Weekend Open Thread
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Something on your mind? Chat about it here.
I think this is the first time I've seen M.M.LaFleur do a striped jardigan — and I like it. It's super cute with wide legged jeans and sneakers, as pictured, but I also think you could wear it for more casual days in the office.
(Also of note — they're having some great flash sales. Today, a number of blazers are marked at $250, down from $359-$499.)
The pictured jardigan is $259, available in sizes XS-XXL; it also comes in ivory and black.
Sales of note for 5/16/25:
- Nordstrom Rack – Looking for a deal on a Dyson hairdryer? The Rack has several refurbished ones for $199-$240 (instead of $400+) — but they're final sale only.
- Ann Taylor – Suit Yourself! 30% off suiting (ends tonight) + 25% off your full price purchase (ends 5/18) + extra 40% off sale
- Nordstrom – Beauty Deals up to 25% off (ends 5/17) — also lots of markdowns on AGL (50%!), Weitzman, Tumi, Frank & Eileen, Zella, Natori, Cole Haan, Boss, Theory, Reiss (coats), Vince, Eileen Fisher, Spanx, and Frame (denim and silk blouses)
- Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Boden – 10% off new women's styles with code + sale up to 50% off
- Eloquii – Up to 60% off everything + extra 60% off sale + $1 shipping on all orders
- J.Crew – 60% off sale, and 40% off packing picks (prices as marked)
- J.Crew Factory – New arrivals, plus up to 60% off everything and 20% off orders of $125+
- M.M.LaFleur – Daily flash sales, and lots of twill suiting on sale! Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off.
- Rothy's – Up to 50% off last-chance styles
- Spanx – Free shipping on everything
- Talbots – 30% off dresses, skirts, shoes and accessories
Is anyone delaying non-essential plane travel because of the air safety issues at Newark and elsewhere? Apparently nearly all air traffic control sites in the country are understaffed and there have been a LOT of incidents or near misses lately. A family member and I were going to meet up for a quick weekend but we decided not to for the moment.
No I’m flying out of Newark this weekend and next weekend
Still flying out of EWR because it’s the most geographically convenient for me. That said, I am encouraging friends to fly into LGA or JFK these days, given the delays at EWR.
I’d be less worried about delays and more concerned about near-misses. A veteran air traffic controller spoke out about averting a mid-air collision this month with seconds to spare; that has really changed the game from the previous “flying is very safe, far safer than driving” paradigm.
Flying is still way safer than driving.
We should make flying safer (and driving for that matter), but the margin was pretty big.
No
I’ve rerouted a couple flights through Dulles instead, but I’m not outright canceling.
I live in the northeast and fly a lot for work. I don’t often fly through EWR but if presented with the choice, I would chose a different airport.
I picked La Guardia over Newark for an upcoming trip… and, by picked, I used the craziness to justify the slightly higher ticket price for a more convenient airport.
I don’t fly often and already skipped one major work conference this year because it would have required going through an airport that made the news due to a collision the prior week.
I have another conference coming up where I need to fly in to Reagan. If I could skip without negative consequences I would, but it would be a not-great look for me professionally to avoid this one, too.
Personal travel is all driving these days. I’m not interested in flying any more than I have to.
With the caveat that I understand anxiety is not rational, the death rate per miles travelled by auto is much, much higher than the rate for commercial air travel. The difference is that motor vehicle fatalities do not usually make the local news – much less national or world, which skews people’s perceptions of the relative risk.
Which is to say, drive by all means, but you are at greater risk of being killed driving (let’s say) Atlanta to Newark than flying the same route.
The context of this is that many of us are concerned there are changes in the level of safety of flying into/out of particular airports that are not yet reflected in the statistics you reference.
Right – it seems that the safety level we were all accustomed to, even with known history of staff shortages, doesn’t exist now. What’s the new risk level and how do we interpret it?
No. Statistically speaking, air travel is the safest mode of transportation. The DCA crash was the first major crash in the U.S. since Buffalo in 2009.
They’ve been short ATCs for years, it’s just now public. Hopefully more are coming onboard, but it’s a demanding profession and there aren’t always stacks of qualified people sitting around.
Look at the wiki page linked. How many of those accidents were caused by ATC?
The big crashes make the news but they’re really rare. My mom was a flight attendant in the 70s-90s and was a union representative who helped investigate crashes. There was a spate of crashes in the 90s when I was old enough to be worried, and she just repeated any time I got worried that she was more likely to die in a car crash on the way to work than she was at work.
