Coffee Break: Ambeur Carry On
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I'm delighted by the vivid cobalt color of this carry on from Calpak. They offered to send me something as a gift and I chose this one because we need a new carry on anyway. It arrived and… I don't think I've ever been more excited for luggage.
(Small teensy hat tip to my favorite movie.)
The color is a vibrant, bright cobalt, and I can't wait to use it on my next trip. I haven't played around with the interior too much, but I like that it has multiple interior pockets, a built-in TSA lock, and expandable packing. It is 21″x13.75″x9″ with exterior dimensions. I love the cobalt (because of course I do) and think it will brighten any hotel room I'm in. There are a ton of colors if you're not into cobalt, though, including two pinks, a light blue, two greens, and a metallic red.
It's $245 at Calpak.com; you can also find a few colors at department stores like Nordstrom.
Sales of note for 6/26:
- Amazon Prime Day is still continuing! You can check out our roundup here… Also don't forget that sister site Shopbop is offering 25% off a lot of great brands if you link your Prime account, including brands like A.L.C., Aeyde, Alex Mill, Alice & Olivia, Anine Bing, Barefoot Dreams, Beyond Yoga, Birkenstock, Black Halo, Clare V., Cult Gaia, Farm Rio, Ferragamo, Frank & Eileen, Jenni Kayne, La Ligne, Marine Layer, Nili Lotan, Printfresh (!), rag & bone, RAILS, STAUD, Stuart Weitzman, Theory, TWP, Veronica Beard, Vince, White & Warren, Xirena, and Z-Supply
- Nordstrom – Designer clearance, up to 60% off!
- Alexis Bittar – End of season sale, up to 50% off
- Another Tomorrow – Seasonal sale, 50% off select styles
- Ann Taylor – Semi-annual sale! 300+ new markdowns, extra 50% off al sale styles Readers love this blouse and I always love the variety of colors/textures for this jacket (it's a great separate)
- Athleta – Semi-annual sale, up to 60% off reader favorites like Brookyn and Endless pants, and the Pranayama wrap is marked down to $55
- AYR – Ooh, good sale section — but lots on final sale. Readers love (LOVE) these comfy work pants and these jeans.
- Banana Republic – Up to 60% off sale styles
- Boden – Summer sale, up to 50% off – readers love these dresses, these blazers, and the brand's fun suiting
- COS – New pieces added to sale, up to 50% off
- DeMellier – Summer sale: Final Reductions
- The Fold – Up to 50% off, further markdowns
- Hobbs – Up to 50% off, extra 20% off sale
- J.Crew – Summer sale – extra 50% off all sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – 50% off all stores and sitewide, plus 60% off clearance
- Jenni Kayne – Semi-annual warehouse sale
- Lo & Sons – Summer sale, up to 50% off
- Lululemon – Summer sale!
- Margaux – Save up to 50% off, including archive sale
- M.M.LaFleur – Fourth of July sale! 70% off occasion styles (Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off on other items)
- Nordstrom Rack – Clearance, new arrivals 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
- Ruti – Semi-annual sale, up to 70% off!
- Sarah Flint – 30% off select styles (we just ranked these shoes as some of our top 10 most comfortable heel brands)
- Splendid – Up to 60% off women's sale!
- Strathberry – Up to 20% off select styles
- Stuart Weitzman – Summer styles now up to 40% off
- Talbots – 40% off your purchase and 6/26 only: 50% off all T by Talbots
- Veronica Beard – Extra 25% off sale
How does Kohl’s stay in business? Such UGLY, out of style clothing made out of such cheap fabrics that I weep for the waste of the earth’s resources. Ran in for something and they had skinny ankle pants (Vera Wang) and ponte pencil skirts (Nine West) front and center. Is it 2009? You could buy the same things at Goodwill for $2.99.
oh please
Omg you guys it is a fashion blog
I think they’re reacting to what you said, not that it relates to clothing.
I mean, it’s not my go to but I think it has a diverse range of sizes, items and branding at generous price points. I never shopped there so heavily as I did during my “adopt a family” effort at the holidays when the 13 year old boy wanted adidas shoes, a nike sweatshirt, a winter jacket, gloves and several other items. My dollar went further there than any other place. Add on intensely generous coupons to their loyalty program… and suddenly I fully understand it.
did u know some ppl want 2 spend their money differently than u
I usually feel that a person with good taste can shop anywhere, but there is a lot to look past.
I have to agree, the quality of the Vera Wang line took a serious nosedive.
That said, I get good prices on workout clothes and underwear with my Kohls card. They also have decent prices for Asics gym shoes. The Sonoma line isn’t bad for casual clothes, and I got some Nine West boots there that I really like. And they carry a few major luggage brands – if you hit the sales right, I got 28” Samsonite suitcase for maybe $100.
