Coffee Break: Kate Spade Apple Watch Straps

85 Comments

1. Just read an article on HBR dated Aug 15 about Whether Husband Identifies as Breadwinner Depends on Whether He Respects His Wife’s Career – Not on How Much She Earns which I found really interesting. Different perspectives on social/status value of work vs. dollars and pressure/expectation to give all to your job if you perceive your job to be the breadwinning one. And fascinating how many men she interviewed who were positioning themselves as the “worker” in the family even when their wives worked and made a lot of $!

   1. I have a feeling I shouldn’t read this, for fear of becoming filled with rage.

   2. OMG my former husband had the “I’m the worker in the family” mentality. I made twice as much as he did, but I had a government job with regular hours while he worked long and odd hours and traveled a lot, and the household definitely revolved around his career and I was expected to accommodate him.

   3. This sounds very familiar. I think I read this also. I remember when I was dating my ex, he did NOT respect my job, even tho he had NO job and I was at least making a decent living, tho not like I am now as a Partner. I think he was intimidated by my success as an attorney and counselor at law, and b/c I was a litiegator, he felt that he had to put ME down in order to uplift himself. FOOEY on him! He was a lazy drunk who used me for my apartement, for the free food in my fridge, and for s-x, and he was really no good at that either. When dad told me NOT to marry him and to dump his sorry a$$, I was first afraid b/c I had no one to fill the void, but I have learned that it is better to have no one then a limp schlub who does nothing for me. DOUBEL FOOEY on that.

      The Harvard Business Review is a great publication. I recommend it to the ENTIRE HIVE !!!!! YAY!!!!

   4. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

2. Does anyone have a favorite magnetic fake eyelash that’s easy to apply but not crazy big?

   1. I bought some for $15 from CVS, and I can’t figure out how to apply them. Any tips?

3. Starchy side ideas please! Having friends over tomorrow night right after work. We’re grilling skirt steak with chimichurri and I’m making our go-to kale and kohlrabi recipe that has a lime vinaigrette. Originally planned to make a wild rice salad (tomatoes, peppers etc) but I’m feeling like everything has a dressing and it’s kinda monotonous. Grilled corn would be good but we don’t have room on the grill. Roast potatoes sound great but time-consuming and I’d rather not turn on the oven. I’ll have an hour or less to get everything on the table.

   1. Boil the corn, cut it off the cob, and add in diced red onion and jalapenos, salt, pepper, and a little olive oil and/or apple cider vinegar.

      1. yum!

   2. Quinoa or couscous? Either would be quick!

   3. (1) You can stab potatoes a few times with a fork and microwave them for five minutes and they will be so soft and yummy. Not as fancy as the rest of your menu, but it’s fast, easy, and doesn’t require the oven.

      (2) Buy a fancy loaf of bread somewhere and serve it with brie (butter, whatever topping you like).

   4. We love brown rice and quinoa. You could also serve roasted potatoes, sweet or those tiny little potatoes that are so good roasted with a little olive oil and salt.

   5. Garlic bread, can go on the grill for a few minutes.
      Or just fresh baguette with garlic butter. The best addicting garlic butter has 3 sticks of butter, teaspoon of salt, 6 cloves of garlic and 3 teaspoons of tomato paste.

      1. +1 if you’re already making the rest of this, just buy some nice fresh bread for your starch.

   6. My favorite sides with steak are easy roasted potatoes (just cut small red potatoes into wedges, add olive oil, salt and pepper and no need to do anything more) or mashed potatoes (more work, but on the stove). My kids prefer mashed potatoes with bacon, green onion, and sour cream mixed into them and they are tasty. If you decide to go that route, then buy the pre-cooked bacon from the deli meat section and that will save you a lot of time. Again, if you’re okay with turning on the oven, sweet potato fries are usually great also. Another super-easy option is fresh dinner rolls (love the Pillsbury cans) or Hawaiian rolls on the side.