(Btw, if I were making the wiki list of commercial fatalities, I’d leave out all the smaller aircraft. Their pilots generally aren’t as experienced and the aircraft get tossed around by storms, as you’d expect of something smaller. I’d restrict it to the major airlines and their regional jets (say, 50 people or so) and larger.)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/2025/01/29/is-flying-safe-cruising-altitude/77723325007/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_accidents_and_incidents_involving_commercial_aircraft_in_the_United_States
Is there complete data on near-miss incidents as well? That would be more illustrative right now.
If you want to count near misses now, the previous stats that you compare against would also need to include them.
Sort of, but I can’t remember the code/what it’s called. There’s a count of how often ATCs have to issue a certain emergency signal to all the pilots under their control at the moment. DCA had the highest number of calls monthly going back for years.
Not sure about complete data, but there’s been reporting in recent years https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/21/business/airline-safety-close-calls.html
I fly out of DCA, which in addition to near misses has been experiencing far more delays and cancellations. So, the last trip that I absolutely had to take, I took a morning flight the day before I absolutely needed to be where I needed to be. Other than that, no.
No but I’ll probably avoid DCA for the foreseeable future. I never had any reason to fly there though (Midwest-based and any international flight in that area would go through IAD).
for the poster this morning wondering why she wasn’t drawn to bright colors or patterns— look at today’s posts. basics and basics.
Neutrals have been having a moment. The sad beige baby thing seems to be going on still. Fashion will swing the other way eventually.
I’m still waiting to bring back The Skirt in every color. Magenta! Coral! Bright blue! They’re buried at the bottom of a drawer somewhere just waiting for their moment (again).
Man, I loved The Skirt.
Me too!
I’m not sure The skirt will come back. I tried one on when the weather got warm and it just didn’t look right. And my sheath dresses all look dated and too short.
I’m really enjoying the full and flowy skirts and shirt dresses now though. No restriction in leg movement (like pants), but all the ventilation. Lol.
What is The Skirt??
lol it was a pencil skirt from Halogen that was a fan favorite around here for years in the mid-aughts
The halogen seamed ponte pencil skirt from Nordstrom that was HUGE what, 10-15 years ago? I have about five of them – four of which are in a pre-covid size – but yeah, they do seem dated.
A pencil skirt Nordstrom sold years ago (Halogen brand, I think?) featured on here that everyone loved and we all had in all the colors. It was maybe… 2010? It was when Kat was still anonymous, I think.
It was this one: https://www.thredup.com/product/women-rayon-halogen-teal-formal-skirt/177534009?from_pla=true&referral_code=adwords_pla&referral_context=google_pmax_pla
I think I had it in 4 or 5 different colors.
I think it was similar but not this one – the fabric was heavier and it had seams on either side of the front.
Jules is correct. The seams are what made it so flattering. This is The Skirt: https://www.depop.com/products/klee_closet-halogen-seamed-knee-length-pencil/
+1 Google shows nothing! (except ads for skirts)
Oh be been trying to wear a bit of colour lately and every time I hate it. It’s just so aggressive.
I love bright pink and am very attracted to it, but I bought a bright pink shirt a couple months ago and hated it so much as soon as I put it on. I immediately gave it to my niece who looks great in it.
I do like royal blue quite a bit, but blue is more of a neutral for me. Royal blue feels comfortably bold.
In general, really love my neutral wardrobe. Especially for tops.
The key to bright colors can sometimes be having the rest of your outfit be bold too. Then no one piece is really standing out.
For me, buying colorful clothes is a waste of money and closet space. I try the colorful thing on, think it looks tacky, and then put on something black or navy or gray that looks much nicer on me. The colorful stuff eventually gets donated, unworn.
Even if I looked good in bright colors, I wouldn’t wear them now that the MAGA red or royal blue sheath dress is back.
I live in Florida so bright seems more appropriate. The pinks and reds feel like too much for court but I have a baby blue suit that brightens up my face and makes me feel pretty. Love it.
OP here, and that’s fair! I do think it’s somewhat of a stage-in-life thing for me rather than a response to trends, but who knows.
For me, it’s the nature of the world. I wore bright colors all the time last year. When I put them on now, they seem to be too happy and bright. And I switch for a muted color or navy.
Interesting. I like color and used to wear fairly colorful clothing. But I am a fed and find myself reaching for black and navy and gray more often. I think the general mood is affecting my clothing choices, it’s like I want to be camouflaged and not noticeable.
i still love bright colors, but i’m more likely to wear them as accent pieces than main ones.
I really like the Tibi colour wheel and Amy Smilovitc’s system of making bright colours more modern by pairing with a “non-colour” like dirty orange, awkward brown, puke green, muddy blue – colours broken with grey or brown.
It really works, I think. Bright pink paired with black or white looks dated, but bright pink paired with muddy dark green looks modern. Bright blue paired with burnt orange looks modern, bright blue and white, not so much.
