Coffee Break: Riva Hoop Earrings

55 Comments

1. I am just not the kind of person who is going to pay $180 or $275 for gold plated jewelry. If gold, sure, I’d pay this and more (and have done so.) But if they’re gold plated, I don’t care if it’s sterling underneath, they need to be $20. There’s no middle ground for me.

   1. This is probably why I am on Team Sterling. I’m not a yellow metal person (24K looks so cool, but I’d ruin in a hot minute), and if it’s going to be $$$ and silver-colored, it might as well as be silver.

   2. Looks like these have diamonds which might justify the price. But overall, agreed. The market is so flooded with overpriced costume jewelry and poor-quality clothes. Brands seem to bank on customers not understanding metal or fabric content.

      1. I understand fabric content a lot better than I understand metals! Which is probably why all my costume jewelry is cheap; I don’t trust that I’m not getting ripped off by spending more.

      2. It seems such a waste to me to put real gems into a fake metal that’s going to tarnish and get thrown out.

         1. Yeah, better to save the $$ from a couple of purchases like this and buy something real: real gold or silver or platinum and real jewels.

   3. I agree completely. Either it’s “good” jewelry (as in, my daughter will wear it some day) or it’s costume in which case $100 is my upper price limit and typically a lot less. If it’s not real, it falls into “stuff that if I lose it, it’s ok.” I can find plenty of hoops like this for $40-50. I too don’t have a middle.

   4. I’ll very happily buy gold plated, but prefer gold on brass to gold on silver.

      I don’t wear sterling (allergies) and only wear warm colored metals. I find that a lot of real gold earrings are too conservative or «old» for me, so gold plates is a welcome alternative.

      These ones are over priced, though. (As well as too conservative in style for me.)

2. Has anyone had a boob job? How much did it cost; did insurance pay for it? If you later lost a lot of weight, how did that affect things?

   1. I had one last year during the pandemic. Good time to recover, as I was at home. Cost was just under $5,000 in mid-size southeastern city. Insurance did not pay for anything. Can’t answer the weight question. Recovery was really easy and I would have no hesitation about recommending it for someone who really wants one.

   2. I had one in 2005. Saline, under the muscle. Cost was under $5,000, but I also got a friends and family discount bc I had friends who worked at the dr’s office. Can’t answer the weight question specifically, but since then I’ve given birth twice and breastfed both babies, and my breasts still look great. Recovery from the surgery wasn’t terrible. From what I recall, I felt more soreness than actual pain, and the most uncomfortable part was not being able to wear a bra for awhile afterwards.

      1. Oh, and insurance did not cover any of it.

   3. Why would insurance pay for breast implants?

      1. It pays for reconstruction if you lose your breasts to cancer.

         1. Why would anyone refer to that as a boob job

            1. 100% reconstruction following a mastectomy is not a “boob job” and it is one of the most insulting things you can say to someone with breast cancer.

   4. I did, in 2013. I had a lift and adjustable saline implants. They do this by putting in temporary ports so the implants can be filled to the size you want after the swelling goes down. Once I was symmetrical, the ports were removed. Paid about $7500. No insurance coverage.

3. I’m looking for thick, sturdy tank tops I can wear for horseback riding. Thin or wide straps are fine, but it just needs to be a thick and durable material, and needs to be form-fitting, not flowy. Preferably under $50 each. TIA!

   1. Cool Racerback from LLL

      1. Yep, I have many of these. There are tons on Poshmark for cheap. They do run small IMO.

         1. Agree that they run small. I am a 0 – 2 in most mall brands, 4 – 6 in LLL, and take a 6 in the Cool Racerback.

   2. I have a few of these and they’re surprisingly nice for the cost. I wear them to the barn and they’re perfect. It’s a shame they don’t come in as many colors as they used to!

      https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074HCZ22T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

   3. You need Duluth Trading Co! Their shirts are longer than most, so they don’t roll up or bunch oddly. Not the most stylish, but excellent basics and great for activity.
      https://www.duluthtrading.com/women/tops/tanks/

   4. My riding tank top for this summer is Jockey Performance Tank. They’re fairly thin, but unless you get a pale color, are opaque, durable, wide strap/higher neck (which was important to me for sun coverage), cool, and I think I paid $15, which meets my criteria for “cheap enough I won’t be upset if they get stained by hoof oil/durasole/whatever thing I manage to spill on myself at the barn.”

   5. I like the Bra30 tank tops on Amazon. There’s a shorter version and a longer version. They are thick and supportive – I use them for pajamas and lounging around the house. I’m large chested and they provide enough support and coverage that I’m comfortable wearing them without a bra.

