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Coffee Break: Pearly Patent Platform Pump

Circa Joan & David Women's Pearly Patent Platform PumpWell well:  I thought I'd poke around and find a nice pair of purple pumps to recommend since purple pumps are kind of my thing, and look at this: a nice dark purple (with a platform, unfortunately, but at least it's a reasonable one) marked way, way down: was $99, now marked as low as $16 depending on the color/size combo you want at Amazon. There are limited sizes left, but the purple pumps appear to be $23. Nice. Circa Joan & David Women's Pearly Patent Platform Pump (L-2)

Sales of note for 12.5

And some of our latest threadjacks here at Corporette (reader questions and commentary) — see more here!

Some of our latest threadjacks include:

112 Comments

  1. Today is my 26th Birthday! I guess Corporette hast the same birthday as me!

    What are your nuggest of wisdom for me? Or well wishes?

    1. Happy Birthday! Mine was yesterday … I have to settle for sharing the birthday with George Clooney. ;-)

    2. For fashion advice – figure out what clothes flatter you and stick with them…avoid trends unless you really like them and they work for you. Also…figure out where your natural waist is and what that means (that took me a few freaking years.)

      For life – work isn’t everything, but it is SOMETHING. Also – life “plans” seem to be more vague ideas that take shape as you are busy living your life. Finally….don’t go to law school unless you really want to be a lawyer. Just don’t do it bro.

      Yeah – and wear sun screen.

      2. +1000 re sunscreen every single day. Also, avoid debt and start saving for retirement now. Compound interest is your friend for savings and your mortal enemy for debt. And don’t worry about adhereing to some mental timetable (“by age X, I should have completed Y”) – like the end of Pleasantville, there is no right car, there is no right life, so don’t chase it because you think you’re supposed to and don’t beat yourself up for not having it.

        1. Yes yes yes regarding saving. If you’re eligible for a Roth IRA, max it out yearly. Have money drafted directly from your paycheck into a savings account and you likely won’t miss it. I’m constantly surprised at friends we have in their mid to late 30s with no savings, no property, and a ton of credit card debt.

      3. Too late re: law school, I finished two years ago….but I’m happy with my choice (at least for now…), so, thankfully it worked out!

        I’ll keep in mind the fashion and sunscreen advice:)

        1. Figuring out where your natural waist is is sort of critical to figuring out which cuts of clothes will be most flattering on you and where and how skirts, pants, dresses, and even some shirts should fit you. Basically its all about getting the right proportions. Short waisted vs. medium waisted vs. long waisted people look good in different things and when I figured that out for myself, I saved myself SO MUCH GRIEF at the clothes store.

          1. Did you do a post on this on your blog? If not, you should do one explaining the different types of waists (<- sp? That looks weird to me but I'm not a native speaker so what do I know) and what kind of clothes you should wear to flatter the different types, e.g. what kind of blazer works for a short waist/medium waist/long waist. :)

          2. There are actually a ton of posts about this already out there on the internet (though I can give it a shot I guess) – but if you google “How to find your natural waist” you can find blogs telling you how to do that. Then if you google “dressing for your body type – there’s lots of useful info. But basically, I’ve learned to focus on clothes that actually have their waist cinch at *my* waist and thus emphasize my narrowest point (sounds obvious…wasn’t) – meaning they are far more flattering to me than others.

            Things that flatter my friends do not flatter me, and vice versa. Anyway – I’ll try to see if I can put together something (maybe submit a question to remind me?)

    3. Does anyone know if these pumps are leather? Says leather on the Amazon page but one of the commenters says they are manmade (printed on the shoe).

      2. Hah, see my response to TCFAG above – I would have needed your advice about 5 years ago…but I’m okay with things so far.

    5. Happy Birthday! Hm…what I now think I’d have really wanted to know when I was 26…although, when I actually was 26, I would not necessarily have cared, or followed this advice, if you see what I mean, are two things:

      1. Don’t waste money, small costs add up & the more money you save when you’re younger, the more money will accumulate when you’re older (not to say, don’t enjoy yourself, but the “latte effect” is indeed significant). Nobody told me this, but I wish they had.

