(Writer’s Note: I realize this post is a few days late but the past few days, I’ve actually been social rather than watching other people be social on TV.)

Another Monday, another The Hills.

Stephanie and Lauren, do they actually go to FIDM? My guess is, No.

All the restaurants in L.A. look the same to me. Doug (“Lauren’s Friend”) and Lauren are on a lunch date at Creperie where Doug tries to get her to skip out on work and go to the beach. Three seasons ago, Lauren probably would have ditched work for a boy. I think she’s learned her lesson.

At Epic Records Chiara and Audrina almost convince me that are employed. I like Chiara. She’s much better than chick Heidi “works” with.

Kelly Cutrone is baaack and she’s brought her New York crew with her. While I think Kelly is great, she makes me want to crawl in a closet and hide. Whitney is invited to go out to dinner with Kelly and crew. She’s nervous because she’s a newbie but if I know anything about Whitney, I know she’s going to rock it.

Speidi. Ew. Out to dinner. I do have to give props to Heidi for seemly nicely suggesting that they make an appearance at the Stephanie’s party because, after all, she is Spencer’s brother. On another note, why does Spencer continue to call Lauren, LC? That’s so Laguna Beach.

Whitney’s work dinner is held at Simon Restaurant and the red wine is flowing. Whitney, let me tell you, from experience, say no to the red wine. Oh look at her, she’s drinking water. I’m so proud. Jessica, the L.A. publicist always looks pissed. Probably because she’s bad at her job and people are starting to notice. It’s all over when she starts crossing Kelly about working with stylists. “It’s my company” – Kelly Cutrone. You better watch out, Jessica.

I’m drained my Stephanie’s birthday party. Lo is as fake as Stephanie’s tan and it’s only a few moments before Audrina shows up and doesn’t talk to anyone and a few more until Speidi crashes the party. Yes, Brody!

Lo and Audria: AWKWARD!
Specner and Heidi: ANNOYING!
Everyone leaving because Speidi is there: SO HIGH SCHOOL.

“Seriously, let’s go” – Lo

Kelly Cutrone is yelling at her assistant on the phone. We must be back at Peopel’s Revolution. She’s telling the assistant to try living her life for one day and see what it’s like. Ok, I understand if you’re an owner of a place like People’s Revolution, you’re a busy Working Girl. But, Kelly might be underestimating how much work an assistant actually does. She hangs up the phone and calls for Whitney.

Whitney, where is your notebook? Always bring a notebook. Finally, Kelly fired Jessica. It’s about time, Kel. And, drum-roll please, Kelly is offering Whitney Jessica’s job. Yes! Bi coastal lifestyle, sounds draining. Kelly’s advice: “I wouldn’t make any plans for the next couple of months.”

Congrats Whitney!

To hold you over till next week, here are my favorite Spencer quotes of the night:

“It’s like telling Iran and Israel to get along”
(Because the LC/Spencer feud is as important as the Middle East)
“I cant’ make you un-my sister”

We all know that I am a big fan of complaining. That and gossip are probably two of the things I love most about work. Sad? Probably. But as much as I might complain about all the tedious tasks I have to do and putting up with my clueless boss, I am a hard worker.

Hard to believe, I’m sure. But I’m not someone who talks back to my superiors. I do what I’m told to when I’m told to. I come in early and I stay late. I usually eat my meals at my desk. And this summer I have been working myself extra hard. We have had event upon event to plan and I haven’t had a rest (proven by the fact that I made myself sick last week!). 

It’s always nice to have your hard work acknowledged. But sometimes a nice thank you e-mail just doesn’t cut it. At our company, we have a way of giving due credit where it is deserved and that is with the Employee of the Month award (and no, I do not work at a fast-food restaurant or star in a movie with Dane Cook). 

