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Coffee Break: Trigger Pebbled Leather Hobo

I always love Botkier, and one of my favorite bags of yore was the Botkier Trigger Hobo, which I mentioned in an old post on designer bags and purse budgets. I still use it sometimes, because I still like it, and I have both red and blue. It's more foldable than the bag we're featuring today — more of an envelope shape and not as triangular as this one — but it's fascinating to me that they are bringing it back, and I'm really excited. Boktier has a number of Trigger bags right now (including a convertible backpack and other fun things), and I like this hobo. Warning: This is a huge bag, so those of you who prefer to carry something relatively ergonomic may not want to go for this one. I was always a fan of a huge hobo, though — I mean, I don't think I'd carry a laptop in it, but certainly paperwork, snacks, shoes… Whatever you want to carry, you can carry it in this. This bag is $298 at Nordstrom and comes in black as pictured, as well as navy (only one left, so grab it now!), and it's getting good reviews. Trigger Pebbled Leather Hobo This large hobo from Fossil is a bit more affordable, as it's on sale from $288 originally to $216–$238 at Amazon. Available colors are black, a rich brown, and an interesting colorblock chambray. Bonus: The black is reduced even more — to $201 — when you get to checkout, and all three colors offer free returns. This post contains affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!

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105 Comments

  1. How do you move towards a long-term, more strategic way of doing business? I work in a STEM department with internal clients, and my team (of 2) seems to be sliding into a habit of reactivity. Questions will always have quick turn-around, but we would like to be prepared for them better. My boss manages several teams running in slightly different directions, and seems to give us a little less attention and leadership; my senior coworker really wants to be proactive, and has a lot of political capital, but isn’t particularly organized. I think both of them would be receptive to well-thought-out ideas from me. Any suggestions for resources or reading on how to develop the skills I would need?

    1. The best way is to brainstorm and put together a plan that would anticipate and strategically plan for these events. Going to industry conferences and discussing with peers may give you ideas as well. There might be technologies/softwares you can use (e.g. a ticketing system that tracks requests from your internal partners and assigns them to team members) or you may be able to get a temp or project planner to help you set something in motion that will speed up handling requests in future.

  2. Struggling to sleep due to hot flashes… have the a/c set at 68* (can’t go lower, apt. thermostat doesn’t allow it), sleeping with an ice pack. Still waking up multiple times each night. Any recommendations? I considered one of those fans that blows air under the sheet but I earn 40k/yr so something that expensive isn’t in the budget.

    1. I’m afraid I don’t have a solution. I think waking up multiple times is just part of the deal.

      1. I keep several sets of clean pajamas nearby, and just swap out when I wake up all sweaty. I am lucky in that I go right back to sleep.

    2. When I was going through that, switching to soy milk was very helpful. I stopped having night sweats.

    3. HRT. I decided that quality of life (I need my sleep or else everything else suffers) is more important than a chance if increasing my chances of other health issues later on.

    4. Haven’t been there yet. But I did get awful night sweats while pregnant and shortly thereafter where I’d soak through my pajamas and sheets. We have two giant Costco beach towels. I’d start the night on one and switch it out when I woke up soaked. Or start on the sheet and add the towel when the sheets got wet. And washed the sheets all the time. Have back up PJs and underclothing ready to go so you’re not stumbling to find them in the dark.

    5. Can you get a new thermostat? Because it’s necessary due to a medical condition?

    8. I suffer from the same issues. I generally sleep with minimal clothing and always run my ceiling fan -fortunately mounted over the foot area of my bed. When staying with mom, I can create the same relief with a floor fan aimed toward the bed. The constant wind has been a savior for me.

  3. Here’s some information from the Mayo Clinic. I take Pristiq for depression and have minimal hot flashes. My sister’s GYN prescribed it just for hotflashes and she finds it helps a lot.

