Wednesday’s Workwear Report: Lana Midi Shirt Dress

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1. No comments today?

   1. We were down until 5 minutes ago. Thank you for your patience!

2. Looking for gift ideas – an i-banker I know well nominated me for an industry award that I ended up getting. One of their associates put together the nomination package with a wonderful recommendation, and a couple of my colleagues helped them with details. I’ve thanked them profusely, but I’d like to send a small gift as a thank you to at least the bankers (how about my colleagues?). The nomination came at a time when I really needed an uplift. I know wine and other consumables would be welcomed, but would love help on any particular gifts that might be welcomed eagerly. Need to be mailable across state lines too.

   1. I’ve given the Rogue River bleu cheese gift baskets before and they’ve always been a hit.

      1. Oh my, bleu cheese is so divisive, I would include some other variety of cheese as well.

         1. I agree. I love cheese – except blue cheese.

            1. Same.

   2. Thank you note.

      1. +1

         I think a hand written note is the best option here.

         I don’t understand the need to gift in response to being thought of in high regard. You earned that and they clearly thought you deserved the recognition and award – they didn’t do you a favor.

      2. This. I save & treasure cards. Consumables are appreciated, but often just end up in the break room or in the emergency wine bottle stash in my office.

   3. Thank you notes to the individuals who helped, whether in your company or at the bank. I don’t think a gift is necessary.

      Rather than giving gifts to your colleagues, consider bringing in a communal treat to celebrate your award. Cider and donuts are starting to appear in my area, otherwise pastries from a good local bakery are always quick to disappear.

      1. Thanks all. I already sent really effusive TY notes to all four and I am remote so I won’t see my colleagues. The reason for a token gift is that it took them a long time to put the application together and pull together the data for this particular award because it spans 20 years of time. I may look into the cheese gift. maybe that and a bottle of wine.

3. In Helsinki for 24 hours this Sat morn-Sunday. Been there before so done the typical touristy stuff and as a foodie, didn’t love what I ate last time. Any recs for cafes/food/things to do?

   1. My recs are older, but I like Soup Kitchen in the Market Hall. I would have recommended Cafe Ursula, but it looks like it’s closed for now – something for future trips!

4. A rant and a request:
   I live near a giant high school located in a neighborhood of narrow streets. School starts where when it is dark now (due to a shortage of busses and drivers, some schools in our district will start ultra-early). We have a huge concentration of inexperienced drivers, giant school busses, on-street parking, and trash collection one day a week. And yet there are a LOT of runners and dog walkers who have no reflective items, no lights, and no headlights and are basically invisible from behind. The runners are often in the streets, often in groups. The way-too-bright lights of oncoming cars and busses basically blind drivers and make it hard to see other people off to the sides flitting in and out of sidewalks and parked cars and trying-to-parallel-park cars. Don’t even get me started on the no-headlights scooters and e-bikes.

   PLEASE, PLEASE if you are on foot, wear something like NoxGear so that you can be seen, especially if you are not walking or running against traffic. No one wants to start their day with an accident. Even a headlamp doesn’t make you visible to others from any angle but head-on.

   1. Are you in my neck of the woods??? I could not agree more.

      I live in a Midwestern campus town and it is absolute mayhem right now, between school bus times, shorter daylight hours, new students on campus meaning people from all over the world who ride bikes or electric scooters dressed in all black, no lights, and with headphones on, swerving in and out of traffic.
      Whenever need to drive in that part of town, I’m going 15 mph with my foot hovering over the brake.

      1. The ebikes/scooters are terrifying at high speed. You can’t anticipate when they jump out at you, often going in the bike lane on the wrong side of the street in my area. So many near accidents in the dark.

   2. I am going to print this rant for my 13 y/o who dies of embarrassment when I go out to walk the dog.
      Dog has a glow collar, I have a flashlight and a reflective vest. My husband has a headlamp when he goes. I always tell her you I’d look worse dead.

      1. What is even worse is that even if someone called 911, it would be a nightmare of cascading accidents and gridlock if an ambulance tried to get through our high school morning rush (add in: parents randomly double-parking to let kids hop out and they hop out from both sides and just cross where-ever, when-ever, like the Shakira song). And this generation’s navigation skills are not map-based, so your location is “by the high school,” which could be anywhere within a mile of it.

         Don’t get me started: the family with a golf cart, which is street-legal on 25-MPH streets in my city, but is just a chaos agent entering the chat.