   7. I get the potatoes that you can microwave and then finish them in the broiler by cutting them up and dousing with olive oil, salt, and onion powder (and maybe some parmesan). It doesn’t take too long b/c the potatoes cooked in the microwave, you are just making them crunchy. And I leave the skins on.

   8. Corn bread?

   9. What about just doing some nice rolls or bread?

   10. You could also roast the corn in the oven. I think with a spicy butter and some cotijo cheese, it would go really well with the chimichurri sauce.

   11. I would do either corn bread or a mix of sauteed zucchini, corn, onion, and some green chile.

   12. We had steak with chimichurri last night and made this delicious arroz verdi with it. I substituted coconut milk for the regular milk and it was delish.

       https://www.finecooking.com/recipe/arroz-verde-green-rice

   13. Oh, and I made the rice in the rice cooker after browning it on the stove.

   14. If you have an instant pot these crispy potatoes are great: https://nomnompaleo.com/post/33235606879/pressure-cooker-crispy-potatoes

4. Amazon for Apple watch straps. They have awesome chain mesh straps at a fraction of the Apple store prices.

   1. Can you recommend one in particular? I am always skeptical of the random Amazon bands because I’m paranoid my watch will fall off if it’s a bad quality band.

      1. Same, and I have a tiny wrist so I have to make sure straps will tighten enough that they’ll read my heart rate consistently.

   2. I too was concerned about the quality but I purchased the BRG Stainless Steel Mesh band (which appears to have disappeared from their listings) a year ago and it has held up well for a year’s worth of daily wear. If you look closely, you can see some wear on the color but with the black, it just kind looks like reflection on the metal. Once I put it on the watch, I wasn’t really concerned about the quality. The connector to the watch face itself is seamless and the magnet is super strong, so I never worry about it coming loose, from the watch face or my wrist. The Wirecutter reviews said that brands selling discounted mesh bands tend to come and go from Amazon, so I just picked one and went for it.

      1. Late answer but agree with this rec and they re-listed this here. It’s the one I have as well: http://a.co/hAuOJ3h

   3. I have an Apple watch also, and my band makes me sweat like a pig under it, so I too am in the market for a new band. Why doesn’t Apple just sell a decent band — after all Dad paid alot of money for my Apple watch, why the cheap band? It reminds me of my ex. He never bought me anything but chocolate, but when he did, it was always the Cheap stuff from CVS, some of which were broken, stale and outdated. I remember he bought a chocolate Easter Bunny a month AFTER Easter, and it was cracked in a number of places. It was almost as if someone bought it, gave it to their kid for Easter, the kid broke it and they returned it to CVS, when Sheketovits came in like a hero and gave the Bunny a second life, with me. In some ways Sheketovits was partiially responsible for me gaining weight, and increasing from size 0 to size 2 b/c of the chocolate and my tuchus. FOOEY on Sheketovits!

5. Where would you go for an inexpensive last minute vacation last week of September from NY? Beach and swimming required, I think. Flights of 2-3 hours, up to 4 max.

   1. Aren’t the Cayman Islands below the hurricane belt? Otherwise, it’s the end of hurricane season, so I wouldn’t buy in advance at this point. I’d book last-minute so you know what to avoid if you go to the U.S. (like Folly Beach/Charleston might be lovely or awful in late September, same with other places still warm enough to swim at).

   2. Hilton Head perhaps?

   3. Kiawah Island, SC
      Bermuda (though not particularly inexpensive)
      Miami

6. Is anyone else noticing their Nordstrom returns are taking an unusually long time? I am assuming it is busy post-sale but curious if others are seeing the same?

   1. Yes, my returns are taking 2+ weeks. What’s even weirder is that when I track the return with the USPS, I get weird stuff like the box was received at the post office 5 days after I left it there (weird) and one showed it was received at the post office and then nothing else (but I finally received notice from N that they received it).

   2. I’ve noticed this over the last year or so in particular.

7. Dispute it if they don’t work. For now, live and learn.

8. So you called Ticketmaster, and they eventually transferred you to a re-seller? That seems super weird.

   1. I’m guessing the OP likely googled and this number came up. People do some pretty shady stuff with Google SEO to make themselves look like a venue/hotel/etc. when they’re really a third-party booking service. It’s happened to me even with a legit company (i.e., I once ended up booking something through Expedia when I thought I was booking direct because I was in a hurry when I was googling and grabbed the first number in the search results).

