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Warm-weather getaway coming up? Include this packable Panama hat to keep you cool and protect you from the sun.
This lightweight paper straw hat has a 3” brim and adjustable fit, and it comes in six pretty neutral colors that will go with your vacation wardrobe. And given the price, you may want to pick up more than one.
Nordstrom’s Packable Braided Paper Straw Panama Hat is $29.
Sales of note for 9.10.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 30% off your purchase
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Boden – 15% off new styles
- Eloquii – $29 and up select styles; up to 50% off everything else
- J.Crew – Up to 50% off wear-to-work styles; extra 30% off sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – 40-60% off everything; extra 60% off clearance
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Loft – Extra 40% off sale styles
- Talbots – BOGO 50% everything, includes markdowns
- Zappos – 26,000+ women’s sale items! (check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kids’ shoe brands on sale)
Kid/Family Sales
- Carter’s – Birthday sale, 40-50% off & extra 20% off select styles
- Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off all baby; up to 40% off all Halloween
- J.Crew Crewcuts – Extra 30% off sale styles
- Old Navy – 40% off everything
- Target – BOGO 25% off select haircare, up to 25% off floor care items; up to 30% off indoor furniture up to 20% off TVs
Vacay Help says
We’re really aching for a vacation. Newly minted family of four – me, DH, 6 year old DD and 5 month old DD. 6 year old is an experienced traveler so she’s solid. We’re in New England and hoping for a beach and solid pool situation. I’m not an Airbnb person. Looking to mid/end of June just after school gets out for about a week.
We’ve done (1) Marriott Harbor Beach in FLL when DD#1 was young – it was just very easy. No rental car needed; walkable to some stuff – easy button. (2) Isle of Palms in Charleston – def needed rental car. It was – fine? (3) Beaches T&C – loved it. But the $10k price tag and non-direct flight feels a bridge beyond what we’re looking for at the moment.
We’ve never done Gulf Coast of Florida. We were thinking domestic but I suppose international isn’t off the table (Bermuda?). DD2 would need a passport but we could get our acts together and get that paperwork in this weekend, expedite and possibly pull it off in time.
Open to any and all recs! TIA.
Anonymous says
I liked the Fairmont Southampton in Bermuda. We didn’t rent a car. There’s a trolley/boat from that hotel to their Hamilton property if you want to pop into town for a bit. Good spa and pretty low key. Didn’t travel with kids though but it seemed family friendly (buckets and shovels for kids at the beach).
OP says
When were you there? I think it’s still closed. I stayed there as a kid and loved it so it was on the brain but sounds like COVID and maybe a storm took it out of service. I’ll investigate more because quick searching tells me it’s opening early 2024, but no obvious ways to book.
Anon says
yeah it’s still closed. I also heard really mixed reviews of it shortly before it closed, but maybe the renovations will address those issues.
Anonymous says
Oh I didn’t realize! It was pre-covid for sure. Great location – hope the beach survived.
It was starting to show its age when we were there but I can see where if the management was not on point, it might go downhill.
FP says
Watercolor Inn. You’d have to connect to fly there (Destin FL) but it’s an incredible hotel / huge property with several pools and rental homes, and family suites at the hotel. Watercolor has *several* zero-entry pools that are perfect for little ones.
Similarly, The Pearl at Rosemary Beach but that is a bit more adult and less family.
Anon318 says
Watercolor is amazing!! I definitely second that recommendation.
In a similar-ish area, Sandestin checks the boxes for a family-friendly beach vacation. Make sure you stay on the beach side, but the Village is adorable and has lots to do if you need a break from the beach-pool routine.
A little further south (but likely easier to get to), the Don Cesar in St. Pete Beach is lovely. You could fly into Tampa and drive the ~30 minutes to the hotel or fly into St. Petersburg itself.
Anonymous says
I just got back from Key Biscayne, Florida. It’s 20 minutes from the Miami airport. We stayed at the ritz and it was just wonderful. There are so many dining options within a ten minute walk of the hotel, and the ritz has a free car service if you don’t feel like walking around. We did not rent a car and were just fine. The hotel also has multiple restaurants, but we preferred to go “off campus” for lunch and dinner (our room had a breakfast buffet included). Caveat is that my child eats everything and easily handles a 15 minute walk without complaint. The hotel is very family friendly. My 4.5 year old was handed a coloring book and crayons upon arrival, there’s a huge splash pad area and a family pool.