   3. Good ole auto centric design. The lobbying and campaigns worked

      1. If the design were truly auto-centric, there wouldn’t be backups because traffic flow would be optimized.

   4. This is a problem in my area, but the bigger problem is e-bikes – there’s a minority of kids who are absolutely out of control (weaving in and out of cars on the main boulevard outside the high school, which is also the feeder area for a 6-lane highway offramp, playing chicken with pedestrians, and worse) and then there’s a large contingent that simply doesn’t seem to have any knowledge of bike safety. I would be devastated if I ever hit a kid and I can’t understand why their parents are allowing this. It’s a big topic of conversation around here and I don’t think they can claim they “didn’t know” about what their kids are up to.

      1. I feel bad for my teen driver. She has worked hard to master driving and I am too nervous because of others on the road to let her drive solo. Maybe in another month when people are more used to traffic patterns? But an accident, even one where she hits an e-bike that is being driven recklessly that’s not her fault, will definitely be traumatizing and become a problem of hers to deal with.

         1. I feel bad for your teen driver too, but not for the same reasons. Trust that you have raised her well, and to be appropriately cautious, and let her drive a little.

   5. So much bad policy on display here

      1. Right?! We should all be homeschooling. Better for the planet.

         1. What does homeschooling have to do with inappropriately bright lights set at eye level, or a refusal to pay bus drivers enough to make the job worth taking, or consolidating school districts into one massive location that’s no longer local for the students?

            1. I can appreciate your points, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that some younger people seem to have absolute zero traffic safety skills. I see it in my neighborhood- kids running across the street before even glancing left and right.

               Yes, everything should be walking/biking friendly. But idiotic behavior and distractions while you’re on a public street regardless of whether you move on your feet or on wheels of all kinds – this needs to stop. I do want to happily share the road with everyone, but some rules apply to everyone !

               Two things can be true at the same time.

            2. Maybe schools should be teaching more street safety; the actually home schooled kids I know don’t do run right into the street like that!

      2. Exactly. Women shouldn’t drive. Problem solved.

         1. No, children shouldn’t drive. But they still have to get to school. No one should need a car to get to school!

            1. With redshirting, some of those kids are 18 as juniors. Even the freshmen are often driving.

            2. It’s great that they have licenses. They should not have to drive to get to school.

            3. It is unreasonable for any busy 17 year old junior who has after school activities and a job to depend on the bus or others if they are fortunate enough to have a car. It is also unreasonable for any high school to have a start time before daybreak. Research shows that later start times for high school students is beneficial in so many areas.

            4. Follow the research on school times, bus availability, and urban planning.

      3. Invisible runners in the street is still a bad choice. The rest is beyond my pay grade.

         1. I hear you. I almost hit a woman last summer running in the street on a road barely wide enough for two cars. It terrified me as she was wearing black, with headphones on and I almost hit her. I actually pulled over and waved to her to stop. And this suburban mom in her cute running outfit swore at me for interrupting her run and making her take her headphones off so I could tell her I almost hit her. At this point, she deserves what she gets.

            1. She should wear reflective gear. But you should drive slower, pay attention, and watch where you are going.

   6. A lot of the car congestion around our schools would be solved if the buses would just run on time. Which would require the district to pay bus drivers enough to prevent driver shortages. I am forced to drive my kid because the bus routinely gets kids to school 45 minutes late.

      1. By contrast in my district it’s 100% the parents who will, under no circumstances, allow their kids to ride the bus. They are safe, on time and somehow the drivers are friendly. There are bus monitors assigned to each one. I get an email if they’re more than five minutes late. Our experience has been great. But little Jayden simply cannot be on a bus for an extra twelve minutes a day, so everyone else drives their kid and now we’re in jeopardy of losing funding. I honestly hate sahm culture.

      2. Let them be 45 minutes late.

         1. Not in high school AP/IB courses where they actually are learning something they need to remember.

   7. I really resent pedestrians, cyclists, scooter riders, etc. who put themselves at risk. Our county likes to pretend it’s rural but it really isn’t. It is relatively densely populated with many curvy two-lane roads with no shoulder and speed limits of 45 mph or higher. Anyone who does anything but driving on those roads is creating danger for themselves and drivers. Unpopular opinion: it should be illegal for pedestrians to be out at night without reflective vests and/or lights, and it should be illegal for cyclists to ride on roads with a speed limit above 25 except in a designated bike lane. And while we’re at it, let’s limit parking to one side of residential streets so there is room for two cars or a car and bike to pass. HOAs should also require residents to park in their own driveways or garages, not on the street, to help with the congestion. No family needs to park 4-5 cars plus a boat or a camping trailer on the street, but many families in my neighborhood do just that.

