Splurge or Save Thursday: The Tokyo Tote
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Even though I don’t go to the office every day, I’m always on the hunt for the perfect work tote. DeMellier’s Tokyo Tote caught my eye.
This leather tote has arrow lock hardware, room for a 13” laptop, a lined zip pocket, and two additional secure pockets for your phone/keys/wallet. DeMellier offers lifetime repair services, so you’ll have this bag well after retirement.
The Tokyo Tote is $595 and comes in tan, black, stone gray, and salt & pepper canvas.
Some of the best work bags for women as of 2024 include great totes from Cuyana (with a zipper), Tumi, Tory Burch, Lo & Sons, and Madewell (north/south). Also try this highly-rated organizing insert or these clever pouches with some of the less structured bags! If you’re looking for a budget tote (or one in a specific color) check this Amazon seller (22K+ good reviews) or this Amazon seller (60K+ good reviews).
Sales of note for 1/16:
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – Cashmere on sale; AllSaints, Free People, Nike, Tory Burch, and Vince up to 60%; beauty deals up to 25% off
- AllSaints – now up to 60% off (some of the best leather jackets!)
- Ann Taylor – Up to 40% off your full-price purchase; extra 50% off sale
- Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Boden – 15% off new styles with code — readers love this blazer, these dresses, and their double-layer line of tees
- DeMellier – Sale now on, free shipping and returns — includes select options like Montreal, Vancouver, and Venice
- Eloquii – $29 and up select styles; extra 50% off all clearance, plus ELOQUII X kate spade new york collab just dropped
- Everlane – Sale of the year, up to 70% off — reader favorites include their scoop tee, Dream Pant, ReNew Transit backpack, silk blouses and oversized blazers! New markdowns just added
- Hannah Andersson – Up to 30% off all pajamas;
- J.Crew – Up to 40% off select styles; up to 50% off cashmere
- J.Crew Factory – 40-70% off everything
- L.K. Bennett – Archive sale, almost everything 70% off
- M.M.LaFleur – Tag sale for a limited time — jardigans and dresses $200, pants $150, tops $95, T-shirts $50
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – Semi-Annual Red Door Sale – 50% off + extra 20% off, sale on sale, plus free shipping on $150+
There is maaaybe half an inch of snow on the ground and my Midwestern kid has been sledding down the driveway over and over again for the last half hour. This wouldn’t have registered as a snowfall to me when I was growing up in the same area 30 years ago. Climate change is a trip, man.
Digital frame recs that I can gift to my MIL? We’d like to update the pictures from home/an app as easily as possible. TIA!
anyone else feel like they are drowning this time of year? we are traveling for winter break and i kind of wish we were staying home which i realize sounds spoiled, but i dont feel like booking tickets, planning itineraries, figuring out where to eat, etc. i sometimes wish i could be the one to just show up and have someone else take care of everything.
Does anyone have recommendations for black socks that they like? Crew, not ankle. I am asking here because I asked for sock help a year ago and someone pointed me to some low-cut Pumas that I still wear and love, so clearly you guys know your socks. Ideally I would love something I could get at Target/Costco but honestly I’ll take anything! My current ones are falling apart.
Oh man, please don’t flame me for this post (so many things I could have corrected along the way, but did not….) but I need to get this out and I’m honestly too ashamed to admit any of this in real life. We own a small, converted Cape Cod (I think?) home. Basically, two tiny bedrooms on the first floor, and one large bedroom on the second floor. When we moved in, we took the upstairs, as it has a nice bathroom and is larger, and put our two kids in the downstairs bedrooms. At the time we bought it, it was not the ideal floorplan, but it was the only home that came up for sale in our price range most desired neighborhood (walkable, lots of kids, a small local elementary school).
At the beginning of COVID, my then 6 and 9 year old daughters got really scared of how much their lives were uprooted. And they started sleeping on the floor in our room – and we didn’t mind it because at the time, we were all afraid of the unknown, etc. But, 5 years later, they were still, I’d say 90% of the time, sleeping on our floor. We got blow up beds for them, and it would creep – they would move downstairs for a bit, then wander up in the middle of the night, then they’d just start the night upstairs with us, and then at some point in the last year, it got to a point where my now 9 year old daughter needed me to be upstairs, in bed for her to fall asleep. And then her sister would feel lonely, so she’d come upstairs too. So for like the last 4 months, I’ve basically gone to bed with her — so, she’s going to bed too late, I’m going to bed too early, and I basically never got alone time with my husband at night or even just downstairs watching a tv show after they were in bed. I should add here that my husband and I are early, early bedtime people who don’t function well at night, and our [adult alone time; avoiding moderation here] always happens in the morning after the kids get on the bus, before we leave to go to work.