      2. The older you get, the more difficult it is to make friends, just because of life and everyone being so busy. keep the friends you have, or you’ll regret it. I didn’t believe it when this advice was given to me, but it has totally come true (for me at least).

    6. Your so young! When I was your age, I was just starteing out as an attorney and I had onley 1 year under my belt with the manageing partner! YAY! It has been upwards and it get’s better with time!

      Since you are YOUNG, you should ALWAY’S remember to preserve your youth, not to drink alot and not to smoke, and to get alot of sleep and to worke out to stay svelte, b/c you want to be respected at work and you want to get married to a decent guy who will treat you right. Also, make sure NOT to sleep with a guy who does NOT respect you. I made the mistake goeing out with a drunk who made false promise’s and vomited alot after drinkeing beer’s and wine in my apartement.

      While you are STILL young, make sure to negotiate as best you can your compenseation package, and have your dad help you. My dad helped me get a good partnership deal with the manageing partner, but I will STILL have to work hard to make it pay off for me. Once your a partner, you will be much more marketeable, both to other lawyer’s as well as to marrageabel men. Do NOT settle for a looser, even if it mean’s not being MARRIED. I am still waiteing for MR RIGHT, b/c Philip is to wimpy and ROBERT is kind of schmucky without his shirt on the TRACTOR. Never send picture’s of yourselves’ on the INTERNET, b/c men will post them and you can be embarased. FOOEY! I have alot of other thing’s I could say, but there are other gals here who are smarter then me who have already said them. Finaly, when you are about to get mad at something or some one, dont. Just say FOOEY! and Move on! YAY!!!!!

    7. Happy Birthday!

      As for nuggets of wisdom, I second the financial advice!

      Also, spinning off from ELLEN, although it’s shallow and I hate it, I second the advice to “stay svelte.” It’s much easier to maintain a normal weight than to lose weight once you’ve gained it. So weigh yourself regularly, watch the fit of your clothes, and do your best not to let your weight creep up. I didn’t take that advice and ended up 50 pounds overweight at age 50, and although I lost the weight it was a gigantic, titanic (ongoing) battle I wouldn’t wish on anybody!

    8. develop good habits for self care (i.e. taking vacation, destressing, taking care of your body/health). also, consider life insurance. even if it’s a smaller policy than what you will need later in life, the rates are going to be great. don’t forget to save for retirement. even if you don’t know what you are doing, and you are at least sending your % up to your match to retirement. You’ll be surprised how quickly it adds up.

      and, don’t forget the cake. remember, life is about enjoying the cake.

  2. These pumps are a little too hot for work for me! Can’t pull off the purple + patent + platform combination.

    TJ: Does anyone have blog/book suggestions or general advice for decorating a new home? My parents decided to give me a home that they were renting out for years. I am very fortunate and grateful for the home, but I am also overwhelmed! I’m going from a one bedroom apartment to a four bedroom, four bath townhouse. I’d love to make the decoration cohesive and put-together instead of the college style mish-mash of free furniture that I have now. I’m on a budget, but not afraid of some DIY work. I plan to get 1-2 roommates in addition to my boyfriend who is moving in. My primary focus is on designing the LR/DR/Kitchen area. I have pinterest for ideas but my real issue is making things fit together in the room – I’m not a good spacial thinker. Thanks in advance for any help!

    1. Not the most creative suggestion, but Apartment Therapy can be really great at forcing you to think about these things if you read enough of it.

      1. I’ve checked out apartment therapy but it leaves me in the same mindset as a gorgeous furniture store – I understand what I want and what I like, but how to blend it all and create these looks is so daunting! I’ll keep pushing with apt therapy, though, thanks!

        1. I like young house love.

          Also, congrats and agree with you on the shoes. I’m generally over the platform trend and these also seem to be a bit too much for the office if not worn with pants.