      1. Amen.

      2. I resent all your damn cars

         1. Same. Get your cars off the road so we can bike on it.

         2. It’s just a lot when everything revolves around the needs of drivers, and then they tell the rest of us to stay off “their” roads too.

            I live in a walkable neighborhood, and I’ve seen cars careen off the street onto the sidewalk more than once (I’ve seen the evidence in the form of tire marks more often). Drivers won’t even stay off the sidewalk and out of the bike lanes, but we’re supposed to be second class citizens and accept having no roads to use at all!

            1. I don’t drive my car on the sidewalk, the bike lane, or the bike trails. I don’t drive it in the city where I can walk or take public tr–it. But just as my car doesn’t belong in these places, bikes and pedestrians and scooters don’t belong on fast narrow curvy roads. Especially scooters.

            2. Bikes and pedestrians and scooters always belonged on fast narrow curvy roads before. Maybe cars should get their own roads? Clearly it’s possible to get places by bike, foot, or scooters on these roads if people are doing so.

5. Has anyone been to Wildwood NJ? Where I grew up, people went there or Lake George NY each year (I am from no-vacation people, who took summer trips to visit family). Looking for a cooler spot now that the heat of summer in the SEUS is over and the crowds have mostly left.

   1. From NJ, I would not recommend Wildwood overall if you are coming from out of state. My philly family members go there, it is basically philly at the shore. I would recommend Cape May as more of a destination or North Wildwood specifically if you are set on Wildwood. The beaches in Wildwood are a long sand walk to the ocean.

      1. Me again, I have friends who go to Lake George. That’s a very different vibe in my opinion than Wildwood. Other NJ shore towns would be Stone Harbor or LBI. Lewes Delaware is also lovely and accessible via ferry from
         Cape May.

   2. Wildwood has a more tattoos than teeth vibe to it. It’s billed as family friendly which I guess it can be, but there’s a fairly rough crowd and lots of MAGA gear and some confederate flags on the boardwalk. It’s not exactly upscale.

   3. I grew up in the area and went there a bit, and my extended family went up there again I think in 2018-ish. It’s … what you expect from the Jersey shore. It’s really charming in some ways-in particular, they limit the businesses to keep chains mostly out and the style consistently mid-century modern, so it has a lot of character, which I really appreciate. On the other hand, most of it is pretty, well, trashy. The hotels aren’t very nice
      (there may be exceptions-I’m coming from a lower-middle-class perspective), there aren’t a lot of amenities, the people are loud. (I find them amusing, but it’s definitely a type.). We went in July and I was surprised at how cool it was, even just on the beach. There are a lot of fun gaudy shops and amusements on the boardwalk. But it’s fun in a way.

   4. All of New England is lovely now. I’m in CT and we’ve settled into a nice pattern of 75° days and 60° nights.

      1. I’m so jealous.
         -Midwest and it’s still nearly 90

   5. Wildwood is the trashy shore town. I live in a nearby shore town and am very familiar with anything Ocean City and south. I’d recommend anywhere BUT Wildwood. OC isn’t my cup of tea either but it’s fine.

      If you must be in a Wildwood, do North Wildwood or Diamond Beach

   6. I’m from NJ. Don’t go to Wildwood.

   7. I second Cape May if you are into quaint Victorian architecture. There is a main street for shopping, bike rides, and some various local attractions more historical in nature. It’s a big B&B town if that is your vibe, but the B&Bs often book up a year in advance.

      1. If you by chance enjoy birding, Cape May is the place to go. It is a major migration hotspot, and has staffed counts at several observation points with super kind and excited folks.

         If not, I recommend LBI – it has a lot of variety, but no boardwalk (lots of shopping though).

   8. Do not go to Wildwood, it’s so trashy. The shore is perfect this time of year – the locals love it now. Many other shore towns are already on winter hours (sadly) so expect things to have limited hours.

6. I’m wearing a dress that ends above the knee. So many years of ruffle-puffs and midi length dresses now make me feel very scandalous even though this is definitely not clubwear.

