But I Am Le Tired

by Working Girl One

Has this summer gone by faster than any summer ever before, or is it just me?

I feel like I'm traveling every other weekend and the weekends I home are spent catching up on errands and life. All of this is making me one tired Working Girl.

Last week, I overslept three times and was late to work twice. I've been passing out on the train and drinking grande iced coffees like it's my job. Somehow, I'm still exhausted.

Every morning, I wake up with intentions of getting home from work, going to the gym, cooking dinner, paying bills, reading, blogging...the list goes on. And every night, when I get home, I usually throw my purse done, grab a spoonful of peanut butter and park on the couch until I realize I should probably make something reasonable for dinner.

I see people I work with, my friends and bloggers I'm obsessed with work full time, keep an active social life and have time to dedicate to a hobby on the side and all I do I wonder how they do it. How do you all do it?

I'm guessing you (and they) probably don't do it by staying up past midnight to watch the Real Housewives of New York reunion and Watch What Happens Live, like I am right now.

What's In Your Closet?

by Lawyer Working Girl

Hey Working Girls guess what? Spring is here! Do you feel it yet? I have definitely gotten a case of spring fever! Are the days getting warmer where you live? By the way, real big sorry to those of you still getting snow this time of year - eek!

This change in weather sometimes makes picking out what to wear to work difficult. And since I walk to work I have to pay particularly close attention to the weather. Some days I want to wear a skirt or a dress, but it's not quite cold enough for tights and not quite warm enough for bare legs. Other days, it will be warm during the day and borderline cold in the evenings on my walk home, so I have to be sure to carry a jacket or coat. I long for the summer where I just have to deal with warm days and warm nights.

There is one thing though that keeps running through my mind each morning as I'm looking through my closet and trying to decide what to wear: it's time to go shopping. I feel like it's time for a brand new work wardrobe.

Some of my shirts are too small and some pants are too tight. I've got so many suits that I used to wear to court everyday that I don't even wear anymore. At my current job, I never wear suits to work. In fact, I don't think I've had a reason to wear a suit in almost 2 years! Also, I sometimes feel like I'm wearing the same things over and over again. It is definitely time for some new clothes!

As I sit down to make my list of must have pieces (cardigan, button down shirt, light gray pants, etc.), I would love your help Working Girls in figuring out some essential pieces for a new spring/summer work wardrobe. Also what are some fun colors that you plan to incorporate into your work wardrobe for the spring and summer?

(Photo)

TGISF: Thank God Its (Summer) Friday

I am so looking forward to work tomorrow for two reasons. One: tomorrow is Friday. Two: half the office will be out for a summer Friday.

I love summer Fridays. Even when I don't have the day off. Earlier this month I took my summer Fridays and it was fantastic to have a day off to sleep-in, get things done and enjoy my day. But when I'm in the office and most of the office is out enjoying their days off, I have time to get stuff done. There are less emails, less phone calls and less people popping up at my desk.

This week has been a little crazy. It was supposed to be my week to work on all the little events we have coming. I ended up spending most of my week working on our big event. Tomorrow will be my day to get organized and take some time so focus on the things on my to-do list that have been ignored.

Unless I totally jinxed myself by writing this post. I really hope not.

On that note, I'm going to bed and praying for a productive, uninterrupted day.

Summer Job Files: Sitting on Babies

In honor of the summer, each week we take turns to recount a summer job we had back in the day. [Editor's Note: Back in the day refers to when we were in school...sigh...college].

Two weeks ago, I told you all about my summer of overachievement. The summer when I worked not one, not two, but three jobs to support my drinking career in college. So in addition to being a camp counselor, hostessing at a restaurant, I also baby-sat.

The great thing about being a counselor was not only the camaraderie of hanging out with other counselors or being able to be outside all day, but also that you got to meet a lot of kids. These kids who are with you day after day begin to feel attached and then all of a sudden their parents are asking you to baby-sit. I got a lot of sweet, high-paying baby-sitting gigs out of my camp counselor days.

One of my favorite kids to baby-sit was by far a six-year old boy named Grant. Since the camp that I worked for (and Grant attended) only lasted until the first week of August, the two of us both had time to kill until we both went back to school. Grant's mother didn't work, but hired me anyway because Grant "loved" me and because she wanted "alone time" during the day to work out with her trainer, go shopping, etc. so for a good portion of August I baby-sat Grant while his brother attended a circus camp (and no, I'm not joking - I once had to pick him up and they were getting clown lessons...so creepy).

And it was great for the most part. Grant's mother liked to keep him out of the house (probably so he could destroy less things), so she would often pile $100 into my open palms and tell me to take Grant to a movie (the first and last time I saw Spy Kids), go mini-golfing, or go paint pottery. We were hardly ever in his house.

