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Updated: Jul 5, 2023 107 Comments · by

Coffee Break: Semi-Precious Earrings

Coffee Break |

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semi-precious drop earrings with lapis and cubic zirconia (on model)

I'm still working on a post about some of the things I'm most excited about in the 2023 Nordstrom Anniversary Sale (the preview went live on 7/3) — but one of the most pleasant surprises was all of the relatively inexpensive but pretty jewelry from Nordstrom.

For example, they have a number of items (earrings, ring, necklace, bracelet) with lapis lazuli, one of my favorite semi-precious stones. They can vary a ton in terms of how blue/gold/cloudy they are, but I usually like to give them a try — particularly if they're so affordable.

The pictured drop earrings are $29.99; after the sale they'll be $45. They also have larger drop earrings that look like they would be amazing for the weekend.

Have you guys hit the sale preview yet? What are some of your favorite things?

Sales of note for 9.30.24

About Kat

Kat Griffin is the founder, publisher, and editor-in-chief of Corporette. You can read more about her here.

Comments

  1. Anon

    This is one of the funnier photoshopped-onto-a-model pics I’ve seen recently.

    O love the idea of these earrings but I sadly can’t wear costume jewelry on my sensitive ears.

    • Anonymous

      Same.
      Lapis is one my favorites, but I can only wear 14K or sterling silver.

    • Anom

      Good spot! It is fairly egregious.

      I found since my mid-30’s that I just don’t want to wear heavier drop earrings. I don’t like to pull on my ear lobes.

  2. anon.

    What are your favorite cotton sweaters? I love the Jenni Kayne ones but don’t want to spend $300-400 – looking more in the sub-150 range. Thanks.

  3. Anonymous

    Give me strength! My whole team is leaving within the next 6-weeks (myself included). We have all put in our notice periods, we are all leaving due to a horrible boss. Today we had a meeting scheduled for transition plans and our boss screamed at us that we “aren’t leaving”…. so I guess there won’t be transition plans.

    • Clementine

      Document everything. Cc HR.

      I’m glad you’re getting out – nobody deserves this

    • Anon

      Oh yes you are leaving! Your boss can be in denial all they like, but you have an end date, yes? If not, provide that now. Stick to your story, and it’s not negotiable.

      Print every email and note every conversation. Keep at home.

    • anon

      Your boss is ridiculous. Good on you guys for leaving en masse; it’s a baller move.

    • Anon

      Call HR in the morning. That’s ridiculous and imperils the company’s ability to maintain business operations and preserve institutional knowledge.

        • Naomi

          When I was in a position like this I told HR and our chief of staff so that I could have peace of mind that I had alerted everyone to be alerted. What they did / didn’t do after that wasn’t my problem.

  4. Anon

    Anyone have any editing/writing-type advice or gripes to share on this afternoon? I understand that there’s a certain amount of frustration inherent in any serial editing process, but trying to get my spirits up on a hard day. A client contact requested substantial structural changes to a report a few weeks ago. I’m not in a position to say no (at least not without significant supervisor buy-in) but I tried to gently explain what the consequences of certain edits would be, or how certain revisions would be at cross-purposes with one another (we can certainly move up point C before point A, but keep in mind that you’ve advised us that you’d like us to get to point B far more quickly). Client stressed that they wanted the edits, and so I pushed and made them during a really busy week.

    I’ve now received another round of comments, and the client would like the report largely restored to how it was before, for largely the same reasons we discussed. I’d normally find that validating, but the last round of changes required quite a bit of work (including an all-nighter). Not sure what I could have done differently given the difference in hierarchy (and these situations really are inevitable)… but argh.

    • Anonymous

      Are you getting paid for the time spent editing? If so, I would just tell myself I am getting paid for this and ultimately it shows that I was right. If it takes a round of substantial edits back and forth to make the client and boss comfortable, then that is what it takes. It also gives you some experience you can draw on next time.

    • Monday

      That’s so annoying! Hopefully you kept the old version. Yes, this happens to everyone, and usually you don’t even get the satisfaction of the person admitting you were right.

    • Clementine

      So frustrating and I’ve Def been the one digging in my Sent box for the older version.