As I have mentioned before, my company slightly resembles NBC’s The Office. And when I say slightly, I mean completely. Let’s just say Dwight, Meredith, and Angela are all employed where I work. Point being, our Employee of the Month award is like a Dundie. It is given out once a month at our Family Meetings. Yep, I just put family and meeting in the same sentence. So at these Family Meetings, The CEO gets up and talks about how great our company is, how we’re doing so well during this recession, announces the new hires, the anniversaries, and gives out a gift certificate to the hardest worker. Barf. I know. I hate these meetings (although they do get me out of an hour of work). 

This month, I won that award. And The CEO said some nice things about me. The office clapped. And I left the office smiling. It is deeply gratifying being told that all that hard work you do means something to someone (especially to the head honcho). All those thankless days and nights you spend toiling in front of a computer screen or all those nights you stayed late for events are finally being noticed. It feels great. It’s a top of the world feeling.

And I can’t help but feeling like doing a jig in a shower of champagne (preferably pink champagne). Thank you to all the little people who helped me get here…oh, wait, I am the little person! Ok, so instead here’s a big thank you to my bosses for seeing that I am putting in the extra effort.

And my prize for working my little ass off? A gift certificate to a spa. Ahhh. 80-minute massage here I come.

I’m lucky. I have a job that I like (most of the time) and am a mere week from moving into Manhattan. My parents have given me more than I could ever ask for. At this time in my life, I’m the most grateful for graduating debt free, meaning I didn’t have to pay off any loans thanks to my parents and other family members. However, the buck stops there. And, as frustrating as that can be sometimes, I also very thankful for that.

My parents taught me from a young age how to manage and budget my money. They showed me that my purchases are more meaningful when I’ve earned them. I got my first mother’s helper job when I was 11 and I remember saving for an outfit from Limited 2. I also remember how gawd-awful it was (think black and white plaid pants, short-sleeved white turtleneck and short-sleeved black corduroy jacket). It was the first thing I bought with my own hard-earned money and I loved it.

Throughout high school I worked at a book shop and in college I babysat at least three times a week. I paid for my books and any meals that weren’t on my meal plan. I paid for my spring break trips and all beer I drank over those four years. Sometimes, all I wanted was to have my parents credit card to charge a trip to the grocery store or to buy a new pair of jeans. But I didn’t. My move to Hoboken was the same. I received little housewarming gifts from my parents but I paid my security deposit, broker’s fee and rent for the 12 months I lived in that first apartment.

I recently read this article in Newsweek. Twentysomething Melody discusses her financial independence from her parents and how many of her peers are not following suit. Her friends in Manhattan and in cities across the country are still, a year or more after graduation, living off of their parents. Melody is living on her own in a city where twentysomethings are forking over more than the recommeneded 30% of their income on rent, buying new clothes, $81 MetroCards each month and expensive groceries. While her friends have Mom and Dad footing the bill.

I agree with Melody that having their parents paying rent and for other living expenses is hindering her friends financially. They aren’t learning the value of money or building the credit they will need later in life.

While being financially independent is stressful and usually puts me in the poor house, I’m happy that I am. There is a great sense of freedom that comes along with is and no shopping spree or free apartment could change that.

My new roommate Natalie is a party animal. 

At work, I have a few nicknames. Most have been given to me by my gay, pushing 45-year-old, Cuban bff. To be quite honest, none of them make any sense. My bff is one of those laugh at his own jokes kinda guy. But I love him anyway. But I digress. My other office-wide nickname is the Queen of Target. And no, I’m so not joking. On a daily basis it is guaranteed that something I’m wearing from the retail chain. 

So good golly Miss Molly am I excited for the news I am about to type out here. Target is opening a chain of “bullseye bodegas” in New York City! How awesomely stellar is that?!? Apparently Target’s numbers are down this year (sidenote: recessions are one of my irrational fears), so they are really pushing their diffusion lines. Translation: diffusion lines are those special lines done by hot designers like Botkier, Alice Temperley, and Jovovich-Hawk. Which means Target is going to be coming out with a lot of new lines for me to drool over. 

An apparel line by Jonathan Saunders, a new handbag line by Anya Hindmarch, and a shoe collection by Sigerson Morrison. What I’m really looking forward to? The new Richard Chai line. I love the bold colors for fall (dark purples and blues! woohoo!) and of course I love how Working Girl friendly the whole line is. 