    2. We used the same trick to arrange furniture that’s rec’d for artwork–we bought big rolls of paper, cut out the footprint of furniture we were thinking about buying, and then played around with placement. This is when we went from an open-concept place to a vintage apt–suddenly we had walls & doorways to navigate–and it helped me get a sense of just how much space we were trying to fill.

    3. Think I got caught in moderation…

      I haven’t used this site but plan to when I move later this year. You put in dimensions for rooms and furniture and it helps to figure out which things fit best where. Google “the Make Room” and it’s the first link — Online Room Planner from Urban Barn.

        1. Floorplanner is a great tool as well. Check out Olio for more design specific mood boards.

    4. I like younghouselove.com – their current posts are a little involved/long and they do a lot of “lifestyle” posts now, but if you go to their archives and look at a lot of the basic posts when they were first renovating their first house, they did a lot of great posts on how to pull together a cohesive look, decide on what your style is, etc. that I find really helpful.

      They also just came out with a DIY book that is great – the book is separated into different rooms, and they break down each project by how long it will take and how much it will cost. I really like it.

      2. A suggestion for that blog on this morning’s thread is what sparked my original question. Good to know that the earlier posts are more basic. I looked at the later ones today and was amazed/inspired but overwhelmed yet again.

    5. I’m still very much a newbie at the home decorating thing, but the one tip I’ve managed to implement in a way I really like is picking out one color or theme and carrying it throughout the house. So, our apartment came with a blue accent wall and dark brown cabinetry (before I knew we’d have the statement wall, I planned to pick out a decorative pillow I liked and use it as a unifying theme), and I’ve been slowly trying to make sure I have at least one piece with those colors in each room, and that every other decorative thing I buy at least doesn’t clash with those colors.

      I suppose I also have secondary themes going on, just based on my general asthetic preferences. Like most of our artwork is Japanese, and a lot of my decorative stuff is tree based, so I have a Japanese screen with Japanese trees painted on it that kind of pulls things together.

      I hope this makes sense, I’m just muddling through all this myself.

    6. I hired a decorator, and it was the best money I’ve spent! Mine was still in design school (had another career for several years), but I knew I loved her style, so I was glad to get the discounted price.

      1. How did you find the arrangement of a decorator that was still in design school? I highly doubt I could find one affordable enough, but one still in school would be my best bet.

        1. But I did the same thing, basically. I asked a high-end designer (friend of a friend) to recommend a designer who would be affordable and able to do smaller projects (not an entire house, but aspects of a few rooms). I got a few recommendations and then reached out. With a young decorator or someone who does small projects (maybe a part-timer), you may be able to pay them for their advice (so $X/hour), but then go out and find specific products on your own, so you don’t have them marking things up or finding the most expensive option.

          1. She was unfortunately someone I knew already. If you happen to be in NYC or Houston, I can pass along her info.

          2. I’m in DC, but may feel around with a few friends to see if I have any similar contacts!

          3. You may also be able to contact a design school directly. My decorator is in school at Parson’s. Someone may be willing to travel down to DC for the opportunity to build a portfolio.

    7. I’d recommend Bower Power and Making It Lovely for accessible home decor blogs.

    8. Try the Apartment Therapy book instead of the blog. He really talks about building slowly and discovering your style, putting together colors and he provides floor plans. Take it slow — especially if you don’t have a budget. Better to have orange crate bookshelves and the perfect couch than to get a couch and bookshelves that are just okay, but a little too expensive to junk if you see something better. Also – don’t be scared of color, when designers do rooms they are much more likely to be risky with color.

      If you’re not a “visual thinker” you can make word lists and word webs for each room. Then wander around and find objects, furniture, rugs, whatever that fit the words. Snap pictures or tear out the pictures in catalogs and magazines. Do you want a room to be comfy? Streamlined? This is what a designer will do for you. They just have a bigger visual vocabulary. If you don’t feel like you mesh with an design style that is already standard — craftsman, mid-century modern, etc — try to come up with word collections that describe your style (Dutch Modernism on a Semester Abroad in Japan; English Country Kitchen with French Knickers; International Style Treehouse; Apple Product Designer Raised in Mumbai; Manhattan Hacienda).

