Washable Workwear Wednesday: Notched One- Button Blazer in Cross Weave
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I’m adding a few “fun” blazers to my wardrobe, and here’s one that gives me warm weather feelings.
This one button blazer is made from a unique crossweave fabric for a textured effect. The fun color is balanced out by a traditional silhouette. Wear it with the matching pants for a full suit or alone with jeans for a casual Friday look. And, it’s lined and completely machine washable!
This blazer from Ann Taylor is $179 (check back for frequent sales) and comes in “forest leaves” (a pastel green) or “deep wisteria” (a pastel bluish-lavender). It comes in sizes 00–18.
Looking for other washable workwear? See all of our recent recommendations for washable clothes for work, or check out our roundup of the best brands for washable workwear.
Sales of note for 5/14/25
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – Beauty Deals up to 25% off (ends 5/17)
- Ann Taylor – Suit Yourself! 30% off suiting (ends 5/16) + 25% off your full price purchase (ends 5/18) + extra 60% off sale (ends 5/14)
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 25% off
- Eloquii – Up to 60% off everything + extra 60% off sale + $1 shipping on all orders
- J.Crew – Up to 50% off long-weekend styles + 50% off select swim and coverups
- J.Crew Factory – Extra 50% off clearance + extra 15% off $100+ + extra 20% off $125+
- M.M.LaFleur – Lots of twill suiting on sale! Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – 40% off all markdowns (ends 5/18) + 30% off dresses, skirts, accessories, and shoes
I want to host a party around Valentine’s Day for my 1st grade daughter and her friends. I’m thinking ~4-6/6:30, maybe something like 10 girls, age 6.5-7.5.
Ideas for activities? So far we’ve brainstormed:
– crafts (tbd what, card making? Bracelets? Both? Nothing with glitter.)
– cookie decorating
– kareoke (we have a machine but largely this means just putting on Alexa and dancing wildly), maybe a photo booth? Maybe do a photo shoot with her instamax camera?
– serving dinner (maybe heart shaped pizza?), maybe cupcakes (unless they eat the decorated cookies?)
I am pretty set on buying heart shaped glasses as a party favor.
I’ve never actually hosted an indoor party for this age group before. Does that seem like enough to keep them busy? Too much? Other ideas?
We have a large house and I’m thinking they can have the dining room & finished basement. Do I aim to move them through activities as a group or do it as 2-3 stations? I am going to cap the invites at number of seats I can fit around our dining room and /or basement table so they can all do things at the same time.
Caveat: I have a lawyer and will be speaking with them this week.
If you have had your child’s other parent (your ex) move away (either out of state or far away within a large state), what did you find work for you in terms of custody arrangements? My ex is applying for jobs elsewhere. He is in a niche market so there are limited jobs and limited places he can work. He hates living in our current VHCOL area and is very depressed (he hates his job, hates the traffic, hates me for causing us to live here due to my job). I secretly would be really happy having him move far away because he is causing me so much stress and anxiety (for many reasons), and I’m also willing to be collaborative within reason to make sure he gets to see our daughter regularly (which is really important to him). He is a great parent to her and adores her. Do you find that it’s easier if the parent that stays gets full physical custody (but maybe not legal custody)? Do you do some kind of arrangement where you bring the child to the out-of-state parent maybe once a quarter, and then work out summers/holidays too? We were not married so no divorce lawyers involved, and no formal custody arrangement. (Right now we are living together and coparenting and it is not sustainable.)
I far outearn him and will need to get additional childcare help if he moves away, but it will be worth it a million times for my sanity and starting to heal after years of being told I’m a horrible person. I’m fully prepared to be on my own and starting to rebuild my life.
Thank you for any advice!
Low stakes question. Is anyone else susceptible to buying things based on internet hype that they later realize are not really worth it after all? For me, it was the air fryer, the instant pot, and the Clek Foonf. The air fryer I just never use—it’s such a pain to drag out and the things I make in it never seem to turn out well anyway. And the instant pot is great sometimes but sometimes a disaster. Plus, every recipe takes waaaaay longer than the recipe says due to the time it takes to heat up (which for some reason is never included?)
The Foonf is so darn heavy and bulky, which maybe I could deal with…. BUT you have to uninstall, remove, and reinstall the darn thing every single time you need to adjust the level of the straps. Who has time for that? How does this annoying fact never seem to make it into the online promotions? I hate that I paid $600 for a car seat that is so darn difficult.
What have you bought based on general hype and later regretted? (Or am I the only one who remains susceptible to influencer marketing?)
Anyone have advice for toddler sleep issues? DD has been a very needy sleeper since she was a baby (i.e., would scream for hours, would only settle if rocked for long periods of time, etc). She also has an extremely strong preference for me over DH. We worked really hard to get to a good place, and from about 12-24 months things were going well, even great. Well, she recently learned to get out of her sleep sack, and everything has gone south fast. Plus we have a vacation coming up and I know she’s going to be a mess with the change in environment and proximity to me (Christmas overnight with my family did not go well). Any advice on how to deal with sleep issues at this age? It feels like the root of the problem is her need to be with me, and I’m not sure how to solve that. I really want to avoid having her in our bed, because the few times we’ve tried it, no one sleeps. But when we don’t intervene, she’s capable of screaming/ crying for several hours.
