ByKat Hours Updated
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Coffee Break: ‘Moselle’ Pump

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Söfft 'Moselle' PumpI love the fuschia/burgundy/black colors printed onto haircalf with this Söfft pump — they're fun and pretty, and the pump is sure to be comfortable (well, for a 3.5″ heel). It also comes in a much more subdued black/white/brown wave print that I could see being gorgeous against a number of different skin tones. It's $99.95. Söfft ‘Moselle' Pump (L-2)

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And some of our latest threadjacks here at Corporette (reader questions and commentary) — see more here!

Some of our latest threadjacks include:

96 Comments

    1. They have these at LORD and TAYLOR I think also! And you can try them on and walk all over w/o buying them if you want. If you don’t like them you just leave them for the guy to put away. I did that and then did NOT buy, but then I decided I liked them and I do buy, so it work’s out! YAY!!!!

      Willem called me. It is so much nicer then texteing me, tho Lynn now know’s there is another guy in the picture. I try and keep my personal life seperete from work, but that is NOT possibel when a guy CALLS rather then text’s. He is a cleint of the firm so mabye she think’s it is busness. Whatever. Willem want’s to take me out to eat, so I said mabye later this week. He seems VERY persistent, but he does NOT know about Grandma Leyeh’s deal, yet, and I do NOT know for sure if he is HUSBAND Materiale. Time will tell, and there is alway’s David and Roberta’s son (I forgot his name). So I do have other prospect’s! YAY!!!!!

    2. Man though – I love this chevron pattern. The brown black and white pattern is probably more sensible to my daily life but GOD the pictured colors are more fun!

  2. Why do people in cubicles think it’s okay to: (1) whistle or hum audibly to themselves; (2) have long private phone conversations; (3) use the speakerphone; (4) play music without headphones?

    1. 1 may be entirely unconscious, I know I am often guilty of it, but the rest are overall inconsiderate.

      1. +1. Apparently I make little noises sometimes and have no idea I’m doing it!

    2. I completely feel your pain on 1-3. I have the cubemate from hell.. think extended conversations with her husband about personal finances, weird humming, incessant loud snacking, and strange audible sigh noises. I do #4 just to drown her out / get her to shut up. Slightly immature… yes, but she’s a temp and I’m just past the point of giving a damn.

      1. My officemate babytalks several times a day to her spouse. I love her generally, but this is maddening to me. Especially know that she is in her mid-40s and her spouse is her in early 60s. That just makes it especially creepy to me.

  3. Given the topic of this post, just a plug for Sofft shoes. I only have one pair, but they are my go-to black heels and I adore them. I live in fear of the day they wear out and I might not be able to find replacements of the same brand. They were immensely comfortable from the day I bought them and I can wear them all day without my feet becoming sore or needing to take them off. For reference, I have very high arches, a wide instep and narrow heel.

    1. This is my go to brand for shoes, I also have high arches and genu recurvatum.
      The first time I got them was after the SA at Nordstrom made me try a pair of pumps. I ended up taking it in Black and in Brown.
      Their flats also have amazing arch support

    2. I have the opposite problem (very low arches) and also love my Sofft pumps. These are especially tempting because I recently decided to add some color/patterns to my work shoe wardrobe.

    3. I’m also a low-arch person, but with narrow heels and I love Sofft too. I have one lovely pair that are 4 years old and I’ll be so sad when I have to retire them!

  6. I know academia employment is horrible along with every other kind right now, but if I wanted to start getting even an idea of what was required, where would you start? I’ve googled around and it looks like law school jobs are all posted on some site you have to pay to submit a resume to, does anyone know if that’s really how it’s done or is my research just lousy?

    2. For student affairs positions, as well as a wide range of other types of jobs in academia (I’ve seen everything from groundskeeper to faculty), higheredjobs.com is really the gold standard. You can set up little alerts so that they email you every week with jobs in your geographic area, or your desired level/type of employment, etc.

      2. Oh there are fellowships on here too and now I can’t wait to go home tonight to read this closer. An extra thanks for giving me something to look forward to!

