Washable Workwear Wednesday: Playful Pebble Button-Up Shirt
This post may contain affiliate links and CorporetteMoms may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
I haven’t looked at NIC+ZOE for a while, but I’m loving their new prints for spring, including this bold one.
This fun, yet sophisticated dress shirt has an abstract pebble print. The drapey fabric is made with partially-recycled fibers.
Keep the rest of your outfit simple to balance out this bold top.
NIC+ZOE’s Playful Pebble Button-Up Shirt is $158 at Nordstrom and comes in sizes XS-XXL.
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 4/16/25
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – 5,521 new markdowns for women!
- Ann Taylor – 40% off your entire purchase + 50% off one full-price item
- Banana Republic Factory – 50%-70% off everything + extra 20% off
- Eloquii – $29+ select styles + extra 40% off all sale
- J.Crew – Spring Event: 40% off sitewide + extra 40% off all sale
- J.Crew Factory – 40%-70% off everything + 60%-70% off spring faves
- M.M.LaFleur – New collection just dropped! Use code CORPORETTE15 for 15%
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – 40% off select tops + 30% off dresses, skirts, shoes & accessories + 40% off all markdowns
Speaking of kid activities and parents having an exaggerated view of their kids’ abilities, my husband just told me that a friend who thinks his daughter is a real prodigy in a certain sport lied about her age to get her into an older division of the league. The league somehow found out and permanently banned both the parent and child…! I find this so funny, because I would imagine most people are lying in the other direction, so their kid can be the biggest and strongest on a team and appear to be the star. But it ties into the discussion of everyone thinking their kid is so special and gifted.
Wwyd … we just had parent teacher conference. My son is – in his teacher’s words – at the far end of the bell curve in terms of his intellect. I don’t think he’s gifted, but he’s profoundly verbal, curious, and interested in subjects that impress adults (Ancient Greece, learning Japanese, Vikings). He’s also very polite, agreeable, teacher says he looks forward to interacting him everyday (except when he loses things – which is at least once a day – he’s a bit dopey).
The teacher said in the before times, he’d be sent to pull out enrichment. He’s happy enough, but the classroom environment is pretty chaotic so I think his teacher is just engaged in crowd control – dealing with disregulated kids. Which is fine, my kid gets plenty of attention at home etc.
We’ve focused our out of school activities on physical and social activities as these are skills where he’s less strong (prefers adults, not much for the rough and tumble. I have distinct memories of counting the seconds left of class time because I was so depressingly bored… my kid is less sassy than I was but still… surely it will wear on him eventually?
My 7 year old daughter has a girl she considers a very close friend and whose mom I’m pretty friendly with. We get together with the kids probably once a week or so and also put them in a lot of the same activities and carpool. They always seem happy and excited to play together when they see each other, but don’t play as much at school this year now that they’re not in the same class (they were together the two previous years). I recently found out that my daughter isn’t invited to the other girl’s birthday party. I’m a little hurt about it, especially since from what I hear it’s not a small party, but I’m trying not to overreact because I know I can be sensitive about this stuff. My kid doesn’t know yet and if/when she finds out, I’ll follow her lead and not make a big deal about it if she’s unfazed. This girl can be braggy and competitive with my daughter so some space isn’t necessarily the worst thing, but it feels like kind of a snub given how frequently they play together outside of school and I’m struggling a little bit to be normal to the other mom in our interactions (we’ve been texting about other stuff today).
Love the book threads we have here, and have a specific request. We have a long car ride coming up for spring break (12+ hours, depending on traffic, each way), and I want to get a books series my kids can read. I have a 9-year old boy who is an average reader and strongly prefers graphic novels and a 7-year old above-average-reading-level girl who likes short chapter books and graphic novels. Previous hits were Dragon Masters and Dogman for both, plus the Fairy Rainbow Magic/Fairytale Fairy books for my daughter. Any suggestions? Would love a series with many books.