      If we are reverting a big passage, I usually say ‘yeah, I read it both ways and I think your first instinct was right. I’m glad we explored our options because I’m feeling confident with where we landed.’

    • anon

      I”m sorry. That’s completely annoying, and I don’t think there’s anything you can do about it.

    • Anon

      So sorry and have been there recently. There’s no advice or way to avoid this – some clients are just like this, most are not. At the same time, it can be dangerous for a demanding client to think you’ll bend over backwards at their every whim, so may be worth filling in the senior person on the team that this happened because next time they may want to hear that this is happening and intervene.

  5. Adult Futon?

    May ask this tomorrow if responses are thin this afternoon, but is there such thing as a grown up futon? I’ve only had futons in the context of college apartment living and….blech.

    We have an extra bedroom that is pretty small and has been a guest room to date. We have a full bed in there that takes up the majority of the floor space though not all. MIL visits a total of 5 nights/year and I want to reclaim it as my peloton room. I’m thinking a futon/daybed situation might be best.

    I’ve seen some on Wayfair and when they fold down flat, they seem really lumpy looking? A big seam for sure in the middle from where it folds. Should I be thinking of something else?

    • Clementine

      What about a Murphy bed? They have cabinets which have beds fold out of them – I would totally look at one of those.

    • Anon

      Does it have to become a full size bed? If not, what about a daybed? There are also lots of nice cabinet type murphy beds.

    • Anon

      I have yet to try a fold out futon I find comfortable, but there are decent daybeds or twin beds. Especially if you don’t anticipate couples visiting, a small regular bed is probably better. I’d personally prefer sleeping on a twin bed than on a futon by far, though I’m sure others might have different preferences.

      • Cb

        Anne from In Residence blog had the coolest day bed/guest bed situation in her office a few months back. I bought a trundle that pops up into a king and I hate it, no under bed storage, there’s a big gap in the middle and the mattresses are crap. I should have just gotten another one of the Hemnes that is in my son’s room and upgraded the mattress.

      • OP

        Thanks. Idk why Sleeper Sofa didn’t cross my brain as a search keyword. Twin sleeper sofas are a thing – who knew!

        It’s actually DH that’s encouraging the conversion from “MIL’s room”/guest room to something more compact so the Peloton can leave our master and have a better long-term home. We rarely have couples visit, though we have two air mattresses so, shrug, I guess? I’m tired of having a room for people who hypothetically might visit, and when they do it’s for < 2% of the days in a year.

        • Anon2

          I once read that you are to design your house for the way you live 360 days out of the year. I too had no need for a full-time guest room. I store the guest mattress in a walk-in closet and purchased a foldable platform bed frame that I store in another closest. I set them up in what is now my yoga room as needed.

    • No Face

      I have an IKEA Hemnes daybed in a guest room. It’s a twin most of the time, but I can expand to a queen for guests.

      Those storage cabinet Murphy beds are cool but I’ve never slept on one.

    • Trish

      It isn’t about whether it is grown up or not since many people don’t have the room or money for a regular bed. The only issue I see is that MIL may be older and it would be really hard for her to sleep in a futon. If that is the case, perhaps a topper would work.

    • Anon

      My mom had a fold-out couch from La-z-boy and it was actually really comfortable, I slept on it many times.

    • Duckles

      I got a pull out couch from Joybird. It seems more comfortable than a futon/convertible bc there’s no crack in the cushions and looks like a nice couch. Only downsides are it’s expensive and would be heavy to move if you do.

    • Anon

      Picture an old house with a grand piano that takes up the entire living room. Picture an upstairs with narrow old hallways and narrow doorways. Now picture that one of these rooms serves double duty as a tv-watching room and occasional guest bedroom (or more recently, COVID isolation room.)

      That’s my house. The only bed/couch combo that will fit in there is a futon. We tried a flat fold foam ikea thing but it was equally uncomfortable as a couch and a bed. So now we have a futon. Having recently been the one with COVID, I can confirm that it’s comfortable as a bed with an egg crate thingy on top under the sheet. It’s a very comfortable couch.

