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Weekend Open Thread

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Something on your mind? Chat about it here.

This velvet jacket caught my eye over at Evereve, but I wasn't a fan of the color — so I'm psyched to see it at Nordstrom, and part of their new Winter Savings event!

(At Evereve it's in the color “DirtyMartini” and is apparently a bestseller.)

I like that it feels kind of new and unexpected — the stand collar gives it a bit of a tough edge, but the fact that it's velvet, and quilted, softens it up quite a bit.

The jacket is $98-$159 depending on which color you want — and ooh, it comes in petites as well. Nice. You can find it at Nordstrom, Evereve, Stitchfix, and Sanctuary… it's sold out at Anthro, but it has more pictures if you want to see it styled differently.

Sales of note for 1/15:

113 Comments

  1. Are there any commercially-available containers to store little tea cups and punch cups? I saw the holder cases that people use for ornaments and wondered if this existed, but I’m hunting around and using the wrong search terms and not finding what I need. If it would fit a teacup, it might also fit a series of small cups for use with a punch bowl (will use for wassail, but then put away). Also, if anyone has a good wassail recipe that is pleasant and mildly sweet, please post. The last batch was too alcohol-forward and was suitable for undergrads but not for a crowd that is trying to adult.

    2. I searched ‘container store teacup storage’ and isn’t this what you’re looking for?

      https://www.containerstore.com/s/kitchen/tabletop-and-barware/cup-mug-storage-case/12d?productId=11024624&country=US&currency=USD&adpos=&cid=cse|SSC|Google|TCSP_X_US_EN_Kitchen_PMAX_X_18786525748___en&g_acctid=801-592-2151&g_adgroupid=&g_adid=&g_adtype=none&g_campaign=TCSP_X_US_EN_Kitchen_PMAX_X&g_campaignid=18786525748&g_keyword=&g_keywordid=&g_network=x&sc_intid=10062017&scid=scplp10062017&utm_campaign=pla&utm_source=google&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=18789344867&gbraid=0AAAAADHVesi716uBTT-CrBKbxIBObtZy_&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqJGA9eO4kQMVpzMIBR3C3RsAEAQYASABEgKsS_D_BwE

          1. This is true. Sometimes I don’t know the language for the thing I’m looking for—so using the word china for storage instead of cup.

        2. I had the same thought. But I also have a cup storage issue I’d forgotten about so this was a nice prompt. Found some good stuff on Amazon that’s cheaper than the container store option above.

    3. Replacements has good china storage options. And it won’t out gas as much as the stuff from the Container Store. Their stuff is gross stinky cheap plastic.

  2. I may repost this Monday…

    We’re in Boston and looking to travel to Australia in June-ish to visit family. We need to go from Boston > Adelaide > Sydney > Boston. Bulk of the trip is in Adelaide but we want to spend 3-4 nights in Sydney to see it since we’ll be there anyway and a Sydney layover in/out of Adelaide is a near guaranty anyhow.

    Despite being pretty dang self sufficient, I’m in a mental pretzel trying to figure out the best way to book this. Boston > Sydney round trip with an Adelaide/Sydney domestic flight in between? Book three different legs all separate? How do I do this but also try to manage reasonable layover times? I think I have it figured out then realize there’s a 7 hour layover or something like that.

    Should any reasonable travel agent be able to help me with this? Will that be a fee to me or do they get comped by the airline somehow? I have an agent I’ve used for Disney, other vacations but never flights. Wondering if this is where outsourcing may be my friend.

    1. I used Flight Centre quite a bit when I lived in Asia and this was the kind of thing that they were good at. Not necessarily the cheapest, but would prevent you from spending 12 hours in Dubai to save $9.

    2. If you haven’t used Google Flights, I’d recommend starting there. You can search by multi-leg trips or a bunch of one-ways or however else you want to search and you can get really good ideas on the difference in pricing or schedule. They also have good fare calendars if your dates are flexible and can send you price drops. I don’t think travel agents make much money any longer off airline travel, so you may find it hard to work with a travel agent on this unless they are also booking you hotels and other things on the trip.

