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Sales of Note…
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – Up to 40% off full-price pants and shirts; extra 30% off all sale styles
- Banana Republic Factory – 40% off everything; extra 15% off purchase
- Eloquii – $19 and up select spring styles; 40% off everything else
- J.Crew -25% off your purchase; up to 50% off special-occasion styles
- J.Crew Factory – Up to 50% off everything; extra 15% off 3 styles; extra 20% off 4 styles; extra 50% off clearance
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Talbots – 25% off regular-price dresses, skirts, accessories & shoes
- Zappos – 23,000+ sale items (for women)! Check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kid shoe brands on sale.
Kid/Family Sales
- J.Crew – 25% off your purchase; up to 50% off special-occasion styles
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Hanna Andersson – Up to 30% off Easter and spring to summer styles
- Carter’s – Extra 20% off spring sets = up to 60% off
- buybuyBaby – Spring sale: Up to 40% off
See some of our latest articles on CorporetteMoms:
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And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!
- If you’re a working parent of an infant with low sleep needs, how do you function at work when you’re in the throes of baby’s sleep regression?
- Should I cut my childcare down to 12 hours a month if I work from home?
- Will my baby have speech delays if we raise her bilingual?
- Has anyone given birth in a teaching hospital?
- My child eats everything, and my friends’ kids do not – how should I handle? In general, what is the best way to handle when your child has some skill/ability and your friend’s child doesn’t have that skill/ability?
- ADHD moms, give me your tips to help with things like behavior in the classroom, attention to detail, etc?
- I think I suffer from mom rage…
- My husband and kids are gone this weekend – how should I enjoy my free time?
- I’m struggling to be compassionate with a SAHM friend who complains she doesn’t have enough hours of childcare.
- If you exclusively formula fed, what tips do you have for in the hospital and coming home?
- Could I take my 4-yo and 8-yo on a 7-8 day trip to Paris, Lyon, and Madrid?
MomAnon4This says
Thanks to Kat and the whole commenting crew here – and the folks behind the scenes. I came for the comments and apparently learned the fashion & professional style thing, too, and catching worthwhile items on sale. My friend dragged me to a department store on Saturday afternoon and I scouted the sales racks just for curiosity, and then learned that the clearance items were an additional 50% off. Well, I kind of liked a washable cardigan that is sweatshirt material but has on-trend drape and comfortable sleeves for the season and generous back coverage for my pregnancy and my, um, back. I got 2 – 1 in navy, 1 in gray and have tons of plans on how to style them and have one on and wore the other one yesterday. They’re more Frugal Friday, but I’m feeling happy and confident having been brainwashed – stylewashed? – by y’all. Thank you, from this not-quite-as-frumpy professional/mom
Anon says
Anyone see a great cyber Monday deal for a video monitor? Or a really good stroller blanket? 7 am or the expandable jj cole bundleme? THanks in advance.
mascot says
Amazon Prime has a bunch of hourly deals going on today. Check those.
Anon says
We are getting the drop cam (not the pro but regular) and it’s around $100 for black Friday/cyber Monday I think.
Lorelei Gilmore says
Where do you guys buy toys? I have been burned many times by toy shopping on Amazon. I’d love online tips. Or in person if possible – I am in the Bay Area.
hoola hoopa says
How have you been burned by toy shopping on amazon? Wasn’t good quality? Not interesting to your child? I do almost all of my toy shopping there, so I could maybe offer tips if I knew what the exact issue has been. If it helps, I don’t generally start there. I start with an idea in mind based on toys the kids already like, have been asking for, enjoy at school or friends’ houses, etc. I find reviews to be really helpful. I actually read the text for clues, rather than look at the ratings alone. (Ie, are high ratings from kids a different age or disposition?)
Fat Brain Toys and HearthSong are nicely curated toy websites. FBT in particular does a good job of giving suggestions.
I can’t help with your exact location, but based on my experience in my metro area, I’d check in on ~4 shops convenient to you and/or highly rated on yelp, local parenting resources, etc. You’ll probably find that 1 or 2 have the right products for you and your kids.