      I got it from a place called the futon shop. I don’t know if it’s local or a national chain. The frame is solid hardwood and the mattress is wool and cotton only. It’s super heavy (yes, it took three people to carry the mattress upstairs!) but it’s the best one I could find. We have a thick textured cotton cover on it that looks like upholstery. I’ve had it for about 7 years and probably an equal number of houseguests and it has been fine. I don’t think anyone wants to move in and sleep there permanently, but I don’t want them to do that either, so it seems to serve its purpose.

      It’s 99% used as a couch anyway.

      • An.On.

        Yes, to all of the above. I have a futon couch like the ones at the Futon Shop – full sized futon when unfolded (no crease), and then you take the futon off and jiggle the frame into a sitting position and put the futon back on. I used it as a bed for years and then as a couch for even more years. The two worst issues for me were that it was so heavy it’s really really hard for me as a smallish lady to move it into the “couch” position by myself, and it wasn’t as soft as I typically like my mattresses, so I ditto the above comment about a foam topper when used as a bed. However – very sturdy, and even in couch mode can be slept on semi-decently. Mine has a suede-like cover on it that’s super easy to spot clean which is great because last time I took the cover off to wash and put it back on again was like wrestling a greased pig.

    • NYNY

      My home office doubles as a guest room, but I’ve never wanted to commit to putting a bed in it because it would take a lot of space and show in my zoom calls. We were moving an old sleeper sofa out of another room and tried to put in my office, but the hallway was too narrow to get it in here. So up to now, our guests have slept on a queen air mattress. But just last week, I saw that Burrow designed a new sleeper sofa specifically for spaces like this, and I’m ordering it this week.

      https://burrow.com/shift-fabric/sleeper-sofa?sku=FLRST-SF-SHF-S2-A2-C0-NB-DW

      • Anom

        Pls report back on this if you get it. I’m trying to figure out a daybed type solution in my DH’s home office.

      • anon

        I have a couch like this, for the same reasons you ordered yours. As a bed, it’s very comfortable…as a couch, not so much. But the structure of yours looks better than mine.

  7. Anon

    I’ll be traveling to Auckland for a week later this month. Any recommendations on things to check out, food, drinks and shopping?
    Thank you

    • Meara

      If you’re not going to the women’s World Cup, check it out! Otherwise no suggestions but see you there!

    • anonshmanon

      If you rent a car, the Waitakere Ranges are super close and really nice for bushwalk hiking (even if it drizzles). Ferries from the harbor go to Waiheke Island (wine tasting), and Rangitoto Island (native birds and flora). I like the Auckland Art Gallery. Gailbraith’s is an oldschool pub, but any hole in the wall should have great fish and chips. Creative and Brave is a little chain of homeware stuff that you’ll find in a couple of the bigger malls, and they have cute souvenirs, like handmade coffee cups with kiwibirds etc.

    • Annie Nominous

      There is an Icebreaker outlet near the airport. It’s worth checking out.

  8. Finch

    London calling! Tips on best areas to stay in London mid-August for a family of good walkers, and tweens? All of tips and insight for DC with tweens from this hive were pure gold. We’re first-timers and limited to 5 days, thank you!

        • Anon

          We stayed in Kensington with our similarly kids and liked it. The Tower of London was a big hit with them, as was Harry Potter studios.

          • Anon

            +1 to the Tower of London. We did a walking tour that included the Tower and St Paul’s cathedral. Separately we went to Westminster Abbey. Any place with actual crypts is gross/exciting to tweens.

            They also loved Abbey Road and Piccadilly Circus and the tube. They were meh on our walk through the Buckminster palace area, but we happened to be there on an unusually hot day.

    • anon

      No advice on best area to stay, but I leaned into my kids’ interests, so we did Harry Potter studio tour and splurged on a sunrise tour of Stonehenge. If you do Stonehenge, highly recommend the sunrise tour, but I would not have done Stonehenge at all if the kids hadn’t wanted to. I would also have done Bath instead of Windsor castle, which we generally found to be boring.

      • Finch

        Thanks! Stonehenge at sunrise sounds amazing actually-and Bath over Windsor is a good tip.

    • Nylongirl

      We did a vrbo in Chelsea, loved the space, but super spendy. It’s hard to find a reasonable place for 5 to sleep in London…. We did the day trip of Stonehenge, Oxford, & Windsor out of Victoria Station. We liked getting out of London.