I got some jeans from Lee and Levis from Kohls. They had a decent number of petite sizes in store so I could try them on in person.
I also got bedding there when we upgraded to a king size bed. The often have sales on those items. They have the Ugg (or Koolabura by Ugg?) brand, which has some nice blankets.
I say this as a factual observation and not a judgement: many of the people in my semi-rural area consider Kohls the fashionable, fancy alternative to Walmart. There is a whole world of people for whom The Fold is not practical attire for their daily lives.
lightweight question for today: what do you think would be the absolute best 5 things to happen to America
Completely separate from anything going on politically, my first gut response was immigration/immigrants. While my extended family members arrived in the US more than 150 years ago, I think the history of immigration into the country is a very large piece what makes it what it is today.
Dismantling the billionaire class. I’m not anti-capitalism, but there are limits.
Free fresh raspberries on everyone’s doorsteps every morning.
Also, this country could use more tulips. Highly underrated flower.
Fat, happy bumblebees
Autumn
National Parks
Public libraries
Postal service
Crud, I misread this as 5 currently great things that happened to America, not future ones. But I still think the list works so I am not editing it.
Universal healthcare
Safe, legal abortion
Stringent environmental protections and regulation of pollutants and toxic chemicals in our waterways and food supply and everywhere else
A robust middle class
Term limits
I’m feeling heartbroken over how a friend is treating me. We’ve been friends more than 10 years and I considered her one of my best friends. The last few months something has been going on. I never hear from her unless I reach out. When I do text her, she takes several days to write back and when she does, it’s like two word answers. It’s like pulling teeth. We used to talk all the time and get together at least once a week. I haven’t seen her in person for about six weeks.
I finally asked her if everything was ok and asked why she wasn’t talking to me because I was seriously worried. Her response was she’s fine, she’s not feeling social, and she’s not spending time on her phone (??). We didn’t have a falling out or a fight or anything like that. I’m so baffled and extremely hurt that she’s apparently fine to stop speaking to me.
I told her I’m not trying to bother her, I just miss talking to her since she’s my friend. Crickets since then.
Do I give it time? I just can’t fathom doing something like this to another person for no reason, so it’s very hard for me to accept that she’s not interested in being friends anymore.
Have you considered that it’s not about you and that she’s suffering from depression or has something else going on in her life?
this. sometimes people are going through something and don’t want to talk about it with friends.
Yes, of course, that’s why I kept checking in and asking if she was ok or if something was going on. She always said she’s fine.
I would not have the emotional energy to respond in more depth to someone who was upset that I took a few days to respond to a text. Like, if she’s depressed, she probably doesn’t want to water your emotional garden, too, and you’re asking her to do so.
I took OP’s post to indicate that this is a huge change in behavior. Some people don’t respond to texts for a few days – or never respond at all – and that’s normal for them. But if that hasn’t been the history of their ten year relationship, then something has changed. I think OP is trying to figure out what and how to deal with it.
anon @ 2:51 That’s it exactly, thank you.
If she won’t talk to me and won’t tell me if something is going on, I don’t know what else to do.
I don’t think whether it’s a change or not is really relevant. When I am sad, I do not want to talk about it. And I really, really don’t want to talk about it with a friend who can’t handle getting delayed or short text messages without needing me to reassure them.
Like, this person literally said she “can’t fathom doing this to another person” and the “this” was sending short and delayed text messages and not getting together for less than two months. That doesn’t say “this is a safe person for me to turn to in crisis.” That says “wow, this person has a lot of feelings I need to manage for them in order to participate in this friendship,” and those friends get cut in crisis.
+1 that sometimes someone doesn’t want to explain what is going on, so might answer “fine” when they’re not totally fine.
“Heartbroken” is really strong and those vibes may make her back off even more. Friends are allowed to be mysteriously less available sometimes. Best course of action if you want to keep the friendship is to give space and not demand answers.
I agree that when this is a huge, sudden change in behavior, that is very different from a slow fade over years. If this happened with my best friend and me, when we text literally every single day, I would definitely be perplexed and wondering what the heck was going on.
I hate this trend that’s popped up in recent years that says that if you’re depressed or having mental health issues, everyone else should be totally, 100% accepting of however much you want to blow them off, however many life events and updates you want to miss are A-OK, and people should just be grateful if you ever bother to text again. I hate it.
Maybe some people with personality disorders are trying to get you to accept bad treatment for them on the basis of weird excuses? But people with major depression that is not responding to treatment aren’t actually capable of showing up to your events or texting normally whether you accept it or not. It’s a brain disease. It sucks for you and for them; nobody should just accept it.