      1. Ideally, but their jobs page has shown like 2 faculty positions in the year I’ve been watching and trying to get career services’ attention a) during the fall and b) when you already have a job is nearly impossible.

  7. Did any DC ‘rettes go to the opening of HomeGoods/TJ Maxx in Georgetown yesterday? If yes, what did you score?

    I went to look at furniture and bought a couple of nightstands (yes, multiple nightstands with plans to return extras, I just couldn’t decide), throw pillows…and then a pair of “riding” boots and a pair of suede mustard yellow ankle-strap peep toes (OMG they are soo cute).

    If you haven’t gone…well, they had a lot of great stuff. I spied some Catherine Malandrino dresses, a few to-die-for Laurent bags (at $1,799 each)…

    1. I’m so jealous! We don’t have HomeGoods here. When I evacuated for Hurricane Gustav, I ended up driving home with a nightstand in my back seat. That was the only place I could find nightstands that weren’t too huge for my bedroom.

    2. One of my teammates asked told me about this. I suspect there will be very good inventory at that store.

  8. Need some advice. I’m a regular poster but don’t want my name to be tied to this.

    I have been working at a small law firm (12 lawyers) since March. Since May, I’ve spent basically every day worried that today was going to be the day that I got fired. Essentially, I’m a first year associate, which they knew when the hired me, but what they really needed and wanted was a third year associate, and no one is interested in taking the time to train me to get me to that place. I’ve also made my share of mistakes, especially after I started getting really worried about getting fired and was shooting from the hip emotionally. I’m also just not a great cultural fit in the office.

    Before this job, I worked as a temp for a consulting agency. I was called by them a few weeks ago and asked to apply for a full time (hourly) position. It would mean a significant pay cut, it wouldn’t be as challenging, and I’m not sure that there would be much opportunity for career development. On the other hand, I absolutely loved working as a temp for this company and I found the work really interesting.

    I wouldn’t quit my current position to work for the consulting agency, but I’m concerned that if I’m going to get fired, I’d rather get fired now, while it’s still a viable option, rather than in 3 or 4 months when they might no longer be hiring.

    Is there any grown-up, professional way of handling this?

    1. Is there anyone at the firm that you can speak with candidly about it?

      In my experience (unfortunately), if you feel like you’re going to get fired, you probably are.

      You could try to speak with a lawyer you trust and have a heart to heart, saying exactly what you said here:

      1) You feel like you are not what they are looking for;
      2) You feel like you need more direction and training than they can provide;
      3) You want to stay and gain experience as an attorney, but you think it will only work if they can actually provide that training and direction;
      4) You have an opportunity that is not ideal, and that you would only take if they are unwilling to provide more direction and training.

      1. We have discussed 1,2, and 3, with indeterminate results (as in, they say they’re going to provide more training and direction, but it manifests in such a way as to make me even more convinced that I’m going to be fired). Basically, I get the feeling that they’re teetering on the edge of firing me and aren’t certain which way they want to go yet. I don’t know how to bring up 4 without saying, “I think you’re on the verge of firing me, if you are, can you let me know now so I can take this other opportunity?”

    2. If I were you I’d just keep trying to do my best at the firm you’re with while keeping an eye out for openings with other firms. This is assuming you want to continue practicing law. It will be harder getting a law firm position later if you take the consulting job now. It’s unfortunate, though not entirely unusual, that you are stressed and unhappy in your first year of practice. Hang in there!

    3. I agree with Susie that if you leave law now, it will be very, very difficult to get back in later. Also, pretty much every new lawyer feels like a failure in their first year (especially if they’re any good). I’m not saying that your concerns aren’t valid, but it might be that, yes, you’re making mistakes but they’re the mistakes everyone expected you to make, so it’s okay.

      As for training, if you’re asking generally for “more training and guidance” but not asking for anything specific, they may simply be too unorganized to set up what you need. Can you identify a few discrete processes and ask for training in them? Or request some model documents to study? Also, consider volunteering to sit in on meetings/hearings/etc. without billing for it. (Fair to you? Maybe not, but it’s much easier to get a client to say yes if you’re there for free.) There’s also the option of CLEs. Your firm should be willing to pay the fees for you to attend a few (especially if you need the hours for your state bar) and to give you the time off (although expect to have to make up the billable hours).

