Splurge Monday’s Workwear Report: Grain de Poudre Skirt
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Our daily workwear reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices.
Years ago, I had a skirt in this color that I bought on a lark and ended up wearing it much more frequently than I would have expected. It paired beautifully with neutrals like ivory and gray, but it also looked great with burgundy, navy, and more prints than I would have expected.
While pencil skirts aren’t going to make anyone’s trend boards for 2025, they’re never out of style in a formal business setting, and this one from Saint Laurent would be a timeless addition to any closet.
The skirt is $2,700 at NET-A-PORTER and comes in French sizes 34-42. It also comes in black and red.
Sales of note for 10/24
- Nordstrom – End of season sale, 10,000+ new markdowns
- Ann Taylor – 30% off your entire purchase including suits
- Banana Republic Factory – 40-60% off everything + take 25% off (if you don't have StyleCash to spend)
- Boden – 10% off new womenswear styles with code
- The Fold – Up to 25% off with their Workwear Mix and Match offer
- J.Crew – 30% off your purchase with J.Crew Passport
- J.Crew Factory – Extra 15% off $100+ and extra 20% off 125+ — and take an extra 60% off clearance with code
- M.M.LaFleur – Fall style event! 25% off $500+, 30% off $750+ — try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off
- Nordstrom Rack – Up to 70% off new markdowns, including Boss, L'Agence, Reiss, Spnx, and Veronica Beard
- Soma -Friends & Family Event, 25% off Entire Purchase – readers love Cool Nights PJs and these no-VPL panties
- Talbots – 50% off one item (regular price) and 30% off everything else
is there a point to paying for linked in? it would be nice to see who looks at my profile but if that’s the only tangible benefit than i probably wouldn’t bother. I am not actively job searching but definitely keep my eye out for opportunities and have been attempting to be a little more active on the site (like was at a conference last week and posted it, that sort of thing)
I use LinkedIn a lot and do not pay for it. I do a lot of bus dev, go to a lot of conferences, etc., and a lot of my client base uses LI. I can do everything I want to do without paying for it. Every once in a while it will offer a month of Premium for free, have you tried that? I always opt in, but cancel before I get charged because while it’s fun to see who looked at me, it’s not particularly helpful to me.
What is the new Lean In or NGDGtCO? Both feel outdated now although I liked them when I was younger.
Someone else here mentioned What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, and I found it a helpful reset.
I just read How Women Rise, which is co-authored by the same person who wrote What Got You Here(…) and I thought it was insightful. I recognized pretty much all of the behaviors/thought patterns in myself. I also read Likeable Badass recently and enjoyed it. Currently reading Smart Collaboration.
I think it must be How Women Rise, because I’ve seen multiple work-related book clubs read it.
I have a 12+ hour flight coming up that numerous clients and contacts will also be on. Suggestions on what to wear that is comfortable but looks decent? Footwear? I don’t want to wear athletic type clothing, but also am nervous about being uncomfortable or overheated and something more formal.
I actually find a long dress or skirt with elastic waist and sweater comfortable to fly in, make sure it’s long enough to cover your legs on the seat. you can wear on to the plane whatever shoes look good and them slide them off and put knee socks on if its cold. That said i really think unless you are flying with my mother in law (who is both old and a snob) i think anyone who is currently working thinks it’s ok to fly in casual clothes so long as they are neat. they also sell lots of different pants that look like real pants but are really jersey or knit. i always fly in socks but you could wear sneakers, boots, loafers, whatever you want to have on the other end.
There’s a lot of suiting in ponte/stretch fabric, also seems to be the golden age of sweater blazers too. Would something like that work? As far as footwear, what shoes do you find comfortable? I have no problem with long flights in loafers, but a lot of people would consider them uncomfortable.
I usually feel like I’m wearing a costume when in a suit, but I just bought these pants with matching blazer in ponte, and am comfortable and not self conscious for the first time
https://liverpoolstyle.com/products/kelsey-trouser-325?variant=52023166730607
Ponte trousers, knee socks, loafers, a blouse that isn’t fussy, and a sweater blazer. Perhaps a big, lightweight scarf that you can use as a blanket if you get chilled on the flight.
Good luck; that is a long flight.
FWIW, I have a c-suite role, fly with others after events from time to time and no one dresses up for these. It’s not when I’d reach for my fattier things, but I’m wearing normal plane clothes. And sneakers.
I agree. I regularly fly on 12+hr flights with colleagues (not clients though), and people would find it very odd if you came dressed up. Most women wear sport/lounge clothes (e.g. ponte pants, something like spanks air essentials), but make sure they are clean and well-kept, or occasionally jeans and a sweater.
My experience too. I just took a longer flight with colleagues and contacts after a morning of meetings last week, and we all changed into more comfortable clothes for the plane.
