Splurge Monday’s Workwear Report: Livi Jacket
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Our daily workwear reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices.
I actually said “ooooooh” out loud when I clicked on this cardigan from Cara Cara. It looks like it has some structure, so it could substitute for a blazer in a lot of settings, and the pattern really makes a statement. I would pair this with a gray or navy solid so that the cardigan can really be the focus.
If you want to make an even bigger statement, there is also a coordinating skirt.
The sweater is $495 at Cara Cara and comes in sizes XS-XL.
Sales of note for 10/3/25
- Ann Taylor – 40% off must-have styles, and 30% off your full price purchase
- Banana Republic Factory – 40% off everything + extra 25% off
- Boden – 10% off new womenswear styles with code
- J.Crew – 40% off sitewide
- J.Crew Factory – 40-70% off everything + extra 60% off clearance
- M.M.LaFleur – Fall style event! 25% off $500+, 30% off $750+ — try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off
- Nordstrom – 1000+ new markdowns!
- Nordstrom Rack – UGG up to 40% off
- Soma -$25 off when you spend $110+, also get a free bra when you buy two
- Talbots – 30% off entire purchase, and free shipping on $150+
Such a pretty cardigan! Over the weekend I realized I misplaced my newly renewed passport. I’m giving myself a week to find it and then I’m going consider it lost. The last time I saw it, I had it on my desk in my home office. I put it away because my house cleaner was coming. The irony is I found my previous two passports (which I also had on my desk) but not the renewed one. If I have to report it lost and get another one I’m concerned about how long that will take with the government shut down. Any advice? I’m beating myself up for being so disorganized.
It might turn up. But also passports are paid for by fees so they shouldn’t be too affected. I submitted for two of my kids a couple weeks ago and we’ve received electronic confirmations that they’re progressing through the steps.
Did you put it in your purse or work bag, so that you would have it when you traveled?
Do you find that female staff are the most critical of female attorneys/managers? I have somewhat of a vent/something that is bothering me in this area more than it should.
Recently, I found an online message board account for one of our paralegals (I was actually searching my firm’s name to see if we have ever been recommended on a regional group). What I found were a handful of posts about me from this paralegal that were directed at me. Things like me correcting mistakes was just a “contest” to remind the paralegal that I “have esquire after my name” and “once I remind [Anon Attorney] that I trained her, she tends to back off.” She also comments that she likes the male attorneys that she works for but has the most conflict with the female Shareholder (which I know is me). There are some comments where she makes fun of one of the male Shareholders for helping him with tasks like renewing his driver’s license, etc. I know these can be chalked up to venting/looking for validation on the online message board, but I was surprised and disappointed by the way she talked about me. I am usually one who always goes to bat for her, recognizes her experience and contribution, etc.
I won’t do anything about it, other than continue treating her with the same respect that I always have. But, I’m not going to stop making corrections to her draft documents – just like I do for everyone else.
She mentioned you, other attorneys and/or the firm by name? That’s something I would bring to HR (or a partner, if you’re an associate) because of the potential reputational damage. Most places would want to fire a staff member who negatively posted about their employer online.
To answer your question, it’s definitely a trope but hasn’t been my personal experience. My worst direct reports were mediocre white men.
Is she posting in a way that identifies your firm? That seems wildly out of line. As described, she sounds immature, unnecessarily adversarial, and jealous of your success.
You have a known bad apple yet you’re extrapolating and creating a categorical issue out of it. No, it’s beef between the two of you.
+1
Sounds like this is just an unprofessional person. You might be biased because most paralegals are women, and because men might put you down in different ways, but no less nasty. So your immediate instinct could be ‘would a man write THAT?’ but then when you think about it, it’s not hard to imagine a male colleague to make unprofessional remarks.
For what it’s worth, this would bother me too, but I agree that it’s probably best to forget about and move on!