      1. That’s the other thing, in 6 months I haven’t once come close to making my (very reasonable) monthly hours requirement because I just don’t have enough work. And it’s not that there isn’t work to be done, but no one wants to do the extra work of supervising me, so I don’t get any of it. I probably go around twice a week asking for work, but almost never get anything. On multiple occasions I’ve suggested that I be put on cases that more senior associates are currently on, so I can relieve their workload and get more training. But nothing has happened. I’ve taken CLEs, but the real issue isn’t not knowing the law, it’s not having practiced. It’s needing more experience actually writing real motions, and not knowing how a 26(f) conference goes in practice, or what one really does at a status conference. And then when I make mistakes (not huge mistakes, little mistakes), the whole file gets taken away from me, rather than letting me do the work but having a more senior associate supervise me.

        Sorry, I guess once I get started it’s hard to stop.

        1. One thing that may help this (I say this having 5 years experience) is not just to ask for work in a general sense, but when you do discreet work on an individual file, try to anticipate what follow-up work is needed (I realize this is easier said than done because knowing what else needs to be done on a file definitely comes with experience).

          But, instead of saying “Is there any work?” you can say something like, “I drafted an Answer for the Smith file. Should I work on drafting some discovery demands.” Or, “We sent our discovery demands 6 months ago and have had no response to our three letters sent looking for them. Should I draft a motion to compel?”

          I try to do this on all the files I work on. At this point, I don’t even ask, I simply say, “I’m going to draft a complaint / motion to dismiss / deposition notice / etc.”

    4. If you are prepared to step back into the temp position at this point, it might be a good time to force the issue with current management – perhaps you could work out a severance arrangement that would give you some financial cover to take the lower salary while ensuring a decent reference (“we didn’t end up having sufficient work for her position as we had hoped when we created it” or such), rather than wait around with that one-foot-on-a-banana-peel helplessness?

    5. It’s tough to say whether what you’re feeling is normal first year jitters or whether there’s a real problem. The cultural fit thing would be a bit of a red flag for me, but that’s also often a matter of degrees.

      The first year of practice is a really steep learning curve. Everyone expects you to know things you have no way of knowing, and they give you that “Wtf is wrong with you???” look when you ask for clarification. Ime at least, no firm will give you as much training as you think you need. Touch base with the attorneys you’re working with to ask for feedback. You’re about at the 6 month mark now, so it seems like a good time to poll people about how you’re doing and what you can do to improve over the next 6 months. Hopefully their answers will give you a better understanding of how secure your job is. In the mean time, start working with a legal recruiter to see what your options are. Good luck!

    6. I was in your shoes at a firm about the same size as a brand new law grad and I was let go (officially because of lack of work but like you, the work was there, it just wasn’t being given to me because i had no idea what to do). I now work in biglaw and while yes, I felt very inexperienced and unsure most of my first year (and often still do now) the “first year jitters” are totally different than what I experienced at my small firm and what I think you’re describing, where the expectations were just 100% out of line with the experience level and there was zero training or education. I agree with others who say its tough to get back into the practice of law if you take a non-law job but its also very, very difficult to find a job when you’re unemployed. It depends on your financial situation, but if being unemployed for 6 months or more would be hard for you financially (as it would for most people), I’d probably go work for the consulting agency. You can still send resumes to law jobs (you’re no worse off resume-wise than you’d be if you were unemployed) and if it takes you 6 months or more to get one, at least you’ll have a stable job you like and a paycheck.

  9. Söfft sounds like it belongs to IKEA…. love the color though!

    TJ: Folks, I had an emergency dental thing today and I am now short one molar and on a mushy food diet for the next week or so. Got any recommendations for me to consume beyond mashed potatoes, yogurt and smoothies?

    1. scrambled eggs, polenta, applesauce, cous cous, pureed soups, baked sweet potatoes?