I’ve posted on the main s*te a bit about this…and posting here for commiseration. Basically I like my colleagues, my substantive work, and I learn a TON…but have finally realized my boss is…very nit picky about the work AND stuff that doesn’t matter (e.g. I made a joke at a meeting that they didn’t like about us being nerdy…they brought it up a month later to me as inappropriate; constant comments like “everyone wants to be promoted, no one wants to do the work” about our team – which is high performing, “I can’t be the only one doing all the work”, etc.).
It’s worn on me, and I constantly was feeling not good enough. I’ve talked to DH and loved ones a bit about this (and in therapy) just to confirm that the behavior I’m experiencing from them isn’t actually ME.
Anyway, I’ve decided now just to – focus on the mission critical aspects of my work. Draw boundaries. Stop anticipating/killing myself for a boss that will never feel that I’m good enough. I really want to keep rising in my career but for H1 of this year, I’m just taking a bit of focus away from that part of my life.
One of my close friends who works at a big job in management consulting put it well “Oh you think I’m ? Ok. Are you still paying me? Great!”
Heading to Naples and Sarasota with my 6 year old and 1 year old. Any recommendations for fun things to do. Also flying for the first time in a long time can I bring the squeezes with 4 oz for the 1 year old on a carry on?
I posted Monday about how the baby got Covid. She is still totally fine and has not had a single symptom but I tested positive Tuesday night. Is there any chance I could test negative by next Wednesday? I’m supposed to fly to CA to give two talks and I’m wondering if I should bother preparing them or just assume that it’s a lost cause. How long have you all been testing positive post-bivalent? When I had it in June I was positive for 12 days.
Can you buy zucchini pre-shredded? You can buy riced cauliflower frozen!
You can also buy frozen chopped onion which has been a recent game changer for me.
Sourcing from the hive mind: if you had an opportunity to take your kids (third grader and kindergartener) to Europe for spring break, would you and where would you go/what would you do? My husband has been invited to present at a conference in Europe right before spring break and has suggested using it as an excuse for a European vacation. I’m questioning whether it’s worth the expense and whether it will actually be fun (for me). The kids would be excited about castles/museums/etc. but are very picky eaters and have never traveled out of country before (though we already have passports for everybody).
Can anyone who has an au pair speak to how the program is going these days? I’ve heard that it was tough to get an au pair over the last few years. Also – any impact from updated regulations and/or lawsuits, especially those who live in New England/1st Circuit? I had an au pair in 2016-17, and I’m ramping up to hopefully hire another au pair.
A few food related life-with-children hacks:
– My kids are hangry all the time. I found recently that having pre-cut veggies (cucumbers, peppers, broccoli and carrots in our case) on hand in the fridge means I can just throw the container of veg on the table with hummus and /or blue cheese and they go to town. Until I realized this, I’d have to like, cut a pepper or cucumber or broccoli and it just seemed insurmountable some days.
– When you make taco meat, add riced cauliflower in for a sneaky veg. They will never know!
– Make your own quesadilla night is all but guaranteed to be a winner. They pick what goes into the quesadilla.
– If your kids eat indian takeout and pick out all the delicious chicken/cheese, save the sauce. Add precooked chicken to it for a second day of food (over rice).
– If you make a giant @ss lasagna or casserole and nobody wants leftovers after a few days, freeze the rest and bust it out as an emergency option for someone who doesn’t like what you’ve cooked for dinner.
– you can cook frozen chicken breasts in an instapot. Use a hand mixer to shred them when they are done. 20 minutes and you go from frozen to shredded and it’s entirely hands-off.
Sorry if these are “well duh!” for you– my oldest is 9 and apparently I’m only now getting smart about things. Please add yours below!
What would you say in this moment: was in the elevator with my kid (almost 5) and one of our neighbors. Older man, who probably appears older than he is because he moves slowly, talks slowly, walks hunched over, etc. My kid loves to press our floor button but goes, “I’m going to let the old man press the button because he’s old” …. I was mortified!
We talk and talk and talk about how we don’t comment on peoples bodies, skin, appearance, age, size, etc., but of course kids are kids and he still does it occasionally. I was honestly so shocked though that I just smiled awkwardly and said “excuse us” and the neighbor was nice and said, “And how old are you, young man?” to my kid.
We talked about how calling him old wasn’t polite when we got home. Just wondering if there is any better way for me to have addressed this in the moment because I am sure some version of this will happen again no matter how much I keep telling my kid it’s not something we should do.
Does anyone else lose much of their sex drive in the winter? Suggestions on fixes? I already am great with general wellness – exercise, eating well, etc. This dips so much for me this time of year, and it is a bummer. Thanks in advance.
Definitely not your fault and will also get easier!
Is your baby in daycare by any chance? That was always our “get sick with everything but then build up a great immune system” curve.
Kid brags?
I had a day off with T (5) yesterday (strikes) and the grand adventure we had planned was thwarted by me not checking the opening times of the science centre (closed). But we regrouped in a cafe, paid a visit to his old nursery where he was a visiting celebrity, went to another cool exhibition space, etc. T was pretty sad when I realised it was closed, as we were supposed to go before Christmas and got Covid but rallied. As we got on the bus to go home (after sushi, lego store, bookstore to spend our Christmas money), he said “it wasn’t the day we expected, but it was a wonderful day!” and thanked me for taking time off to hang out with him. I realise this is 90% just inherent temperment, but today, I’m going to take credit for raising such a chill, agreeable kid.