Washable Workwear Wednesday: The Boden Al Fresco Dress
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fIs it too early to think about summer dresses? I need to find a place in my warm weather wardrobe for this shirtdress from M.M.LaFleur’s April Collection.
Made from crisp cotton-poplin, this midi-length dress has three-quarter sleeves, a self-tie waist, and a flowy skirt (with pockets!). Just add some simple jewelry and heeled sandals for an unfussy, elegant look.
The Boden Al Fresco Dress is $295 and comes in cinnabar (an earthy red) and eggshell (a creamy white). It’s available 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
Does anyone have a rec for a kids book about Hamilton? Ideally a book that ties into the musical, not just a random bio of him. It’s coming to my city next winter and I want to take my daughter, who will be almost 8 by then. She’s an experienced theater-goer but so far has only seen more kid-oriented shows and I think may be lost in such a verbally dense show without some prep first.
Does the prospect of an upcoming meeting or presentation derail your whole work day? I find it very hard to focus and get serious work like writing or data analysis done if I know I have meetings later in the day, especially when my “free” blocks of time for work are 3 hours or less. I thought it was just me, but a friend recently told me she has the same problem when she has to teach a fitness class in the evening–it distracts her for the whole day. Is this normal? If so, how do you switch gears so the interruptions don’t interfere with your flow?
I have a pretty narrow question, but figured someone here may have considered/done something similar. Has anyone at a solo or small law firm (or something similar) narrowed their firm practice area? I’m considering (for many reasons) discussing with my boss having us essentially give away some of our Y work to focus on X work. Without hiring, which I don’t think Boss wants to do, the workload is more than I think either of us wants right now. (I have 3 kids, would love to be able to take more time off without feeling like I’m constantly behind; Boss is aging etc.) We have institutional clients, so it would be nearly impossible to change my mind later and just get back that part of the practice. Y work is about 25% of our practice and is the area I’m less passionate about and less confident in. Some clients are involved in both X and Y work, but would understand the difference between the two. Considerations?
Recommendations for sweat wicking maternity underwear? I’m approaching my third trimester and so far I’ve been wearing my normal underwear (Chantelle soft stretch thong). But the under bump area is now getting pretty sweaty when I’m sitting down, which is all day. I want to avoid VPL or seams. Thanks all!
Jumping on the travel questions – cross posted on the main site
Because of a series of crazy events, we weren’t able to plan anything for spring break. Now, husband and I want to take kids for a night or two somewhere in the northeast (Philly to Portsmouth NH?) Not interested in a great wolf lodge but a place with a heated indoor/outdoor pool would be great. Any suggestions? Mostly looking for a break and a change of scenery.
Bring teens on business travel? My company is hosting a 1.5-2.5 day offsite in a major European city this fall. The offsite begins in the afternoon on Tuesday, includes dinner Tuesday night, all day Wednesday, and dinner Wednesday night. The company will pay for my transit and three nights of lodging. I have learned that most of my colleagues are bringing someone with them – spouse or friend.
When I agreed to attend, I had anticipated that my mom would watch my kids (11 and 14) and she agreed. After she spent 48 hours solo with my daughter this past weekend, I no longer think that is a good plan. In short, my mom heavily favors my son and disfavors my daughter. (Think golden child and black sheep.) My daughter can be brusque and strongly opinionated, and my mom has no patience and can be outwardly hostile to my daughter. If I need to, I am going to ask a prior babysitter to be at the house while I travel.
Or…should I bring my teens with me? They are good travelers, and this is not their first trip to Europe. This would be their first time in this part of Europe, which is an incredibly safe city. They would have to entertain themselves for 1.5 days. Most of my colleagues are planning on extending the trip to spend the whole week in Europe. We could stay in the City, explore the area around it, or take a train to another country. I would need to pull them out of school for the week. The alternative is that I take a red-eye Monday night to get in Tuesday morning and fly out Thursday morning.
My 8-year-old son and I are driving from DC to New Jersey next week to visit some friends. We’re looking at meeting them the day we drive up (midweek) at Liberty State Park and taking a ferry to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty.
From what I’ve seen online, the boarding process for the ferry can take forever but it doesn’t seem to be as crowded from NJ as it from NY. The plan would be be to get to the park around noon with a 1 pm ticket to enter the security area. Has anyone done this at this time of year? What should I expect?
we were just invited to an easter egg hunt for one of my daughter’s classmates on Sunday. the invite was sent via text to a group of people, most of whom i don’t know. what does one wear? (it’s already 85+ here) do i bring a hostess gift? the time is listed as only for an hour (sorry we are jewish so i dont know the norm. we also keep passover, and i dont need them to have any special food for me, but i dont want them to think im rude if i wont eat their food?)
This dress is so cute, but I recently ordered several similar dresses and they all made me look like a Sister Wife. Is there a way for a curvy person of average height (5-7) to pull this off? I love long dresses but they don’t love me.
Harmless would you rather: Traveling with an 18 month old to a smaller city. Option A: Two, 2-hr flights with a 1.5 hr layover. 5.5 hrs of travel time. Option B: One, 2-hr flight and then a 2 hr drive. (let’s say 5 hrs of travel time with having to get out of the airport and rent a car). I’m leaning to the rent a car option. We’ve consistently done Option A, the 2 flights, but on the last two trips either had delays or some other in-airport issue with the flight (flight cancelled and moved to next morning, 2hr+ delay, etc).
My 8 year old consistently does not come down in time to eat breakfast even though she says she’s starving. When we have to leave, Shes asking for 1 more minute or 2 more minutes while she tries to scarf her breakfast down and its stressful for all. She has an alarm, we go up and give her a reminder that it’s time to come down and she’s definitely getting enough sleep because she’s always awake 25 minutes before she needs to come down. She just needs to brush her teeth and hair and put on her clothes. So today she came down with 1 minute before we needed leave and I told her she didn’t have time for breakfast today. I feel so bad about this but at the same time, I don’t know what to do because im just so so tired of this silly fight every morning. I feel like my mom trained me with “harsher” methods like this to be more responsible. Is it an age appropriate expectation for an 8 year old to come down 10 minutes before we need to leave so there’s time for breakfast? Any other suggestions?
My question got stuck in mod yesterday, so here it is again. My 1st-grader has been telling us she doesn’t like riding the bus because there are two kids (1st and 2nd grade boys, fwiw) who touch/ poke her and call her dumb names. It doesn’t happen often, they do it to others too, and she can always move away from them but sometimes they follow her. She tells them to stop but of course they don’t.
We’ve told her
– she can yell ‘Stop touching me!’ or ‘Get away from me’ at the top of her voice
– she can get to their level and yell something like ‘I don’t like your face!’ because that’s what kids understand
– she probably has more friends than they do, because annoying others is not a great strategy for making friends
– she will not get in trouble with us if she has to push them away in self-defense
I don’t think the teachers or transport team can or will do much about this. They have much bigger fish to fry. But it’s annoying her.
Any other strategies I’m missing? She is small but loud. Might float the idea of helping other kids in when they get harassed (early bystander intervention?).
Day 3 of no daycare this week and wow I am so glad I’m not a SAHM. I love my kids more than anything in the world but I would go absolutely insane with the crying, the whining, the bickering over toys, the battling for my attention. Looking forward to Monday.