      1. +1 for getting a good sense of schedules and pricing.

        That said I would be wary of booking separate tickets for any portion of the overseas journeys (like booking LAX to SYD but separately getting yourselves from BOS to LAX, sometimes called a repositioning, which can save you money at a risk). All your flights on one ticket = if the first one is delayed, you have recourse to reschedule the rest, as opposed to being SOL.

        So, three tickets I could see, but not more than that.

      2. I second this–Google Flights to assess options and then book directly with airline. You may have to do a separate booking for the Adelaide–>Sydney just depending on which airlines fly in Australia and who they codeshare with. if you have to do that, I would fly to Sydney the day before you’re supposed to fly out instead of trying to make it a same-day layover on separate tickets. If you have to book them separately and have a checked bag, remember you’ll have to go collect your check bag, recheck in with new airline, go back through security.

        1. Realized that may not have been totally clear. I think you’ll probably have to book 2 trips: Boston–>Sydney roundtrip (which presumably involves a layover in LAX) and then Sydney–>Adelaide round trip separately. I’d probably do it so you have 1-2 days in Sydney when you arrive and 1- 2 days in Sydney before you depart.

          I wouldn’t book Boston–>Sydney and then Sydney–>Boston as separate one way tickets because one-ways usually cost more.

    3. I would use a search engine to search for the flights, but book directly with the airline as one reservation. Look for the multi-leg option on the website.

      If that drastically changes the price, you could book the Australian domestic flights separately. But then I would plan to spend 2 to 3 days in Sydney on both ends of the trip.

    4. Definitely use google flights but it will probably be cheaper to do the U.S.-Australia round as 1 ticket and Adelaide-Sidney domestic round trip as 1 ticket. I did this in New Zealand using a domestic airline and a different airline internationally. Otherwise, yes, you use Google flights to do multi leg searches.

    5. No real advice about how to book, but a warning that they are super strict about luggage weights, both checked and carry-on, on Australian domestic flights. So when they tell you the weight limits, believe them or be prepared to pay through the nose for extra bags/weight. (Ask me how I know…)

      1. Absolutely! There is a peculiar Aussie dance as we get to the gate as everyone moves keys/wallets/phone/books etc into our pockets and boards wearing coats and our heavy shoes.

    6. I’m a travel agent and won’t book flights for clients. 1) because you should really book the flight yourself in case something goes wrong – you’ll have much better luck dealing directly with the airline and 2) because there’s no commission in it for me since airlines don’t pay agents the way hotels and cruise lines do.

      Some travel agents do book flights, typically for a fee because of point #2 above, but they’re not really doing anything you can’t do online and it can really complicate your travel if something goes wrong. With a hotel the typical priority is like this: travel agent client > client who booked directly > client who booked with a third party service like Expedia. With flights, human travel agents are basically treated the same as Expedia so you’ll be below the many people who booked directly with the airline and it can be a real mess if there are complications with the itinerary.

      You generally can’t stay over in a place for more than 24 hours without getting a special “stopover” or “multi-city” itinerary. Most airlines sell those directly but you should also price compare with 2 round trips because it’s often cheaper to buy two separate round trip tickets. +1 on Google flights to get a sense of routes and pricing.

  3. Looking for an accountant in the Bay Area (East Bay, although Zoom/remote is fine with us). We want to make sure we’re managing our basic income/taxes properly to avoid underpayment and also do some planning for college savings. Married, one kid, regular salaries and normal investments (401Ks, a non-tax-advantaged investment account at Vanguard, Roth IRAs) – so not super complex. Also hoping to buy a house next year. Any recs appreciated.

    1. Are you looking for an accountant (to do your taxes) or a certified financial planner? What you’re describing sounds more like the latter, so that might be a helpful search term.

