Amen. I read a really annoying post on Slate from a “never-Trump” Republican in a swing state who voted for a write-in candidate. She said she was horrified at the outcome but had no regrets voting her conscience. No. Just no. If you don’t want an outcome, do the thing that will make it more likely that the bad…

I really like Kristin Scott Thomas, but for some reason she just wasn’t right in The English Patient, or perhaps the screenwriters/directors did a bad job. There was supposed to be such a grand passion between her and Ralph Fiennes, but I just didn’t see it. I’m not sure who would’ve been better, though

Kind bars and trail mix are my go to’s for when I travel or get the 4 PM hangrys at work. If I feel like a splurge sometimes I get beef jerky. I also keep a jar of peanut butter at work - perhaps you can get some individual single size packets of that too.

I’m glad you’re feeling better. Thanks for the heads up - I’m the person who was looking for the fragrance free shampoo. I’ll check out the Ampure.

me too. nothing major, it just seemed to make them more chapped than they were without anything

That is good to know - I’m also in that odd in between zone. Talbots sells 14W which is sort of the same thing.

This. Everyone still needs to buy clothes. Retailers are in the business of making money and what they stock should reflect that. Of course, they’ll point to studies that say larger women spend less on clothes, but it’s a chicken and an egg thing. If my local Ann Taylor won’t stock size XL I can’t buy their clothes,…

I’m all in favor of more stores doing this, but don’t some places already do this? I’ve seen it in the Target workout clothes section, Old Navy, and some outlet stores.

This. I’m sick of sizing creep and inconsistent sizing. Put all the sizes on the same rack and let me dig through to find the one that will fit. I don’t really give a shit about whether a shirt says 14 or 16, as long as it fits. Sadly, since I’m in the 14/16 range, this means a lot of times I get caught in the odd…

I remember seeing some of my mom’s size 12 and 14 dresses from the late 50's-60's and they weren’t that big. Same with her patterns. Even in the 80's sizes had shifted a lot, though. They’ve crept a bit more since then, esp. in the hips. Still, it’s really inconsistent. I’ve got some size L coats from the early 90's…

I’ve been bouncing around between size 12-16 since the late 80's. Sizes have shifted since the 40's - you can look at old dressmaking patterns if you’re interested. It’s been a slow process, though. there hasn’t been a drastic shift in the size 14 region since the 80's. I feel like an 80's size 14 is now a 12 or 10,…

My local Ann Taylor loft did a combination of not keeping them on the floor and not ordering nearly enough, so they’d have 5 XS and no L or XL’s for each item on the floor. It ws really pissing me off. They recently hired some salespeople who probably wear M or L, and the L’s and XL’s magically started being put out…

I recently found out that I’m allergic to a lot of fragrance ingredients, and probably have been for most of my life. My face has been fine for 12 years because of Paula’s Choice, but my poor scalp and armpits have been getting worse and worse. 10 days on fragrance free shampoos and I feel so much better. Now I see…

I puttered around the house, went swimming, then worked on a research proposal for a few hours. Then I went grocery shopping. Now I’m drinking a beer and gearing up for the ‘brain dump’ section of the proposal.

I second the Paula’s Choice recommendation. I had lots of acne from 20-35 and then tried PC. My breakouts stopped and haven’t come back in 12 years.

Yay! I love looking at people’s rings! here’s mine

I’m a huge introvert, so what helps me is don’t think of it as networking, think of getting to know people in your field. Most people are happy to talk about their education and career path and hear about yours, especially if it’s in a conference setting. You sound like you are at the stage where you want to make…

Congratulations, and welcome to the sapphire engagement ring club!

During certain times of the year, you can get a license and catch abalone in Northern CA. There are rules about how many, how big, etc. You’re not allowed to use scuba equipment, so you have to free dive. He was a dive instructor in his spare time and used to do a class/trip combo every year. He’d do a one or two hour…

I can’t beleive no one has posted this yet but