+1. For long haul flights I like an all black athleisure outfit. Short sleeve shirt, cardigan or light jacket with pockets, and joggers (fitted at the ankle so the hem doesn’t drag on the bathroom floor). As long as your clothes are in good condition they don’t need to be business casual.
*Rattier things
Talbots has a couple lines for this. Scroll past the nursing home leisurewear to the Passport collection and then on further down. You could just search for “travel” or “passport” too. None of it wrinkles.
https://www.talbots.com/clothing/collections/travel-capsules?start=0&sz=72
Spanx Air Essentials – don’t be turned off by Spanx; they aren’t constrictive.
I agree, the Air Essentials line is great.
I’m in this situation fairly often and people wear nice, appropriate athleisure or travel clothes. But we know its a long flight, no one wants to interact on this flight. As long as its clean and in good condition that’s enough.
I’ve recently had a lot of luck buying work clothes at TJ Maxx or Marshalls. It’s definitely more of a gamble because they won’t have all sizes etc but you also do get to see more brands. Probably equivalent to shopping at a Macys but weirdly the one near me doesn’t have a good work clothes equivalent anymore. And the prices are great compared to mall stores for what seems like better quality.
nice to hear. i used to get a lot of stuff at both and the last few times i went in they were almost entirely “gifts” and “housewares” and virtually no clothes and what they had looked wildly picked over. in the past i used to get great stuff there (thinking of you theory fall jacket and vince cashmere sweater) as well as no name but functional work clothes.
I am an unabashed Maxxinista, and agree that the store inventory has been lacking lately. I’m sure it’s an economic indicator of some kind. I usually shop TJMaxx and Nordstrom Rack online – easier to filter and sort.
True, it varies a lot. I got an Anne Klein blazer, Cristiano Siriano pants (I didn’t know they made work-ish pants?), and a no-name-but-claims-its-Italian lady jacket.
I shop these brands online.
Are there any places that can take old-timey pictures that are on sticky-sheet picture books and scan them in so you can have copies to give to siblings? Can they duplicate the book format or just do as pictures? Not sure what is good or even possible IRL.
You lost me at sticky-sheet picture books. Picture books like the kind from Snapfish, check. Old-fashioned photo albums, check. But no idea what a sticky-sheet picture book is, unless you mean you want a sheet of stickers, like the Avery office labels?
See if you find an old-timey picture place that gives you the digital file. Then you can print it up however you want.
Not the OP, but I assume they mean the grippy-page photo albums where you press the pictures to the semi-sticky page, then cover with a clear film to hold in the photos.
OH. She’s asking about *antique* photos in photo albums that she wants duplicated. Good night. I thought she wanted to dress her family up like cowboys for their Christmas card – that’s the only thing “old-timey” means to me.
OP here and thank you for helping clarify. Yes, these are the old-style ones where pictures may have binded permanently to the sticky backing (so you can’t even really confirm that that is Great-Uncle Phil and your Great-Grands on a covered wagon, etc.) IDK the best way to try to copy these and distribute out. It could just be spending a week at Kinko’s trying to make color copies of old photos.
I wouldn’t call these antique photos, just old. I had a photo album like this when I was a kid in the 80s, and, given the state of technology involved, I doubt they existed much before (or after) that. It’s definitely not ideal for preserving photos.
Don’t feel too badly, Anon at 9:29. I thought the same thing, too.
I had the same thought. She’s talking about albums that were common in the 80s and 90s. I just take photos of the photos on my iPhone.
You can still get these photo albums on Etsy, I just got a few because they’re my preferred type for different picture sizes.
For the stuck photos, if you let them sit a few years longer the sticky binding may very well just crumble to dust and you will be able to read the backs again.
Well, I didn’t know my photos from the 90s (and into the early aughts) count as “old-timey”.
This 1982 millennial is hiding now so no one can see my grey hair…
If you have access to a good scanner you can scan the pics in yourself, upload to any of the photo book platforms that are ubiquitous these days, and arrange however you like.
I have also had success taking physical photos to a decent print shop near me and having them do all of this for me. The print shop waived their usual set-up fee since I send a lot of jobs to them for work; otherwise the up front cost would have been somewhat prohibitive for such a small project. The quality was fantastic, though.
This is a good idea. Can maybe just copy the excellent ones.
I was utterly baffled by this comment and reread it several times wondering what kinds of photos you wanted to have taken. But I wonder if you mean that you have family photos that have been put into an album, the kind with sticky pages (this seems irrelevant, unless you’re saying that trying to remove them from the album would damage them). And you want to scan the photos and make more photos to give to your siblings?
If so, yes, there are places. Or you can buy a scanner. Or take photos of the photos with your phone and have those printed.
^Not the OP but having done this, the plastic sheet makes a lot of glare in many regular scanners, which is why this is relevant info!
You just pull the plastic sheet back.