I'm sure there as an ulterior motive to this, and later in the summer I think I figured out why. See, when Grant, who was quite rotund, was out of the house he had less opportunities to steal snacks from the cupboard. The only reason they even had fattening food like Oreos or pizza in the house was because Grant's older brother was stick thin and unlike Grant he barely ate at all. One night when I was asked to baby-sit, Grant found the hidden cupboard of snack foods in the house which I was explicitly told not to let him eat.

We had been watching a movie on TV and he had announced that he was going to the bathroom. 10 minutes pass and I realize I'm watching this children's movie all by my lonesome, so I go to look for Grant and find him in the kitchen on top of a counter smashing Oreos into his mouth like it's the end of the world. He spotted me and immediately booked it, running into the closest bathroom and locking himself inside with a sleeve full of Oreos and refused to come out until he had eaten every last one.

Grant wasn't my only baby-sitting escapade that summer - I also had the honor of baby-sitting for a little girl named Gabrielle, who was probably the most annoying little girl I had ever met. But money won me over and I ended up using my days off from Grant to baby-sit for Gabrielle. Since she wasn't allowed to watch TV (which is seriously the worst thing ever for baby-sitters - seriously, moms let them watch TV with us!), I would suggest we go for drives...and then I would do errands. Wow, I just realized how horrible this makes me sound. But in my defense, usually we'd end up at Target or CVS and we'd play in the toy aisle or we'd pick out outfits that we thought looked cute on her. Does that make me sound any less horrific?

My baby-sitting adventures were interesting that summer - I think I ended up baby-sitting for at least 4 families that I met through camp. Overall, it was a great way to make some extra cash, and I continued to baby-sit for multiple families while in college.

Summer Job Files: Hostess with the Mostess

In honor of the summer, each week we take turns to recount a summer job we had back in the day. [Editor's Note: Back in the day refers to when we were in school...sigh...college].

The summer before my sophomore year of college I wasn't satisfied with having just one job. I already wrote about my days as a camp counselor, but what I failed to mention was that one of those summers I had not one, but three jobs. Yea, I was an overachiever (if by overachiever you mean I really needed money to buy alcohol and outfits to wear while drinking alcohol).

One of those 3 jobs was working as a hostess at the restaurant Mirabelle at Ravinia Festival. Quick background: Ravinia is an outdoor music pavilion that is only open during the summer and is super, super popular in Chicago. People trek out to the burbs to see acts here because not only can you sit on the lawn, eat a little picnic and listen to music, but Ravinia also gets sick music acts (like this year Carrie Underwood is coming!). In addition to the lawn seats, there is also an actual stage with stadium seating available, so people who come to actually view the musical acts usually want to go somewhere to have a sit down dinner and Mirabelle is usually where they end up (since at the time it was the only sit down restaurant in the park).

It was a perfect gig for me because I worked in the mornings at camp and then would go home, change into my uniform, and drive my ass to my next job. So ultimately I ended up working a 6 hour shift at camp, get a little break, and then work a 8 or 9 hour shift as a hostess.

I had great expectations for this job. I had always wanted to work in a restaurant - I think mainly because on TV it was always the job of some teenage character. So I thought I would be making lots of friends, possibly meeting a boy who I could have some summer fling with, and I got nada of that.

Most of the kids that worked at Mirabelle were a lot older than me - almost all the servers were over 21 so they could serve alcohol which means they were seniors in college or in grad school (some were even in law school or medical school), so they really didn't want to hang out with my 18-year-old self (and because I was underage I was rarely invited to parties or to hang out after work). I also didn't realize that in the food chain of restaurants, or at least the one I worked at, hostesses were pretty low on the totem pole. So I ended up being friends strictly with the other hostesses. But we really weren't that close, especially when I realized they were all brownosers because they wanted to be promoted to waitressing.

Also, I didn't realize being a hostess is hard work. Since we had a bigger outdoor seating area than indoor, when it rained people got wet. And then they complained. But on really busy nights we had no choice but to let them sit in the rain and deal with it. Most people had no qualms about screaming at me about where they sat. Not only do we have to deal with unruly customers, but when there aren't enough busboys, guess who gets to help out? And sometimes the other concession stands would need us step in and assist, which means that summer I also worked as an ice cream scooper, coffee maker, and helped hand out greasy food.

Customers also didn't mind screaming about their food, their waiter/waitress, or really about anything...to people they think are in charge. Us hostesses got the brunt of all the problems. We also got no tips, but sometimes they let us take leftover food from the buffet table home (yay?).

The really only up side to this job was that I got to listen to a lot of musical acts for free. During that summer, I saw the Beach Boys, Aretha Franklin, Norah Jones, and Tony Bennett (and others but I can't remember any).