      1. OP here – yes, that’s exactly it

         1. Yeah that’s your fault. Clearly. You found a shady seller. You called them. You agreed to pay a higher price.

         2. So I totally agree that I should have been more vigilant and realized that the number I called wasn’t Ticketmaster. But surely the company is wrong as well for having their phone reps pretend to be agents for a different company. Once I realized it may not be Ticketmaster, I asked who I was speaking with and the rep’s response made me think he was part of the box office team at the venue. He said “we’re connected to the box office at *venue*” or something very similar. Maybe he said “part of” – I don’t remember his exact wording.
            I wish I recorded the call because I feel like in hindsight it’s pretty easy to see how I was being played (especially in the wording given the company is called “Box Office Ticket Sales”, but in the moment, it all seemed fine. I get that I made a mistake and called the wrong number, but I don’t think this company’s practices to conduct business like this are acceptable either.

9. So Ticketmaster transferred you to this other company?

10. If you actually got the tickets (what format are you expecting them in?), then I don’t think you can dispute. You got the thing you paid for, right? If it’s more than you want, resell them to cover the cost.

    If you don’t actually get the tickets, then yes, dispute. Because you didn’t get the thing you bought.

11. You likely can’t dispute it, because you did agree to the charges even though they were higher than you expected. If the tickets aren’t real, you’ll be able to dispute it, but unfortunately, the price being higher than you expected (which is ultimately the issue) isn’t a basis for chargeback.

12. I think you can dispute this with your credit card, especially if you can provide documentation to the credit card company of the number you called and written documentation (online, I guess) that the number was supposedly the venue’s customer service line.

13. Yes, you could dispute the charge with your credit card company, but you’ll have to describe it in detail so be sure you take down notes. Those are some shady practices.

14. I recently changed jobs and have gone from being an in-house lawyer at a startup where we were expected to wear jeans every day (aggressively so, business attire did not fly) to a more traditional business casual in-house job. Since I started my jeans job, I have lost about 60 lbs. It’s great, but none of the professional clothing I’d held onto fits anymore! I’m going to try a tailor for taking in a few beloved pieces, but most of my old stuff wasn’t pricey/nice enough to be worth the money to take them in.

    I can’t afford to buy a whole new wardrobe, so I’m skating with what I have that does fit and adding one or two new pieces at a time. What are your absolute beloved workhorse professional clothing pieces? My uniform tends to be dresses with flats, add tights and a jacket/cardigan in the winter. But I need some separates and other options too– my new gig requires a certain level of “dress for the day on your calendar” flex.

    TIA!

    1. I have some ponte dresses from Uniqlo of all places that have held up very well and look more twill than ponte. Worth a look?

    2. I’ve recommended this dress on here before and it’s a workhorse for me. I’m an 8 on top and a 12 on bottom, and the L fits perfectly. I have black, navy, and royal blue, and find they dress up so easily with a statement necklace. They also come in 3/4 sleeves for spring and fall (do a search – other brands of identical quality – FENSACE, Very Ann, Hika – there’s several out there). Wash and wear – no wrinkles if you remove it quickly from the dryer – hasn’t shrunk when dried on low heat.

       https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0739RGV2K/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

       And the Talbots (outlet and regular store clearance) for cute blazers.

       1. I really like these. Thanks for posting

    3. Lands end fit and flare dresses (preferably with sleeves) – they are perfect for my business casual small office of a big firm office. The one I love and adore and bought 3 more of in different colors last season after them not offering it for 5 years is cut like the sleeveless version (v-neck, wrap-style bodice) but with elbow length sleeves – I don’t see it there now, but keep an eye out for it if it comes back again. I have a few of sleeveless versions and just pair them with cardigans – the dress I have on today is probably 6-7 years old and still looks good as new (with lots of compliments on it). Always wait for a sale though, don’t pay full price.