If she isn’t ghosting you, then I’m wondering if she’s completely infatuated with a new, controlling romantic partner.
If I remember, that’s what it was the last time a similar question came up here.
She’s not just doing this for no reason. I don’t know what the reason is. Is she in an abusive relationship? Is she mad at you? Is she in therapy and taking weird suggestions from a therapist? Did she join a cult? Is she ashamed of something? Was there a death in her family? Did she hit her head? You know her a lot better than I do.
Yes . . . you’ve known her for 10 years! What’s your guess about what’s going on? Does she have a history of depression? What are her relationships like? Is she in a bad job or a bad marriage or a bad family situation? Does she have a chronic illness or other health issues? Mental health struggles over the years? Is she an introvert or an internal processor, or does she usually call up friends and need to process externally?
You say that she hasn’t been herself in the last few months. What was going on in her life (or yours) a few months ago? What was she like 6 weeks ago when you saw her?
Good questions. As far as I know she doesn’t have a new partner, bad job, family issues, mental health issues, or anything external going on. Everything seemed fine until she stopped talking to me.
Take her at her word – she’s not feeling social. Heartbroken is a big word to use about a friend who might be very busy, might not be up to sharing something like a difficult diagnosis, or might need a temporary break. It’s only been six weeks since you saw her, which doesn’t prove she’ll never be friendly again. You do sound a bit needy, so maybe seek out other social outlets and don’t put so much on this one friend.
I’m sorry, that’s really rough and it’s not a small thing to effectively lose a friendship. It sounds like you’ve done what you can to try to find out if she needs support and for whatever reason, she isn’t being an emotionally mature adult. Hugs.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Give it time. If normal for you, share short things that don’t require a response, like “saw (her fav flower) at the market today and thought of you!” Don’t forget her bday if it falls within this period. Invite her to something with advance notice, like 2-3 weeks, without a lot of talking, like a movie or concert or even something with other mutual friends. Don’t pressure her to talk about it. If she says she’s fine, then allow her that space.
Also, find something for you. This could be long term. This could be two months. Take a weekly pottery class solo, start walking at the gym for an hour every Tuesday, do a wine tasting club, volunteer more often, you name it. Try something to fill your time and energy (without her, for now). Just do something for you. She may be going through something or may simply be taking lots of time for her. You may need to have something else to help you give her space.
A distant relative passed away and left every kin a piece of jewelry. I received a rolex watch. I suspect, but don’t know, that it’s a fake. If it’s real, I need to add it to my home insurance. What is the best way to find out? There is no rolex store near me, I’m in a very rural part of the country. My local jeweler told me they could take it to a trade show to get it appraised, not sure if that sounds right. I have been googling and most places indicate a jeweler needs to send it away for a few days, I can’t really afford a trip to a city for multiple overnights. I’m hesitant to mail it partly because of scams and partly because of the unknown insurance value. Google is overwhelming me with options.
Why do you need to get it insured?
A search online shows me a similar watch is selling for five figures. That is very real money to me. Although I don’t plan on turning around and selling it immediately, I would potentially sell it or add it to my own estate plan. Insurance because I already insure my wedding ring, and I live in an area with frequent natural disasters and have had close friends and neighbors lose jewelry items and then use insurance proceeds to help rebuild rather than replace the item. I could add it to my insurance for very little extra per year.
Is it in your possession yet or can whoever is handling the estate have it appraised before it comes to you?
It doesn’t make sense to me that you would need to spend multiple overnights in a city as part of getting this appraised. It’s not like the appraiser needs you to sit and watch them work. A legitimate appraiser is not the same as a pawn shop or a “we buy gold” operation.
I have developed some type of sensitivity to tops with high necks. I hate all turtleneck, mock neck, crew neck, boat neck, and elastic neck tops. I still want a modest neckline – a very slight V is ok but most scoop neck, V neck, or cowls are inappropriate in my workplace where I bend and stoop and lift frequently. Ribbed fabric is very unforgiving on me. Looking for a sleeveless tank or true elbow sleeve top, not a cap sleeve. Any ideas? If I found solid colors I would buy multiple!
Is mid-bicep okay rather than true elbow-length?
Land’s End is my go-to for basics that come in a bunch of necklines and colors.
I am confused by how 1099 vs W2 classification works. There is a company I was looking at that is hiring nurses as 1099 employees, and billing their services to Medicare. The nurses are ‘recommended’ to work 30+ hours, are hired/fired, report to a W2 manager, and are paid an hourly wage while the Medicare reimbursement goes to the company. This doesn’t seem to fit into the 1099 category as I understand it, but obviously must be legal. For those of you with more knowledge in this space, does it in practice boil down to whether they set their hours or is it something else?