      I would also pick a single most important piece of furniture / object for each room (beds may or may not count). If I had space, the one thing I would want is a huge, old, heavy farmhouse style kitchen table to be the “heart” of the kitchen and the house. Other people might think the most important thing would be creating a restful bedroom, or getting a perfect reading chair for a library. The nice thing about doing it yourself is that your priorities become central.

      Good luck and congratulations!

  3. Hi all, I’m headed to San Diego for a conference for a week, and then going to spend Memorial Day weekend on Coronado. Can any San Diego C-rettes recommend some great restaurants around the Gaslamp (I already have a reservation at Searsucker) and on Coronado?

    I’ve been to The Prado (or something similarly named) in Balboa Park before, so that’s off the list.

    I am particularly interested in good Mexican…hole-in-the-wall places are acceptable if the food is authentic!

    thanks in advance!

    1. Check out Sunset Magazine online. They just did an “escape to SD” weekend piece in the past six months or so in their SoCal edition, and their food (and everything else) recs are generally spot on. Their website search function doesn’t work super-hot, so search goog and then back into the articles.

    2. Seersucker – good choice!
      Italian – Cucina Urbana in Bankers Hill (adjacent to Gaslamp)
      Mexican – Miguel’s in Coronado or La Puerta in the Gaslamp
      Pizza – Basic in East Village (couple of streets over from the Gaslamp)
      Steakhouse – Cowboy Star in East Village
      French – Cafe Chloe in East Village
      Fine Dining + Gorgeous Views – Bertrand’s at Mister A’s (Bankers Hill)
      Little Italy is also close to the Gaslamp and has a ton of great places, specifically Indigo Grill and Davanti Enoteca.
      Lucha Libre is also supposed to have great Mexican food, although I cannot personally vouch for it. It’s in Mission Hills which is about a 10 minute drive from the Gaslamp.

  4. A more senior colleague just lost a very dear family member very suddenly. Everyone from the office is invited to attend the services. We are friendly in the colleague sense, but not close friends. I suppose my hold up is that if I were my colleague, the last thing I would want in a time like this is to have all my coworkers see me at one of the worst times of my life, the funeral of someone very, very dear to me.

    In my head I would know its a nice gesture, and they are showing support, but it just seems strange. Would you go?

    1. This happened in our office recently, and my office agreed with you. Instead, we pooled together to get a no-refrigeration-needed healthy food basket for the family, a spa certificate for the colleague, and passed a card around the office. She later said she really appreciated the food for all those days they couldn’t bring themselves to cook or go out.

    2. If it were my boss, I would go (eg when boss’s mother dies or something). Otherwise, no. We did have a colleague who died a couple of years ago, and everyone went to the service. I skipped the burial because I didn’t know the colleague, but a lot of people did go.

      I would know your office – if a lot of people are going, then you should go, and vice versa.

    3. Ehhhh, this is a hard one. Two weeks ago, I would have been with you and not gone. But we recently had a loss in my family and a lot of my mother-in-law’s co-workers came to the funeral and the burial. It meant a lot to her. She’s been talking about it every day since, how many people took time off work to come to her close relative’s funeral when they didn’t even know him, just to be there for her. (She was not at her best, either. She was sobbing through the funeral and broke down over the casket at the cemetery. And yet she still appreciated everyone’s support.)

      1. I think this is a know the person kind of thing. Some people really appreciate it and others (like the OP and myself) would be horrified to have to deal with sympathetic coworkers on top of everything else. I assume that if the information was shared with your office though, the bereaved is in the former camp. In my office, this sort of information is often shared and just as often not shared, so I tend to assume that when it’s shared it’s to enable people to attend. I usually don’t, but I always send a card.

        1. I agree. My MIL had the option of having the information shared or not. If the information was shared, my guess is that the person is open to having co-workers attend.

