Stories, news and other important tidbits Working Girls should know. Here are a few things to glean from this work week:

• Do you like cookies? We do! If your company was a cookie, what type of cookie would it be? [CarrotBlog]

• We’ve all eaten lunch at our desks at some point. But has the smell of your coworker’s lunch ever really ticked you off? Fish microwaver, I’m looking at you! There may be some science behind why it makes you mad. [The Kitchn]

• Law & Order, CSI and other crime dramas may be the boosting jobs in the Forensic Science field. Be sure to check out the info graph. [Jezebel]

• Have a career question (or any question for that matter) for us? Ask it here!

Today is a very Happy Monday! This girl gets work from home today. Thanks to Hurricane, er Tropical Storm, Irene the trains from Connecticut to Manhattan are down all day.

I love the idea of working from home. Waking up a little bit later, no commuting, working in my yoga pants from the couch, and having a little more freedom.

Now, could I actually handle working from home? Based on my day so far, I’m not so sure.

This morning, I woke up, showered, and got dressed like any other day. Made some coffee and breakfast, pulled out my laptop, and logged on to Webmail, ready to work. Then I read some blogs, caught up on Twitter and put on last night’s episode of True Blood. Real productive.

Granted, I only had about five emails and it’s hard to get a lot of work done without access to your usual folders, files, etc. The few days I’ve called in sick, I’ve checked emails and responded to a few. Today almost feels like a sick day but I feel slightly guilty for not being more productive.

Perhaps if I really worked from home, with the same network access that I have at the office, I’d be a bit more productive. I’d have no choice, right?

But for now, it’s a beautiful day so I might just take advantage and enjoy it.

Technically, we have nearly an entire month before fall officially begins but as soon as the back to school bells start ringing, I’m ready for it. While I’m no longer a student, September signifies a new year to me much more than January 1st does.

At work, I’ve just come out of a very, very busy season and this fall is also looking to be  SUPER busy. But the next three weeks should be quiet (knock on wood) and I intend to take advantage. Over the course of my busy summer my desk, my desktop, my calendar, my filing cabinets and even the pile of shoes under my desk have become a disaster. So it’s time for this Working Girl to get organized.

I’ve got issues to tab, invoices to file, emails to archive, and shoes to bring home. But that’s not what’s important. What’s important are the cute folders, calendars, paper clips, etc. that I plan on using to get organized. And by plan on using I mean, cute things I wish I could use but don’t have the time and or the money to order them all.

Here are few items that my little heart desires to get myself organized!

Top Row: Container Store Magazine Holders, Johnathan Adler Clips, Erin Condren Planner, Office Depot Paper Clips

Bottom Row: Knock Knock Sticky Notes, Target Folders, Johnathan Adler Magnetic Board, Pencils Via Etsy

Stories, news and other important tidbits Working Girls should know. Here are a few things to glean from this work week:

• What did you look for when you were choosing a college? I looked at location, dorm life, professors in my major, and it didn’t hurt that my college was near a beach (and a major city!). But these days it might be better to pick your college based on which college will get you the top salary after graduation. SmartMoney did a survey of 29 million workers to find out where they went to college and how they’re doing now (for a more detailed explanation of this process – read the article here). Surprisingly the Ivy League schools scored worst, while public schools scored the best. [Huffington Post]
• Are you an entrepreneur? Or want to be one? Then you should be following this list of the 25 most influential female entrepreneurs who tweet. [Forbes Woman]
• We are pumped to check out Rachel Weisz’s new movie “The Whistleblower” based on the experiences of Kathryn Bolkovac, a Nebraska cop who served as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia and outed the U.N. for covering up a sex scandal. Talk about a kick-ass Working Girl! Check out the trailer below.The Whistleblower Trailer

by Working Girl Two

I have many an obsession. And one of those obsessions is with books. Like most 20-something girls (or just girls in general), I love Twilight (and staring inappropriately at Taylor Lautner’s abs), am a big fan of Hunger Games, and I love me some Harry Potter. Seeing as these are the trifecta of books that one can bring up and almost inevitably someone will have read them, when it comes to my coworkers that is a rarity.

The girls that I work with have an obsession with crime novels. Yes, crime novels. There is a group of about 3-4 girls who trade James Patterson like he is a god. And Harlen somebody or other. I would rather prick my eyes with needles than read those books. I get enough crime in my life by watching Law & Order: SVU.

Instead of books, my company’s water cooler culture is TV. More specifically reality TV. All of us – all 10 of us who hang out in the lunch room and chit-chat while eating our Panda Express – love reality TV.

Jersey Shore, Teen Mom, 16 & Pregnant, Intervention, Toddlers & Tiaras, The Challenge, The Bachelor, Bachelor Pad (yes, even Bachelor Pad). We watch it ALL.

But our biggest group obsession is the Housewives franchise. And the great thing about Housewives is that there are multiple locations that are featured – Beverly Hills, NYC, Atlanta, NJ, Miami, etc. – and they all rotate during different seasons. Meaning, we have TV in common all year round. It’s a beautiful thing.

I can truly say that Bravo’s reality franchise Real Housewives has brought me new friends and kept those friendships vibrant just by existing. And let’s be honest, I wouldn’t trade that for a book obsession ever. Ever.

Sigh. Now I have to go catch up on Real Housewives of New Jersey. Can we talk about how Jacqueline’s daughter is the actual worst? Girl needs to shut up and get a job.