    A low-dose form of paroxetine (Brisdelle) is the only nonhormone treatment for hot flashes approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Other antidepressants that have been used to treat hot flashes include:

    Venlafaxine (Effexor XR, Pristiq)
    Paroxetine (Paxil, Pexeva)
    Fluoxetine (Prozac, Sarafem, others)

    These medications aren’t as effective as hormone therapy for severe hot flashes, but they can be helpful to women who can’t use hormones. Possible side effects include nausea, dizziness, weight gain, dry mouth or sexual dysfunction. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hot-flashes/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20352795

  4. I have become aware that my posture stinks. I am hunched over with rounded shoulders. Even when I try to be more mindful, I still realize I morph into that posture often. I also sleep on my side, so I tend to wake up with rounded shoulders there and sometimes my shoulders are pretty high toward my ears. How do I fix this? @ma@z0n seems to sell products with mixed reviews… almost wish there was some contraption to force perfect posture that I could just wear 24/7 until my muscles learn how to be in that position or something!

      1. Ballet, massages (if you scrunch up when you’re tense), and generally trying to be mindful.

    2. There are braces if you really need one. A physical therapist can help with this. There’s no reason to wait until you’re experiencing pain before treating this as a medical issue.

    3. Do you have an exercise ball? I’ve been told to lay on it with it between my shoulder blades and let my arms fall to the side to open up my chest. Alternatively, you could stand in a doorway and do this. You could also try sitting on an exercise ball at work. It forces you to sit up straight.

      1. You can also do this by laying on a foam roller so that it’s lined up with your spine. Try to keep your elbows on the floor and move your wrists and hands away from your body (kind of in a snow angel motion).

    4. Through a long and arduous multiple winged approach. It could be a lot of things all together, for me, my chest muscles were beyond tight, I had no rear deltoid muscles to speak of, and tangentially my tight hips also kept my upper body off balance.

      This could all go away if I somehow got up and got a non stationary job, but since I cannot it’s a lot of chest stretching, shoulder focused exercises, and even more shoulder/hip strengthening. My trainer is also a stickler about perfect form or no additional weights.

  5. Speaking of travel, does anyone have recommendations of places to go, things to see, where to stay, etc. in Ireland? I’ve been to England, years ago and am planning a trip to Ireland and England next late spring/early summer. It’ll be me, my husband, our 5 year old daughter, and my 60 year old (in good health) mother in law. Neither my husband nor I drink, so we’re not really interested in visiting distilleries and that sort of thing, though we’d probably go to one if it’s so amazing that we should see it. Any recommendations?

    1. Are you staying in Dublin? The nice thing is that most destinations are driveable – so you’ll need a car, but definitely get over to Galway. We also loved the Rock of Cashel.

    2. That’s a really lovely time of year to go because you’ll get so much sunlight. I would recommend renting a car and doing more of the natural sights like Giant’s Causeway, Cliffs of Moher, Wicklow Mountains, etc. Kilkenny is a cute medieval town with a restored castle. Cobh was a charming port town for breakfast and view of the forte before going on to Cork and its English Market. I personally didn’t find Rock of Cashel very interesting (it’s only ruins now) and I can’t imagine a 5 year old would either. As for Dublin itself, I liked the Archeology Museum (free) and Book of Kells (around $20). If you’re interested in visiting the prison, you need to reserve tickets a few weeks in advance. They also have free walking tours by a few companies that is very much worth doing in my opinion. You honestly don’t need more than a day or two in Dublin. Also, I know renting a car is intimidating but it was vastly cheaper than taking the train anyway or really long day trips from Dublin.

      1. My little kids really liked the Rock of Cashel, not least because they could run all around on the grassy hill. Not a lot of other places to run freely on our trip.

    3. For Dublin, I recommend the Hop on-Hop off bus if you want to see as many sights as possible. I loved Galway. The Cliffs of Moher are gorgeous, and the Burren is fascinating. I was meh on the Blarney Castle, but the grounds are pretty neat. I would definitely go back and see the Ring of Kerry and Dingle again, but ymmv on how happy a 5-year-old would be with a long scenic drive.

    4. I would recommend renting a car if you are comfortable with that – it made our trip exponentially better than it would have been otherwise. Our favorite parts were the Ring of Kerry, Dingle Peninsula, and the Cliffs of Moher. We stayed at the Camp Junction House B&B in Dingle and loved it – the host, John, is such a fun guy and the meal we ate at the pub across the street was one of the best from our entire trip. I would second the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus in Dublin, but Dublin was honestly our least favorite part of our trip.