      1. An accountant but one who can also explain the tax implications of different college savings mechanisms.

  4. Wedding present help please!
    The couple are both in their 50s, second marriage for both so presumably they have two of everything. They’re not registered anywhere and are getting married right before Christmas. I’m thinking nice bottle of champagne for use on NYE.? Other ideas?

    1. Do either of them have a cause they are very passionate about? This is a situation where a donation in their honor can be nice, as long as the donation is about an honest passion of theirs, rather than one of yours.

      1. As the recipient of these donations, for a wedding it’s such a bummer. It’s exciting to find your person the second time around! It’s nice to get pretty new things. When I remarried we got a lot of nice champagne, OP, I’d go with caviar instead- they’ll get tons of bottles to pair it with. And don’t do a charity donation, that’s for when pets and parents die.

        1. I’ll offer an alternative viewpoint — depending on the couple, they may very well appreciate the donation! Not a second marriage, but my husband and I got married after we’d both finished grad school and were in stable, well-paying jobs. If our guests wished to give us a gift, we asked that they make a donation to a pool of charitable causes that we chose. If you think that the couple would appreciate or be touched by a donation, I don’t see anything wrong with it.

    2. Do they like candles or incense or otherwise need matches on a regular basis? I just ordered some Skeem glass match cloches for my DIL and I’m kind of obsessed. They are very fancy. If you don’t like that particular style, you might look for other fancy match holders.

    3. GC to a restaurant that’s enough to cover an indulgent meal for two. A well-intentioned person gave us $100 for a restaurant that was more like $500 for the required tasting experience – nice thought but at the time (new grad school grads) we literally couldn’t afford to use it!

      1. This happened to us too! We did use it, but it was a little frustrating because the restaurant was not really one we would have ever chosen to visit on our own.

    4. I don’t think you need to give anything else other than the champagne and a nice card.

  5. Any past posters have any updates, or want to hear updates from anyone in particular?

    1. I want to know what happened to the woman who was exclusively dating Mr. Red Flags against her friends and posters advice. She asked for date outfit recommendations if I recall correctly. How did it go? Was it worth it?

    2. I just want to express continued support for the person who was divorcing her alcoholic (?) or otherwise troubled husband … and then he died. I hope life got brighter since.

    3. I don’t want to bring it up if it’s painful to that poster but I have been wondering how the woman who was in IVF and had her husband come home blackout drunk is doing. I hope better.

      1. I think that may have been on the Mom’s site? I also think about the poster whose husband got kicked out of a restaurant for the same reason. Wherever you are, ladies, I hope things have improved for you.

    4. I realize this is probably an annoyingly vague update, but I posted one of those comments asking for advice on how to handle a situation where people were MEAN in response. I was snippy back because the meanness was based off assumptions that weren’t supported by my post and also just weren’t true, and then people were even meaner in response to me being snippy. (If there was an industry for greeting cards for people you hate that just say the pithiest but meanest things possible, some of you would be eminently employable).

      Anyway, the situation resolved itself in a completely fine way. And I’m still here reading and sometimes asking questions. Why? I don’t know. You’d think I would’ve learned something from that experience, but nope.

  6. If you have an intense hobby, what are you hoping to get for the holidays for your hobby?

    I’m a gardener and asking for gift cards for seeds and specialty coleus. And gift cards for the local garden store since that’s the best place to buy fish fertilizer etc.

    1. I’m picking out a new ski jacket for myself (too picky to let anyone else do it). Hard to find one that fits my postpartum hips really comfortably, though. Many are cut so slim.

      1. I struggled with the same thing, exacerbated by being short, and ended up having luck with brands that offered petite sizes. LL Bean and Eddie Bauer are the two I remember, though they are admittedly not the most hardcore skier brands out there.

    2. Tai chi and kung fu: Hoping to find a jian (Chinese straight sword) under the tree.

    3. XC skier here. I’m asking for Smartwool knee-highs (anything shorter, my boots start eating, argh) and one of those down miniskirts to use over leggings on frigid mornings!