   6. I’d look at Duluth, lots of tank options in sturdy fabrics.

4. Posted late in the morning section, so posting again. Finance question: I fully fund my 401(K) and have 529s set up for my children. I also recently started a brokerage account with Schwab, and have put a small amount of money (less than $10L) in index funds. Is there anything else I should be doing in terms of investing? Should I just keep adding to the index fund pot or diversify in some other way? Divorced, late 30s, with two kids if it helps.

   1. I’d poke around on bogle heads until you’re comfortable coming up with a bit of an “investment statement” for yourself, and then make (low fee no load) investment choices accordingly. Are you just investing for retirement in, say, 25 years? Or are you also thinking about a house downpayment in 5 or long-term care for a parent in 10?

      Once you know that, you can decide your risk tolerance and allocate accordingly. If you decide you want to be 90% domestic stocks (maybe some large and some smaller cap), 5% real estate and 5% bonds, I’d probably be in mostly domestic stocks in my brokerage account, and look to use the 401K for things like REITs or other dividend-producing stocks. There’s a good article on bogle heads about tax efficient investing once you know how much you want to allocate to each bucket.

      If you want a simple solution, Schwab also has end date funds that will auto balance you out of stocks and in to bonds as you age. I think keeping it simple has real value, even if you pay a tiny bit more, because you’re not constantly revisiting and agonizing over it (at least for me!). If you google “Schwab Target Date Fund” you can check that out.

   2. Nice job doing all of that! That’s awesome. It is hard to answer this question without more specifics on your situation/goals. The first question – do you have an emergency fund with at least 3-6 months of expenses? If not, that should be your focus. The second step is to think about what your goals are. Maybe you want to keep investing so that you have a bigger nest egg for retirement (or retire sooner). Maybe you want to pay off your mortgage (which might not make the most sense from a numbers perspective, but perhaps it helps you sleep better at night). Maybe you want something else entirely, and then you can focus on that. The one thing is to put on your oxygen mask before helping others — so make sure you are saving enough for your own retirement before putting too much in 529s.

      From a mechanical perspective, you can just keep adding into you Schwab account. Total market index funds are great (though you likely don’t want to be 100% in equities), so you can add in a bond fund as your portfolio grows. Then just rebalance it once a year or so — or if that sounds too hard, you can get a target date fund and it will rebalance for you. I like to automate my investments so that I don’t have to remember to put money in each month. Keep it up!

      1. Thanks, all. I do have an emergency fund with about 12 months of expenses covered (I am very risk averse). Appreciate all the comments!

   3. Do you have an emergency fund? That should be held in very safe accounts that are liquid and can’t lose money, like a savings account.

5. Part job seeking woe commiseration, part venting to disinterested parties: (pardon typos, new phone autocorrect is still learning)
   I posted a few weeks ago about trying to exit public accounting and being wishy washy on taking interviews. I’ve done 4 interviews, all in the last week and a half. Feed back from the 1st one, that was with a hiring manager, was that Im too technical (for a technical role).

   I connected with a second round interviewer on Teams this afternoon, and the semirural internet connection at my parents dropped out 15 minutes in. And then again as we were wrapping up after I reconnected.

   Does anyone have a magic wand that grants new jobs with reasonable pay, reasonable workload and no effort to get?

   The feeling of impending doom at my current job is increasing each week as I take on the responsibilities and role that I dont want. I had multiple talks since 2019 with my advisor about how i was thinking about my role and have gotten the PA kool aid dumped on me each time. Tried to have a transparent conversation about where Im at 2 weeks ago with the partner and got some more of the same. But atleast they know i could be a flight risk?

   Another 1st round is coming my way but the interviewer want to schedule a time this week. I just want to spend the next 3 days with my parents relaxing before jumping back into my own life on Monday.

   I don’t want to blindly run after the first opportunity that comes my way but…

   1. You can say “sorry I’m booked this week, How’s Tuesday”.

   2. Commiseration. So much commiseration to you, friend. I’m in the same boat. Trying to leave litigation, have sent a dozen++ resumes and carefully crafted cover letters out and crickets. Not a call back, screening interview. Nothing. It’s so discouraging, and I have the same sense of increasing doom at my current job. I understand the feeling of not wanting to take the first thing that comes along, but sometimes it feels like that might be the only thing that comes along. I’m thinking of you and hope that your upcoming interview goes well. Hang in there; something’s got to work out.

   3. MAJOR commiseration. I posted below about obsessing after a job interview for one of the very rare opportunities in my field in my city.

      I’d like to use the magic wand after you if anyone has any leads on how to land such a gig…

   4. Been there on the public accounting exit! What sorts of jobs are you looking at? I found the typical internal accountant roles to be a poor fit (high volume low interest work) in my area, so ended up more accounting adjacent. But with good pay, very reasonable hours, and a seriously interesting job – and this is my second of similar roles, so not a unicorn. Happy to chat if you are interested, just post a throwaway email.