    5. Echo the recommendations to rent a car. Driving distances (and scale in general) are much smaller than we’re used to in the U.S., so your little one will have lots of chances to get out and break up the day a bit going from site to site.

      There are a TON of excellent cafes for snacks and lunch stops–almost any site (roadside rest, museum) will have a very well-stocked lunch counter and you will be very disappointed by the US equivalents once you see what’s possible.

      Visit Achill Island if you can make it up that far–totally charming, and there’s a fun connection to Pirate Queen Grace O’Malley for your daughter’s entertainment. We drove there as a day trip from our hotel in Westport, which is justifiably proud of its title as Ireland’s Loveliest Town.

      Newgrange (& Knowth) was fascinating and I recall they had some space for a little one to run. People in general were very accommodating and kind to children throughout the country.

      If you can plan to go to Kilmainham Gaol Museum, be sure to watch “Paddington 2” first–parts were filmed there.

      Definitely get the OPW Heritage Pass if you think you are likely to visit more than 6-8 of the included sites. We cross-referenced it to where we were each day, and visited any included sites that were reasonably close to our “main destination”. Many are easy to see in 20 minutes or so, and break up the day nicely. Also, ask the staff at one attraction what else you should see (on the pass or not) in their area; made the great find of Swiss Cottage from our Cahir Castle stop that way.

      Have fun! What a great trip for your family.

    6. We did a hawk walk through the School of Falconry and it was so amazing… Basically a tour guide takes you on a walk through the woods, and each person gets their own falcon and you learn about falconry and how to fly your falcon. We also got to fly owls too- that was an awe inspiring experience, to get to look into an owl’s eyes.

      https://www.falconry.ie

      Also highly recommend staying in a castle at least for one night. We did a lot of budget b&bs, but then splurged for two days in a castle and it was really fun. We stayed at Ballyhinich.

  6. I’m working from home today and my desktop computer, that I use to remote into my work computer, keeps going into sleep mode and locking if I don’t move the cursor/type for 5 minutes. It is driving me nuts. I have checked the lock screen settings and the sleep/power settings and all are set for 30+ minutes. Is there any other place you can think of that has a setting I’m missing. I can’t figure out why it is doing this. Again, it’s an issue with my computer, not the work one I’m remoting into.

    3. I wonder if it’s still something to do with the remote connection, like a security setting your office has chosen to enforce?

    4. Anything under “System Preferences” with sleep time or screen saver that might have been missed?

  7. I feel like hobo bags like this have had their moment and now we have moved onto more structured bags, satchels and totes. Thoughts?

    1. Agreed. As soon as I saw this I thought of my mom carrying this several decades ago with her dark 90’s lipstick.

    2. This seems like the opposite of true (though I’m sticking with my structured satchels personally).

    3. Yeah, this looks mid-00s to me. But at the pace trends recycle themselves maybe they’re coming back in? My personal style is more tailored/structured so I’ll be sitting it out again, if so…

    4. I love hobo bags and stongly dislike structured bags. And cannot abide bags with a set of short handles plus a long crossbody strap.
      But, i also must lug around a tiny pharmacy, makeup store and various other items with room left over for a scarf or sweater. The structured styles don’t give me the space i need.

  8. Going to NYC this weekend to do some shopping/walking around and catch a show. Going to try to hit a (too cool for me) rooftop bar as well. What do I wear? I’m >40 so not high waisted jeans and 80’s reeboks. My style leans toward classic – lots of jeans and navy t-shirts, but I’d like to class it up a bit for the city. I do not own a white button down, so don’t suggest that!

    1. I would do nice jeans and a blouse (maybe with an open front or moto jacket if it’s cold) or a pretty and comfortable dress. sleek sneakers, booties, or any nice flats you like walking in.

    2. Going to be chilly still. I would rock a dress with booties and I think the moto jacket idea is great. If you want pants, see Equestrian attorney.