Yeah I’ve been a paralegal with men and women attorneys and 1. I haven’t found my interactions or perceptions are different based on my boss’s gender and 2. This person is showing poor judgment at best. I would definitely take to HR. There’s almost no way for you as a manager to look at her neutrally now, right? I’m not sure what the best course of action here is but “do nothing” isn’t it
No need to draw sweeping conclusions about all women because this one isn’t great
Help me decide between my current nonprofit job and a nonprofit offer:
Current job: steady, comfortable, like the people, hybrid (3 days in office, 2 WFH), minimal to no travel, helps me connect to immediate community, good PTO, no real opportunity for growth and don’t want boss’s job.
Job offer: fully remote, ~15% salary increase, seemingly wonderful people, smart leadership, mission that doesn’t get me too excited, some travel, not great PTO.
I love the place I currently work but feel stagnant and like there isn’t any real growth potential (position or salary). I also feel like I am getting to an age where I need to make a leap to progress before it is too late since ageism is real. The job market is tough and I am wondering if I should push myself to take the bird in hand. I can see why people end up staying places forever, though. Help!
have you thoroughly vetted the cost of health insurance and any other benefits like 401k match? that can very easily be eaten up by a 15% bump.
Don’t underestimate the value of PTO – can you negotiate for more? The longer I have worked, the more important that has become to me.
Yeah, bad PTO would be a deal breaker
What strikes me in all this is that you wanted a new job enough to go out and look for one (unless they came to you?), and now that you have an actual job offer, I’m not hearing any level of excitement or interest or happiness about it. Unless that lack of response comes from the uncertainty of making a change and is congruent with how you generally respond to transitions, I’d keep looking.
It’s depends on your finances but personally I would not give up PTO for a 15% raise.
does the 100% remote allow you to work from anywhere and the 15% give you a travel budget? I’d be willing to give up *some* PTO if, say, I could do two-week rentals different places, and explore after work & weekends.
ymmv but working remotely short term like that isn’t uncommon even in hybrid workplaces. I’m officially 2 days/week in office but am able to do 2-3 weeks every summer fully remote to work from a different state (I can’t work outside the country, but that’s a tax thing, not a hybrid workplace thing).
Doesn’t sound remotely worth it. You’ll lose all your political capital for barely a raise and a lateral move? Also, sorry but fully remote is out of sight, out of mind. If you’re ambitious and don’t need this to raise kids, it’s not the path to upward mobility at work.
I wouldn’t change for a modest salary increase and a PTO decrease.
Where are you in life? Job 2 if you really want the money* and/or flexibility and/or career growth, but try and negotiate the offer up (more $, more PTO, etc). Keep your current job if you are happy in it and have no pressing reason to change.
*15% increase may or may not be a wash if you are not making much in a nonprofit and the benefits are worse- look closely.
I wouldn’t underestimate the “connect to immediate community” part of this either. Once you go truly remote, you will have to make efforts to try to stay connected to your community and network, so it may be harder to find another job if you don’t like this one.
Best script to tell a co-worker to stop snapping gum? Or just stick my headphones in and try to ignore it? Our office is small and I am losing my mind. So many office politics play into this, ugh.
Are you the poster who complained about gum snapping last week?
I have never heard a person snap gum in real life. That’s something from ’50s teen novels.
Isn’t that just the sound of blowing and popping little bubbles? People do that all the time. I think the phrase “snapping gum” sounds kind of quaint in that way but the activity is 100% a thing.
If the office politics of saying ‘hey would you mind stopping with the bubble blowing’ are that bad, then sorry, time for a mini white noise machine or something.
I mean, I would just say “hey, can you stop snapping your gum? thanks!”
Reframe it (both in your mind and out loud) as a request, not an order, and then use your words.
This. “Bob, I am having a really hard time concentrating this morning. Would you mind not snapping your gum? I find it distracting. Thanks!”
If you have a new-ish phone, which one and do you like it (or not)? I have very old iPhones and am overwhelmed with apple and non apple choices.