    4. Singer here. I would really like an external microphone for recording my voice lessons on my iPhone, but I can’t find one with decent ratings that is small enough to be practical for this purpose. The closest one I can find has to be attached to the phone with a big hand grip thing that would make it impossible to set on a music stand or piano.

  7. Any recommendations for works of fiction suitable for my Daughters of the American Revolution book club? We rotate fiction and nonfiction every month, and nonfiction is obviously easier to find.

    3. What’s the mandate for this book club? Revolutionary war fiction? Or just any historical fiction? The later Outlander books actually do a surprisingly good job of covering the American Revolution, especially the lead up to the war in the South, which I didn’t learn so much about in school, but may or may not be popular in that crowd, plus they’re part of a very long series. America’s First Daughter was an okay book about Thomas Jefferson’s daughter. If you’re open to a wider time period, I really liked Caleb’s Crossing and March by Geraldine Brooks and The North Woods by Daniel Mason. The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff was also pretty good, but more literary than historical, as is The Good Lord Bird (the tv series is also great). Lonesome Dove is a fantastic western and if you want other books set outside the original colonies and later in time, My Antonia, Angle of Repose, anything by Steinbeck, Doc by Mary Doria Russell, and The Indifferent Stars Above. For nonfiction, I like Nathaniel Philbrick’s books, especially Mayflower and In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (and you could always read Moby Dick!).

        1. That’s funny, I read it such a long line ago (probably 16 years ago when it came out) that all I remembered was the power of the story and just assumed it was fictionalized! I’d also put nonfiction by David Grann in this category, like Killers of the Flower Moon, and by Erik Larson, who has a number of great books including one on Fort Sumter and one on the Galveston hurricane, if OP wants more nonfiction recs.

  8. My family of 4 will have a 7-hour layover in London (Heathrow). Is it worth it to go into London? Any advice?

    2. It’s doable, but whether it’s worth it depends on your personal metrics. You can either take the Heathrow Express to Paddington or the Elizabeth line into central London. Both are very easy. The Heathrow Express is faster, but there are longer waits between trains. You could grab a bit to eat and walk around for an hour or two. Or hope on a double decker bus and cruise around and see some of the sites. I would give yourself 2-3 hours to go through security, etc before your second flight.

    3. It would not be worth it for me. Clearing customs, getting into central London (and allowing plenty of time to get back) all take quite a bit of time and you’re technically supposed to be at the airport 3 hours before an international flight. I don’t follow that rule myself, but I’d allow at least 2 hours because Heathrow is such a busy airport. I think you’d be looking at 3 hours in the city max, which wouldn’t be worth it for me.

      1. Same. I’d be nervously watching the clock the whole time. I’d rather hole up in a bar or lounge at the airport.

      2. Depends if this is your only shot to see London. I’d do it in a heartbeat. But it’s also one of my favorite cities. I’d probably get a cab to Hyde Park, get lunch ar Harrods, wander a bit, then head back.

        1. I’m the person you’re replying to, and London is also one of my favorite cities.. I’m spending 11 days there in May. I still think it’s not worth it, especially considering how far Heathrow is from the city and how early they’d have to be back for the connecting flight.

          I had a ~5 hour train layover in Paris this summer and enjoyed walking around and eating good croissants even though I didn’t really have time to “do” anything. But I basically stayed within a mile of the train station, was on foot so there were no traffic delays or risk of strikes to contend with, and there was no security screening so I could show up right before the train and make the connection.

          1. Since this isn’t your only chance to see London, but would be a long, boring layover at the airport, I would leave the airport and head into the city for a nice lunch or dinner (depending on your flight timing). Know where you are going and how you’ll get there, and you can have a nicer meal and kill time that would otherwise be spent sitting around.

    4. Any chance you can extend it to longer? Heathrow is the worse airport and while you’ll have time to get in and out of London, it’s quite tight. 7 hours is just the worst of all the possibilities there.