I have inherited some really old albums that the plastic sheet has yellowed and is really stuck on..if you try to pull it back i think it will rip the pictures.
Then it becomes hard to use any sort of scanner thought. It’s like you need a scalpel to extract each photo from the sticky backing surrounding it.
Soak them off in water – photo paper is designed to get wet
In older books (1980’s not 1930’s or anything), I found the plastic itself started ripping and shattering when I tried to pull it back. I wanted to keep the original books in good shape, so I just scanned with the plastic still on.
I’ve looked into this before and the company i considered was everpresent. I have not done it though, so can’t attest to quality.
I think it should exists, because it’s technically feasible – ~5 years ago there was phone software (I used android photoscan) that takes multiple pictures of a photo from different angles, then edits them together to remove the glare. It worked pretty well, although I had to try some of the ones that I couldn’t take out of the plastic a few times, and was slow. If it existed as a consumer app then, I’m sure professional services that do the same can exist.
omg it’s like The Skirt only it’s $2500! memories…
Same! I’ve started wearing skirts again and even have a lined wool pencil skirt (sized up so I can eat lunch in it though). Nostalgia!
Haha, that’s what I thought. My 2010 brain would LOVE this. My 2025 brain would prefer a chair in that colour.
Cross-post. Just a PSA to not brush off suspicious lumps in your breast just because you’re pregnant, postpartum, and/or breastfeeding. I had one myself that fortunately did turn out to be nothing on biopsy, but I just watched the professional snowboarder Kimmy Fasani’s documentary and she had stage III inflammatory breast cancer that she brushed off as a clogged duct since she was 37, breastfeeding her second son, and living a healthy lifestyle. Now she advocates for self-exams (and not going into denial because of lifestyle) because that’s how she eventually realized something was abnormal. Just thought I’d pass it on. It’s also a good documentary – it’s more about the transition to becoming a mother than cancer.
This myth that living a “healthy” lifestyle protects you from cancer needs to die. Newsflash – it doesn’t keep it from happening. It does increase your chances of a successful surgery and an easier recovery.
That’s exactly what she says her doctor told her too.
There’s robust scientific evidence that “lifestyle” factors do absolutely protect you from several forms cancer, in that incidence rates are higher/lower over population-level samples — it’s not *just* that it increases ability to tolerate treatment.
The myth is that “healthy lifestyle = a protective factor” translates to “If you do X, you will *never* get cancer” or “if you got cancer, it *must* be because of Y”. Protective factors don’t work that way.
Yes, the fact that we can do everything right and still get cancer doesn’t mean we should all start smoking (!).
No one is saying that, but the point is that this professional snowboarder delayed getting care for over six months because she thought it couldn’t happen to her even though she noticed something suspicious.
+1.
It can though. The WHO estimates that 30-50% of cancers are preventable through lifestyle modifications. A healthy lifestyle does not eliminate your risk of cancer, but it certainly does decrease your overall risk.
This. People always accept that not smoking reduces your lung cancer risk but are loathe to accept the evidence on reducing risk via other lifestyle factors like weight, exercise, and alcohol. None of it eliminates risk that that’s why it is so important not to overlook symptoms.
Gah. No one is saying don’t do that. What I’m saying above is is that it does not actually PREVENT. It reduces risk. Do you know how victim-blamey it sounds to tell people that if I had weighed 135 instead of a 140 pounds and had one more kale salad I wouldn’t have gotten cancer in my 30s?
IDK. My mother had an impeccable diet and no risk factors. Any abdominal cancer, like pancreatic cancer, is hard to screen for and can be found when it’s too late to do much about. If you think about how we’re always making new cells, once something goes wrong, it can go really wrong. It just goes wrong more often and sooner if you through enough time and risk factors at your life.
Is it true that bedroom sets are not really done any more? We want to invest in a nice wood bed. But then what do we do for bedside tables and bureau? I’ll admit that when I see the full bedroom sets it does look a little off… like a hotel room kind of. I know how to mix and match if the bed is upholstered, but can’t figure out what materials the other items should be if the bed is wood. Any tips? Only furniture in the room is bed, night stands, and dresser, room is roughly 12×12 so the furniture will all be adjacent visually.
Wood in complementary tones or colors (like, your bed is gray stained? nightstands are ivory), or mix in metal, stone, or glass finishes. A designer at wherever you’re shopping should be able to help with “coordinated but not matchy.”
It can all still be wood. You can use different color woods for the nightstands, or painted, or with accents like rattan, metal, etc. I’d go to a site like houzz and just start looking at photos of bedrooms, paying attention to what the nightstands and dressers look like, which ones match, which ones don’t. You’ll start training your eye to notice how you can put them together.
Furniture sets for any room aren’t done anymore. You could do painted or a different wood tone or a different style. Or depending on your style, you could do a skirted table (popular with a certain preppy set). Try to decide on something to pull your pieces together – shape, color, etc.