    4. Thanks ladies. I’m pretty new here (definitely my first death in the work family) so I’ll try to sniff around and see what the unspoken protocol is. I don’t know her well enough to know if she would want everyone there, or if that was less awkward than not telling the office the details, as we aren’t a tiny office, but a pretty close one in terms of supporting one another. Either way, I think I’m just letting my personal preference get in the way, as I would absolutely not want coworkers there. But I instinctively tend to be a wounded wild animal when I’m hurt (emotionally and physically), and look for the closest secluded place to nurse my wounds in peace.

      1. If you don’t know her well, I would DEF not go. I assumed this would be a close work friend. But even if the office is invited if its not someone you are close to I would not go but send a card or sign the company card etc

  5. Okay, I need to hear from people who have had Invisalign. I just got mine today, beginning an estimated 18-month treatment course. I had braces as a kid but didn’t wear my retainers so my teeth shifted. They’re only crooked in two places, but I’m pretty self conscious about it. And as my teeth have shifted, it’s affected my alignment and my preexisting jaw problems have gotten worse. So: I still think, logically, Invisalign is a good option for me. My ortho is highly recommended by my long-time dentist.

    But oh, wow, these are so very far from invisible. The attachments, or little “bubbles” on your teeth that hold the trays in place, look awful. I knew I would need some but I had zero idea I might need multiple attachments, or that they would be in the very worst possible place (basically all my top front teeth). I feel like they look so obvious! I was so taken aback at the ortho’s office that I didn’t say much, but after I got home and had more time to think and look in the mirror I called the office. I talked to the tech who put them on and I ended up crying, which was super embarrassing.

    Did anyone else have this experience? Like I said, I’ve had traditional braces as a kid so I’m not worried about the pain (they feel tight but nothing uncomfortable). I’m also not too worried about them affecting my speech, I do hear a slight lisp but I’m sure it will go away soon. I just…don’t know if I can stand looking like this for a year and a half. I’m so embarrassed. Any commiseration would be greatly appreciated.

    1. Haven’t had them, but am thinking about it. I’ve heard you can ask them not to put as many attachments, or certain ones–it extends your treatment but personally, I’d be ok having them for 2 more months if this helped make them much less visible.

      1. Honestly from my conversation with the tech it sounds like that’s not usually the case? She said that they have no idea where/how many attachments there will be until they get the trays. Basically the ortho develops a treatment plan and sends it to Invisalign, explaining how he wants the teeth to move. And then the company designs trays that will accomplish that result.

        At this point it’s too late, for me anyway, because all the trays are made and they’re all made to fit these attachments.

    2. I wore invisalign for almost 2 years. I had no idea I was going to have attachments on my teeth and was horrified when I looked in the mirror the first time at the ortho office. But, I honestly don’t think that others really noticed them much. I think you get used to them as you more through the process.

      My advice to you on your first day is to make sure you allow plenty of time time take them off. I felt like I was going to rip my teeth out taking them out to eat. They really seemed to want to catch on the attachments and I felt like I had made one huge mistake. But things got easier and, looking back, I’m happy I went the invisalign route.

      1. In case this helps –

        My brother wore Invisalign for 1-2 years. I did not know he had attachments on his teeth until I read your post. So, take that as a sign that they aren’t very noticeable!

      2. Thank you for this. Honestly taking them out has been harder on my fingernails than anything! I’m so glad to hear you stop noticing the attachments so much. I just wish I had been warned, I guess.

    3. SO got them about a month ago. He was freaking out when he saw the little post things on his teeth, but I don’t think you can really notice them unless you are looking for them. Once he stopped being self conscious about how he was talking / what he looked like / etc. no one else could tell.

    4. I wear Clear Correct (also an aligner but by a competing company). The trays look the worst against the attachments when you first get them. More air traps around the attachments or something. Once you’ve had them a few days, they will blend in much more and be far less noticeable. (In fact, the attachments usually seem more obvious without the aligners than with after awhile.) Don’t know if your ortho told you this, but they may end up taking off some of the attachments and adding others in other places at different points in treatment. The attachments exert pressure in certain areas of the teeth. Once moved, there is no more need for them and they will take them off. (I was always asking ahead to see when the dimple in the aligner wouldn’t be there any more. :))

      The bad news: Be prepared that just becasue they say 18 months, it may be longer. My treatment extended considerably and even after all of those stupid trays my teeth still aren’t ideal, so my ortho is “handfashioning” more aligners. The same thing happened to a colleague of mine who uses Invisalign. It’s a science, but there also is some art to it. Not everyone’s teeth will shift the same way as projected.