If you have / choose to carry two (one work/personal), do you have two of the same or two different?
as long I have a Mac laptop, I won’t switch from an iphone to an Android. My phone and laptop work seamlessly together, and I don’t want to disrupt that. I have a very old iPhone, which is old enough now that the ios can no longer be upgraded. So I’ll need a new phone soon. When I buy it, I’ll follow my usual pattern and get a refurbished iPhone a couple of years behind the current releases. That gives me a significant discount, and still plenty of features and enough years where Apple is updating its software to make it useful.
If you want to stay in the Apple universe – I think Pro is worth it. I like the smaller size + the great camera. I’m an amateur photo editor but find the tools easy to play around with.
If you’re willing to switch to a different OS, I also like the Google Pixel camera and editing features (magic eraser).
Don’t switch to Android if you’re comfortable with the iPhone IOS. it’s like being left or right handed, and the headache of relearning the system isn’t worth it … and I’m a long term android user!
As someone whose primary concern in a phone is battery life (because I often forget to charge my phone or end up in out of the way places where phone charging is a commodity) I like OnePlus phones. But honestly, unless you’re really into photography with your phone or gaming then one phone is much like another and you’ve just got to decide iOS or Android.
Thanks to those of you who responded to my hair question a few days ago. I ended up getting a L’ange Duo, as suggested, and it worked great! My hair looked great for our family photos:-)
Need a new deodorant and willing to spend some $$ on a really nice smelling one. What is your favorite?
Not Native. I tried both scented and unscented. I know this part is subjective, but the scented didn’t live up to the description and the price tag (smelled cheap and overly strong to me). The unscented has not been effective as deodorant, which makes me wonder if they’re over relying on fragrance. I’ll follow this thread in case someone has found some that are as nice smelling as Native’s marketing made it sound!
Ethique. I like the lavender, as well as whatever the green one is called. They work and the scent is not overpowering but lasts all day.
This is weird, but I avoid Native b/c whatever they use for scent somehow seems to travel into my taste buds and doesn’t go away even if I shower the deo off myself. That creeps me out.
I am obsessed with Corpus Naturals Cedar Flora. I went on a hunt several years ago when Tom’s stopped making the calendula scent and landed on CN. It’s pricey, but the sticks last a long time, smell amazing, and don’t irritate my sensitive skin. You can get a sampler pack of several of their scents to determine what you like, and the sample sizes are great for travel.
Arm & Hammer baby powder scent. Not pricey, but wonderful.
Salt and stone!
Dove Clinical unscented. If you want a scent buy perfume don’t let your armpits get stinky and nasty and then try to cover it up.
Can you recommend resources that show how to wear a scarf in a current way? I love scarves, hear they are in again, and want to freshen up my old style. I looked online and all the ones I found felt old and stuffy, which in my 50s I don’t need to announce.
Don’t do anything draped over your shoulders or hanging inside the blazer lapels. Tie around your neck. I like the classic stewardess from airlines of yore look.
+1 The scarves I’m seeing now are bandana-sized, and are worn in bandana-esque or stewardess-of-yore ways. Not my personal jam, so I’m sitting out this scarf era. (I’m not a small or streamlined person, and large draping scarves suit me much better.)
The airline look is my favorite! I feel very French-chic wearing them this way.
Pinterest is good for short clips that show different knots to use to actually tie the scarf.
I am 47 and love scarves. Where did you see that they’re in again? I mean it’s fall so there’s that but is there something more? I’ll look for some resources for you…
This says 2025 but I am still not sure if scarves are trendy!
https://youtu.be/9F9Np5QzzwQ?si=Qy38PHrj8yKG6bQU
Heading to London in February with my husband for a long weekend (Thursday morning-Sunday afternoon, plus travel time). Neither of us have ever been, and I’m feeling overwhelmed trying to pick a neighborhood to stay in, much less a hotel, even after several hours of research. Anyone have suggestions? Budget is not quite “sky’s the limit,” but we are going for a big anniversary, so it is fairly flexible. We’d prefer a smaller boutique feel, with great service, over a large/modern hotel. We loved Relais Christine in Paris, for reference.