    5. I would check into an airport hotel, let everyone catch up on their sleep, get a decent meal, etc.

      1. Honestly, yeah – the answer to this question depends on whether you have anxiety or not.

    7. I would totally do it if I were on my own, but I am a live-on-the-edge traveller, and not trying to get kids somewhere (maybe with teenagers?)

      That said, I’ve always found it worth it to *exit the airport* even if you’re just getting coffee at the railroad station instead and standing outside in the sunlight – especially if getting natural daylight in London might help with jetlag wherever you’re going next.

    8. Probably not, but it would depend on the ages of the kids (assuming at least 2 of the family of 4 is kids?), how much travel experience they have, and whether or not you’re coming off an overnight redeye from the US. I have a well-traveled 7 year old and can’t imagine doing this with her after a redeye. She’d be absolutely miserable. I might consider it if we were flying the other direction and weren’t exhausted.

      If there’s any way to get lounge access before the trip, Heathrow has some phenomenal lounges. The British Airways lounge has an ice cream cart which kept said 7 year old very entertained on a layover last summer.

    9. any chance you can make that longer or shorter? 7 hours is both really long for the airport (even with a lounge) and kind of too short to comfortably actually do anything else.

      1. This is my thought. If you can’t change it, personally I’d get an airport hotel room, go take showers and nap a little, get something to eat. I wouldn’t try to do anything far or touristy.

    10. I wouldn’t bother trying to get into London because you’d barely have time to do anything once you take into account airport timelines, but you could get to Windsor in less than half an hour by taxi and that’s a pretty and historic town nice for a few hours of wandering.

      1. This is 100% what I was going to say. Windsor is lovely, or one of the lovely little villages near Heathrow. I’d go for a walk then a pub lunch if the timing is right.

    11. I had a 6 hour layover with 2 very young children and I was pregnant. I took the Heathrow express to paddington and walked down to Hyde park, had lunch with my friend in Mayfair, stopped into M&S for some things, picked up 5 boxes of french fancies from Tesco express and walked back to paddington station to take the express back to Heathrow.

      The children did very well on the day trip and Hyde park was just what they needed. I was on my own so staying at the airport would have been harder work for me. I’ve done the same in Amsterdam, Paris and Copenhagen.

    12. I would make cancel-able plans in case your flight is delayed and it shortens your window. I’m a total seat-of-the-pants traveler and would only go into the city if you didn’t have to lug around a ton of bags, and if you had a really good route mapped out. With the right planning I think it’s a great way to see a city.

      We recently did this, in fact — we had a six hour layover and went to central London for Sunday pub lunch with my cousin and her family. I have three kids ages 10 – 16 and everyone rolled with it and did great! We did take Ubers/black cabs rather than public transport just for ease, and we flew into Heathrow and out of Gatwick so would have had to leave the airport anyway. Our flight got in 90 minutes early and it was great. FYI, if you’re a US citizen you will need to pay for some sort of entry/registration fee if you leave the airport (I think it was 16 pounds/person) and we did it in advance.

      We also did a version of this at JFK airport in NYC — had a 9 hour layover and went to the TWA hotel. Got a room on a day rate and our family of five napped, swam in the rooftop spa (heated to 95 degrees even in the dead of winter), ate food, and prepped for a long international flight.

    13. Do you particularly want to see central London or are you open to other sights? Windsor castle is a 20 min taxi from Heathrow, and is fun if you enjoy history/royals. Hampton Court and Kew Gardens are also within about 30 mins.

  9. So… how much did everyone spend on clothing themselves this year? I think I stayed under 2k. I did not purchase any shoes.

    Anyone have a clothing budget for next year? I’ll probably fall between 1-2k again.

    1. I think probably only $200-300 or so. I don’t usually buy a lot of clothing for myself except to replace things that have gotten worn out. I did buy a couple new pairs of jeans this year but I got them at Old Navy so they were only ~$30 each. I didn’t buy any shoes either.
      My daughter’s clothing budget is another story!