      Other things they didn’t tell me about were that they will sometimes use a wire-like thing to floss between teeth to make more space (not painful, but not all that pleasant). My colleague also had them shave a tooth down at one point–my ortho talked about it last time, so suspect it is in my future as well and fairly common.

      Also, once my treatment is complete (uppers are finally supposed to be done on my next visit), my ortho is putting a wire behind my teeth to serve as a retainer for a year. Again, wasn’t mentioned during my inital consult.

      I, too, did a lot of research before selecting this treatment and from this ortho. It’s amazing to me how much they don’t have to tell you. And once you are in with a particular orth, you’re sort of stuck with them since the contract is with the practioner and not the company (long story, but at one point I called Clear Correct because I was so disappointed with the lack of communication going on and the lack of cleanliness of my orthos office). Apparently you can’t just switch to another provider. If I could go back in time, I would have just accepted the minor crookedness I started with (I, too, had braces in highschool but wasn’t vigalent with retainers.)

      1. He did the flossing-to-make-more-space thing today! He used a heatless stone (scary vibrating thing that smokes, I remember it from when I had braces the first time around) and then followed with this sandpaper-y floss. It was weird for sure. I’m sorry your treatment didn’t go as you’d hoped. Thanks for telling me about your experience, though.

        I actually may be moving away before the course of treatment is done, and I knew that going in, so my contract actually allows for the possibility of switching to another provider (and has a refund schedule).

        Honestly my crookedness is so minor I would be okay with it, but the jaw problems are worsening and I was always told I would need surgery to correct it. So when the ortho said he could address it with Invisalign I jumped at the opportunity.

        1. Honestly – people won’t notice them like you think they will. You’ll notice them. And then you’ll stop. Seriously – just think about how great your teeth will look and you’ll find the time flies.

          I was not a candidate for Invisalign and have been in traditional braces for two years (I’m 30). I’m coming up on my surgery date (breaking my lower jaw, sliding it forward and sideways to re-align it). I was so self conscious about it, but truly, people don’t focus on it. Most don’t even notice unless I say something about it. And I’ve got a mouth of metal! You’ll be OK. :)

          1. C: I had that surgery and while it was painful and the recovery was rough, it was one of the best things I’ve ever done. Let me know if you have any questions. You can email me at dccorpor****@yahoo.com Fill in the ****

          2. Thank you for the kind words. After all the reassurance here, plus texting pictures to friends who swear they aren’t noticeable, I am feeling a bit better.

            Thank you all!

  6. If you’re wearing a sheath dress with matching jacket, do you keep the jacket buttoned when sitting down? Especially if you’re in an important meeting or in court? The jacket hits at about the waist and is pretty well-fitted, if that matters.

    1. dont ever keep the jacket buttoned when sitting, regardless of what else you are wearing. same holds true for men

    2. I unbutton it so that I can freely move my arms and keep the jacket from bunching funny while at the table.

    3. I always unbutton because otherwise it goes out in the boob area and looks funny.

  7. I spent the last few days in Charleston, and while it is a lively city the sidewalks are horrible! My heels kept getting stuck. Luckily the pair I destroyed were from Payless, I’m a little bummed because they were new but at least I’m only out $20.

    2. Sounds like Boston. I used to walk to work through the Faneuil Hall area every day. Luckily that was back in 2000 when we wore gigantic clunky heels. Still wrecked my shoes (why yes I did walk a mile to work every day in heels — that’s what being 22 will do).

    3. Im such a fuddy duddy I don’t understand why any woman would wear heels when there is any type of walking in the city to be done. I always am like why?? But they always look better than me so I guess that’s the answer. But I am always more comfortable :)

      1. Well had I known of the sidewalk situation I would have planned for it and brought thicker heels! I was attending business dinners and dressed accordingly. I wasn’t uncomfortable, I only later noticed howsevere the damage was.