Since then I've never worked in a restaurant again. Though I do really appreciate my servers now whenever I eat out!

Happy Fourth of July!

We hope you WG's have the day off to celebrate the 4th of July early!

(This is the first time WG2 has had a day off for the 4th of July so she is ecstatic to be poolside today and WG1 is currently on the beach enjoying the Jersey sunshine with her fam.)

We love having days off to celebrate being American! Yay!

Summer Job Files: Camp Counselor

In honor of the summer, we have rolled out a new weekly feature. Each week we will take turns to recount a summer job we had back in the day. [Editor's Note: Back in the day refers to when we were in school...sigh...college].

By far the best summer job I have ever had were those two summers I was a camp counselor at a sports day camp.

After being a librarian, I decided that my summer jobs would have a few requirements - which mainly included sun and people my age to work with. So the summer before I headed off to college, my friend May and I decided to get camp cousnelor jobs (it also made sense because at the time I thought I wanted to be a teacher - so to me camp counselor = future teacher).

We ended up both getting jobs at our own former sports camp that we had both attended as youngsters and had loved. I had attended when I was around 11 and kept going until I turned 13 and therefore got to particpate in games like Capture the Flag (which we played in a "forest" by a busy street and somehow always gave someone poison ivy), kickball, and dodgeball. In other words, this wasn't your traditional sports camp. The term "sports" was used loosely.

Since we were so mature and responsible (aka girls who couldn't deal with punk 13-year-old boys), we were placed on "baby duty" aka the five and six-year-olds who played absolutely no sports. And let me tell you - not playing sports with these munchkins all day was the best summer job ever.

Every day, the little ones would show up around 8AM and they'd play on the playground for an hour while the counselors all gathered around to talk about last night's shenanigans (aka going to T.G.I. Friday's and then DQ for dessert - I was such a rebel!). Then we'd play games with them like Red Rover, Duck Duck Goose, or a Hot Potato. We'd then retreat indoors for computer class where they would play cheesy computer games and the counselors would play Hangman on the chalkboard. Then we'd go outside for lunch, go back inside for art class, back outside for a snack, and then stay outdoors playing on the playground again and in the afternoon we'd usually play a rousing game of Capture the Flag where the counselors would get wayyyyyyyyy too into it.

There were a few things I particularly loved about this camp. First being the other counselors - we all became buddy-buddy by the end of summer to the point where one of them even took my sister to Prom. They were some of the best co-workers I have ever had.

I also got more excited than the kids for day trips. About 6 times over the summer we'd go off-site with the kids to play mini-golf, go to a water park, etc. And some of the best stories I have from camp are from these days (which would make me seem like I hate children so I will refrain from telling them).

And last but not least, my three favorite campers aka the triplets. The triplets were comprised of two little girls and a monster/devil child with extreme ADD who liked to make my life a living hell. So if we're being honest, I really only liked the two girls Kate & Belle and sometimes we'd call them the twins because their brother never even played or went near them all day. They were seriously the most precious little girls who liked to sit in your lap and play with your hair and they loved to be picked up and swung around (to preface, they were only four when they started at camp). And I most definitely played favorites with those two. They were just too cute!

My summers as a camp counselor came to end when I decided to stay at college my sophomore year to work as a tour guide. But I'll always remember those summers as some of the best times - playing with the kids, being in the sun, and generally having a grand ole time.

Summer Nights In Front of the TV

We all know that summer nights are meant for happy hours on verandas, decks, porches (really anywhere outside), playing in summer sport leagues, and generally enjoying the fact that it's not snowing or below 40 degrees. But sometimes you just can't drink one more Bud Light Lime or attend one more happy hour function or your liver will fail.

In the event that this occurs, I have put together a little list of TV shows that are debuting this summer that I think we should watch out for since they feature some strong Working Girl characters.

Hung
Sundays @ 10PM on HBO

Granted, the main character of this show is a male, but hear me out on this one. The show centers around how Ray (Thomas Jane), a man down on his luck, decides to earn extra cash by using his special gift aka his large penis (eek - just writing that makes me laugh - hi, I'm a 7-year-old). What intrigues me about this show is that he picks up a female pimp, Tonya, who is a poet also down on her luck. I think this show will not only be seriously interesting just because of the topic, but I can't wait to see if Tonya is gonna turn into a kick-ass WG (despite it not being the best of professions).


Blonde Charity Mafia
Tuesdays @ 9PM on The CW

This reality show is marketed to be The Hills but for the Washington DC socialites and follows the lives of the most influential 20-something girls on the social circuit. For me this seems to be a no-brainer (as in I can shut off my brain and watch). Plus since I, as a Working Girl, have recently begun networking by getting involved in charity boards and the like, hope this show is less about the drama and more about the events (I love picking up tips!). Yea, I'm sure I'll be disappointed but it's worth a try.