    • Anonie

      Ah just recently returned from a trip and it is interesting to read the different opinions above. My husband and I LOVED both Bath and Windsor Castle. In agreement with everyone that Tower of London was super fun! You can book a tea boat cruise on the Thames and several of the companies that operate these boats have docks right next to Tower of London. Schedule your tea boat tour for right before or right after your visit to Tower of London in order to maximize your time. If anyone in your group happens to like Bridgerton (I realize the show probably isn’t age appropriate for most tweens), there is a great walking tour in Bath of film sites AND Bridgerton actor Luke Newton is currently performing in London at a small not-for-profit theater called Park Theatre in a show called Shape of Things. Really darkly funny show! Also, if you want a fine dining experience at a reasonable-ish price for the quality, we loved our dinner at Clos Maggiore in Covent Garden and the atmosphere is gorgeous. Oh and our walking tour of Westminster was awesome and well worth it.

      While I have mixed feelings on the actual hotel we stayed at in London, we found it very convenient to stay near Victoria Station. The hotel in Bath was a dream if anyone wants a recommendation!

  9. Duckles

    If your sig other had a side hustle doing services you use (think, dog grooming/tattoo artist/ chauffeuring) and agreed to do it for you, would you pay them for it? Possibly relevant facts:
    -we don’t live together
    -it blocks their calendar from accepting a paying client at that time (though it’s not a given they would have had a client at that time).
    -it’s a minor inconvenience for them to do it but no money out of pocket and they generally enjoy doing it
    -We’re talking me taking probably 2-3 slots a year for something sig other does probably 100 times a year

    I have told mine I would pay their normal rate so they do not lose out on cash for helping me out, but it still feels kind of weird.

    • Moose

      If you offered out of the goodness of your heart/understanding of their time and effort and budget, and they accepted, that’s fine. Once you have offered I don’t think you can rescind, unless THEY offer to do it for free. If you’re uncomfortable with it, I would just use someone else.
      It’s not weird if you’re OK with it. Me and my friends are in an income bracket where we don’t have a lot of extra funds, so I can see us paying each other for services like you describe – we don’t assume things can be done gratis.

    • Vicky Austin

      I would offer to pay up front and let them accept me more or less as a paying client.

      (This is what I do when I ask my BFF’s husband a plumbing question.)

    • Anon

      I never assume I’m getting services for free from friends or a person I’m not married to (even then, I wouldn’t abuse it!) Especially since you offered, I don’t think you can take it back. I actually would have offered the full rate, assuming they’d come back with a “friend rate,” which is what usually happens in my circle. My thinking is that I don’t want my friends or SO to think I don’t value their work. I also hate it when clients act like my work isn’t worth what I charge. And I’m assuming this is for a discretionary thing, so there’s that aspect as well.

      My SO is a chef. I have never asked or expected him to cook meals for my friends/parties. Sometimes we’ll host as a couple, but it just feels a little weird to me to ask him to perform his job for me for no pay, I guess.

      • Anon

        That’s nice of you.

        I’m a violinist as a side gig, and for years I used to play at weddings/parties/restaurants. I actually get paid more per hour doing that than I every did at my “real” job (!). All of my friends regularly wanted me to play for their “home concert” or wedding, and never ever offered to pay me. Ah, to be young….
        Well, one actually offered to pay me and gave me a bread maker. For playing her wedding. hmmmmmmmmmmmm…..

        • Anon

          Oh wow! That really stinks. I’m embarrassed for your friend who did the bread machine payment!!

          I’m the Anon above and will note that my SO does not ask his friends in similar professions to provide services for free or at a discounted rate (though they do often discount for each other). Which leads me to believe that they find it annoying when people do this.

    • Anonymous

      Yes, absolutely.
      Unless they have specifically told you they would do it as a favor for free, or turns down your offer of payment, they should be paid.

    • Betsy

      I would not, especially since you said it’s only a few times per year. Couples do things for each other.

    • An.On.

      For me this is when I’d offer to take them out to dinner/concert/etc as a token of appreciation.

