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Coffee Break: Joyce Large Tote Bag

black tote bag

This large leather tote bag from Black-owned brand Liselle Kiss looks great. At 18″ W x 5.5″ D x 12″ H, it's a great size for laptops, shoes, work papers, and more. Do note that it has an open top, which can be a deal breaker for many.

The bag is $425 at Bloomingdale's, available in black and a gunmetal silver.

Sales of note for 12.5

89 Comments

  1. Thanks to those who responded already. I’m posting again to get a few additional respones: What is a good night cream or moisturizer to use at night for dry or combination skin? I use tretinoin at night so I prefer something that doesn’t include exfoliants. What is your holy grail?

    1. Boring but effective – vanicream light plus a layer of an occlusive cream to lock it in (cheap occlusive – vaseline or diaper cream, more expensive and my personal pick is the CosRX Balancium Comfort Ceramide Cream).

      1. Vanicream works great, though I can’t imagine putting yet another layer on top of it. For my combo skin, it’s already very moisturizing (am total greaseball by morning).

    2. I use La Roche Posay Lipikar Balm AP+ (it comes in a big bottle), with a thin layer of German Nivea, Vaseline, or plum kernel oil over the top to lock it all in.

      1. IS clinical reparative moisture emulsion. Agree on the vaseline on top to lock it in- my face and pillow feel gross but it immediately takes care of any flakiness.

    3. I swear my face has never been so moisturized before this winter of using this combination every night: The Ordinary Plant Based Squaline serum + The Ordinary Rose Hip Seed Oil + CereVe moisturizer.

    6. I layer snail mucin from COSRX under my moisturizer from the Ordinary. My skin is not dry for the first time in my life, basically.

      1. I have snail mucin sheet masks that I’ve been too icked to use (got them as a gift from a friend). You just about convinced me that it’s time I give them a try.

        1. I hope they work for you! I have combination skin and I really like snail mucin. It works best on damp skin.

    7. I love Olay in the winter for dry skin. I use the regenerist ultra rich and the collagen peptide.

  2. Perhaps a nitpicky question about modern phone etiquette —
    Let’s say you call the cell phone (or direct line) of someone you have never spoken to on the phone before. They don’t answer, you leave a message. You save the number in your phone. Shortly thereafter, they call you back. Do you answer the phone as if you know who it is, or as if you do not? Aka, do you say “Hello, Anonymous speaking,” or ” Hello Person I Just Called”? The latter feels overly familiar if you’ve never met or spoken, but the former feels… weirdly fake.
    I alternate between the two, but neither feels completely correct.

    1. When answering, I default to identifying myself. So either “This is FirstName,” or “FirstName LastName” and use my Phone Voice to make intonation warm or standoffish or whatever based on the caller ID.

      1. I do this too – always “This is FirstName”. I alter the intonation too, didn’t realize I did that until I read that last line and knew exactly what you were talking about.

        Herero’s my nitpicky phone thing: I have a newer vendor account rep who I’ve been working with maybe once a month for about 6 months who ends phone calls with “I appreciate you.” Apparently this is a southern thing, which I learned after complaining about it to several of my work friends. I still hate it. That feels overly familiar to me and grates on my nerves. He does something similar in emails that makes me roll my eyes every time too.

        I swear I’m not a fuddy duddy, but millennial tried and true though; if he put an emoji in his work email I’d totally like him.

        1. I have never lived farther north than Nashville and have worked extensively in South Georgia, but I never heard “I appreciate you” in that context. Pretty sure this is not a Southern thing. It is weird, though. What I do hear pretty often is “appreciate it,” (or, more likely, ‘preciate it) as a stand-in for “thanks.” But never “I appreciate you.”

          1. My family in North Carolina, uses this a lot, particularly in a business context. Honestly, I would just be grateful he didn’t say “have a blessed day“!

          2. Right? Isn’t “I appreciate you” so weird? And direct. I agree about “appreciate it”, that fine. The first time he did it I passed it off as an accidental word fumble. Then he did it several times more and I’m like what in the actual.

            Re “have a blessed day”, that is SO southern I would probably just bust out laughing.

        2. This is like a man thing that has popped up recently. I hear it all the time. I don’t mind it!

          1. It’s super weird. I hate it when people do this! It always comes from someone I barely know.

          2. Just change it to “I appreciate your _____ (time, effort, help, contribution….)” and you’re fine!

      3. I default to ‘Jane Doe’ in my phone voice because it was standard operating procedure in my first few jobs, or sometimes ‘This is Jane Doe’ a la Scully in the XFiles.

    2. I might do, “Hello Ted, this is Alice; thank you for calling me back,” or “Hi, this is Alice.”

    3. … I just say hello? But that’s how I answer every phone call (maybe hey if it’s a friend or relative); I never use someone’s name when answering the phone.