    2. grits, oatmeal, pudding (!), mac and cheese (if it’s extra soft maybe?), soup, some kind of shepherd’s pie type thing?

    3. nutella straight out of the jar? Or for less delicious but more meal-like suggestions, hummus, cottage cheese, applesauce, oatmeal, soup (though I imagine hot soup might irritate it, so chilled soup, I guess).

      1. i would sign up for dental surgery SOLELY to have an excuse to eat Nutella straight from the jar! yum!
        of course, I also count “it’s monday. eff” as an acceptable reason to eat nutella straight from the jar . . .

        1. Ha, i am in the minority, I don’t like Nutella at all and i would just go eh, no at the idea of eating it with a spoon…

          1. I’m with you! I get so many strange looks when I say it, but I think Nutella is kind of disgusting. I’ll eat peanut putter with a spoon any day, but Nutella freaks me out.

        2. who says you need an excuse to eat Nutella straight out of the jar? There’s a reason it’s the first thing I thought of ;-) Why would I want to ruin the taste by putting it on bread or something?

          1. I wish I did like it enough to eat it like that – with all the interesting developments of today, the tooth thing and discovering that it looks pretty certain the guy I fancy is mad about my BFF, excessive amounts of chocolate would be very welcome!

    4. This may sound weird, but I’ve been making pureed cauliflower a lot for my baby, and it’s really quite good. I usually steal a bite or two. I think that it would be great with some Parmesan cheese, and at least it’s healthier than mashed potatoes.

      Also, maybe really, really low and slow cooked pork or chicken, say, barbecue? Would that work? Sorry you’re going through this!

      1. Cauliflower + curry = amazing soup.
        Can substitute cauliflower for sweet potato.

      2. I don’t have a slow cooker, otherwise I might give slow-cooked meat a go… I do think I must go and buy a stick blender because I currently do not have one and I’ve been meaning to get one for ages.

        1. Love, love, love my stick blender (Kitchenaid, has lasted years, and the “blender” part comes off and can go in the dishwasher – highly recommend). I hardly ever used my slow cooker, and usually cook slow meats in a covered or foil wrapped dish in the oven or dutch oven on the stove. But, of course, you’ve got to be home for those options. I can never get things together enough to do those sorts of projects except on weekends, though. :)

          1. I hear sooo many good things about kitchenaid all over… alas, space, ,money and indeed time!

            I get terribly self conscious about how much electricity having hte oven on for laong amounts of time costs.. odd, I know, but I live on a rationed meter so i have this semipermanent fear of it running out in the middle of the night with no way of gfetting it refilled…

          2. I can’t remember which stick blender I have (Cuisinart?) but it doesn’t work very well at all. Also, when I got married, I registered for a Kitchenaid blender and ended up giving it away. I still use my grandmother’s Oster blender (in avocado) from the 60s or 70s and it’s much better.

          3. I’ve had a Cuisinart food processor for years, and love it. My SO had a fancy Kitchenaid stand mixer when we combined households a year ago, and I was all excited about using it, but do you think I have, even once? Nope. I revert to my trusty Cuisinart every time. It is so easy to use, and just sits unobtrusively in the corner of the counter whereas the Kitchenaid would take up half our counter space if it sat out all the time.

    5. I am unfortunately an expert in mushy food diets because of dental work–my condolences. In addition to the suggestions above: refried beans with melted cheese and taco sauce, gazpacho, and polenta with tomato sauce and parm feel more like meals than typical smoothies. I also have learned to love green smoothies, and I’ve memorized the Ben and Jerry’s flavors that don’t have chunks of stuff. Good luck recovering!

      1. Thanks! I actually have never tried polenta, this could very well be a great time to give it a go (it’s not common at all around here).

        Gotta love having a justified reason to have a pint of ice cream for dinner :D

    6. Butternut squash soup, cream of corn soup, broccoli (really well pureed) and cheese soup

      1. I dunno if we have that brand here but I shall check the baby food section. Thanks!

    8. I was on soft foods for 6 weeks and probably ate all of the things suggested here. Pretty much everything can be made mushy except for meat. I tried shredding meat but it was still too awkward to eat without chewing. I ate a lot of overcooked rice and beans and fusilli with tomato sauce. They filled me up better than soups and still had some texture.