For example, our room has a modern (as in 2020s) wood canopy bed, skirted side tables, and our two dressers are antique. Everything in the room is roughly midtone, so visually they go, but one of the dressers is from 1720 and the other is from 1800 and like I said, a 2020s bed.
We have a bed with integrated bedside tables so they are low (annoyingly so) and unobtrusive. We have those umbra invisible bookshelves and anglepoise wall lamps by each side so they don’t need to hold much beyond a cup of tea.
But if I was getting a new bed, I’d go vintage for tables, and not worry about them matching. My new life policy is no new furniture (except for Billy bookcases b/c nothing can match that storage and functionality).
I don’t have matched sets of furniture anywhere else in my house, but we did do a real wood matched set in the master bedroom. Folks rarely see our bedroom, and it looks pretty classic to my eye. No regrets 4 years in.
I have a walnut headboard and my night tables are a very dark green. I also looked at metal nightstands, like the metalwork ones from west elm. My dresser is a vintage walnut wood dresser. I also have a lacquered desk I use as a vanity.
So we have a walnut bed from Article, vintage MCM nightstands and a large walnut dresser with white drawers that I got from a refinisher on marketplace. It all matches without being too matchy, and although I know that some people hate painted wood the white helps break down the mass of dark wood. I thought of mixing wood tones but couldn’t get it to look right (for my space – other people do it well!).
We have a mission style bureau and somewhat worn mission style nightstand from an old matchy-matchy set, with a bed that’s a similar wood tone but not matched, a painted wood nightstand on the other side of the bed, and an upholstered love seat w/ gold legs. The whole thing works pretty well.
Definitely no matching sets. My bed is upholstered, my nightstands are a creamy white. I don’t have a dresser but a bench at the end of my bed is white oak & rattan.
I grew up going to church and because I have a ne’er-do-well sibling, always struggled with the story of the Prodigal Son. I’m still struggling with it, but this wrinkle is different: the parent who bailed out sibling has died and the other parent (who was in the dark the whole time) is struggling with this now. IDK if there is anything out there good / helpful on this topic, much less talking about it from the parent perspective (from the sibling perspective, I still struggle to do well, but I’m here to try to support my remaining parent and recognize that sibling is 50 and is continuing to make her own bad choices and just focusing on just keeping my life with job-teens-eldercare from running off the rails).
What really helped me with this was some of the Al-Anon stuff. I feel like I always have had some level of guilt/shouldered some blame that somehow if I had done things differently, I would have gotten different outcomes? Or that if I were a better X or better at Y, it would be ‘better’.
Somebody gave me an AlAnon book when I was in my early 20’s and it just helped me realize that nothing I was doing or not doing was going to ‘fix it’.
When I was dealing with someone with BPD, I found the book ‘Stop Walking on Eggshells’ helpful.
You have my sympathy. It’s something I discuss with my therapist as I’m angry at both my enabling parent (who gave my my sibling close to $800k over the last few years) and my sibling for happily taking the funds despite having a good job (sibling thinks the world owes them fancy cars/jewelry/clothing/etc and outspends their salary). On good days I end up with the ‘I wouldn’t want siblings life and I’m glad I can stand on my own two feet’. On bad days I vent to my therapist/friends who are similarly baffled at the situation.
I also have a very distant/cold relationship with sibling/enabling parent, both of whom ‘don’t understand’ why we aren’t closer.
My spouse has a sibling who was supported for far too long by one of their parents (behind the back of the other). When that other parent died, the remaining parent suddenly realized they did not have the means to support their own self and their adult child, and the adult child had to fend for herself for the first time. It was a rough year, but she actually came out just fine on the other end.
What helped the remaining parent the most was having to face reality about their own finances, and hearing in no uncertain terms that my spouse was not going to bail out the parent if they chose to spend their entire retirement on the sibling.
I don’t think that parable is useful here, because it’s such a different scenario. The parable was meant to highlight the loving generosity of the father toward BOTH of the sons. Plus, the entitled son who demanded his inheritance before the father had died came home in full awareness of what he had done.
Your family’s situation is different. You’re full of resentment over your sister. Your dad is likely coming to an awareness of the secret-keeping in his marriage, of how his wife was doing things behind his back, and of how a loved daughter was using them. Different scenario to the parable.
Your dad is on his own journey related to his grief, his marriage, and his daughter. Peer-level help would be best for him, if he wants it. He could see if there are any resources or support groups at his assisted-living center.
For you, I second the recommendation on co-dependency info.
Exactly. A main point of the parable is that the father also loves the “dutiful” son and not just the prodigal. Henri Nouwen also argues persuasively that we should shift our focus from identifying with one of the sons and seek instead to emulate the father.
