As 2008 comes to a close, we at Working Girl have been doing a lot of self-examination. Which in more simpler and less philosophical terms means we each went through our archives and picked out our favorite posts of 2008. Read below to find out which were our favorites of our first year of blogging.

Last night’s premiere of The City had exactly one redeeming quality: the choice of music during the DVF fashion was Lady Gaga. I’m going through a huge Lady Gaga obsession right now so any show playing her can’t totally suck.

The Cast
Whitney: The California girl that we loved to loved on The Hills.
Erin: The friend/temporary roommate.
Olivia: The frienemy.

Jay: The Australian Love interest whom I hereby dub the Justin Bobby of The City.
Adam: Jay’s roommate.

Whitney’s introduction to her new job is typical New York: Here are some people. Here is your desk. Good luck. Her introduction to Olivia is typical reality TV. “Who are you?” Olivia asks. Oh, like you don’t know who she is, Olivia! The question is, who are you? Other than a “social.”

Next, we met Erin. Whitney is crashing with Erin until she finds a place of her own. I’m dying to know what Erin does because that apartment is sick nasty. “That’s so New York,” Erin says of dinner parties. It so is.

Ah, the token love interest.Whitney met Justin Bobby Jay at Nero in the West Village. He’s Australian. While I love the accent I think he’s a cheese ball. “Can I sing to you tonight?” Case in point.

The post-date, pre-work roomie breakfast chat just doesn’t happen in real life, as far as I know. I’m lucky if I have time to shower before, let alone make breakfast and gab with my roomies about my night. But maybe I should try it. It probably doesn’t take long to recap a night of eating potato chips and watching Jon and Kate Plus 8.

At the DVF fashion show after party Whitney’s boss told her that she think Whitney will do a great job at DVF. If only she were really employed there. Olivia immediately notices the convo, swoops in and asks Whitney to come to her dinner party (avec Jay). Something tells me Olivia’s Mommy nanny told her to keep her friends closer and her enemies closer.

Since Jay doesn’t want to go to the dinner because he doesn’t think Olivia is genuine. So she brings Erin. Now, I don’t die with “socials” often but I’m pretty sure it isn’t polite to bring an unexpected guest. Make that guests because Jay did in fact show up. Only with whisk Whitney (and Erin) away from the “socials.” He’s probably going to go sing to them.

What we know (based on body language along):
Erin does not like Olivia.
Olivia does not like anyone, except maybe Jay.
Jay likes anything with boobs.

Favorite quotes:
“I hate a dead handshake.” – Olivia
Oh, girl. So do I.

“There is no polite way to get out of a taxi.” – Erin
Fact. 

(Editor’s note: MTV aired two episodes of The City last night. The second episode’s recap will be posted later this week/weekend).

Image [MTV.com]

Apparently I started my new job smack dab in the middle of busy season. As the Project Coordinator, I have two large events each year that I have ownership of. One is in January and the other is in February. 

Merry Christmas Working Girls! Have a happy and healthy holiday!

Love, WG1 and WG2

This conversation with WG2 pretty much sums up how bad at am at being a responsible grown-up:

Thursday, December 18th
Approximately 3:30PM

WG1: i decided that i need a life makeover
slash real one

WG2: ok
what does this involve?

WG1: i’ll make a list:
1. i need to go to the doctor (i haven’t been since college)
2. i need to go to the gyno (same)
3. i need to go to the dermatologist (my skin is a nightmare lately)
4. i need to go to the dentist (haven’t been since college)

WG2: WORKING GIRL ONE!
what the FUCK

WG1: 5. once i do all these things, i need to keep up with them and go when i’m supposed to
(I KNOW!)

WG2: you haven’t been to any doctors in 2 years?!?!

WG1: right

WG2: you are usually really responsible

WG1: my insurance is switching on jan 1, so once that happens i’ll find a doc and go from there
i know, i think i have a thing about drs

WG2: um yea that is not good
now i’m all worried about you
get the fuck checked out

I know! I know! Believe me, I know! For the past few weeks have had a minor toothache on my lower molars. I told myself that after the holidays I would go to the dentist for a check up. I just thought the pain was my wisdom teeth coming in. Yes, I have no gotten my wisdom teeth out yet. But you’re not surprised by that, right?

The pain would come and go and it was never really that painful. Until last night. The pain started and just would not stop. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t read. I couldn’t watch TV. I couldn’t focus at all. It was beyond painful. I’m visiting my mom, so at 4AM, when I could no longer take the pain, I woke her up. She gave me some pain medication, told me to put a heating pad on my cheek and said she’d call her dentist in the morning.