After weighing all options — we finally decided to move the two kids into the big upstairs room, and my husband and I are taking over the downstairs rooms. Edited to add – we’ve learned that they really don’t like being on the first floor if we are upstairs, so sharing one of the smaller rooms downstairs wasn’t really going to fix the issue.
But I’m having all the guilt about all of it. My daughter is still struggling to fall asleep upstairs, even though she is sharing a room with her sister. I feel SO far away from them — even though I’m not (it’s really a pretty tiny house), but for as much as I liked my solo time, I honestly miss being physically close to my kids at night. I feel guilty we don’t have a house where I can sleep in a room down the hall from them on the same floor. I feel guilty that the kid bedrooms are on the first floor, which scares the kids, and not upstairs. And, this setup may appall people, but as my mom always reminds me when I lament our house is so much smaller than a lot of our neighbors, for generations, people did all sleep closer to each other (like the grandparent involvement, this is possibly cultural, and not terribly American – she grew up in Italy). As you can probably tell, our family is exceptionally close — the girls get along incredibly well, and we all just really like each other. Moving is not an option (interest rates, plus prices are crazy in this neighborhood and we’d never be able to buy something comparable now), but I guess, I’m looking for reassurance (not shame) that we’ll all still be close, even though we aren’t all physically near each other.
Ladies…. I am looking for a specific resort recommendation for a family of 3 with a 7 YO that is not realistically going to go to kids club. (Yes this is last minute). I want all-inclusive. Top priorities include: quality of food, some activities, especially snorkling, racket sports and beach. Not Club Med, but that price range is acceptable.
Does anyone have experience at Moon Palace Cancun? Food in particular? It has waterslides (yay), but also an arcade (not my fav, esp if kiddo can’t use unaccompanied.)
Direct flight for Western Canada so Caribbean (Bahamas / Barbados etc. can be tricky)/ Mexico preferred for flight options. Generally Jamaica and Dominican have direct flights.
Somebody posted on here about having a sushi bazooka that they like. I want to get one for my kid for Christmas but there are like twenty different versions on Amazon — can you point me in the direction of a non-terrible one? (and yes I realize that none of them likely make high-caliber sushi but my 6yo has pretty low standards)
I mentioned this late yesterday in a comment, but I realized others here might find it helpful or interesting. A few months ago, I came across a news roundup on this site that linked to a Times article about AI for parents. The article mentioned Milo AI (just Google “Join Milo AI”).
The concept is so simple: a little AI bot that handles tasks like adding items to my calendar when I text it, sending me daily and weekly agendas, adding to my to-do list, sending reminders, scheduling text reminders to my husband, and more features I haven’t fully explored yet. I know this might sound like an ad and I wish they paid me but it’s not. Also everything I’ve listed can be done by other programs. The difference is that Milo combines it all into one program and eliminates so much friction for me.
For example, I often mess up calendaring because I’m rushing, or I delay and forget to add something. Now, I just screenshot everything and send it—like school or camp calendars, birthday party invites, school app stuff—and send them to Milo to handle. I have two young kids in elementary school with lots of moving parts, and the daily agenda and text reminders keep everything running. Whether it’s after-school events or remembering to grab a school donation on my way out the door, Milo helps me stay on track.
Before I had a hodgepodge of a systems. I tried to unify them or get my husband on board and proved difficult. My husband is hardly on board with Milo but he almost doesn’t have to be because it just sends him his duties lol. I’m the family admin and I’m fine with that. I just need him to get the information without a lot of hassle and remember to execute.
I’ve been using it for about six months now. At first, I was skeptical, but it’s made a huge difference in managing the chaos. Now, if only it could do the tasks for me, like Christmas shopping!
I believe it’s still in beta, and it took me a few months to get off the waitlist. If you want to skip the line, email me at arcane.smelt0y at icloud.l dot com, and I’ll send you an invite.