Low stakes weekend question: I am in charge of picking out our company-branded giveaway for conferences this year. We’ve cut down our options to either a branded charger (like one of those bricks you take with you to charge your phone or laptop on the go) or a branded Yeti or Stanley item (probably a tumbler with a lid but maybe one of the Quenchers). Which would you prefer? Or if you would prefer something of equal quality and not too big (we want it to be small enough to fit in a carry on) let me know that too.
please please please no more water bottle or mug things. I have been given every iteration – from Nalgene to S’well to Yeti to HydroFlask to Stanley. In multiples. I seriously gave 10 of them away last year and still have too many. And they’re bulky to pack.
The most useful branded charging things I’ve received are (1) long cords, like the 12 foot ones, and (2) multi-charger cords that have the USB-C, whatever the older Apple one is, and a micro USB head, plus the actual wall unit, since so many devices don’t include the plug part anymore.
oh and if you go with the portable charging brick, it’s only useful if it’s powerful enough to charge a laptop or iPad. The ones that can charge your phone are also plentiful in my giveaway history!
Big Yeti mug.
Every time I’ve received a water bottle I’ve had to leave it behind because it didn’t fit in my carry on. People are pretty particular about water bottles, too, and they are much more visible.
I second a branded charger.
Best gifts are umbrellas.
This is correct!
+2 if it’s a travel sized one.
please god no more drinking vessels.
Do you have the option of getting good pens? This was pre-pandemic, but I cannot tell you how delighted an executive at my organization was with a nicely weighted swag pen he got at a conference that had a retractable ballpoint, rubber stylus, and flashlight. Dude had enough money to buy anything in the world, but he looooooved that pen. (And totally would have left a water bottle or charger in his hotel room.)
I was just at a conference and the best giveaway was a set of packing cubes – 3 – with the firm logo. They were packed into the medium size cube.
oh this is a really good idea
Oh I like this idea.
And while I like my Yeti, we are beyond saturation point with those.
That is kind of genius.
I suspect these are going to become the new water bottle swag, because my firm has started doing them recently, too.
I’m such a snob, I love my own monogrammed packing cubes, I’d never use someone’s branded version.
I would totally use that. Another freebie that gets a lot of use is my health insurance branded chip clip.
I agree with the others: no more drinking vessels!
If more than one gift is possible, I would include an edible option. At the conference I was at recently, none of the tables had food items. It was really surprising and kind of disappointing because I would have happily taken a small bag of M&Ms or a cute container of roasted nuts over the many pens, tubes of hand sanitizer, and other desk clutter that was on offer.
This is not a good option given food allergies. You want to be able to give it to everyone.
“If more than one gift is available”
Whoops. It’s Friday. My reading comprehension skills have been depleted!
You won’t please everyone bc I love more mugs and tumblers! Also love nice notebooks and pens and got fancy chocolates once too. Best ever was a foldable picnic blanket.
Neither. I don’t want to take home anything from conferences.
Agree on stuff. I’ll eat your company-branded food, though.
Most Yetis are too big for my taste, and wouldn’t fit into my over-loaded carryon. (I was at a conference last month where the “swag” was a set of four drinking glasses inside a cooler bag. It would have taken up 20% of the space in my roller bag!
I like the ideas of a portable charger, a really good pen or a truly compact umbrella.
Charger 100%. I also think that an umbrella is a decent gift.
I especially appreciate umbrellas in rainy places as I never remember to pack an umbrella.
It has to be the right kind of charger. Not one of the cheap old heavy ones. Lightweight, sleek, holds multiple charges, pocket sized.
Have you considered AirTags?
Any electronic item that plugs in your own stuff may have to be left behind due to security concerns.
If going for the packing cube route, I would recomment shoe packing cubes. Those get worn out quicker than the ones for clothes.
Umbrella, flashlight, first aid kit, titanium spork, headlamp, small clear toiletry bag for liquids for flights (you still need those in Europe). Magnetic shopping list for your fridge, bottle opener, those vacuum opener thingy for cans, travel clothes line (rubber braid with suction cups for hotel shower), compression socks, pride pin, colored pencils and coloring-in-pad, wool tumbler dryer balls, really nice chocolate…
There are loads of things I would prefer before the ones you’ve got to choose from! But from those items, I would go with a Stanley thermos flask for soup. The short ones with a big opening that you can bring an actual meal in and have for lunch. It’s useful for people who travel, people who have kids that take warm lunch, and adults who go camping etc.
what is your skincare routine at night (including products)? i’ve been liking the cos rx snail mucin + gold bond neck and cream moisturizer, then for face cos rx peptides, vitamin c, cerave PM moisturizer, retinol.
I don’t wear makeup, so my routine is just splash & dash.