    • AIMS

      If we are being honest, I might offer but expect them to say no. I would then treat them to something nice or buy something like a nice bottle of whisky (or something else they liked) as a way of saying thanks. But honestly I would find it weird to have that kind of transactional experience with someone I was dating. I think it might be different if it was something that involved materials – I would obviously be happy to purchase/pay for the costs of those. So if, e.g., SO had a side gig as a painter and offered to paint my house, I would insist on buying the paint. I totally understand not wanting to take advantage of someone and why you offer, and for that reason I would not ask my SO to, e.g., walk my dog or the like on a regular basis. I think it’s just easier not to mix the two things. If they offer to do it because they want to, that’s different and I don’t think that needs to be monetized.

    • Anonymous

      It depends on the relationship and the task. If it’s not time consuming and it’s twice a year then I would probably expect them to do it at cost. If it’s time consuming and frequent then I’d expect to pay close to if not equal to their normal rate.

      Example: a dear friend has a side hustle making decorative cookies. If a close friend asks her to make like <10 cookies for a one-off then she’ll do it at cost. But if you want her to make dozens then you’d better pay her normal rate, it’s crazy time consuming even if it’s only once a year.

    • Anon

      No, I wouldn’t pay them but I would probably pay for something they enjoy like an expensive dinner or tickets to an expensive event to show my appreciation.

  10. Cb

    Hooray! I negotiated, held firm in the face of push back, and I think it’s worked!! Waiting on the letter from HR.

      • Cb

        Yep, offer after 5 on Monday, salary 24 hours later… ridiculous process but that’s what happens when you make people who never wanted to be managers manage (academia).
        Won’t celebrate til I get my HR letter but tentatively optimistic that I’ll be trading in my hellish commute for an awful one!

  11. Food for Brooklyn

    Any ideas for a last minute unique/tasty food birthday gift that I can either send quickly (or can send an email gift certificate) for someone in Brooklyn?

    I actually ordered him a large set of Omsom, after reading about it here, but they messed up – didn’t send it and cancelled it (!?), and they have no phone contact numbers. So now his birthday is tomorrow and I got nothing… :(

    He loves food, currently doing a specialty pizza quest throughout NYC, and cooks a lot himself. Lots of Asian flavors, but loves anything from good bread and a good bourbon to …. anything delicious.

    • Anonymous

      A friend sent me pack of Taiwanese grown dried fruit from Yunhai last winter and I absolutely loved it. They also have other Taiwanese cooking items sold online. Their main retail shop is based in Brooklyn – not sure if they have giftcards on their website but maybe worth reaching out to see if they can set your friend up with a gift certificate?

    • NYNY

      Restaurant gift card? Bonnie’s is a hip Cantonese spot in Williamsburg that offers e-gift cards. (bonniesbrooklyn.com)

    • AIMS

      Depends on where they live in Brooklyn. At this point in time, your best bet would be to search for something that will deliver in their area, which is honestly most places in NY (but BK is HUGE). Or – less exciting maybe but still could be great – look up a Whole Foods that delivers in their area and you can send a whole bunch of speciality foods from there.

      Or look up a list of best pizza places, find one that offers online gift cards and send a GC. You can also look at the NY Mag 33 summer food adventures list for inspiration.

      I wouldn’t send Goldbelly or the like. You probably won’t get it there in time at this point and it’s just not as good as most of what you can easily get around here fresh.

      • AIMS

        Oh and this may only work if you know they don’t have plans and/or if you can enlist an accomplice but a friend of mine once ordered me a dinner, drinks inc., from a local neighborhood restaurant and had it delivered to mark a celebration. It was sweet.

        Also, you can call a local liquor store to deliver something special.

    • Anon

      Thanks so much for all of your helpful suggestions. I ordered him a couple great things based on your ideas.

      I’m so disappointed with Omsom …. I should have been more warry when the last posts from you guys about this small mail order Asian inspired food/sauce/noodle company were less enthusiastic. Terrible customer service, unreachable when they make mistakes. Who has the time to deal with that anymore. oh well

  12. Anonymous

    Gardeners – what pots do you like best for outside (both in terms of plastic/ceramic/self-watering as well as brands/stores).

    Also, does anyone know where I can get a pot for an indoor orchid that has outgrown its 7″ pot? everything seems smaller than that. TIA!

