Weekend Open Thread

372 Comments

1. Help please Corporettes!!!

   I hope you are all enjoying this lovely weekend! I am working on a fundraiser for the school where I do my work-study (I am going to be a senior in college) on Nantucket this coming Friday night.
   The event is formal, more formal than events I typically participate in, and I have no idea what to wear! It needs to be fairly conservative with a higher neckline because I am busty and will be sitting doing check in for much of the evening, and I really don’t want guests getting a good view of my chest.

   I would like to spend less than 250 if at all possible but am willing to go over if I really like something.

   If you all have any suggestions I would really, really appreciate them!
   Thank you so much in advance!!

   1. I’d wear a black sheath dress with pearls. It looks polished, competent, but nondescript, which is generally what I go for when I’m volunteering at an event. Since posting more than one link usually seems to get a post stuck in moderation, here’s a link to the BR dresses page:
      http://bananarepublic.gap.com/browse/category.do?cid=69883

      I think the side-pleat dress would be great.

      If you want to look a little dressier and less business like, you could go for the lightweight wool black pleat dress, BR monogram cowlneck dress, Annie faux-wrap dress or evn the BR monogram silk corsage dress. Those all seem to meet your criteria.

      1. And if you use the code BRSUMMER, you’ll get 40% off today.

      2. Meant to add, also try White House Black Market. I’ve gotten a couple cute LBDs there.

   2. Hmmm well if you are busty and are trying to get donations from old rich men, maybe showing a little chest is what you want :) JUST KIDDING!

      1. too true!!!!! However it’s mostly women at this event!

2. On Friday night, in a fit of rebellion over a super tough week, I painted my nails a gorgeous orangey-corally-red colour…knowing I’d have to take it off Sunday night before work on Monday. But now…I don’t want to take it off! Someone set me straight and tell me bright orangey-red nails are not appropriate for my business formal office. (Or encourage my rebellion, either way.)

   1. If your nails are neat and tidy, I think its fine

   2. I actually think it’s fine. Just don’t wear loud accessories, and make sure the color doesn’t clash with the rest of your outfit.

   3. No, if I was a conservative client, I would find it a bit unprofessional.

   4. I’ve got a meeting with a global practice head for a V50 firm tomorrow and, since I’m wearing peep toes, I temporarily considered taking off my lilac-colored toenail polish, but to heck with it. I say you go for it :)

   5. ROCK IT!!!
      I am in house counsel in a fortune 50 company and am wearing dinosaur green fingernails and silvery green toenails. Most people don’t really notice that stuff and the ones that do are probs jealous ;)

   6. Our CEO switches between black, dark green, and glittery purple. I mention this because every time I see her nails I think “gosh, its so cool that she wears those colors.” I notice. And I think about how cool her nail polish is. We are in a creative field, but I just want to give you a bit of perspective about what kind of message it may send.

   7. Thanks ladies! They are short and quite well done (for a home manicure)…might rock it!

3. I hope I still get some responses even though it’s late in the weekend….

   Does anyone have any recommendations for books on personal finance that focus on the “next steps”? We paid off our consumer debt, have our spending under control, and have ample savings (cash and retirement) but need advice on how to make the next big decisions – buying a house, investing our retirement money, deciding how much to save in IRAs/cash/taxable investments…

   1. No book suggestion, but do you read Get Rich Slowly? (Instead of posting the link, I’ll just let you google it.) I’m a huge fan of that blog. JD covers topics just like this, and he has plenty of very vocal readers who provide their thoughts in the comments. It’s actually a lot like this blog. Check it out – it’ll give you some food for thought.

      1. Thanks Herbie. I used to read GRS many years ago, before he went full time and added guest bloggers, which turned me off. I’ll give it another look though!

         1. Have you checked out Dave Ramsey?

      2. I also like the blog I Will Teach You to be Rich.

         I only have one investing book, but I really like it. It is Investing for Dummies, from the For Dummies series. I know it doesn’t sound like it should be good, but the reviews I read of it were so good that I bought it, and I’ve found it very helpful. There’s a lot of solid advice for investing for retirement and investing your extra money, and also it covers buying a house. I like that it starts by explaining what different types of investments are – it assumes you start from very little knowledge of investing, which is where I was starting.