       Other workhorses – express editor or columnist pants (machine washable, usually good for 2-3 seasons of wear which more than compensates for the sale price point, but make sure to size up so they don’t indecently hug your rear), pleione sleeveless blouses, and currently a linen-cotton ruffle trim wrap dress from gap that I have been wearing to death this summer that I love.

    4. When I was dead broke and starting out in the professional world, I bought a few nice skirts off the sale rack at places like Ann Taylor (when their clothes were nicer) for about $30, and added silk tops (likewise, sale rack, $30) or three-quarter length sweaters from the sale rack. If the skirts are sufficiently nondescript, I don’t think anyone will notice if you wear them repeatedly (just not two days in a row).

    5. Tahari “twill” trousers and Vince Camuto trousers have held up well for me. And they are sort of nondescript so you can mix them with a lot of other things.

15. OP here –
    I googled Ticketmaster customer service from my phone and called the first number in the results (the same result did not show up when I did it just now in the brower, but I took a screenshot on my phone screen). Looking at it now, it reads “ticket-master-events.com” but I didn’t realize at the time that it was different.

    I would write off the elevated price I paid as a lesson learned if it weren’t for the fact that I mentioned Ticketmaster and the venue itself multiple times throughout my conversation with the phone rep. He actually apologized for their website not working and said he wouldn’t charge me a phone booking fee for the inconvenience. At the start of the call, I explained how the Ticketmaster website wasn’t working so I was calling due to that issue – why would the rep give me a discount based on a competitor’s website not working properly?
    The reason I would dispute it because I feel like the company rep misrepresented who he worked for despite knowing that I thought I was talking to someone from Ticketmaster or the venue’s box office itself. I feel really stupid for not catching on earlier, but I also feel like I asked enough questions during the call to verify who I was buying tickets from and the rep took advantage of me not knowing that Box Office Ticket Sales is an entirely separate company.

    1. If you feel like you’re running into deceptive sales practices, then you probably need to talk to your state AG or consumer agency. That’s not really the job of the credit card company to monitor.

       1. That makes sense – I’ll look into that. Thank you

    2. You do realize you’ll lose the tickets if you do this right?

       1. Yes, and I’m ok with that. I’d rather get a refund and try to buy tickets directly at another time than go through a shady 3rd party reseller. On top of the incident I mentioned before, the artists don’t get any benefit from these crazy high prices, only the middleman does, so if I’m going to pay that much, I’d much rather it be directly to the venue/artist.

    3. It seems at least worth a call to your credit card company (or, better, a review of its policy) to see if their dispute process covers this kinds of deception, which seems like fraud.

16. DH and I just put an offer on a condo and our offer was accepted without a counter. I feel like this is the dream scenario, but now both of us are having tremendous remorse that we overpaid. I think this may just be because of how big the purchase is. Did anyone have this feeling when they bought a home, and how do I shake it off?

    1. This was the scenario when I bought last year. I wanted the house, wanted to move quickly and didn’t want to keep looking. I plan on being here for a while. I don’t feel like I got the house for a great deal, but I do feel like the price I paid was fair, if that makes sense.

       1. Same, except that it’s been 4 years since I bought the house. I don’t expect to be able to make a profit on it when I do sell it, but I have no current plans to move, and I love that house.

    2. It is so common there are names for it – look up winner’s curse and buyer’s remorse. Totally normal. Time usually fixes it.

    3. Congrats!

       Shake it off by realizing that you have no idea what could be going on in the sellers lives that would make them want to take an offer vs. countering and scaring you off. I sold during an awful year – grandmother passed, sister was sick, I had 3 kids under 3. The fact of not having to deal with more showings was well worth low ball offer we accepted. I don’t regret not going back for more $$. If they had walked away as a result, I would have lost it. I needed the ‘selling’ to be over.

       1. Agreed. Just to echo that, you don’t know what the sellers have gone through. A unit in my building had multiple offers on it, but there was always something slightly wrong – not enough down, or the offer was too low, etc. You probably made an acceptable offer, plus look good on paper.