    • anon

      For outside, I prefer ceramic or a recycled material. They hit that sweet spot between allowing for drainage without baking the plants, which can be an issue with terra cotta. I don’t have many plastic pots; they tend to dry out pretty quickly and fade after only a few seasons. I have 1 or 2 self-watering containers and haven’t found them to be significantly better than a normal container, but YMMV. Some gardeners love them.

      • anon

        Oh, and I greatly prefer to buy my containers at brick and mortar stores. Sometimes that’s a local nursery, sometimes it’s a big box store. I don’t discriminate. It can be very hard for me to figure out the scale of a container without seeing it in person. Same with how thick the material is and the overall quality.

    • Anon

      Oh, and I greatly prefer to buy my containers at brick and mortar stores. Sometimes that’s a local nursery, sometimes it’s a big box store. I don’t discriminate. It can be very hard for me to figure out the scale of a container without seeing it in person. Same with how thick the material is and the overall quality.

        • anon

          I’m the first poster, and I do love the look of aged terracotta, for sure. I’m curious how ya’ll have handled the issue with them drying out quickly and/or holding up during thunderstorms. I have lost a couple of pots to thunderstorms with 60+ mph winds.

          • Anon

            I’m in the Bay Area (Berkeley) at the mouth of the bay. I water every day during hot spells, but they don’t happen often, and thunderstorms are a rarity. We did have a wind storm that made the national news this spring but my pots were all fine. Lost a couple of tree branches, though.

          • AIMS

            I’m not sure that anything recommended here would withstand 60 MPH winds though so I think that’s not really a pot question. At least if this breaks it’s easy to replace and not more plastic for the landfill?

            Also, not sure about the drying out but when I had a bunch of plants on a hot south facing balcony, I didn’t notice the ones in plastic doing that much better than the ones in clay pots. I just use saucers/plates with both and left extra water there for the plants to drink if it was a really hot day out.

  13. anon

    I feel dumb asking this, but is Lululemon for a 40-something who works out regularly but doesn’t have a sculpted body? I’m a tall-ish size 14 these days; hoping to eventually get back to a size 12. The products are cute and the quality seems to be there, but I also don’t want to be that sad middle-aged woman who is trying to pull off styles clearly meant for younger women. Sorry, hate to say that, but it’s where I’m at.

    • DC Pandas

      Yes! Lululemon, among other athleisure, is excellent on a variety of bodies. Some things to keep in mind: definitely size up for leggings in thin material & light colors, as they can end up a bit see-through otherwise; go in-person if you can to try on a variety of colors/styles; and don’t be afraid to return anything that you end up not enjoying.
      If your concern is visible cellulite showing through the pants, I recommend avoiding the “align” materials as in lighter solids, and trying them in darker solids or patterns.

    • Anonymous

      It’s for you I think. It’s not trendy anymore & a bit pricey for 20-somethings.

      • Anonymous

        Hahahahaha. I sure see it on enough 20-somethings so I think it’s “trendy” in the popular sense, but I am assuming you mean TikTokers are not shilling it?

    • BeenThatGuy

      I’m almost 47, and a size 12/14 also (although more sculpted than you describe yourself – former Crossfitter/heavy lifter), and I wear Lululemon. I do not wear their crop tops nor do I wear their sports bras (I need more support). Their leggings are good. I don’t say great because my newest pair, which feel like silk on my legs, also make me look like I’ve urinated on myself during my workout (if you know, you know). For $125, I expect more wicking. That said, I never feel like a sad middle-aged woman trying to look younger in Lululemon.

    • eertmeert

      I love their align leggings. I stick to darker colors and patterns, since they show a bit less. Black, navy blue, olive, dark wine, camo, their diamond dye are all great. Every time I’ve opted for a lighter color all I see is my cellulite and I return it asap. That’s me though – I never notice anyone else’s cellulite, it’s just me being self-conscious.
      I always wash on cold with a bio-enzyme booster and hang to dry. You can tumble dry but I prefer not to, and it keeps them fresh.
      I am 40-something, does pilates 3 – 4 times a week and not scultpted.
      I also like the Wunder Train ones but I they are a bit thick for me during the summer months.

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