At 11AM this morning, I walked into the dentist’s office and said “Hi, I’m Working Girl One, my mom called this morning…”. I felt like a kid. I didn’t have the correct insurance card or information, which made me feel stupid, and I was told that they’d have to bill me. I sat down in the funny looking chair and got an x-ray of the area with pain.

It was not my wisdom teeth. It was a cavity. A monstrous cavity. Practically the size of my entire tooth. The dentist was a older man and the look he gave me made me want to run out of that room and go hug my mommy. But he wasn’t done. He then informed my that the cavity was so large that I’m going to need a root canal! I pretty much started crying right then and there, which I will blame on the lack of sleep. Thankfully, he was nice enough to prescribe me some Vicodin for the pain.

The tears weren’t just due to lack of sleep, I am truly disappointed with myself. I have health and dental insurance so I have no excuse for slacking when it comes to my health. I’m also scared shitless of my upcoming root canal. I have an extremely low tolerance for pain, so it should be interesting. I guess this is what I get for not being a responsible adult and taking care of myself. There is nothing like a good kick in the ass to get it into gear.

Oh, and Working Girls, I beg you not to tell me any horror stories of any root canals you’ve had. They will scare me and probably drive me to just pull the tooth out myself with pliers. But if there is any info you think I need to know, please share. I’m terrified.

So since I just began working at my new job about four weeks ago, I obviously have not accrued any time off, hence I am still working my 8-5. 

And it’s like a ghostland. I don’t remember it being like this last year, but then again I had to travel to get home for Christmas, so I’m assuming I took some time off. Anyway, point being is that I am alone in the office. The phones haven’t been ringing, almost everyone has taken the whole week off to celebrate (and eat cookies and open presents), and I have managed to get a lot of work done. 

Since a lot of my work is getting done and I have less projects to work on, I have taken to spreading my own holiday cheer through diversions on the Internet. So if you, like myself, are holed up in a cubicle wishing that you were drinking eggnog and watching It’s a Wonderful Life on repeat instead, read on because the Christmas cheer is on it’s way. 

Bejeweled – The Holiday Edition 
This took up a good chunk of my afternoon today. I am a big fan of MSN and Yahoo games online, though I don’t usually play them at work but rather on a lazy Sunday morning. But today, I stumbled upon this little gem that is the holiday edition of Bejeweled. Just switch out the jewels for snowmen, Christmas trees, and candy canes! 

We Love Holiday Sweaters
What is Christmas without an ugly sweater party? I fell in love with this website because it is all about being tacky and making your own Mr. Rogers-esque, scratchy woolen sweater. And even if you’re not feeling creative, just window-shopping and seeing other people’s creations is well worth perusing this site. 

Elf Yourself
Buddy the Elf here, what’s your favorite color? I love the movie Elf. I love Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf. So why not insert my head onto an elves’ body? Oh, go on, just go elf yourself. 

Drunk Santa Delivery
I’m not sure where my dad dredged this link up from. My guess is a colleague of a colleague of a colleague sent it to him. But please, just click this link. It’s hilarious in a seriously cheesy way. It’s a game where you have deliver presents for Santa before he gets too drunk to see the numbers on the elevator. Oh, and if you submit your highest score, you are entered to win a Wii! 

So happy clicking and a very merry Christmas from Working Girl!

Meeting Notes is a weekly feature. Here we will dish on tidbits, news, and important things we think you Working Girls should know. So scroll down to hear what we think you should glean from this work week.

• First off, I have to mention that Working Girl was offered our first ever guest post! We were over-the-moon thrilled to be asked by The Invisible Student (one of our loyal and of our few male readers). Since WG1 had a huge event going on, I stepped up to the plate and wrote the post, which was posted a few weeks ago on The Invisible Student’s blog. It’s a good read for any of those who want to know about how WG1 and I met and how we started this sucker of a blog. Plus, The Invisible Student always has some great insight on a lot of topics we write about! So check out his blog!

  

• We suppose this can be construed as either a good thing or a bad thing, but we just found out that Bravo’s The Rachel Zoe Project , which revolves around the life of stylist to the stars Rachel Zoe, was renewed for another drama and fashion-filled second season. If Brad does not come back, I refuse to watch. He is that show.

• Speaking of reality TV, we heard some online gossip revealing that Kelly Cutrone, one of our fave parts of The Hills, is going to be getting her own reality TV show. No idea what network picked it up, but Cutrone herself has described the show as being, “Wizard of Oz meets Stephen King meets ‘Rhoda’.” All we have to say to that is yikes.
• Since entering my new job, I’ve tried to not slack off. But with the holidays coming up and getting all settled after my move, you can probably guess how that is going. While surfing the web, I found this article on work habits that help you get the job done. My favorites include taking breaks, ignoring voicemail, and goofing off. Yea, it got my interest too.