          Congrats! I sort of felt similarly when we purchased last year – and am still not 100% positive that we got a “good” deal.

       2. We had a similar situation earlier this year when we sold our house. We listed during a slow time, but needed the house sold quickly. We agreed we would take whatever offer came first. Thankfully it was just below asking, but we did not want to scare them away and were unwilling to deal with it being on the market any longer so we jumped on it even though if we waited we probably could have sold for more.

    4. We accepted an offer on our house without anclunter. We had 4 bids and theirs was the best. I suppose we could have countered but it felt greedy when we already had 4 solid offers, and the bid we accepted was over asking already.

       Sometimes people just want to move on. House buying is the worst.

    5. I feel like that’s perfectly normal. Buying a house is a stressful thing and if you weren’t having buyer’s remorse I’d think there was something wrong with you! It’ll pass.

17. I have to put in a plug here for StubHub, even though that’s not your question. I frequently buy on StubHub and one time earlier this year, had a situation where the promised tickets were never made available. I have to give StubHub full props, though – their procurement people jumped on it and ended up getting me replacement tickets that were excellent (like fourth row center) for no additional cost. So they really do stand behind their guarantee. It was a little stressful but I would buy from them now with much more confidence.

18. The Jcrew Factory sale has me thinking I should place an order. Can anyone comment on work pants besides the drapey pants?

19. I have some cute ponte dresses that I got a couple of years ago. One of them finally has a tiny pill (not like other ponte dresses that pilled immediately, starting with noticeable seatbelt pilled within month 1). Is it worth trying to shave it? Option B is just pass along to my very tall tween daughter.

    1. Why wouldn’t you shave it. I am in love with my battery-operated fabric defuzzer and it works great on ponte.

       https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008I25368/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    2. I’ve shaved pilling pointe if it is in a specific location ( seatbelt pill as you mention, for example), but I find that once it pills, it is pretty much the beginning of the end. I have one magical pointe skirt I bought over ten years ago, from a store that no longer is around in my city that has never pilled…sadly, I’ve never come close to seeing any other pointe last that long.

20. My DH needs a tux for the James Bond event that we are going to. He has rented before but would like to buy now – where should we order from? TIA!

    1. Is there a Suit Supply near you? Husband hasn’t bought a tux there, but has bought suits. Good quality, especially for the price. Tailoring is extra but is significantly cheaper than taking it to an independent tailor, and, again, good quality.

    2. Asos has cheap tuxes if he doesn’t want to invest in one but doesn’t want to rent.

    3. George’s in Manchester, NH if you can make it up there. Service is unbelievable, price and selection are good, and tailoring is included in the price. They’ll ship it to you after it is tailored. It probably takes 1.5 weeks to get it from the day you buy if you don’t ask them to rush.

    4. Does he know his suit size? Do you have time for a tailor? Then i’d look at ebay for some options of higher end brands. My husband has done this a lot with suits, sport coats and multiple tuxedos (he currently owns 3 tuxes….) and has had great success. It generally has cost about, with tailoring, $300-450.

    5. Joseph A. Bank.

21. You will find this Reply All podcast interesting https://www.gimletmedia.com/reply-all/76-lost-in-a-cab

    Its all about how google searches pull up fake businesses that mislead you

    1. I was going to post that same thing! I actually just listened to that episode and it was super interesting.

22. I just can’t purchase Kate Spade after what happened. I know she hasn’t been part of the company for a long time, but it bears her name–and every time I see it or hear it, I think about her death, and feel heartbroken. I just don’t want that reminder every time I look at my watch wristband (or purse or earrings or anything KS).

    1. In the words of Dr. Phill, the real betrayal here is that you’re focusing on the circumstances of her death rather than celebrating the 55 vibrant years of her life. You care about her because she built something incredible–she blazed the trail for other women. Her spirit was joyous and quirky and fun, which she represented through her designs and her larger brand. Her legacy is her work. Her legacy is not her death.

Comments are closed.