Thanks for any suggestions!
What is your recommendation for affordable international tours?
My friends and I want to start exploring other continents (we have all independently backpacked Europe), but we’d like the security of a tour company or guide for future trips to Asia, South America and Africa.
We don’t need anything fancy – backpacking and hostels are fine for us! We are fine with cities, the nature, adventure travel, or a mix. We just want someone else to do the legwork of organizing transport and lodging – I want someone to vet the plans and confirm they’re safe.
We, as have most 20 something backpackers, all had our share of sketchy experiences (and at least in Europe, I spoke French and Spanish to get by!) and now in our 30s we would like to avoid that!
All that said – I can’t spend $5k for a trip…
I saw some great options from Intrepid but interested in finding more!
you are paying for the tour. While i wouldn’t go to africa on my own i would absolutely go to japan, korea, thailand, costa rica, etc without a tour. You can do it! literally think of where you want to go and google “first time visitor 10 day itinerary” and then go from there.
+1. Also I’m sure it depends on which part of Africa, but I found South Africa easier to plan and much easier to travel in than Thailand.
This is just not how my job functions, so I wanted to get a vibe check from people with more demanding jobs to assess how people on this board would view this. His peers in the industry have all told me they think he works way too hard and puts in more effort than is needed, but it’s hard for me to get a read on it. Would you view this as your husband not showing up for you, or just the way the job is? The industry is sales and he’s in management if that helps.
If his coworkers are saying unsolicited that he works too hard and you also feel that he isn’t showing up for you, it seems pretty cut and dry to me.
But also, if you’re not feeling supported then you’re not feeling supported, regardless of the industry standards of his career. If you’re important to him, communicate your needs and he should try to meet them. If he doesn’t, he’s not a good partner.
Sorry for the duplicate, but the first part of my post got eaten.
When my FIL died a few years ago, I took care of all of the details to drive an 11 hr round trip back to my husband’s hometown every weekend for months so he could say goodbye in the way he needed.
When my dad died last year, my husband kicked up a fuss any time I wanted to go back and straight up refused to go for the last time I saw my dad alive. He was at a new job and it was their busy period so it would have been challenging. He also said he wasn’t sure he could get time off for the funeral and demanded we only stay in my hometown a few days because he had an important meeting he needed to get back for.
This is just not how my job functions, so I wanted to get a vibe check from people with more demanding jobs to assess how people on this board would view this. His peers in the industry have all told me they think he works way too hard and puts in more effort than is needed, but it’s hard for me to get a read on it. Would you view this as your husband not showing up for you, or just the way the job is? The industry is sales and he’s in management if that helps.
He sounds like a complete a-hole. Even in the most demanding jobs, a family death is one of the few things people are understanding of.
How does one go about finding a high-end artist to commission to do a family portrait? We want something on the more traditional side, oil on canvas, ideally with an actual sitting (as opposed to based on photography, does anyone still do that?), but also looking for someone who may be able to add in pets (dog, cats) from photography.
No idea where to start, any ideas appreciated!
I will be backpacking Europe for 3 weeks next year. My activities will range from attending a black tie wedding to a hut to hut hiking trip. Most of the trip will be touring cities, towns, and lower key outdoor activities (beach or lake days, smaller hikes).
Looking for packing and planning tips!
is anyone else you know flying in for just the wedding? would they bring your dress and shoes with them? definitely would not want to schlep a dress around….
new yorkers – i have a friend flying from out of state to NYC today to terminate a pregnancy. i want to send her something while she is recovering in her hotel. any suggestions? are insomnia cookies are still good?
Insomnia Cookies are still good and have locations all over the city so you can find one near her hotel that will deliver. If you want to post where she is staying, you may get other recommendations.
Also, you’re being a good friend but just need to say it’s insane that someone would have to fly to NYC to have an abortion. What a time we are living in.