I used to do taxes, so I knew the amounts a couple could give to a person (and also kind-of give for that person’s kids), to the tune of 60-100K a year for a family of an adult and 3 kids. I thought my mom was always asking to make sure what it was each year because she didn’t way to pay gift taxes on $$$ she gave my sister, but it was really (I think back now) that she didn’t want my dad to know how much she was giving her and if he had had to sign a gift tax return, he’d have become aware. I am just dumbfounded that sibling thought that the money train would continue on autopilot after she died. Dad is maybe guilty of some willful blindness but sibling has always been horrible to him and has only maintained a relationship now for the checks she wants. And she goes from crisis to crisis and is very good at using her kids to get bailed out time and again.
I need some new YouTubers to follow. I focus on interesting lifestylers (Chelsea Callan), cleaning/organizing (Spacemaker Method), and good entertainment. Would love more follows on any of these, books in general or mysteries in particular, great cooking, and royal family gossip. Please send your recs my way. Starting to think about getting through the long cold winter and need some entertainment!
Dana K White – decluttering
i realize this is not your question…but find another source of entertainment!
Why? There’s nothing wrong with watching YouTube. I often put it on the background while I’m working or cleaning.
TF? Why? We watch a ton of YouTube – particularly PBS shows.
Could we just stop with the policing of other women’s choices? Sheesh.
I also follow Chelsea and these are other NYC lifestyle channels I follow:
Alexis Eldredge
Elle Garenne
Gail Schulman
Tisha Shrestha
These are some non-US people I follow. I feel like they have very cozy vlogs:
Cecilia Blomdahl
Sara B. Holt
Jeanne here
Ellen Miller
I also follow people with jobs/lives completely different than my corporate 9-5. Jordan Bauth and Brianna Marie work on cruise ships. Shealagh works as a showgirl in Vegas. The Crew Chef is a fun look at what it’s like to work on a fancy yacht.
Caroline Winkler mostly does interior design, but she’s fun to watch even if you’re not really into that.
Cecilia Blomdahl lives in svalbard and has nice videos I put on a lot as background. Off with their headlines is my favorite royal related podcast. I watch her more on tiktok, but wishbone has some older videos on youtube that are lifestyle/cooking. Cozy K has some cute cleaning/decorating/hobby type vlogs.
I like homeworthy – all about interior design and home tours.
I am not a big sportsball watcher, but the Nick Mangold story somehow makes me so sad. He was only 41 and died of kidney disease. I had two friends (politically, polar opposites but both deeply religious in their own ways) be living kidney donors. I had kids very late, so mine are still at home, but if I am able to do this later, it is definitely on my list of things I’d like to do.
Any favorite butternut squash recipes? I have 5 (!) and haven’t cooked them much before other than roasted. Maybe a good thick soup recipe?
look on Jessica in the Kitchen. Her recipes have been great
YES. My go-to butternut squash soup recipe is super easy.
Cube your squash. Put it in a pan with enough stock (veggie or chicken) to cover the squash. Cook until slightly overdone/very soft. Take off the heat and blend until smooth (an immersion blender is great here). Add a can of coconut milk and a good curry powder/spice blend or garam masala.
Variations on this are pretty endless. You can add apples and do cream and warming spices or turn the pureed base into a pasta sauce with parmesan and chili flakes.
Butternut squash chili is great. I don’t use a specific recipe but I’m sure Cookie and Kate has one.
This recipe is fantastic: https://www.seriouseats.com/roasted-butternut-squash-and-red-onion-with-t
I like butternut squash in kale salads in the Fall.
Roast cubes then mix with pesto pasta. Add to risotto. Make a salad with mixed greens, apple slices, pecans, roasted squash, and apple cider vinaigrette.
There’s a Smitten Kitchen recipe for a baked pasta dish with squash and spinach that is amaaaazing. I also love roasting a big batch and using it in salads. My favorite combo is arugula, roasted squash, toasted pecans, pickled red onions, dried cranberries, and either feta or blue cheese.
This skiing newbie has a question – this is our second time skiing, the first time (SO amazing, we are totally hooked) our family of four rented pants and jackets. I want to buy pants and jackets this time, ideally second hand for our elementary age kids. We live in Texas so do not otherwise need to own this kind of gear.
The question: do I need to buy gear specifically made for skiing? If the kids already have a big puffer jacket, can I just buy ski pants? Or do they need ski jackets too? And how does one determine whether a jacket is a ski jacket? It seems some level of waterproof might be needed? Maybe extra pockets, or cinchy things at the arms?
What do others who will ski a couple of times a year and have no other need for this gear do? Tips? Places to buy? THANK YOU, from a new skier who at 40 is completely thrilled to have this fun new hobby and wants to learn everything but has no family who do it.
Yes, you need ski specific stuff for the waterproofing when you’re new and fall down.