Fellow NYC Working Girls, the bodegas will open in September in midtown, Union Square, Soho and the East Village.

After a long day of travel, I have arrived safely on the west coast. A very rainy and cold part of the west coast. The magazine is hosting an in-store event for one of our advertisers tonight and I’m in charge.

When I arrived last night, I met with the store manager and talent for the event to have a site inspection. A site inspection is just a fancy way of saying “checking out the venue.” I was nervous. The store manager is in her late 30′s and so is the talent. I’m 23. They didn’t know my age, obviously. But they discovered that I was young and not exactly uber experienced when it was time for the business card exchange. I don’t have any. Assistants don’t get them, which I can understand. Assistants usually aren’t jet-setting across the country to manage events. But I am and I’d like business cards, thankyouverymuch.

The event isn’t until 6:30 tonight, so I have the day to kill. And by kill, I mean I have to sit in a coffee shop for the next two hours and actually do my work for the day and make-up for the work I missed yesterday. I stayed up until after midnight New York time last night on my laptop sending e-mails, organizing excel sheets and booking travel for my boss.

Sitting in this coffee shop, I’ve been more productive over that past two hours than I think I have ever been on any given day at work. There is something about being in your weekend clothes, sipping coffee and listening French pop songs that make me work better. It probably also helps that I didn’t have a ringing phone next to me or sales reps popping by my desk to ask me questions (that they should already know the answers to).

I’m off to go find some lunch. Confession: I’ve never gone to a restaurant and eaten by myself. Thank god I have an unread issue of People. I’ll update later about how the event went.

Yesterday morning I woke up with a raging headache and a throbbing sore throat. So I took a sick day and skipped work (except I didn’t really skip work since I kept refreshing Outlook on my laptop to make sure I wasn’t missing anything).

Needless to say I think my sudden bout of sickness is from my recent case of running-myself-ragged-from-the-crazy-amount-of-work-I’ve-been-doing-and-that-little-thing-called-moving-plus-all-that-jetlag-from-all-that-jet-setting syndrome.

I have this problem of pushing myself so hard for multiple weeks at a time that all of a sudden my body just crashes. I did this in college once – commuting twice a week in and out of the city for my internship, balancing three classes on top of that, and editing the school newspaper late into the night…not to mention my nights of binge drinking – all led me to crash myself straight into the hospital with some mysterious stomach pains that were never really identified.

So to avoid doing that to myself again, I didn’t push myself to go to work yesterday. Instead, I took the day off to answer my important e-mails from my couch while watching reruns of Beverly Hills 90210 (gotta catch up before the new 90 starts in a few weeks!) and drinking what felt like gallons of water and ginger ale.

Unfortunately, I only feel a tiny bit better today and I also have the unfortunate luck of having a work event to work/plan tonight. In other words, it’s going to to be a long night of schoomzing clients and refilling trays of crudite and antipasto.

I am just so over being sick. Normally, I love getting sick. I know, it’s kinda weird. But it’s like a free ‘get out of jail’ free card. No work and an excuse to sit on the couch or lay in bed all day. That is so right up my alley.

But today I just want to be healthy. I want to not have a fever. I want my throat to stop aching. I want food to taste good again. And I would love it if my eyes weren’t permanently half-shut. That way I could make this party that best party it can be.

Instead, I am so over it.

When we last left the girls of The Hills, Whitney and Lauren were working at People’s Revolution in LA and Heidi ditched her boss in Vegas for Specner. This season there is bound to be drama. Hopefully some of it will be work related.

Secne 3, Epic Records. Good to know all the girls are still employed. I take that back, where is Lo working these days? Was she ever working? “Lo’s always been super bitchy, that’s just how she is.” – Audrina. Perhaps her job is to be a bitch?

“It’s my middle name” – Spencer.

Seeing Doug makes me miss Brody. We need Brody back. But I’ll give the guy a chance.