    9. rice pudding, tapicoia pudding. chocolate puddings, pudding pops. ALL THE PUDDINGS.

  10. I was perusing Ask A Manager earlier trying to get tips to prepare for a phone interview tomorrow and I came across a tidbit that piqued my interest. One commenter suggested dressing up for a phone interview to help get you in the right mindset. What do you think?

    1. This is a fairly common recommendation and I agree, if you’re at home in you’re pjs it’s easy to just feel relaxed and not as focused and on your A-game. I wouldn’t go all-out as for an in-person interview but I’d wear something that makes me feel put-together.

    2. I think it’s a good idea if it helps. I was told to stand while making cold calls at dinner time as recipients of calls were likely to also be standing.

    3. As long as you’re comfortable it certainly can’t hurt. Although once I was called for an on the spot phone interview as I was getting ready for a shower, so I’ve also done a phone interview completely nude. Apparently my mindset was just fine, because I got the job!

      1. If I wasn’t going to be at work for most of the day beforehand, I’d try the nude approach. But it’s too much work to run home and take off my clothes in the middle of the day.

  12. Kat, these shoes will match all those pink tops you posted in the previous post!

  13. Have any of the busy corporate or legal folks here tried Getting Things Done?

    I have an increasing number of things to do and often feel overwhelmed by my list. And I feel disorganized. And often procrastinate. It looks time consuming to set up, but so many people swear by it. Has anyone tried? Success? Failure?

  14. Does anyone feel that their family’s perception of them and their friends’ perception of them are vastly different? I was a shy kid growing up so my family seems to think i’m unfriendly and standoffish, even though that has mostly changed. I feel like my friends see me for who I am now. But my mom and sister have this awful preconceived notion of me and I don’t know how to change it… I get told I’m boring and unfriendly and selfish all the time and I’m not sure that’s true. I just don’t know how or why they don’t see that I’ve changed.

    1. YES! My family thinks I’m “confrontational” and opinionted and dramatic, when I rarely get in confrontational situations in real life. My friends think I’m social, nice, sweet, etc…And my family always treats me like I’m fragile and stressed out when really I’m pretty resilient.

      1. Until recently I was always the “confrontational” one as well and I always “picked fights” in my family. That image has largely dropped away now…everyone in my family has largely chilled out. (It was always while confronting me that my mother or sister would yell that I was being confrontational…)

        My friends see me as sweet, pretty conciliatory unless I’m really furious, and pretty laid back. Kind of funny how people see totally different sides of us.

    2. My dad thinks I’m confrontational and I often get the “simmer down” response when relaying any story–no matter how mundane. In reality, I often have a hard time saying no to people and am generally seen as being the friendly/easygoing/funny/peacemaker one among friends and colleagues.

      I think some of Dad’s perspective stems from him being old school though, so the fact that I’m in a high-paying position, have no kids, and am not a domestic goddess for my attorney husband only feeds into the too pushy/aggressive/doesn’t know her place stereotype. No joke–the only thing I can think of where he has sung my praises to others in recent memory is how well I cleaned their house when they were moving. Forget my career, education, volunteering, etc. Mom isn’t a whole lot better. “You wouldn’t believe the way S cleaned the house.” I swear, it’s maddening.

    3. My family does this with small things. I slept in frequently as a teenager, so my dad still gives me a hard time about sleeping until 11am on the weekends, when (as I’ve told him) I haven’t done that in years. My mom seems continually surprised to discover I now like things I disliked as a child.

      People say in a work context that first impressions count; I guess it’s the same for family, but it’s harder because when you’re 8 you’re not thinking about how the impression you’re making on your mother is something you’re going to regret when you’re 30.