I’d want some kind of waterproofing but wouldn’t consider “ski-specific” essential for occasional usage esp. with kids growing. Anything that says “goretex” on the tag :)
Yay, I absolutely love hearing about new skiers in their 40s! Good for you! My baby just turned 1 and I can’t wait to get him on skis when the time comes (again, I should say – he was technically “on board” on my last day on skis before I had him).
I do recommend specific ski pants and jackets for skiing; you *can* wear a puffer jacket on good-weather days, but it’s just best (IMO) to have dedicated gear that isn’t pulling double duty. Then you can save the puffer for walking around town after, etc. Ski jackets also have better pockets for holding passes, gloves, and snacks, in addition to details like powder skirts and helmet-friendly hoods.
One thing you might not be aware of is that toxic PFAS chemicals (used for waterproofing) are being phased out of most outdoor brands; some are further along in this process than others. For kids’ gear, I highly recommend choosing PFAS-free, and it’s so widely available now. Reima is one highly recommended brand that doesn’t use it; Patagonia has also (mostly) phased it out, while LL Bean has generally not. You might still get lucky and find some PFAS-free options secondhand. If you plan to ski super occasionally, like 1-2 days a year, you might not find it worth the effort to track it down, but if you plan to make this a regular vacation and your kids will wear their gear for at least a few years, I’d make the effort. Maybe try Patagonia and REI’s used gear pages?
we also live in Texas, and i have 2nd grader twins. we ski once a year in March. since we have to fly and honestly, they have been fine with Target pants and jacket. since they grow each year and need new ones. and while last year they did need them for a day in Houston, otherwise they are literally worn ONCE. They have good ski socks, the smartwool brand. i have a good pair of ski pants that i’ve had for a while and a ski jacket that i’ve had since high school (maybe from LLBean) that I wear once a year.
Hehe, I’m glad you asked here, and not on eg. “skiing reddit” where you will get much more doctrinal answers :)
Start with their existing puffer (assuming it’s some kind of synthetic) & snow pants. If they are getting wet because of a lot of falling, get them a waterproof shell or a snow jacket, but it can be the regular “whatever kids in new england wear walking to school” kind (I wouldn’t worry about whether it’s a “ski specific” jacket at this level of usage). All the ski-jacket-specific stuff (cinch-ey thing, pass pocket, etc are nice-to-haves and not necessary for this level of usage). If it makes your kid able to zip/unzip their own jacket without taking off gloves, add a big chunky pull to the zipper.
If you end up with gear that’s not waterproof enough (waterproofing can wear off of secondhand garments), you can buy an off-the-shelf waterproofing treatment – much cheaper than new gear.
The only *critical* thing I’d add to the list is base layers. Synthetic is fine.
Agree on second hand; although that’s probably a little hard to find in Texas. The end-of-season REI sale might have some good discounted options though?
If you live in Houston, look in the Heights and other inner loop FB buy/sell/trade groups. There is always good amount of kids winter clothes for the once a year trip. Look for equivalent groups in the other big cities.
My advice: all kids ski pants must be black, to coordinate with all jackets and avoid gender stereotypes. My siblings and I followed this rule and it made it so easy to swap outgrown items back and forth. Same on snowboots.
We ski and have 3 kids. Waterproof is key. Dry kids are happy kids. To keep the budget non-insane, I like Columbia. Decathlon or Mountain Warehouse are excellent for inexpensive but good quality kids long underwear and ski socks. At least two sets of long underwear and socks so you can rotate.
Adventure Ride Snow bib pants in black or navy so you can use them multiple seasons. You should be able to get at least two season out of them and then another one or two for the next kid. They go on sale frequently. If you’re still at the potty training ages, get an extra pair so an accident doesn’t ruin the day.
I like Columbia coats as well. Which one will depend on where you are skiing and how cold it is likely to be. Puffer or not puffer doesn’t give you any info about how warm it is. Read the description of the temperature rating. Windproof also makes a huge difference. Columbia also makes one pieces suits which my kids loved but I know not all kids do.
Costco often has excellent deals on kids ski mitt/gloves – I like Head for myself and DH. Kombi has super cute kid mittens as well.
does anyone have a rec for a kid friendly brunch/lunch place in Tarrytown, NY? ideally walking distance from the train.
rivermarket is noisy and big and right there. otherwise it’s a walk up the hill and there are loads of places…. lefteris is greek and not fancy and also loud. there’s a proper diner if you want breakfasty lunch called bellas. there are a lot of choices… mexican, italian, also if you get off at irvington (one stop earlier) there is MP taverna and red hat and sambal which are right by the train and all good options. if you provide more specifics will provide more opinions.
we are staying at the tarrytown house estates for a wedding (we’ve stayed there before) and will be meeting other family who live in NYC for a meal (they’ll be taking a train in). we don’t want to drive far from the hotel. will we need to make reservations?
i would do rivermarket which is right by the train and make a reservation.
thanks! now i’m trying to recall whether last time we were tehre we actually went into tarrytown or irvington. we went to a fairly nice playground, i think near the water
they open at noon on sundays, which is fine, but will also need a place to grab a much earlier breakfast with the kids beforehand – any recs for that?
if you want breakfast earlier there is a diner called bellas.
and yes rivermarket is a whole park you’re right by the water and there is a playground and scooter/ bike path…
Favorite photo book source these days? I want to make a photo album for my kids and feel overwhelmed by options.
the photobooks app by FreePrints (iphone app)…very easy and the books are great.