  9. How do you make female friends to hangout with on the weekend? Somewhat recently single, so not ready to date someone to fill the weekend daytime hole I have experienced as a result of my relationship ending. I have a lot of friends that I text on a daily basis and see every once and awhile for scheduled hangouts/dinners or, with certain friends, at the gym during the week, but they are never around on the weekend due to spending it with their partner/living out of town/not having the same interests as me. I have started to not be as into going out as I used to be, and the friends that I would see on the weekend seem to only want to make going-out-to-the-bar plans for nights on the weekends, and have started to not invite me because they can tell I am not as interested in that. I would love to have a female friend to ride bikes to the park, hangout in a cafe, browse stores with or do other relaxed daytime activities with on the weekend, as I have been doing these things on my own for the most part (I specify female because I do have a male friend that I do this with on occasion, but it is not the same as hanging out with another woman). I have tried reaching out to some acquaintances that I felt I might have more in common with, but each time it results in one hangout and then goes back to being just acquaintances. I find it so difficult to establish real friendships outside of the socially orchestrated school environments of undergrad and law school, where I made most of my current friends. TIA!

    1. Do you live in Atlanta?? Because I am very interested in friends like this!!!!!! I literally could have written this post myself.

      No advice here, unfortunately, but following with interest!

      1. OP here – unfortunately I don’t, I live in Toronto. I actually often wish I could hangout with posters on here!!!!

    2. I have no advice, I just wanted to commiserate because it is SO HARD being single when all the friends you used to spend weekends with now spend them with their husbands and babies and never think to include their single friends. It really, really sucks.

      1. I’m not the OP but if anyone has tried this, I’d love to hear your experience.

        1. I have had success with bumble bff as a mid 20s woman in the DC metro.
          Pros: lots of other professional women, a wide variety of interests/hobbies, diversity in cultural heritage
          Cons: the overwhelming number of “options”, difficult to set locations

          I think it is positive in small doses- i.e. using it for a day and then turning off your availability. It became a little overwhelming for me with the sheer numbers, but my most-recent friend and I met up for coffee because of Bumble bff.

        2. I had a really weird experience with this, albeit this was a couple years ago and I only met someone in person once. I asked her if she was interested in going to downtown baseball game and drinks after. She agreed but when we met there, I realized she had no idea what the rules of baseball were, wasn’t interested in it at all, complained the whole time about how long the game was taking and generally seemed like she just wanted to go meet guys. I had a boyfriend but I obliged and we went to a bar with a few guys we met at the game. It was an ok time but I deleted the app after that. I am in a new city now with a need for new friends so maybe I should give it a try again.

    4. I’ll ask the same as above – are you in NOLA – would def be interested! I’m childless and all my friends have kids, which makes casual hanging out very hard!

      Also, I’m now looking up Bumble BFF!

      1. Answered above but answering here too because I appreciate this so much! I’m in Toronto, so unfortunately out of the NOLA range for casual hangouts!!

    5. It’s really hard. I think you have to keep trying. I had a big break up two and a half years ago and was wishing for the same thing. I’ve ended up with different friends filling different roles and no one of them really hits the spot the way my SO did, even leaving aside the more intimate parts of a close relationship (I don’t just mean s*x). I wouldn’t hesitate to be the one to reach out for a second or third time if the new friend isn’t suggesting another hang out–the rules for making new friends are generally easier and less fraught than dating (ex. I very well might forget to text a new gf back but rarely truly forget to text a dating interest back, that one is more likely to be intentional).

      I’ll also add the chorus–if you’re in Austin, I’d love to meet! I haven’t meet any ‘rettes in real life and think it would be super fun!

      1. OP here – that’s exactly what it is. Different friends for different roles, but no go-to person anymore. I’m in Toronto, but I now feel like there should be a ‘rette meetup weekend organized as it seems we would all have a time together!!