1. Wash off my makeup with a wash cloth because I can’t stand getting water all down my arms.
2. Retinol. I’m currently using Shani Darden because I got it as a Sephora sample and liked it well enough.
3. Moisturizer. I usually use one from The Ordinary, but I’m not picky.
4. Aquaphor on my lips because they’re prone to cracking.
adding a question: I just picked up the timeless vitamin c serum for the first time. I’ve always understood that Vitamin C goes on in the morning — but the bottle says night time. Does anyone know why?
Vitamin C makes your skin sensitive to the sun and the guidance is to let it sit for 20 minutes after applying. These two things generally make it more of a hassle to use in the morning vs. night, but you should make sure you’re using sunscreen, hats, etc. when using vitamin C.
Can your skin actually absorb anything when you layer on so many products?
I mean, I know that my prescription retinol designed to go on clean, completely dry skin. My derm recommended me layering moisturizer either before or after the retinol if retinol was to irritating. But literally the effect of the moisturizer is to decrease absorption of the retinol so the dose is less. It is easy to extrapolate that layering on 5 things may be self defeating.
Or do you wait a few minutes between each layer / until skin feels dry, and then add the next layer? Even that seems questionable. And exhausting.
I layer on increasingly thick hydrating and moisturizing products in the morning, but my PM routine only has 1 active, and it goes on before moisturizer.
I double-cleanse (oil + foaming face wash), toner to immediately balance the pH of my skin to make it more receptive to actives, then vitamin C or tret on dry skin and let it sit for up to 20 minutes (in the case of vitamin C), finish with Cerave moisturizer. If it’s winter, I’ll top off the moisturizer with some Acquaphor on the driest parts of my face to seal in the lotion.
PM routine is face wash (Clinique All About Clean in purple), Retinol (Murad), brightening serum (Clinique even better), moisturizer (Clinique turnaround overnight in blue tub).
I forgot to add eye cream – Clinique all about eyes.
Why are you using two moisturizers at once? Also, serums go on first. The rule is thinnest to thickest.
Nothing at all. I wash my face in the morning in the shower. Have shockingly clear skin.
I’m also in the nothing on my face camp, though I do put lotion on my hands and lip balm on before bed. I have very sensitive skin that looks best when I do as little as possible to it.
yup, my evening routine is wash with water, then CeraVe moisturizer. Morning routine is the same and trying to remember sunscreen.
Ponds cold cream, washed off with CeraVe face wash bar, Tactha dewy skin mist, Naked & Thriving resurfacing night serum, then CeraVe PM moisturizer, with some sort of oil on top of it all it I remember.
I love the Tatcha mist probably best of all.
Double cleanse with the e.l.f. makeup balm and a gentle, unscented bodywash. Apply adapalene retinoid gel (the OTC version) and then Cerave lotion. Sometimes I’ll swap the adapalene for glycolic acid.
I like snail mucin but use it in the morning when my skin is still damp. I’m 38 with sensitive combination skin and hormonal breakouts.
I massage a cleansing balm (REN sensitive, Emma Hardie Maruga or Banila sensitive) into my skin, rinse with warm water and remove with face cloth.
Garnier Miscellar water to remove any remaining mascara and eye makeup.
Hydrating serum from The Ordinary (the one that used to be the buffet) or Sisley rose face mask.
Coconut oil to take off mascara, face wash in the shower (Trader Joes) and then moisturizer.
I’m a first time solo traveler to Martha’s Vineyard, any must see/must do? I’m mainly going to relax, take in some nice beach scenery, and spend time outside (weather permitting). Staying in Tisbury.
I really enjoyed strolling through Edgartown and taking in the architecture. Aquinnah was also worth a visit.
Best beaches are Lamberts Cove (you need a resident pass but that may not be in effect until after Memorial Day), Menemsha (eat at the Galley!!), and Katama/South Beach. Oak Bluffs is fun to walk around – see the gingerbread houses, walk down Circuit Ave and see the Flying Horses. Agree strolling Edgartown is lovely. If you’re planning to go out to eat, highly recommend State Road (or their sister restaurant, Beach Road which is in Tisbury). Get some ice cream at Mad Martha’s and a breakfast sandwich at Black Dog. There are also some very cute shops in Tisbury including Bunch of Grapes bookstore and The Beach House for home goods/beautiful linens.
I am a big MV enthusiast and hope you have a great time!!
Help me thread the needle on a vacation destination for DH and me? Looking to hear about your favorite ocean or lake swimming spots in the continental US with decent walking or hiking trails in the area.
Bryson City NC: right by Smoky Mtn Natl Park, Asheville, and whitewater rafting and tubing/floating down Deep Creek.
Asheville, NC
The Catskills
Traverse City, Michigan
the Poconos
Glenwood, Colorado