Artifact Uprising
For those of you with kids, when did immediate family (parents, siblings) meet your first? Did proximity (whether they could drive vs. fly) play a factor? Seasonality (cold / flu season)?
Had an interesting discussion with a friend this weekend whose parents commented that “people these days just do everything differently” in reference to not inviting family members to the hospital.
When I was born, hospitals kept you for a week! And my grandmother few up to stay with my in advance of when my mom was due with my younger sister. Now, you are maybe in the hospital 48 hours, so if you aren’t a planned induction or scheduled C-section, IDK how likely non-local people can get there.
My parents came over (16 hour flight) 3 weeks after his due date. My MIL came up for a day (4 hour train) a week after he was born, and then came for a longer visit with her partner a few weeks later. FIL came 6 weeks after. In hindsight, I should have pushed for longer considering we were in a 2 bed, 1 bath flat – my FIL had said he’d stay in a hotel but then declared the hotel “too ghastly” and asked to stay at ours. And I ran to the neighbours sobbing because my mother-in-law were taking a leisurely bath in our one bathroom and I desperately needed the loo (giant headed baby, stiches, etc). Yes, I should have used my words but I think that postpartum state is such a weird, vulnerable time, and I didn’t have the energy to stand up to these people I barely knew?
First babies are a really unpredictable situation, TBH. It’s all new to everyone and lots to navigate.
My friend regrets letting her IL’s stay with them after getting home from the hospital. Some complications arose but went unnoticed longer than they should have because she and her husband were so overwhelmed playing host. She ended up in the ER when they finally realized something was wrong.
I know someone who made their parents wait ten days to meet the baby after getting home from an international trip. Yes, the grandparents knowingly booked an exotic vacation right before the due date. The grandparents grumbled about the quarantine but the new parents felt zero guilt.
Grandparents came to the hospital, everyone else came to the house after babies were home. Everyone was within 60-90 minutes time.
people also spend A LOT less time in the hospital than they used to after giving birth to a child. sometimes people are literally there for one night that there isn’t even time for people to come in from out of town to meet a new baby in the hospital
+1 We were only in the hospital for <36 hours total, and the only people who came there were the grandparents who lived about five minutes away. When my SIL gave birth, the baby needed a little monitoring so they were in the hospital for ~5 days and that was where family saw them first. That was also pre-covid though.
parents – feeling well, and up to date on recommended vaccines for their age – at hospital
siblings – local, at some point in the first month, feeling well. one rescheduled because they had a cough, which was 1000% the right thing to do! flying distance, at the next natural point (TG) which was when baby was 2 mos. would probably have picked a convenient weekend sometime in the first 3-4 months had it not been a fall baby with holidays coming up.
oh by ‘local’ here I mean 1-2 hours’ drive, not 10 minutes.
all of our family is flying distance away. my parents came to hospital (they flew out the morning after i gave birth) and my in-laws came once I was home, so like 5 days after bith, but one baby was still in the NICU (twins)
In the first week he came home from a two-week NICU stay for grandparents. Brothers, 5-6 months (their choice).
My parents met the kids at the hospital (for the first I wanted my mom, for the second they were watching my first and brought her with them). My inlaws met my first at the hospital but the second at home (scheduled c-section, I needed more time to recover). My sibling met the kids within the first week as they were DINKS and didn’t have their own kids to coordinate around yet. My husband’s siblings had their own kids and met our children after the first set of vaccinations in an effort not to transmit all the daycare/school germs. They also said they’d wait if the kids weren’t healthy as my niece gave me the flu when I was pregnant and my SIL still felt terribly about it!
Post covid it’s a whole new ballgame – we quarantined for 10 days to meet my newest niece in the summer of 2020 (pre-vaccinations). We’d also test before meeting any newborns and cancel if there are colds/sniffles/fevers.
Mine are teens now. Local grandma did come to the hospital with the first birth and met baby on the birthday. She stayed with that kid a few years later when younger sibling was born, and brought #1 to hospital when baby was ~24 hrs old. Other grandparents were a plane ride away and booked flights to visit ~1 week after birth to align with my husband’s 1 week of maternity leave, staying for 10-14 days.
For extended family in the area, I think we brought baby to local celebrations/parties after 1-2 months? This was pre-covid so people may be more conservative now.