    6. 1. Will the late-night-bar crowd day drink? I’ve had success getting folks to come to brunch/weekend happy hours or – now that the weather’s getting nice – to a winery that has a nice outdoor space. See also, wine and paint events, yoga in the vineyard, and similar. You might only get a few people to join, but that’s a start!
      2. Relatedly, I bet there’s at least 1-2 people in your late-night-bar crowd who are getting tired of the late-night-bar scene but are afraid to admit it or just don’t know what else to do. I find that things like #1 are good ways to let people transition into doing more daytime stuff.
      3. Find an activity you enjoy at the time of day you want to hang out and that has repeat customers. Maybe a rec league or art class or running group?

    7. It’s incredibly hard. But 2 sources of friends for me thus far have been book clubs and fitness studios (when you’re a regular client and they are too, so you begin saying hi and so on).

    8. I could be one of your friends who has a spouse and kids and I sometimes have a single friend join me on the weekend to kid-friendly activities. For example, we go to the park, kid 1 is riding a bike supervised by my DH, kid 2 who is little hangs out with me and a friend and we push her on the swings. Then we all walk back to my home where the kids have strawberries and the adults have tea or wine. My DH would likely be pottering around doing chores or yard work for some of the time, so it could continue the girlfriend time for me and my friend.
      The downside is – frequent interruptions by kids, limitation on activities – cant do long hikes etc, inability to have a deep conversation, keep to kid-appropriate topics mostly. The upside – more frequent meetings with friends. I am most grateful when my single friend agrees to play a game of uno with Kid 1 before resuming the chat with me!

    9. Meetup. I joined a 20-something women’s group 6 years ago (when I was 26) and met all of my current friends on there. They were professional women who were mostly unmarried at the time, although about half were in relationships (we are incidentally all married now). I am still friends with them 6 years later and I still see most of them every month. Most of us have kids, so the hangouts have died down or changed, but I went to dinner with several of them just this week.

    11. I’m also in Toronto and would be in for daytime weekend activities – post a burner!

  10. Gift ideas for a sister who will be studying for (or passing, depending on when I send it) her PhD qualifying exams in June? $50-$100 budget. Bonus points for food/experiences local to Boston (or Jamaica Plain, specifically). Thanks!

    1. There are lots of great restaurants in JP — depending on her tastes, perhaps a gift card to Brassica or Tres Gatos (small plates), Vee Vee or Ten Tables (upscale American). The Boston Public Market also regularly hosts classes (e.g. pasta or truffle making), and there are many listed for June here: https://bostonpublicmarket.org/kitchen.

    2. If you’re leaning toward tickets to an event/experience, I’d recommend checking out The Boston Calendar (link to follow in another comment). They’re pretty good at aggregating all sorts of events in Boston and you can filter by general categories and areas.

      For JP in particular, Vee Vee is one of my favorite fun restaurants anywhere in Boston and they sell gift cards.

    1. The Container Store has a similar desk. Ballard Designs has a similar set up, but the style is more traditional.

    2. I think you could probably create this from PB furniture. They’ve def had modular stuff like this in the past. For a more modern style maybe check out WestElm.

    3. It’s Ikea. A combination of Linnmon table tops, Alex drawer units and Kallax cubes. Plus table legs. I have something similar; it’s really useful!

  12. dress me! I’m speaking at a panel at my law school reunion (10 year) in 2 weeks. Saturday morning…. dress me!

          1. It’s nice but choose another style if you’re tall. It is not tall-friendly in their terminology, and my personal experience.

          2. I’m 5’8″ and the Etsuko works well–it hits at me knee. I like it for speaking because it has pockets. If I’m clipped at my collar, I can throw the rest in my pocket. Do you know your mic set-up? Short sleeve or no sleeve is better if you’re going to have the mic running down your back (the Nisa style works well).

          3. Oh I am tall. So we’re thinking a shift biz casual dress? I didn’t know if I could get away with more casual as it’s a Saturday morning and I’m in a more casual industry (which the panel is about)… Jeans and a nice top? Too casual? Sundress? Also fun is I had a baby less than a year ago so my closet is… limited.

          4. If you want to do jeans, maybe go with white or black jeans so it’s not quite as casual, and then a cute top?

    2. I think you will be an outlier in jeans or a sundress — fine if you are prepared for that, but having just come back from my own law school reunion, most folks were in business casual and a few in full suits. More casual than that was not something I saw, even amongst non-lawyer spouses. But you know your geographic area and industry — if you are ok in casual, go for it.