      1. Absolutely. A sibling or close friend gets, “Hey man.” Everyone else gets hello.

    5. I just say “hello.” I never notice how others answer the phone in this context so I figure it doesn’t matter at all.

    6. I always answer the phone to non-family/close friends as “This is FirstName”, but I only have a close circle of people who actually call me

    7. I usually answer how I normally would and let them say who they are, even if I already know. But maybe my idea of phone etiquette has not caught up with modern realities of technology lol.

    8. I answer my personal cell “Hello” and my work cell “Hello, Department, this is Name.”

    9. I just say “Hello.” You never know who might be on the other end, regardless of what your phone screen says.

      1. +1

        Exactly.

        And it always makes me still feel a bit… ?creepy… when I call someone and they answer the phone “Hi Anon….”. I’m like…. wait… how do they know it’s me?….can they see me? I know that’s sounds silly…. I didn’t grow up with caller ID. So I always answer the phone just “Hello”, so that people never have that feeling I have.

    10. Everyone has caller ID and everyone knows that everyone has caller ID, so it’s not overly familiar at all.

      1. This actually reminded me to go fix my husband’s caller ID name in our cell phone plan. The plan is under my name, and so when they started adding the caller ID names it was defaulted to my full first name (and I go by a nickname 100% of the time so full first name is kind of odd to see too).

    11. I only say ‘hello?’, and that is for every call I answer, unless it’s family or a close friend.

    12. I just say my full name in a friendly tone. If I’m unsure who it is or if it’s an uncomfortable business call I’ll just say “this is full name” in a more deadpan voice. I had a lot of phone jobs so this is mostly defaults.

    13. I just say “hi, this is Cat” but also would probably have sent a quick email after the fact (“Hi Joe, just tried your cell, let me know when you have a few minutes to connect on X”) rather than leaving a vm inviting the person to schedule a time.

    14. In the situation you describe, where I have cold called someone and left a message, I say:

      “Hello, this is XYZ. Thank you for calling me back, I really appreciate it. The reason I tried to reach you, was….”

    1. Sometimes I really don’t get styling… for what could potentially be a nice work-appropriate blouse.

      Maybe that’s there way of saying …. no … this is too low cut for work.

      I always wear cami under blouses like this for safety anyway.

    2. oh that’s lovely. I had a shirt like that and I used a very delicate lapel pin to keep it shut.

    3. Some of the photos in other colors look like it could be work appropriate if you sewed a snap or something to make sure the wrap didn’t slide around. Personally, for that price I would not want to do preemptive garment surgery just to make it wearable.

    4. I don’t have this one but I have a different wrap blouse from Sesane (it has cuffs with some lace detail for added interest) and it’s not low cut at all, although I do wear a thin cami underneath. It’s one of my favorite pieces. I would love to have more Sezane clothes. Everything I’ve bought from there has been beautiful.

    5. That would actually work as a cute adult ‘going out’ top but 100% not work appropriate unless you wear a cami underneath.

    6. Do not have this shirt, but like others have said a safety pin will do the trick. General reviews of the brand – all the stuff I have bought has been great quality, and I would normally see the same quality at 2x the prices they charge. It is very much true to your designer size (e.g., no vanity sizing, very little stretch) and if you work out, I’d recommend going up a size for the arms. Packaging is also adorable, with quick shipping to me.

    7. I have this shirt (different color, but same shirt). It is that low-cut, and you definitely need something underneath it, or something to hold the wrap in a specific place.

    8. I did a big order from Sezane and had to return all of it. The fit was just really odd. If you order, I’d take CAREFUL measurements.

  4. what are your favorite late-afternoon snacks that aren’t too big to ruin dinner but still satisfying? this is candy time for me.

    1. Apple slices with peanut butter & chocolate chips on top. Satisfies the sweet, salty, & crunchy!

      1. +1, I looove apples with peanut butter. Also love making yogurt bowls (lately been loving plain Siggi’s with blueberries, granola and toasted pecans, sometimes I’ll also add coconut flakes or flaxseed meal), or during citrus season I love a Cara Cara orange + some mixed nuts for protein.

      2. Apple wedges with hummus
        A kind bar
        A hard-boiled egg
        A bag of microwave popcorn

    2. Lately, I’ve been snacking on dried mango. Sweet enough to satisfy the afternoon candy craving.

    3. Honestly, a big juicy crunchy apple is good, even though I usually crave junk.

      It is filling, hydrating, sweet.

      Sometimes I bargain with myself. If you eat an apple, and are still hungry, you can have the bad treat. And sometimes I can find I put it off!

    5. I try to avoid anything sweet because it makes me crave more sweet. Protein is usually better. So some pistachios or cottage cheese. Maybe if I still want sweet some baby carrots with hummus. Popcorn.

    6. A decaf latte. I find it very filling and the milk is slightly sweet, even more so if I get oat milk.

  5. Ahh. Just screaming into the void- we’re leaving for a week long trip tomorrow and have 2 very young children. Nothings packed, we don’t have dinner sortand my husband’s just texted that he wants to work out tonight. Excuse me??