A post inspired by one below! I have loved hearing from parents about the cool things their kids are trying – lots of recent posts about chess players, and a few comments below about choir and karate.
Post your kid’s activit(ies), and when they started or how they got interested in it. Seems like everyone around me has kids who are excited about tball, soccer, and swimming (all of which are great and activities I did as a kid), but there are so many options out there. It’s fun to hear about other activities, and how kids got into them.
Please be kind. This is intended as a very genuine question asked with a lot of love for my son and only looking for support for me anonymously.
I have a 5 year old only child. Over the last year, he has naturally and increasingly incorporated a lot of – for lack of a better term – effeminate mannerisms into his usual interactions. I can’t think of a better way to describe it, but imagine how Hollywood used to stereotype gay men – flourishes with hands and feet, and even his speech pattern follows (frequently describes things as “lovely” or “beautiful” or “wonderful” in a higher pitched voice). It’s all very naturally occurring, but is increasingly apparent to other kids and adults.
I’ve never seen/been around another little boy who is similar, and I don’t know what I’m asking — both DH and I grew up in the SEUS in families where the guys are all very traditionally masculine. Not saying any of that is good – but I guess, this little guy is such a surprise to me, and I am worried he will be bullied when he starts K in the fall. He’s never really enjoyed preschool, nor has he made any close friends in the three years he’s been at his school. Two teachers have noted that he seems happy enough playing inside with other kids, but is visibly uncomfortable when the other kids rough house on the playground. He just seems happiest when he’s at home, creating incredible imaginary worlds with his stuffed animals.
Also, to be very clear, we have no desire to change anything about him. I guess I’d love to hear about similar kids and their paths, especially as they enter elementary school.
I just don’t know what I like anymore? I would love to have a hobby or something, but when I try to pick something up I end up losing interest – reading, gardening (the regular kind, ha), cross stitch/embroidery/crocheting, movies/TV, anything… nothing keeps my interest at all. My days are easily consumed by family + dog + work, and weekends are all errands + kids activities – 3 kids under 10. Nothing even seems appealing to pick up!
Is this just a dopamine thing, or this season of life? I feel like I used to be interesting and fun and now I’m just boring, and I can’t seem to fix it!
My newly 9yo is VERY HUNGRY all the time, especially now that the weather is nicer and she’s riding her bike/running around. Does anyone have recipes for baked goods that have a fair amount of fat and/or protein? Her preferred snacks are vegetables and fruit, which is great from a nutrition perspective but don’t actually fill her up. She doesn’t like yogurt, cheese sticks, nuts, hummus (but she will eat peanut butter, so I was thinking maybe some kind of peanut butter based bar or muffin or something?). Ideally I want something I can make a bunch of and stick in the freezer.
yesterday someone made a comment that “maybe no one wants a PTO to begin with.”
While I don’t know that this is the best setup (as in the school should get money for what it needs from the district), I’m not sure our public school could function without the PTO. Currently, the PTO has $550,000 and spends a lot of money on the school. They recently replaced the broken track, purchased fans for the outdoor pavillion where the kids do PE, purchased supplies for the outdoor garden/science area, purchased smart boards for the classrooms, they pay for retired teachers to come in and help kids who need extra help, etc. Our district is considered severely underfunded. (Blue city in a red state). Yes, the PTO is sometimes cliquey etc. but they do put on events that help educate, enrich and build community that are fairly well attended.
Do you think your school could function without a PTO?
I want to start using a digital family calendar in addition to the large paper one we keep at home. Husband and I both have gm@l accounts – should we just try to sync our calendars? Is there a specific app that does this better?
I’m co-parenting and living in the same house while trying to divorce DH. So far neither of us is willing to cede any space or parenting time.
He is incredibly permissive and favors our oldest while ignoring the baby. Obviously a toddler prefers that, so whenever we are all present, he runs to Daddy and ignores me.
Any advice? How to get some actual parenting time? How to handle the toddler?