• We have to say that we love this new trend of “celebs” interning. It is a superb idea. Who says that your connections should get you the corner office? Not only is Kanye West planning on interning in London with a fashion design company, but model and heir to the Hearst dynasty, Lydia Hearst is interning at BlackBook. And famous hockey player, Sean Avery, has been interning at Vogue. I’d like a grande low-fat chai tea latte stat. Oh, and can you rap me a verse of Flashing Lights before you go? Kthanks.
• And my favorite link from the week – an article on the 10 worst employees of 2008. These stories are out of this world crazy – like the deputy coroner who stole $325 worth of gift cards from a dead body she examined and the county baliff who forgot to transport a woman back to jail causing her to be without food, water or a toilet for four days. This article will make you feel amazing about your performance at work!

We hope you Working Girls have a great weekend!

It took me two hours to get home from work last night because of a snowstorm.

(Yes, this post will be me whining about the weather. My apologies in advance if I sound over-the-top annoying.)

The first thing people usually say to me after I announce that I just moved back to Chicago after living in New York for a few years is, “Well, you moved just in time for the bad weather.” Thanks everyone, I am aware. Unfortunately, fate didn’t allow me to move when the weather was crisp and light and perfect and instead fate granted me winter.

Chicago winters are notriously horrible. I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, so I have seen my fair share of blizzards, sleet storms, and temperatures so low that school was cancelled. But it’s like I had brainwashed myself about these past occurences. Like they never happened. Because I would often hear people in my old office whine about how they had to go to Chicago for a conference in the middle of winter and how they would never survive. I would fight back. ‘It’s no colder in Chicago than it is in New York,’ I would say and snicker. ‘New Yorkers, they don’t know anything,’ is what I would think to myself.

I take back everything I said (and thought). It’s effing freezing here. And it makes for one hell of a frigid commute in the mornings. So much colder than New York, in fact, that I had to buy a new coat because the ones I had been wearing in NYC did not suffice. Here is my new Patagonia coat. It is ferociously warm and toasty.

I think I have adapted (back) fairly well to the cold and snow. Unless you ask my dad, who would say I have complained way too much for my own good.

There are some things that come back to me. Like the fact that I remembered that I’m a klutz. Many side stories of twisted ankles could be added here, but I will refrain. How did I remember? When my morning commute, which consists of a five-block walk to my bus stop resulted in me falling on my ass. I looked like a fool. But a warm fool.

I also remembered that walking in the snow is an art form. If there is a lack of salt, one must do a shuffle through the snow. Picking up your feet will get you nowhere, so don’t try it.

Also, weather is not a good excuse to be late in the Midwest. Everyone here is used to it. Snow does not deter anyone from getting anywhere. Most of the people in my new office live in the suburbs. And they were all in work yesterday and today. Despite the 6+ inches of snow we got last night.

And the new piece of info I learned during this past snowstorm, do not under any circumstances, take the bus home. I sat on Lake Shore Drive for approx. 45 minutes. Pain in my tush.

Not to mention I have to leave my house earlier to avoid delays…which means waking up earlier. How I loathe the mornings. And commuting.

Whine complete.

It’s hard for me to believe that only two years ago I was a senior in college, drinking studying my way through finals and then making the drive to Jersey to spend four weeks at home during semester break.

This is my second holiday season as a Working Girl. I still haven’t felt like I’ve gotten out of the routine that has been embedded into my system since I was five: start school, fall break, school, Thanksgiving, school, Christmas/semester break, school, winter break, school, spring break, summer and start all over again.

Over the weekend, my boyfriend and I went to Massachusetts for (my first) Hanukkah and to visit his family and friends. I had Friday and Monday off and because the office has been so slow lately, I didn’t feel the need to check in. It felt like a real vacation celebrating a holiday, having home-cooked meals and relaxing. With his brother and cousin home from college, I kind of felt like I was on break too.

My boyfriend, for the past two years, has taken most of his vacation during the month of December for this very reason. He likes to have his own semester break. While I constantly beg him to take some time off in late winter or early spring so we can go someplace tropical (because in my head we can totally afford that), I understand why he likes December vacation so much.

Next week, I’m using three of my vacation days and I’ll be off for the whole week. Some other magazines at my company get the week off for free. Not us, our publisher loves to work. I’ll go home, celebrate Christmas with my family and enjoy a mini-break from work. My own little semester break.

I just wonder if I’ll ever get used to this lifestyle, working five days a week with only 15 vacation days (I’ll go from 10 to 15 days in 2009). Something tells me that I may not.