6. Any tips for not obsessing about a job interview? I live in a smaller city with limited opportunities for my career path, and I’ve had 3 interviews over the past month with the same company for a role I’d love to get. I think the interviews all went well, and I believe the last step was an interview on Tuesday of last week.

   Now I’m just basically staring at my phone all day, attempting to summon a call from them through some mind-meld portal. I’ve looked for other jobs to apply for and can’t find any right now, so I can’t distract myself with that. Part of me knows it’s fine if I don’t get it, because my current job is fine, but I just really, really want an offer. But I also really, really want to stop thinking about it constantly. Tips or commiseration are welcome.

   1. No tips, but commiseration. I had a full week of interviews last week (last one was Friday). I sent thank you notes and am now waiting on pins and needles, willing my phone to ring. I don’t hate my current job, but I definitely would far prefer this job if at all possible. Hang in there!

7. Loft has some! https://www.loft.com/curvy-side-zip-skinny-pants/550800?=undefined&selectedColor=2222

8. I have a new bed setup in the guest room with very simple bed frame, box spring and mattress. I put a queen comforter on it and the box spring shows. I know they still sell dust ruffles but I don’t think I’ve seen one in any design pics for at least a decade. I guess I’m out of it. What do people do in place of a dust ruffle? Longer bedspread rather than a comforter?

   1. Put a coordinating fitted sheet on the box spring.

      1. +1

   2. There are box spring covers that zip around the whole thing. I had one on our master bed for awhile, and it looked good and not as fussy as a dust ruffle.

      1. +1, or you can do this on the cheap with an extra fitted sheet.

         1. I do the fitted sheet.

   3. If you just want to hide the box spring and not the bed frame, just use a fitted sheet on the box spring. They do also sell non-ruffley dust ruffles that look less fussy but would hide the frame.

      1. The actual box spring covers fit more neatly.

         1. Eh, not necessarily. I have one on my master bed and it gets goofy at the corners. The fitted sheet on my guest bed looks just as nice.

   4. I bought this to cover my box spring – it works great. Link in next comment.

      1. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07L9NGB3P/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

   5. Very glad you asked this. I live in a condo without a lot of storage areas, so use the areas under the beds for storage. I would like to get rid of the bed-skirts, but then I think I would lose my storage areas. I also just have a metal bed frame attached to a headboard on my guest bed, which is not pretty to look at. No footboard, or room for one. So after typing all of that out, I think I will be sticking with bed skirts.

9. This is totally just a rant.

   I have a client at work who is very demanding, rude etc. She also talks a lot about how she is a “llama farmer”, and not a more technical “llama breeder”. Most llama farmers know some amount of llama breeding as it comes up a lot.

   I was a llama farmer who learned llama breeding on the job, so I find it particularly grating when she talks about how as a llama farmer she could not ever be expected to understand even the basics of llama breeding.

   The client tries to ask “probing questions” in meetings that make no sense, talks herself up a lot . . and then constantly IMs me the most basic llama breeding questions. So 1-on-1 she is polite to me and asks for my help, but in larger groups she essentially puts me down.

   She’s also fairly new to the company, so she isn’t fully familiar with its inner working either. Realizing today that a lot of her attitude comes from a place of insecurity is actually kind of relieving.

10. I would love some input from anyone in the legal field about this issue. I am an paralegal with 10 years experience working at a big company in a medium col city in the midwest. My base salary is $110k and I get a 15% bonus every year. I like my job. I feel very fortunate to be in this position career wise. However, I’ve been thinking about moving to the northeast be closer to family. I’ve convinced myself that a comparable job there will require me to take a pay cut, maybe even a significant one, and I’ll probably have more demanding work and hours. I feel like I somehow landed this great gig and I’ll never find something that pays this well and is as laid back. Would it be difficult to find a paralegal position that pays six figures in the northeast that’s not biglaw? Thanks for your feedback!

    1. Depends on where in the Northeast, but in-house paralegal pay at most investment management funds, biotech/tech companies, corporates in Boston runs from about 85-110K, IME, plus a little equity if you’re in biotech/tech and on the corporate side. If you are very specialized corporate (great at public company work), you could absolutely go higher, but nowhere near as astronomical as West Coast/SV salaries, which are 150K-200K (yes, really) for highly experienced corporate paralegals. IME, litigation and other legal fields pay significantly less than corporate. I recommend you check the Robert Half guides–they aren’t wildly accurate, but they should give you ballparks. GL.

    2. I’m not sure what paralegal pay norms are at various firms, but for what it’s worth, I’m a 5th year associate in mid-law in a medium COL in the midwest and you make more than me by $10k. Sounds like a good gig!

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