. Confirm receipt and calendar follow up. Delegate as soon as possible. Implement a booking software tool so clients can find time to talk without waiting. When I'm back from a multi-day meeting, doing a first pass where I sort by "from" instead of "date" to mass-folder/delete email chains I don't need, then sorting by date and working bottom up, adding to my calendar based on priority. (Sorting by conversation doesn't work for me, too many side emails and forwards). I am still regularly feeling underwater for email. Clients aren't complaining, my actual deadlines are not in danger, but I don't feel good. Tips?
do you block time on your own calendar? If my week is getting out of control I am liberal with this to protect my head-down email & work time.
And if clients can DIY-schedule things that can sometimes backfire, in that it cuts down on that specific type of email, but at the risk of them jumping on your calendar for something that you might have asked to speak about in a day or two.
Interested in others’ solutions too – I’m definitely looking for ways to get better here.
If you don’t have an admin handling your calendar, filter the calendar invite and use your keyboard shortcuts to buzz through those quickly in the reading pane without opening the email (shift+f10+c+c+enter to accept, adjust the last c accordingly to tentative or decline).
If I’ve been away for a day or more and a thread was busy, I do switch to conversation view – which I otherwise hate – just to make sure I get all the context on a discussion at once. Your alternative also seems to solve for that.
I have a folder for Read-but-more-action-needed. That is where I throw things that aren’t my immediate priority and that I am totally caught up on the activity on, but will eventually need me to do something. I filter messages there as I review through my unread email, then come back to them at the end to deal with.
I ask Claude, which has an M365 connector to skim my teams messages and Outlook inbox and folders within Outlook to identify any messages within the last X time period that I have left unresolved and that need a response from me. It actually does a pretty good job on busy days – will flag which i haven’t responded to but it thinks doesn’t need a reply vs. those that probably do. Can also track across multiple format (e.g., a teams message was sent and then a calendar invite was put on my outlook schedule on the same topic and same people).
Use copilot, it can really help with this.
I’ve made peace with letting go of any notions that I will ever be an inbox zero person or create a workable management system other than hoarding email. I normally spend thirty minutes each morning planning my day and running through the prior days emails to make sure that I did not miss anything. During this time, I hide my status from being online. I also have routine check ins with those that routinely email me to run through all pending topics. But actual sorting and organizing only happens sporadically (e.g., at the end of project).
If you have purchased a shoe from Instagram or social media ads, like a brand you can’t find in the store – how was the experience? Find any you love or hate?
Well, I stopped wearing mascara and Gen Z was right that it was aging me. And I’m glad because it’s so much easier to wash my face and be gentle around the eye area.
I found out through the news that my friend might be a millionaire due to her husband’s stock options. Good for her! I’m quietly watching for the lifestyle changes lol. So far it’s just the addition of regular manicures. Well, and talk of buying a property to Airbnb in an area where airbnbs are illegal. What would you do? I’d keep it quiet for sure … maybe eventually retire a bit earlier.
Sigh. The only “illegal” Airbnbs are in places that have under 30 day rental restrictions. You can still buy and rent for longer short term stays without running afoul of these laws.