   2. In contrast to the other poster, I think that Dave Ramsey has very bad advice on investments and what to do after you are out of debt; he makes unrealistic assumptions about stock market returns and does not incorporate academic research in to things like withdrawal rate in retirement. I like the book The Boglehead’s Guide to Investments.

4. Anyone have a recommendation for a Chicago dermatologist who will remove moles and skin tags? (Mine will not do either.)

   1. No recs, sorry, but that sounds like a crap derm. What, does s/he only do botox?

      1. No, just believes that moles and skin tags should only be removed when medically necessary. While that’s noble and all, it’s just driving me nuts.

   2. Be very careful with removing skin tags if they are on your rear end or privates. I’ve heard horror stories of them not healing.

   3. I had a lame skin tag on my underarm! Talk about being a pain while shaving! When mentioned it to my primary care physician, she offered to remove it for me if it became too much. One day it just fell off while shaving.
      Now i have one on my inner thigh, though luckily not in bikini area.oh the joys of PCOS.

   4. Ask your primary care doctor for a rec. Skin tags and moles are pretty common – I’m sure she’s made recommendations before.

5. Late threadjack, and fairly random: just moved to NYC, to an apartment in an older building. The bathroom is on the interior wall, with no window, no fan, and absolutely no ventilation. Am hoping that some of the problem is related to the current humidity, but it seems like the shower grows mold – not just mildew, but full-on mold – within a few days after being cleaned. Have tried a couple of different daily shower sprays, but nothing seems to work other than scrubbing – and I’m an intern, so there’s no time to do that every day. And along with being gross, this is setting off my allergies like you wouldn’t believe. Please help!

   1. Caveat: I do not own a home. I am have no expertise in construction. However, I watch far too much HGTV, especially Income Property, which deals a lot with mold. It’s gotten to the point where I can see the problem on the show and precisely predict the products and work needed. It’s pretty entertaining. But again, I have no real-life experience. That said:

      If there’s full-on mold coming into your bathroom, you can’t clean it. The only area you can access, the surface of your shower, is just a symptom of the very likely problem: the wall *behind* the shower stall, probably in the insulation. You can’t clean back there, and that’s where the mold is. There are lots of horror show episodes where they remove the shower stall and the walls are black with mold. This seems to happen most often in 1)older buildings with bathrooms that have 2) no ventilation fan and 3) no window. If that’s what it is (mold in your bathroom walls), your apartment is unsafe for your health, I am sorry to say. The guys on the shows won’t walk into moldy bathroom situations without a hazmat suit and gas mask like things.

   2. Sorry to say, but I agree with SF Bay Associate. I lived in an older building with a similar problem for about 3 years. The best thing that helped was spraying it with a bleach and water solution and scrubbing, but then the bathroom smells like a public pool. Even then it grew back within days. Sorry! Your best bet is to move out as soon as you reasonably can. Second choice is to discuss this with the landlord, though they probably are not going to do anything. Good luck :(

   3. You might try having a small fan on in that bathroom all day, every day. Just moving the air around can really help keep mold from forming. Can you keep the door to the bathroom open, too? The fan will then move drier, air conditioned air into the bathroom.

      We have a tiny desk fan that we use when we need a little extra air movement. It’s easy to move around and place in small, out of the way spots.

      Good luck. Mold is gross!

   4. You can kill the mold with Lysol spray so it won’t spread, but this won’t actually make it disappear. I spray my shower with Lysol every few days and this seems to keep it under control. You might also consider a dehumidifier if your bathroom doesn’t have a fan at all.

   5. Get a dehumidifier and run it in the bathroom a few days a week while you are at work. The other days just leave the door open when you are not there. Otherwise, use a sponge or squeegee to wipe down the walls daily to minimize the chances of the mold growing. You can also spray that fresh shower on the walls, but I think in your case, the key is keeping the shower dry.

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