   1. Haha, depends on the body shape. I have hips and a butt, so what is scandalous on me would not even register on someone whose figure is more straight.

      1. So true.

7. I’m doing a closet clean out. I lost some weight so its actually easier to do it now because I know if I don’t like how the clothes fit now, I just don’t like the clothes.

   There are some things that fit now but aren’t my style anymore – donate right?

   Any other rules to keep in mind?

   1. Only keep what you love and actually wear.

   2. Sometimes I think, Who is the coolest person I know (sliding scale – I live in DC so it’s like, who’s the coolest of my nerds) and if I wore the item of clothing while I was out with her, would I feel good, okay, or bad? I figure if the answer is bad, maybe I consider getting rid of the item.

   3. If I don’t like how it makes me feel when I try to wear it, out it goes. Life is too short to force myself into frumpy outfits.

   4. My exception to your rule is something like a pair of generic black trousers — I go ahead and keep them because they’re hard to fit no matter what my size, and if I happen to need a pair, it’s never something I’m going to want to shop for.

      Other rules:
      If you’re a sentimental person, start a box (of whatever size you want) for sentimental clothing. This lets you hang onto stuff that you’re never going to wear again, but acknowledge it for what it is: a memento, not part of your wardrobe.

      “I wear it all the time” is actually a really deceptive phrase. Most of us have so many clothes that there’s a lot of stuff we FEEL like we wear all the time, but it’s actually more like, ‘I wore it twice last summer.” Try to get specific about how many times in a season or a month you actually wear the item.

      The stuff I do wear “all the time” is my lounge wear, pajamas, and exercise gear. So it should get looked at and replaced as needed.

      It’s OK to keep special occasion clothing that you rarely wear AS LONG AS your lifestyle hasn’t changed. Be realistic about how many special occasions you currently need to dress for.

      Along those lines, list the types of activities you need clothes for in your current life, and what dressiness level is needed. You may find that you no longer have a need for formal workwear, or clothing in school colors, heavy winter coats.

8. No one asked you, but you notice “magma cum laude” on someone’s Linked In (you know this person, they are younger than you and just starting out but you aren’t co-workers). Do you reach out? If so, Linked In messages or how?

   1. why are you reaching out? Magna cumme laude is a GPA designation, so I’m not sure what importance that has to why you would reach out….

      1. Magma, not magna

      2. She wants to correct the mispelling.

      3. Um, “cum” is the correct Latin spelling. “Cumme” is not. “Magma” is the spelling error. And yes, I’d contact using the script below.

   2. Why would you? Who cares?

   3. I wouldn’t say anything. Not your circus and, frankly, that’s just really funny.

      1. Sorry, rethinking my slightly petty response and realizing it depends on how you know them. If this is, for example, the kid of a friend or someone you’re mentoring, etc. then I would say something. Just drop them a note that says, “Hi, I was looking at your profile and realized you have a typo in your education section,” or something similar. If it’s a vague acquaintance then I’d leave it.

   4. What? I wouldn’t say anything.

   5. How close are you? I’d let my niece know (great relationship and she’d want me to tell her), but wouldn’t tell the kid of my ex boss, for example.

   6. I would frame it as an autocorrect error.

      1. +1 this is most likely

   7. Yes, because it is the kind thing to do. Easy to let them know, easy for them to fix. It’s pretty much the same as letting someone know their shirt is misbuttoned.

      1. Exactly. It takes minutes to let this person know, it does not hurt you and would be a kindness. It does not cost anything to be nice (unless you have some reason to dislike this person, but it does not sound like you do).

   8. Not responsive to OP’s inquiry, but it entertains me to view this as evidence of grade inflation.

      1. IDK. I took Latin but how familiar should people be now? Even the church is banning Latin in services. Maybe autocorrect doesn’t know Latin and a user doesn’t catch the error?

         But WTF with the cum misspelling above.

      2. My autocorrect changes magna to manga or magma, and alma mater to Alma mater.

   9. No don’t be a weirdo

   10. Only, only if this is a person I know well enough to go talk to them if I saw them at an airport.

   11. Please tell the person! I’m a very capable woman who has done well in my legal career. However, these are the types of spelling errors that I never notice, and I would be incredibly grateful to the person who told me via email, LinkedIn, or in person. This error could be the difference between getting a job and not.

   12. It depends on whether she is a geologist.

       1. Ha ha ha ha ha

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