      I’ve just decided to accept that in many ways my friends know me better than my family does, and I’m grateful to have such friends. My family also knows me and my life in ways my friends never can, which I also appreciate. The comments your family is making sound like they go beyond just misunderstanding, though; they sound downright rude. Can you just tell them insulting comments like that aren’t helpful? It doesn’t address their misconception of you, but at least it would stop the hurtful remarks.

    4. I think some of this may have to do with a family’s “baseline” tendencies… if your family tends to be really extroverted, then you may be the “quiet one”, even if you are not particularly quiet compared to the average. And if you tend to be an extrovert, or less regulated in your emotions, you may seem very dramatic and confrontational because your family’s general “style” is non-confrontational or passive-aggressive. My family tends to avoid confrontation and not be really into talking about things or addressing emotions head-on, or if we do it’s more of an analytical approach than an “I’m feeling this…” approach. Which is tough for my youngest sister because she tends to let her emotions all hang out, which sometimes my parents don’t know how to deal with.

  15. A Nordstrom Rack just opened near me! Any tips on how to get the best selection? Are there certain days that they restock? I did a quick fly-by last week and there was a lot of DvF, Milly, Elie Tahari, etc. but mostly in weird sizes. Does anyone have any favorite purchases from Nordstrom Rack?

    1. I”ve been very disappointed by the one that opened near me recently. It’s all weird sizes or weird colors, and it’s in a high traffic area, so it’s always a zoo in there. The clothes are all jammed together on racks that are too small, people put stuff back in the wrong place, and there are always clothes that have fallen on the floor and not been picked up. Just generally an unpleasant shopping experience, so I don’t even bother to try it any more.

    2. I’m not sure about restocking schedules, but my advice would be to set aside a good chunk of time if you really want to find something. It’s hit and miss a lot (usually miss for me…to be honest I usually only go there to buy exercise clothes) and is totally disorganized and hectic, like Gus said above.

    3. I’ve had no luck there. I almost never find anything I even want to try on. I do much better at Loehmanns.

    4. To add some hope to the situation, I recently bought a Michael Kors leather jacket at Nordstrom Rack that I’m completely in love with! Its incredibly similar to the Kors leather jackets on nordstrom and the kors website, but was $250 cheaper! I bought it on a Friday after work a couple weeks ago, and I have a feeling they had just stocked them, b/c there were a ton of options (size and color wise) despite the fact I saw multiple women also trying them on when I was there.

    5. I absolutely love the one near me (suburb of Chicago) but know a lot of them can be more like what is described. I went to several in Arizona when visiting relatives and was surprised at the mess! I’ve gotten absolute steals on Cole Haan shoes and jackets, Marc by Marc Jacobs bags, Tory Burch sunglasses, Kut jeans, Alexis Bittar jewelery, and once got an MZ Wallace Jane bag for $75–will go down in Rack history for me. :)

      The one near me seems to put out really nice handbags on Saturday afternoons, or maybe I’ve just timed it lucky a few times.

      Rack is also great because they will accept your returns from online Nordstrom orders–so I’ll often pop by on a weeknight to get a bunch of returns back on my credit card sooner (I’m like Kat–I’ll buy a bunch of something and return all but one when I’m on a hunt) and check out if there is anything new while I’m there.

    6. I don’t get there often because there is no Nordstrom of any description in my city, but when I do go to the Rack, I am always sure to find at least one pair of shoes.

    7. I find the stores vary. There are two in my area I’ve visited enough to fully test, and I nearly always find something at one and never found anything at the other.

      I get best use of them when browsing briefly but often. The ‘good’ store was at a transit transfer on my former commute, so I would walk through about once a week.

      My favorite purchases are a cashmere sweater, top quality bras and panties, and two pair of shoes. I always watched the lingerie section for bras and panties, one pair of shoes were a lucky find to fit a need, and the cashmere sweater and other pair of shoes were complete surprises.