    1. Step 1: Order dinner
      Step 2: I’d tell husband he can work out, but he needs to handle X, Y, Z before we leave / tell him he can go to the gym after everything’s packed and the kids are in bed.

      1. +1. “Thanks for letting me know, I’ve placed an order at Neighborhood Restaurant you can pick up on the way home. Let’s touch base once you’re back about what needs to be done ahead of tomorrow.”

    2. I know this is not “fair delegation” but this is why I pack mine and kid’s (he’s our only and only 3yo) bag several days in advance and let husband suffer the last minute consequences on his own.
      My husband does a lot of things great, but planning for a trip is not one of them. He gets to deal with his own consequences of forgetting weather appropriate clothes or enough socks
      I order dinner or eat the leftovers we scrounge together before vacation.
      Husband is responsible for taking out all the garbage and clean the house before we leave plus packing his last minute clothes.
      Solidarity though. As the planner in the relationship it’s taken me a long time to let him flounder in his own mess as long as it doesn’t hurt me and the toddler

      1. lol, my DH is a terrible packer (I mean he could, but has no fashion sense) but has so many other outstanding qualities that I pack for him on vacation. I figure it only punishes me if he’s left to his own devices and doesn’t have the right ‘cute jeans’ for dinner in Europe etc.

        1. Haha I used to be a very efficient road warriorette, roller bag only.

          But when we pack for a road trip (which is often), my husband is always complaining about how much I pack – one bag for clothing, one for toiletries, one or more food related, often a separate bag for reading materials, and maybe another for outerwear.

          Then he brags about how small his single bag is.

          Then when we get to our destination, he realizes he didn’t bring a jacket, flip flops/water shoes, sunscreen, about half of his toiletries including toothpaste, etc. I can’t tell you how many trips to the closest drugstore he has to make. Too effin’ bad. Suck it up, buttercup.

      2. I also take responsibility for packing me and the kids and leave husband on his own, so he can deal with any consequences of his poor planning. I’m the one who cares more about taking vacations, so it feels fair to me that I do 100% of the kid packing, and there are many other household responsibilities that he takes on.

  6. Where to buy bathing suits for a very fit 57 year old after finding nothing at:
    – Athleta
    – Gap
    – Gottex
    – Anne Cole
    – Macy’s
    – Bloomingdales
    – Saks
    – Lands End
    – Everything But Water

    Ideally a two-piece with a true (not a we-say-it’s-high-neck-but-the-design-does-not-protect-against-sun-damage) high neck in solid colors. The Athleta one was close, but the bottom edge of the Maldives Bra Cup Bikini Top is shaped weird instead of going straight across the chest.

    TIA

    1. J. Crew? I got the “active longline swim top” in summer 2022 and it’s looking great now. Not sure what their current offerings look like.

    2. I just wear a rash guard when I’m in the sun and sit in the shade in my otherwise cute swimsuit.

      1. Oh and REI or Backcountry might offer sporty styles with more coverage due to the outdoorsy focus but I haven’t looked recently

    4. Prana tops mixed with old navy or lands end bottoms
      Target has some good options each year too.

    7. I love the Athleta Maldives tops, but if that’s not quite it, I have one from last season from Carve I got at REI that is similar but straight (and I swear I just saw one from a different brand that looks exactly like it and can’t remember what it was). Also, Title 9 usually has some that look like they would work (they charge for shipping with no free threshold, and thus I have literally never ordered from them, but they look so promising).

    8. Try Talbots or Land’s End (although the Land’s End bottoms are sized oddly large).

  7. Does anyone have advice for getting a lawyer job in DC? I am not a non-lawyer fed in DC and my fiance is a lawyer currently at a prosecutor’s office in New York. We’ve been long distance for most of our relationship and he has been trying to move down here for over a year with no luck. He gets some interviews but no offers yet. He’s barred in NY, federal, and DC and about to be barred in Maryland. Top of his class in law school, keeps getting promoted at his office in NY but is finding it incredibly difficult to get a foot in the door in the DC region. My field is very different from law so am not sure what to advise.

    1. How many years experience? Salary requirements? Does he want to stay in the criminal lane? I know of some opportunities but more details would help.

      1. 2 years as a prosecutor, and he’s making about 90k now, would like to increase his salary if possible. He does like criminal and that’s where his professional experience is but not married to it as he’s early in his career- international arbitration, environmental, patent are areas of interest.

        1. Patents would be hard to break into from a different type of law without experience in that writing style. However, if he’s serious about it and qualifies, the patent bar is not difficult (take the PLI review course) and would show potential employers some commitment, ability, and discernment in that space.

    2. Can he get a colleague or mentor to connect him with someone at the office where he seeks a position? Like anywhere, employers in DC will select someone who they know or who comes recommended by someone they trust over equally-qualified unknowns.

        1. Might as well focus on FIRREA agencies, for the higher (non-GS) salaries!

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