Lorelai Gilmore says
There are four things that I find challenging on Amazon: 1) Finding toys is really hard; 2) there are often differences in packaging or models that are obscured on Amazon (i.e., when looking for a dollhouse, it’s really hard to sort out what is sold with each model, especially since third party sellers do a lot of repackaging and bundling); 3) it’s hard to get a sense of scale or quality and I find that it really varies (see #2); and 4) many of the toy sellers are not Prime, have exorbitant shipping costs, or make pricing difficult in unexpected ways.
I do like Fat Brain Toys and Hearthsong, though I feel like I’ve seen all of their stuff a million times (FBT tells me to buy those wobbly stacking toys every single time!).
hoola hoopa says
(1) Agreed that it’s not the best browsing platform, which is why I start with an idea in mind.
(2) I’ve only encountered that once, and I checked with amazon cs prior to purchasing. They were able to confirm the item and what I received was as expected. Reviews are also helpful at identifying potential issues, and I generally just don’t buy them if there are a lot of complaints.
(3) True. Shipping dimensions and/or product dimensions are typically listed. Even the box size can be helpful for sense of scale. Often mentioned in reviews, too, particularly if you’re given a bunch of useless filler pieces, etc. It’s a good thing to ask about in the QA area, if it hasn’t already been asked.
(4) Never had a problem with this, probably because I typically click the ‘prime’ filter.
Lorelai Gilmore says
Thanks – sounds like I just need to up my amazon game!
Anonymous says
If you’re still checking — depending on where you are in the Bay Area, Talbot’s toy store in San Mateo (Peninsula) is pretty great. And they gift wrap :)
anonymama says
A Child’s Delight… there’s a few of them around the bay area.
Lorelai Gilmore says
Paging “Do I Have A Right To Be Annoyed” from the discussion last week. You were trying to figure out how to manage a family Thanksgiving, and your husband was saying that he might take one son and leave you at home with the other one. How did things end up working out? I thought about you over the weekend and sent happy positive vibes in your direction, whatever that may be.
Thanksgiving says
Thanks for thinking of me! We actually came to a compromise of sorts. We had Thanskgiving lunch together, and DH took DS1 to the inlaws after that. They came home on Saturday morning and so were not gone for long. We decorated for Christmas, etc when they came home, so we actually ended us spending a lot of family time together over the weekend. Plus it allowed me to finish xmas shopping for the kids since I did not have DS1 in tow!
Quailison says
I’m taking a survey – if any of you did not change your names when you married, how did you handle kids’ names? Did you give them two last names? Your last as middle? Four names? Hyphenate?
I’m due with my first this spring and we are having a terrible time picking a name because it depends on how we do the middle + last name (trying to avoid unfortunate acronyms.) My mom did not change her name, and my name is First MomLast Dad Last, and I always wanted a “real” middle name (now of course I am glad to have her name). So, we were thinking of doing four names – First Middle MyLast HisLast. But then there are practical problems of forms, eventually dropping one name (and what if kid keeps “real” middle and drops mine?) Part of the motivation for having a first name middle name is alternative/nickname possibilities that are not possible with current the frontrunner first name. We’ve even brought up hyphenation, which we had previously ruled out.
Also, we’d previously decided that if it was a boy he would have DadLast and if a girl it was MyLast, and the ultrasound has determined that it’s a boy. So we did let fate choose that in some sense and might be open to MyLast as last.
I know in the scheme of things this is so nitpicky but it feels like a super momentous decision at the moment. So I’m just wondering – what did you all do?
CHJ says
DS’s middle name is my last name, and then he has the same last name as his father. (So John Jolie Pitt, for example). I’ve found it to be quite useful – when we’re flying together, DS’s passport says “John Jolie Pitt,” and my passport says “CHJ Jolie,” so it’s obvious that we’re related. It also makes sense when signing him up for the pediatrician and daycare, etc., that he and I have a name in common.
Although if I were to do it all again, I would have DS have my last name and DH’s name for a middle name (John Pitt Jolie), because he literally came out of my body, so it seems like I should at least get naming priority!
Quailison says
Yes, I like this use of having both names – I found this to be the case when I was growing up. All of the “it will be so confusing!” problems were solved by my official middle name. I definitely want my last name in there – that’s not negotiable – and I think what I’m worried about is dilution.