    2. Too much. I might actually set a budget this year to keep it under 1k, or possibly zero if I can swing it. I just get excited by new ideas.

    3. Well, I reached Icon status at Nordstrom, which requires (I think?) $15K in purchases. But my whole family shops on that card, so I’d say maybe half of it was me. I buy most of my clothes there, but not all. Anyways, I have so much, I am going to try to shop my closet next year and give away things I do not love. I am very type A and love organizing and sorting and cataloguing, so I am trying to play to that more than acquiring because it kind of scratches the same itch.

  10. Im in the NYC area. I normally run along the Hudson and transition to a treadmill this time of year. I like running outdoor but need to get myself the right clothing and accessories. For those that run outdoors in cold weather, what are your go to solutions for running tights/leggings, ear warmers, jackets, gloves and socks?

    1. I’m in NYC, and I use Tina Muir’s guidance (https://tinamuir.com/winter-running-what-to-wear-at-every-temperature/) for a general idea of how many layers I need. I do pay close attention to wind, and dress as if it is 5-10 degrees colder if it is windy.

      For my torso, I have a ton of race shirts that I wear a lot, but my favorite shirts for cold weather are a 100% wool one from Oiselle, as well as an Oiselle wool blend. Long underwear designed for aerobic activity works well too. My winter MVP is a thin Brooks vest–like a thin windbreaker, not insulated at all–that helps keep my core warm but doesn’t make me too hot. I wear this over one or two long sleeves, depending on how cold it is. I do also have a Nathan long-sleeved running jacket, but I really only wear it when it is well below freezing.

      For bottoms, I have an ancient pair of Sugoi Midzero tights that are kind of my favorite, followed closely by the Athleta Rainer for moderately cold weather. (If it is in the 40s, I usually just wear regular leggings). When it is well below freezing, I wear Athleta Altitude leggings, and I sometimes layer them with a pair of long underwear bottoms. The absolute warmest combo is to wear looser fleece pants over leggings–more air trapped is better insulation–but that is usually too hot for me.

      I have an ancient windproof fleece headband I wear to keep my ears warm, and I think these are my current gloves: https://www.craftsports.us/products/unisex-hybrid-weather-glove – I like the pop off mitten option. I tend to get hot in hats, but often I will wear both the headband and a thin Polartec Powerstretch hat when I head out, and then just take the hat off and stuff it in a pocket when I warm up.

      For socks, I tend to just wear normal cotton socks for shorter runs, but I have some wool ones I wear when it is really cold or for a long run.

      If you run on packed snow or icy surfaces, try Kahtona Nanospikes on your shoes. They are annoying on cleared pavement though, so I have trouble using them in the city (often sidewalks are a mix of totally clear followed by a sheet of ice).

      Enjoy your winter runs!

  11. Crazy take on the Friday thread that fun needs to take priority over life responsibilities. Is that how some kids are actually being raised?

      1. I’m ok with that. Less ok with the idea of kids who think every moment has to be “special” without doing the work to earn it.

        1. So own it! Obviously the concept touched a nerve for you. If you’re truly happy living that way, why do you care if others prioritize fun more?

    2. Love it when someone misses the original opportunity to stir the pot and just tries to get the pot back on the table in a later thread so they can stir it there.

      1. I don’t mind it because sometimes the second thread has interesting opinions but to come out swinging because other people like to have fun is…odd lol.

    3. Life responsibilities are the priority every other day of the week; is it that wild to have one day off?

      1. It doesn’t even have to be a day off – but there’s a huge difference between reserving every Saturday morning for chores and planning every Saturday morning for family fun. You can fit the chores in at less “prime time.”

    5. I don’t disagree.

      I’m a single mom who works two jobs. We live in a $1.8m home which is an absolute privilege. I have zero tolerance for the bull of ‘you need to relax’ when it comes to the children tidying up after themselves.