  8. Cake update for those of you waiting with baited breath: Cake is actually okay, it bubbled over a bit and tastes okay but is a bit dry. I’m going to serve it with lemon curd yoghurt and I think it’ll be fine. And frankly, my co-workers got excited about Little Debbie’s brought back from the states so not super refined palates anyways.

      1. I’m glad to entertain, it’s been one of those weeks. I had a stress attack in ended in a string of fatalistic scenarios, ‘fail out….deported…mediocre…alone with my cats and I don’t even like cats’, lost my phone, forgot to wear deodorant (and of course rushed to work) and then had cake making disaster. However, a new (fancy!) phone is winging its way to me without me having to lift a finger, the weather is finally turning, and the cake turned out okay.

  9. I would totally buy these shoes, especially since they’re so cheap but amazon doesn’t ship shoes to Canada :(

      1. Between mediocre Amazon/Netflix, and not being able to order from a variety of places online or particiate in online giveaways , it makes me wonder why I live here…though, admittedly, if those are my biggest complaints about my country, things aren’t so bad, and I clearly have first world problems.

        1. But you get the awesome healthcare. And the gay marriage. Happy to trade Netflix for that =)

        2. I love my healthcare and gay marriage. I also love having found unblock.us (though there are other sites) that lets me watch American Netflix :) for an extra 5 a month. Totally worth it.

  10. Threadjack–yesterday’s comments to the First Year Associate freaked me out a bit–she said that she was doing 50 hours and another associate was doing 100 hours, and everyone suggested that she should be looking for work the whole time. I have been billing 65-70 hours a week during my first 6 months and have rarely hit 100. Should I be asking for additional work? I was happy with my schedule until hearing this information.

    1. I think that poster was talking about hours per month, not hours per week!

      1. Oh geez. I answered as if Another First Year had said she was billing 65-70 per month.

        Surely she meant per month, right? No one who was on track to bill 3100+ would ask if they need to be doing more, right?! (pleasesayn0)

    2. This depends on where you work. Are the other associates (especially in your class or a similar class) also billing 65-70 hours? If they’re billing more than that, you should be asking for additional work.

    3. Maybe I misread, but I thought yesterday’s associate was billing 50 hours per month, not per week. I would hate to be at a firm where 100 hours per week was expected!

    4. I missed yesterday’s thread, so my apologies if this has been asked and answered.

      100 hours a week? People are working 4800 hours a year? That is more than double my BigLaw requirement plus the recommended hours for bonus consideration. Can that be right? Or is the idea that just because one 1st year is trying to kill herself,that the OP will look bad for not following suit?

      There are also only 168 hours in a week total. I would be very skeptical of someone saying they bill 100 hours a week, especially on any sort of regular basis.

      1. Yes! I have never heard of someone billing 4800 in one year. Has anyone else?

        An average of 50 hours per week in my firm is rock star territory (I live in the South in a city that pays wellllllllll below $160k for new lawyers, even in the “big” firms, almost all of which have less than 100 lawyers)).

    5. Dear Another First Year: most firms (secretly) consider their associates overworked if they bill more than 200 hours a month. That averages out to 50 hours a week. You’re doing fine. The commenter from yesterday was not billing more than 50 hrs a month – not a week. Now breathe.

    6. You can’t be serious. The other posters were talking about per MONTH. Jeez, I feel like this is why people hate lawyers. Even if you thought the other poster did mean per week, why the F would you think “oh an internet stranger (who could be fake) is literally trying to kill herself with work, should I do the same thing??”

      1. the one who said 50 might have meant per week, but what she said was she hasn’t hit 50/week once in in 5 months, but there was another associate who hit 100. So yes, she should be asking for more work because it obviously exists, and if you are consistently under 50 its going to be hard to hit 2100.

      2. You guys have made me feel a lot better! For some reason I just assumed it was per week. I now realize that is insane–I obviously didn’t really think through it very well when I was asking the question.