Anonymous says
I’m not a huge fan of Bermuda. You can’t rent a car, and the taxis are $$$. Nothing is walking-friendly. Also everything is $$$ and in a bad value kind of way. Think $50 for a few shrimp. If you’re someone that likes to do any kind of walking or exploring it’s not a place I would recommend.
Anon says
The price thing is true of all tropical islands; I’ve visited a bunch of different Caribbean islands from the Bahamas to Aruba and I don’t think Bermuda stands out in that regard. Agree on the car rental point though. You have to go into it expecting that it will mostly be a hotel beach vacation. But with a 5 month old baby that’s probably what they’d be doing anyway.
Anon says
Just validating that Beaches T&C is not the right choice in this stage of life. We’ve been twice and love it, and are booked to go a third time but the airport in Turks and Caicos can’t keep up with the rapidly expanding tourism there and we had a real nightmare experience the last time we flew out of there. The airport told dozens of (scheduled!) inbound flights once they were already in the air “sorry we’re full, you can’t come here.” Who does that!? Some of the flights were diverted to the Dominican Republic, some were canceled completely and apparently a lot of hotels on the island were full so people were told they had no choice but to sleep on the airport floor. This wasn’t the first day of problems and we met people who’d been trying to get off the island for three straight days. We ended up getting home 9 hours late at 3 am TCI time. My 6 year old handled it like a champ, but it would have been so much more stressful if we’d had a baby or toddler with us.
We really like the Destin/Miramar Beach area of Florida. Cancun is easy to fly non-stop to and has tons of resort options. We also LOVE Grand Case Beach Club on St. Martin and it’s way cheaper than Beaches and would be easy with a baby, but you probably can’t fly there non-stop if you can’t get to Turks non-stop.
OP says
The airport experience is 90% of the reason I don’t want to go with baby (10% cost). we were there in December 2022 with a 4 year old and a delayed flight and – just, no. Glad that’s not just me.
Destin would be fantastic if we didn’t have family in AL and GA that would happily hop in a car to join us, invited or not. But, maybe we just go incognito somehow… something we’ll consider.
Anon says
Caveat that I haven’t been personally, but I’ve heard Grand Velas is very similar to Beaches (pricey, kid-friendly resort with reasonably good food and lots to do) and you can fly into the Cancun airport for that, and the Cancun airport is fine. And you should be able to fly non-stop if you’re near a major airport.
Anon says
Yeah we also went in December 2022 and the airport experience was bad then, but if you can believe it it was MUCH worse in March 2024. That may have been because it was peak spring break season and June should be better in that sense but still… it’s totally valid to not want to go back because of the airport imo. We talked to several families who felt the same way. I hope Beaches/Sandals can invest some of their resort money in fixing up the airport because they’re going to start losing business otherwise.
Anon says
We’ve done Orange Beach, AL with a baby (very kid friendly but nothing walkable) and Coligny Beach area of Hilton Head (super easy and walkable) with a toddler. About to do Puerto Rico with a 3 year old. A lot of parents in our friend group have done Cancun/Playa del Carmen area with toddlers– we were actually planning to do that but couldn’t get a passport for DS in time.
Anon says
Kiawah Island? This was also just asked on a local facebook group, though specifically about Florida, so I will share some suggestions from there:
– Ritz or Omni at Amelia Island
– Ritz Key Biscane
– JW Marco Island
– Boca Raton Resort (I personally have been here, but grew up going there because my grandparents lived nearby and had a membership)
– Marriott Harbor Beach Resort & Spa or Ritz in Ft Lauderdale
– The Resort at Long Boat Key
-Gasparilla Inn
Anon says
I’ve been to the JW Marriott on Marco Island and was unimpressed with both the resort and Marco Island. It was 15+ years ago now though.
Our family photographer looooves Amelia Island and her photos are stunning though, of course, she’s a professional photographer and could probably make any place look good.
NYCer says
I like Kiawah if you’re open to repeating a Charleston-adjacent location. There are really great kids pools/slides, and the beach is nice enough (though obviously not nearly as nice as the 30A or Caribbean beaches).
Thanks for Asilomar rec! says
Ages ago, someone (I think Cb) recommended Asilomar as a fun place for a family vacation. I recently took my two elementary-aged kids and we had so much fun. Thanks for the recommendation!
Cb says
That was me! My parents moved to Portugal so we won’t go back to CA, and that’s one of the places I really, really miss. I keep hoping my alma mater will ask me to teach Jan term so we can spend a month in Northern California.