    3. I would do crisp jeans or biz casual pants (think Loft), white blazer, interesting top, nice flats. I am in the SE, so I’d choose a comfortable (temperature appropriate) top that stands on its own in case I want to take off the blazer for whatever event follows, as I suspect it will be something more social that lasts into a warmer afternoon.

    4. Can you check online for pictures from last year? I did business casual for a panel at an event like this and was the worst dressed.

  13. Manhatanittes, I need your help! My two boys (12 and 15), husband and I are flying from SF to NYC for a short visit over Memorial Day weekend. First time for the boys. Given the quick timing, are there any must see/cool/quirky spots for us to visit? We have the usual (Statute of Liberty/Ellis Island, Times Square) spots in mind, but I’d like to do something that really captures the true flavor of Manhattan.
    TIA!

      2. My kids at similar ages spent a day waking the perimeter of Central Park (so much more interesting than golden gate park!) and then half a day at the metropolitan museum of art, which they surprisingly LOVED. Their feet were tired but they call it a great day now.

    2. Not a Manhattanite, but the big hits with my 12-year-old on our last trip were the High Line, Blue Ribbon Sushi, Ess-a-Bagel, and MOMA. And, of course, Hamilton.

    4. The immigrant story is a huge part of life in NYC – maybe check out the Tenement Museum? A ton of good old-school NYC food in the area as well (pickles, bialys, Chinatown). If you’re in the area with children definitely stop by Economy Candy!

    5. I’m a former New Yorker, but my top picks with teenagers would be Eataly, Chelsea Market and the High Line, the Tenement Museum, the Strand, explore Chinatown, and walk the Brooklyn Bridge.

      Also, we went on a family vacation to NYC when I was about 14. My parents let me pick one thing I wanted to do, which was amazing. If you can, let your kids pick out something specific to their interests–music, art, sports, food, history, etc (within a reasonable budget).

      1. Oh, and I remember loving Grand Central Station on my first visit to NYC. It’s a beautiful building, great for people watching, and somehow feels like the center of the universe (which, of course, it’s not, but it does have that NYC glamour and energy the first time you see it).

    7. I don’t have kids so no idea if they would be interested at that age, but the MET.

  14. Anyone have a home LED tool they recommend? I am interested in red LED light for skin tightening.

    1. I have the nuface and it works, but I wish I had gotten the kind where you can sit in front of a mirror-like LED panel because it’s annoying to only be able to do about 3 inches at a time on your face

  15. There was a thread once on clear bags (for music festivals etc) can someone help?

    3. If you don’t want to spend a ton of money, I have seen clear bags and little clear backpacks at Target, Urban Outfitters, and Forever 21. Go where the kids go!

  16. When submitting work you know is not up to par but you have to submit because of a deadline, do you proactively own up to it not being your best and “self-scold” yourself in your submission or do you just submit it without saying anything? I had a deadline I didn’t hit. I knew of it in advance. In my submission email I included a brief statement of acknowledgement that I understood this was not where I should have been in terms of working towards a final product, and assured my bosses that this would be revised, resubmitted, and improved far before the next, final deadline.
    Does this come across as inappropriate or would saying nothing have been a significant break in communication? I have an excellent track record prior to this, in terms of hitting deadlines, and getting things done right on a tight deadline, but this was more important than my standard day-to-day work, so I’m not exactly certain how I could have better salvaged this.

    1. I don’t think you should worry if it’s just an initial draft. I’d probably say something similar, like I recognize there’s room for improvement in the next draft and I look forward to hearing Boss’s thoughts/further direction. But why didn’t you hit the deadline with a solid submission, if it’s an important product and you knew of the deadline in advance? Could you have asked for an extension?

    3. The former. I’m not actually sure how this is “supposed” to be done but that’s how I’ve always done it. It doesn’t seem to be a negative so far, but I haven’t worked anywhere like Biglaw where someone would come down my throat for those failings.

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