      3. This is worded a bit too harshly, but I agree with the idea behind it. The legal industry lends itself to mindless competition and freaking out, or maybe just attracts those kinds of people, but it is unreasonable to think if some strangers say someone should be billing 100 hours a week in perpetuity (which obviously they didn’t) that you should worry and do the same.

  11. Does anyone have any recommendations for travelling in France’s Loire Valley? I’m looking for hotel, restaurant, and chateaux/winery recommendations, or even suggested itineraries. My BF & I plan to spend 3-4 nights there in September. I’ve done a little research so far, but it seems like there is so much to see!

    1. If you go to Chenonceau, I had one of the best meals of my life in the little town just outside of the castle at La Roseraie (it’s a hotel/restaurant if I remember correctly). Granted, this was years back, but literally…probably top 5 meals I’ve ever had…and I love food. Hopefully they haven’t changed and are still great if you do go visit. Also had really awesome, attentive service.

    3. I drove through the Loire Valley last September and loved it. We stopped and stayed in Saumur, which was a super cute town. It also has a chateua right near the center of town so you can just walk to it. And we did a tour of the sparkling wine caves and did a sparkling wine tasting at Caves Louise de Grenelle. We stayed at the Hotel de Londres, which is a small boutique hotel, that was super cute and reasonably priced. It’s not fancy or anything. The wifi wasn’t great on the 3rd floor and there was no elevator or AC but it was right near the center of town and just cute.

    4. I recommend at least a day in Tours proper. The Place de Plumereau is a lively square full of cafes and restaurants. It’s been years since I have been there (plus, I was a student there), but I remember having a great time just strolling around town. At the time, there was a great bakery with amazing brioches right by the train station.

      Chinon is a beautiful castle, with a ton of history.

      Oh! And you should check out the troglodyte (cave) homes in the region.

  12. I recently found out that I passed the February bar. I took BarBri, and — long story short — never paid a book deposit and don’t have to return the books. I really (really) don’t need them and would like to sell them on ebay or Craigslist, but I’ve heard rumors both that it’s not legal and that some people have had character & fitness issues after doing that. Honestly I haven’t done research into this yet, but off the cuff, any thoughts? Thanks!

    1. I would try to get the $250 from BarBri for returning books. I’ve heard similar negative things about reselling your books.

    2. I wouldn’t sell them on Craigslist or Ebay – definitely nothing that could link them back to you via e-mail. But if you sell them under the table to a friend…well…seriously – its unclear to me how the Board of Bar Examiners could find out.

      But – I have to say, I kept my books and at this point have leant them to three or four friends who have studied for the local bar and have even referred to them a couple times. I don’t really regret just keeping them – in the long run of the whole “avoiding worst case scenario” type situations.

    3. Completely anecdotal, but I had friends who sold their BarBri books on ebay and they were admitted without any issues. I sold my PMBR books although those were mine to keep anyway I think. Bur also no issues. And if you’re paranoid, there’s always a random email address and craig’s list…

    5. I can’t understand why selling books that you own would be illegal or unethical in any state. I sold them and I’m glad I did.

  13. Is it weird to feel sad hearing about someone you never knew passing away? I am have been doing to reseach on my family tree and have discovered that my grandfather was shot and killed when my dad was 9. I feel really sad when I think about it and regret that I never had the opportunity to know him. I can’t understand why I am feeling sad about someone I never knew for reasons completely out of my control. Is that normal?

  14. I’m a recent law school grad and have been offered a chance to work in the IP group at my firm doing a mix of prosecution and litigation. My background is simply a B.S. in a non-engineering basic science (think biology, chemistry, physics, etc.) with some summer lab experience. Most (though not all) of the lawyers at the firm seem to have either engineering degrees or advanced science degrees with significant pre-law school work experience.

    My question is whether my relatively lackluster science background would hold me back in a patent law career. How much does one’s education matter once you’re actually practicing? If it’s a big deal I might choose another group. It makes me a bit nervous to think of joining a practice where I might be starting out at a large disadvantage.

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