And I like your naming priority! My friends are alternating – #1 MomLast (for your reasoning) and #2 DadLast (for parity) and so on and so forth.
FVNC says
My daughter’s name is FirstName MyLast HusbandLast. For some reason it didn’t even occur to me that she could have my last name, and now I wish I had considered it. I remember having friends growing up who were sensitive about their “weird” family middle names, but I also had friends who were sensitive about typical middle names (e.g., one friend hated that her middle name was Susan). So if you like the idea of three names rather than four, go for it.
Quailison says
Yeah, I got over having my mom’s name rather than the more typical Ann or Elizabeth pretty quickly and thought it was cool. Where I grew up, my mom’s keeping her name was very unusual – where I live, keeping my name is not unusual in the least, so I doubt it will even be as much of an issue for my kid.
anon says
I could have written this – having the same dilemma! (Only my name is Firstname Mom’sFamilyMiddle MomsLast Dadslast, and I generally use both last names.) I had always thought I’d be okay giving the upcoming kid my spouse’s last name, with my mom’s last name as the middle name, but now I find myself wanting either a hyphenated last name or my mom’s last name and dad’s last name as middle names… I have to say I haven’t loved having 4 names (usually there’s not room on forms for both or for two last names and different government agencies end up addressing me by different variations of my name, depending on their forms. This has made my life a little complicated. But we may go with 4 names!
Quailison says
That’s another problem – the fact that my mom’s name, which is super important to me (she passed away 4 years ago) gets dropped. So that’s another option for kid – FirstName MyMiddle MyLast His Last. I would love to use the male version of her name for the first name as a way to honor her, but we don’t really like that, and to use her last name as a first name ends up with kid having no “regular” first name which reads a little law-firmy (and we are both lawyers…)
Good to know we might have company in the 4 name category!
Anonyc says
Same as above–kids are FirstName MyLast HisLast. Now that they are older, they actually kind of dig having the same middle and last names. And as others mentioned it makes travel/signups easy in some respects, plus I feel better from a parity perspective. Also, maybe others are better at choosing names but only having to select one first name made our lives easier. I am surprised when this option is not mentioned during naming conversations. We have many nieces and nephews with hyphenated names and that was generally considered the least good option (slash one we never considered).
Quailison says
I also liked having the same middle and last names as my sister. And, we both go by our full names in personal and professional settings.
And you’re right about having to choose fewer names. Efficiency! That will be a selling point :)
Newly pregnant says
My husband and I plan to create a mashup of our last names. I believe we can do this in our state (NY). We both recognize that it will create some hassle for us/the kid, but we didn’t really love the alternatives. DH’s last name isn’t great on its own, we didn’t want to hyphenate or give the kid two last names, neither name is well-suited to be a middle name, and an equalitarian view that by creating a third last name that the hassle falls equally on both of us (so giving the kid my last was out as well). My husband will admit that he feels a tiny pang at the thought of the baby not having his last name, but the above reasons outweigh that feeling.
hoola hoopa says
Friends did this and I thought it was a great idea.
Another option that I haven’t seen mentioned yet is choosing the first name first, then picking the last name that works best with it. I know a family who did this. They planned to only have one child, so it worked well.
I think either way you go (HisLast or YourLast) will be well-accepted. I am routinely asked if the kids have the last name as me or if my husband has the same last name as them, so I think doctors, schools, daycares, etc are used to seeing a variety of approaches.
Jen says
We did HisLast. If I had married a man with a different last name, things would be different. But our last names are too oddly similar (think: Rosenberg & Rosenfield or Walsh & Welsh or Schmidt & Smith) so I just took his and the kids have his as well. If I married any of my previous BFs, my last would have been the kids’ middle.
sfg says
I bought the charcoal grey version of this dress and while it’s super comfy, the back zipper doesn’t lay correctly on me. Definitely worth trying.
Today’s vent: I’m 22 weeks and so, so over feeling nauseated all the time. That is all.
hoola hoopa says
I’m sorry. The last time I threw up with my 2nd pg was at 22 weeks and it is awful. May you get over it soon!