Thanks for Asilomar rec! says
Thank you so much, Cb! We had planned a trip to Big Sur, with lodging in Big Sur, but the road to Big Sur closed due to a slip out shortly before our trip. We were looking at a map to figure out where to stay on the Monterey Peninsula when I saw Asilomar on the map and remembered your recommendation. We had a wonderful time and plan on returning to Asilomar. I too hope you can get back here sometime.
Waffles says
What are the first five websites/apps you read every day?
Mine are:
New York Times
Air quality report
Weather report
BBC
Local news site
Anonymous says
Wordle
Connections
Waffle
Spelling Bee
Weather
Anon says
WSJ
Lose It!
Facebook
Teams
Instagram
Pinterest
Cb says
Pocketcast for podcasts, Discord (my reddit bumps group is going strong 7 years later), Substack, typically The Guardian.
GCA says
My AM ritual is to finish the Wordle, Connections, Strands, and sometimes Squaredle (the first three take five minutes and get my brain going while I sip my coffee). Then I do a bit of mobility work, stretching, or Pilates through my Aaptiv app. All that takes about 20-30 minutes and wakes me up fully, mind and body, before I head directly into the workday.
Anonymous says
Wordle
Connections
NYT Crossword (Sat-Wed; Thu and Fri I start later in the day)
Strands
Messages, to share scores with family and friends who opt in and reciprocate
Anon says
Similar to others, I do Wordle, Connections and Strands first thing. Then probably this page and Reddit.
Spirograph says
Connections, Duolingo, and then some combination of NPR/local news/WaPo/NYT/BBC. My husband and I “race” each other at Wordle after dinner, otherwise that would be up there, too.
AwayEmily says
This page, Instagram, and Slack (I have a very active “friend slack” — we have channels for food/drink, kid stuff, general chatting, etc. It’s wonderful).
Anonymous says
Now that dresses are “out” for business formal, what do people wear in hot climates? I used to wear a sleeveless sheath dress with a blazer and take the blazer off outdoors. I have some updated pants-and-blazer outfits but even the ones that look summery are miserably hot.
Anonymous says
Are dresses really “out”? Pantsuits are definitely in, but I feel like sheath dress + blazer is still a classic for women in business formal settings. Caveat, my current office is definitely on the casual side of business casual, so maybe I’m just out of touch.
Anon says
I don’t think dresses are “out” if you work in a business formal environment. They’re not trendy but they’re still classic and work appropriate.
NYCer says
Plenty of people, me included, still wear dresses in my big law office.
Anon says
I don’t actually think they’re out.
Anon says
I just went to a formal business event (all lawyers in a SEUS city), and almost everyone was wearing a dress. I saw very few pants. There were a lot of sheath dresses + blazers. Younger attendees had a lot of shirtdresses or sweater dress, etc. (It was a cool spring day.) A few attendees had on trousers, and it looked a little out of place.
In contrast, my in-house job is business casual. Executives tend to wear trousers + blouse or shirt dress/other formal type dress. A sheath dress + blazer would be overly formal for my current job, but I’ve still seen people do it when they’re giving a big presentation where they want everyone to know they’re the “lawyer” in the room.
Anon says
for those of you with kiddos with various challenges (adhd, anxiety, etc.) what resources have been more helpful to you as a parent? how do you remain patient? how do you make sure all your kids are getting enough attention from you?
anon says
For teaching me how to help with anxiety and emotional management generally, the podcast Flusterclux has been amazing.
OP says
it’s more like i feel like i use up all of my emotional reserves on one kid and have nothing left for the other one or DH. and then i cope by eating junk, which obviously doesn’t actually help. parenting is hard
Anonymous says
I ended up coping with this by quitting my high-stress job so I had more capacity for the kid and the rest of the family.
Anonymous says
Reading The Connected Child (changed my parenting)
Play therapy
How to Talk so Kids Will Listen
Setting aside time weekly and playing on the floor with each child individually for 15-30 minutes.
Ok this one might actually be the most important: trying not to let myself feel guilty for what I’m not doing. I’m already spending more focused time with my kids than my parents did with me; tbd whether this matters in their overall happiness/becoming well-adjusted adults.
Anonymous says
I got my own therapist and it has been great! She’s a family therapist so she’s familiar with ADHD/autism families, and she helps me with both venting and brainstorming ideas/sorting through options.