    8. My experience has been that most of the restocking happens after big sales, or at the beginning of the month (I don’t have a lot of evidence here, but I’ve been several times in the last several months, and I’ve noticed that stock changes seemed to happen roughly monthly). I used to have a hard time finding anything I liked at Nordstrom Rack, but that was before I a) knew anything about brands, b)was willing to spend more than $50 on a single item, and c) learned to favor neutrals. In my limited experience, it seems like the “sweet spot” for NR is “high-quality basics.” Prints and bright colors *tend* to be a little on the garish side for my taste, and since NR seems to be primarily about overstocks, that probably makes sense. My best Rack find was probably a charcoal Eileen Fisher pencil skirt (somewhat structured, actually knee-length, machine-washable, and *skimmed* rather than hugged my bubble butt… I went back and bought a second one!). I can see why this probably didn’t sell well, in that it’s more structured than seems typical for EF, but still extremely conservative (for a pencil skirt) on most frames. It’s that sort of “unicorn” buy that seems to be the purpose of the Rack. Nowadays, my strategy is to look for neutral colors, and brands that I either know to be high-quality and/or have had good luck with in the past. The majority of items will not fit this description, so this helps me be realistic about what likely will/will not work and avoid spending all day sorting through various paisleys…

    9. They do vary, I’m sure – I think most of those types of stores, whether it’s TJ Maxx or NM Last Call, do. If you want to know when they restock, etc., your best bet is probably to talk to a sales associate.

      But from my experience, NR is reliably good for the following: Neutrogena products (cheaper than my drugstore), umbrellas, scarves and other accessories, tights and sleepwear, shoes and bags (very random but some gems), theory blazers, and sunglasses. As far as bags are concerned, they usually have a small section set aside for “straight from nordstrom” bags – i.e., not bags intended for NR, that just ended up there. Sometimes, these are on a rack (no pun intended) and sometimes in a glass cases no one ever seems to check so they get marked down even more. These are super random, but can be amazing. I am still lamenting the Marc Jacobs red tote that I saw 3 weeks ago and didn’t buy because I couldn’t justify a $400 purse when I didn’t need one but oh my god this bag was gorgeous and such a (relative) bargain! Same with the shoes, and incidentally the NR in Union Square in NY has a pretty great selection of designer shoes in tiny sizes like 4.5 and 5.

    10. I go once or twice a month and often leave with nothing. My best finds have been shoes though. A pair of Cole Haan black pumps for $70 and Frye riding boots for $200! I’ve had some luck with the pieces that are clearly made for the Rack locations, like the store brand camis that are basically the same as Halogen camis, and a Calvin Klein sheath that seems to be nearly the same quality as the full line. Shopping the real sale/clearance racks is fun, but it takes time and patience.

    11. My best purchases have been a bag and shoes. To get my everyday bag I dropped by every week until I found what I was looking for (a mid-sized brown bag). I’ve never found workhorse shoes there (eg, black pumps) but have found plenty of fun shoes. My worst purchase has been jeans. The NYDJ are marked down slightly from full price, but then after hemming I saved about $15, at the cost of two trips to the tailor to drop them off and pick them up again. (Nordstrom 1.0 would have hemmed them at no charge and mailed them to my home.)

  16. I saw the mention of Blue Apron here a few weeks ago, and last week they finally came to my area. We made the first meal from the box last night, and it was really good – miso cod with Farro. I was totally fried so my husband made it, and even though he complained that he felt like we were paying for a lot of packaging, at the same time he kept saying how much he liked the packaging!

    Really easy to put together, and I would say dinner was ready in under 40 minutes. Good so far! Although the lemon and lime that came in the box were really pitiful, and there is some kind of “burger” for another meal that has the tiniest little slider buns ever to go with it. We’ll see!

    1. I just signed up – I’m excited to try it! Do you know if you can switch between the vegetarian and meat options based on the weekly menu? I’m largely a pescetarian, so I’d like the option to get the meat dishes once in awhile when there’s a good fish dish but I don’t really eat red meat so most of the time the vegetarian option would work better. It seems from the website like you can switch your preference every week but I might be missing something.

      1. Hm I would think you could switch as long as you do it by the skip/cancel deadline, but I don’t see a way to do it online. You may just have to call?

      2. You can switch. I go back and forth all the time. They changed their website recently, but I believe it is under the subscription tab.

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