Don’t forget the rule on this page – if you want your local family to visit you your newborn, you’re just a selfish diva princess.
My sister and brother in law and local bestie came to the hospital. My father (only grandparent) met baby a week later at home, getting to the hospital was beyond his capacity due to health issues. In the first four weeks he has also met 5 local friends, my sister’s in laws, and my long distance bestie. I have a tiny family! But I’ve been fine with anyone coming to meet him as long as they aren’t sick and wash their hands.
My mom was at the hospital with me (labor and delivery nurse so I also appreciated her professional experience). My dad visited us at the hospital afterwards and his calm patient presence was helpful.
MIL came to visit 6 weeks later on the first and 4 weeks later on the second. Her visit involves a long plane flight and she can be opinionated and difficult so I needed some space and drew a firm boundary on that with DH. He did facetime almost daily with his family in the first week. Including from the hospital room.
People who lament not being able to visit in hospital likely remember years ago with babies in nurseries and moms resting in private or semi-private rooms. These days, it’s more likely to be rooming in, nursing (which is tricky initially and requires privacy for many), and multi-family rooms in some hospitals.
Local grandparents met both kids the day we came home from hospital. Regional / long drive grandparents came the first full weekend home from the hospital with both kids (local grandparents politely made themselves scarce during those weekends, since they knew they’d get more time in the long run). We never offered and no one ever asked about coming to the hospital.
Due to proximity and needing to fly to visit, we didn’t get family visits with our first until she was about a week old. We had our second in Feb 2020 and luckily my Mom was able to be there, but no other family met our second daughter until she was a year old.
The grandparents came to meet my baby in the hospital. DH, DD, and I live in Center City Philly and all grandparents are in the burbs.
All 4 grandparents and the 2 local siblings (all within ~45 mins) came to the hospital to meet the baby within a few hours.
Non local sibling came like 2 weeks later.
Friends were invited within a few days of us getting home.
Ok, this sounds very old-fashioned, but I uploaded all my favourite photos to Snapfish, printed them as square photos and double-sided taped them into an album. I’d never managed to make a yearly album – it felt like it would trigger all my perfectionist tendencies and it meant more time sitting at a computer.
Obviously for AIMS above.
Thanks! I think you have identified my problem because I am definitely letting perfect be the enemy of the good here but I am determined to just do it for the holidays this year.
It was actually delightful. I sat and watched a movie and stuck the pictures in, smiling at the memories. I also made matching albums for T and his best friend (they are histrionic about the prospect of us moving/being separated) with extra pages “for many more adventures…” as a reminder that we’re only going 45 minutes away.
It was so much fun, it might have inspired me to stick my wedding photos in an album. Only 11 years late…
Can I not get Ann Taylor Factory online?
I bought a simple shirt from an ATF store a few weeks ago, would like to buy another one or two since it’s super versatile and comfy. When I go to the ATF page, it gets me to browse only the real AT stuff, but I can’t find anything ATF. I also found a page called Ann Taylor Outlet but that looks totally different and doesn’t have the shirt I got. Does ATF not have an online store or am I just not finding it?
Ann Taylor Factory went bricks and mortar only in mid 2020. Seemed a dubious choice.
thanks for confirming. How strange!
Fashion’s in such a weird place these days. Many women wouldn’t wear this outfit to the office, let alone being a cabinet secretary.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/27/like-eggs-part-two-trump-administration-scrambles-to-bring-down-beef-prices-00622680
That is such an odd dress. And just not formal enough at all
Agree, this bodycon look is not for the office.
Also, that belt is ruining it completely for me. Why would you want cover all the draping?
It looks like she is the winner of the county Dairy Queen pageant, not the secretary of agriculture.
I don’t think that’s fashion as much as it is catering to Trump’s preferences.
+1.
That belt is a crime against fashion, period.
The women in this administration dress like the heroine’s office rival in an early 2000s romcom.
I wouldn’t say that dress is representative of “fashion” in any way though.
That outfit has been jarring to me every time I see it on Politico. But I also think most people dress badly in some way or other.
I was hoping someone else noticed that. Pretty sure I had that belt in 2009 and it looked just as cheap back then.
It’s a Maralago office look. I believe women working in this administration have instructions to dress a certain way due to their boss’s, uh, proclivities.
What is your company policy on comp time for work travel? I travel internationally, and if there are events on Monday morning, have to travel on Sundays. I try to make it at least Monday afternoon, but that doesn’t always work. And I refuse to travel on Saturdays.
But in any case – do you get a day off to comp if you are traveling the whole Sunday? This can be 12+ hr flights.
Not the same issue, but related. I’m headed to a conference on the west coast and I’m staying an extra night (with permission from the expense team) to avoid the redeye. I’ll basically be traveling the whole day of my return flight. I’m wondering if I have to take PTO – if I ask my manager he’ll probably say I do. Right now I plan to wing it (no pun intended).