      I don’t have the budget for a weekly cleaner. I had to make choices and housing is the priority because that pays for the children’s education. The next priority is childcare. I’m up at 5am to do housework for an hour and I do another hour at 9pm. The kids help but a SAHM probably spends 20+ hours a week doing this.

      I have a reward system where they get $1 for each chore they do. This pays for the rubbish they want. My eldest was being a sulky teenager and demanding money for Starbucks. Daddy had his lawyer send my lawyer a letter claiming I was damaging my daughter for making her earn the money to go to Starbucks. This is one of the reasons why I divorced him. My lawyer billed his lawyer for the letter and didn’t charge me. He called it abusive use of conflict.

      I worry for the next generation here in the U.S. because this permissive parenting is not setting them up for a successful life as an adult. These kids are not being forced to learn to share or take responsibility for their domain. I see first hand and I’m shocked at the lack of parenting of teens. Yes it’s hard but it’s also our job as parents.

      1. Applaud you and your lawyer. Agree that some things have to be earned—relaxing or starbucks. I read some commenters here worried that their kids might not have the drive to maintain the standard of living they grew up with and genuinely wonder if this is actually the fault of the parents for raising them to expect a life they aren’t ready to work for—even via childhood chores.

      2. You totally misread everything. It’s not that you don’t have your kids do chores – no one said that, at all. You just put thought and intention into the schedule so family fun gets treated with at least as much priority as your dusting schedule. It’s the answer to many midlife malaise situations. How often have you heard “I feel like I’m just mom and a chore fairy to my family”? Be intentional with your leisure.

        2. That isn’t the case at all. I put zero planning into my leisure. I have a very long list of things that must be done and it’s up to me to get through that list.

          My time has very little spent on leisure. I have my children about 70%. It ends up being about 80-85%. It’s on me to organize everything. Child does a sport. It’s on me to find the class, which I then have to present to him, after 48 hours of no reply I proceed to schedule and buy the kit needed. I take the child to the activities or organize someone else to do it during his time.

          It’s expensive but it’s also a time thief. It’s not like my kids feet are the same size. He doesn’t reimburse me hence the second job.

          I’m lucky if I get 7 hours of sleep a night. Leisure is not something I have for me in my life right now. One day my home will be quiet and hopefully I will have time to relax and rejuvenate.

        1. Well, your comment reads like you are a nasty person. Scroll on if you can’t relate.

  12. what’s a comfortable yet attractive shoe for spectating sporting events that involve walking on gravel and dirt and 40-50 degree weather?

    1. What kind of sporting event? Cross-country and golf spectators dress very differently.

      1. Yes, I was thinking booties or maybe lined clogs but I’d appreciate specific brands/models. (Normal sneakers are not cutting it.)

        1. 1. Buying the Ugg footbed liners and adding them to boots or shoes you already have and that have a generous-enough fit to accommodate – keeps the cold from creeping up through the shoe
          2. Buying booties with a thicker sole. Cole Haan Zerogrand is my go-to for this. Used to wear them over skinnies, now wear with flares that I otherwise have hemmed for heels.

        2. I love my Ugg Kesey (or something like that) booties. They are waterproof and very warm without getting sweaty. The only time I could feel cold through them was walking around around in deeper snow. I got them a few years ago but they probably make a similar one. They’re surprisingly attractive. I got .5 size up for warmth (7.5 in sneakers, got these in 8).

    3. Ariat Scout Paddock lace-up boots. Super comfortable, with a steel shank and arch support. These boots look very nice with slacks or dresses/skirts.

  13. Good morning! I just came in to some family jewelry that is a bit nicer than I was expecting. There is no documentation, so I know I need to get an appraisal to get a jewelry rider on my insurance. Do you have any recommendations for appraisers in the Arlington/McLean/Tyson’s area? Or farther out in NoVA/DC if that’s not an option. Thank you!

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