Hawthorne
Tuesdays @ 9PM on TNT

Jada Pinkett Smith has scored one of TNT's complex female character shows (think: The Closer and Saving Grace). She plays Christina Hawthorne who is the Chief Nursing Officer heading up the nursing divison and widowed working mother to a teenager. I've heard bad reviews of this show so far and to be honest it sounds kinda boring, but I think it's worth checking out for the eye candy that is Michael Vartan who I have loved since Never Been Kissed.

Nurse Jackie
Mondays @ 10PM on Showtime

The reviews I've read of this show do not paint veteran nurse Jackie Peyton (Edie Falco) as a super strong Working Girl. I'm guessing taking too many pain meds and cheating on your hubby makes her a little less than perfect, but it is said that as a nurse she's kind and really cares about her patients. In other words, she cares about her work and the complexity of her character makes me want to order Showtime stat.

The Summer Job Files

In honor of the summer, we have rolled out a new weekly feature. Each week we will take turns to recount a summer job we had back in the day. [Editor's Note: Back in the day refers to when we were in school...sigh...college].

My first ever summer job was as a librarian.

Yes, you heard right. A librarian. And I wasn't a sexy one.

This job started as a after school job in the winter (or spring I can't remember) so I could earn some extra cash - let's just say I had a very expensive obsession with music of the pop persuasion - cough Hanson cough - and this was during the time when buying tapes/CD's and singles was still heard of.
I remember seeing that my local library needed some part-time help and my mom really pushed me to apply for the job because to my parent's dismay I didn't continue playing basketball in high school so during the winter/spring months I didn't have much to do after school except homework and watch Boy Meets World.

I don't think I even had to interview, they just hired me right off the bat. Another girl from the public school was also hired around the same time as me and let's just say she didn't care what she looked like (to the point where I don't think she showered). Add in a bunch of older women and kooky older man who wore some sick nasty sweater vests, and you have my co-workers.

To say that I was miserable is putting it lightly. At first the job was fine - I would come after school and work for two hours in my school uniform (sexy...or not). They would have me put books away on all 3 floors and then I would come back downstairs and they would have me work on various projects. But unfortunately since I grew up in a small town with a small library, there wasn't much for me to do - especially because there were two of us girls working there everyday after school.

Eventually I got tired of these "projects" (and for the life of me can't remember what any of these duties included - making flyers I guess?). So I would just take longer and longerrrrr to put away all the books that had come back from being checked out.

And towards the end of my career as a librarian, I would go upstairs and put away books for about a half hour and then just stay up there and read until I could leave. I got through Priscilla Presley's entire memoir before my co-workers figured out that I wasn't doing much work anymore.

One day, I overheard them talking about how they didn't understand what I was doing upstairs the whole time I was at work - 'was I just slow?' And then they said that they wished I was more like the other girl who I worked with (and I threw up in my mouth that I was considered a worse employee than someone who didn't shower).

I realized that my sweet $6.50 an hour job was coming to an end. Meaning: they were probably going to fire me. So I quit and told them I might be able to come back after volleyball camp was over mid-summer. Not that they missed me.

And I scratched librarian off my "What I Want to Be When I Grow Up" list and no longer did my after-school/summer jobs involve being inside the whole day.

Summer Friday Envy

Summer Fridays. Have you all heard of this glorious invention? It's when a company lets their employees leave early on Friday afternoons during the summer (Memorial Day to Labor Day typically). Some companies even let their employees pick a number of Fridays that they can just take off. And these are in addition to the other days you get off throughout the year.

When I moved to Chicago this past year, I had no idea this was an East Coast idea. Yep, my company doesn't support the Summer Friday cause. Apparently I will be chained to my desk until 5PM every summer Friday evening.

Granted, even when I lived in NYC I didn't have Summer Fridays. But sometimes I could ditch my desk a little earlier (say 3:30 or 4PM) to catch a train out to the Shore. Sidenote: can I just say I already have Shore envy?! I miss my house like crazy.

And now that I live in the Midwest, I can kiss the idea of ever having the luxury of getting out at 2PM or 3PM the weekend before a holiday or just taking a Friday off for no other reason than that it's summer and I want to get to Manasquan before nightfall.

Not that I have anywhere to go. Some people go to Michigan or Wisconsin. But I will probably spend most of my summer at my dad's pool. I can't decide if I love that idea or loathe it. I also realized fairly quickly that people who live in Chicago stay in Chicago during the summer - because I mean when else do you get this nice weather? Never. That's when.

So as my friends pack up their desks early and retreat to the Shore, or the Hamptons, or the Cape - I'll be here.

I have a case of hardcore Summer Friday envy.