There is never a bad time to have pizza. In fact, I had pizza three times between Friday night and Sunday night. Not exactly proud of this but it happened.

So, what does Working Girl One do after a weekend full of pizza? Make more pizza. Only this is a small, healthy pizza for one, the opposite of what I had this weekend (three times!). I adapted this recipe from Smitten Kitchen using the ingredients I had on hand.

Ingredients

• 1 personal size pizza crust (like Boboli)
• 1-ounce of goat cheese (I use these and love them!) at room temperature
• 1 lemon
• 1 small zucchini (green or yellow) thinly sliced
• Drizzle of olive oil
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Mix goat cheese,  juice of half the lemon (a little more or less depending on how lemony you’d like your pizza), pinch of salt and pinch of pepper to taste. Spread mixture evenly on pizza crust. Arrange zucchini slices on top of goat cheese mixture, I did mine in a circular fashion. Drizzle olive oil over zucchini and some lemon if you’d like. Bake in oven for 10 – 15 minutes. Serve with a glass of wine. Or three if it was a tough day at the office. Doesn’t it look delicious?

It’s Friday, Friday AND we have our giveaway winner!

Thank you to everyone who started following our new Twitter handle, liking us on Facebook, and following us on Tumblr! We appreciate all of the positive feedback on the new design and hope you enjoy all of the things we have coming up!

Now, without further ado…

Leanne is the winner of the Working Girl’s Survival Kit! Shoot me an email (workinggirlone(at)gmail.com) and we’ll send your Working Girl’s Survival Kit ASAP!

Thanks again to everyone who entered and See Jane Work for agreeing to provide the giveaway. We hope to feature more giveaway soon because, really, who doesn’t love to win stuff?

Commuting is the bane of a Working Girl’s existence. Am I right?

From my days commuting from Hoboken, to my current commute from the suburbs of Connecticut, not much has changed. I still take long showers, I still hit snooze too much, and I still hate loud people on public transportation. It’s similar to prior posts about my commute, but I still thought I’d share my current minute-by-minute commute with you.

My Average Morning

5:30 a.m. — Boyfriend wakes me up to say goodbye for the day. I respond with something incoherent, most recently about pancakes. I’m always hungry, even in my sleep.

5:50 a.m. –  Alarm goes off. Hit snooze. Per usual.

6 a.m. — Alarm goes off, again. Hit snooze, again. Per usual, again.

6:10 a.m. — See above.

6:15 a.m. –  Realize I slept in way too long and swear that I’ll get up at 6 tomorrow.

6:20 a.m. –  Sleepwalk into bathroom, brush teeth, shower, etc. Try to keep my shower in less than 15 minutes. Fail miserably.

6:35 a.m. — Make bed and indulge in my terribly bad habit: Every morning, without fail, I lay on my bed with my computer and waste time online. It causes me to run late every single morning, but I do it anyway.

6:40 a.m. — Remind myself that the Internet goes on forever and that I must stop myself before I get sucked in.

6:45 a.m. –  Pull myself away from my Google Reader to dry my hair and put on my face. Why I do this in the summer is beyond me. By the time I arrive at the office, I look worse than before I started.

6:55 a.m. –  Stand in my closet and curse it for not having anything I want to wear. This practice has not changed in three years and probably never will for the rest of my life.

7 a.m. — Check weather.com, hoping for some outfit inspiration.

7:05 a.m. — Still not dressed.

7:15 a.m. — Dressed, finally. Throw a brown-bag lunch together.

7:20 a.m. — Phone, wallet, keys, check! Walk out the door.

7:23 a.m. — Wait outside my building for the shuttle to the train. Remember that when I still lived in Manhattan this is the time my alarm would be going off. Cry on the inside.

7:25 a.m. — On the shuttle. Driver is listening to the local religious station. Promptly grab my headphones and rock out to some cheesy pop music.

7:30 a.m. — Run to catch the next train. Get on crowded train and throw elbows to get a seat. Usually get stuck between two businessmen who were never taught the value of personal space. And usually very close to a group of teenage girls who are headed to the city for a day of shopping and were never taught how to use their inside voices. FML.

7:40 a.m. — Try to get three stars on that level of Angry Birds that I just can’t beat.

7:42 a.m. — Get frustrated, stop playing. Pull out my iPad and hope for good 3G service.

7:45 a.m. –  Terrible 3G service. Shut down iPad. Remind myself to download at book when I get home.

7:46 a.m. – “Tickets, please!” – the conductor. Have minor panic attack that I forgot my monthly ticket. Find it and show conductor.

7:50 a.m. — Take my morning commute nap. Try not to fall asleep on man next to me.

8:20 a.m. — Wake up startled (Am I drooling?) and realize we’ve arrived at Grand Central Station.

8:23 a.m. — Stop at Magnolia Bakery for my morning coffee. Talk myself out of an early-morning cupcake.

8:26 a.m. — Walk from Grand Central to my office, usually walking through a movie or TV set. Try to read the no-parking signs to figure out what is being filmed without looking like a total creeper.

8:27 a.m. — Look like a total creeper.

8:35 a.m. — Arrive at work. Begin counting down the minutes until my commute home.

Stories, news and other important tidbits Working Girls should know. Here are a few things to glean from this work week:

• Are you as obsessed with J. Crew as we are? If so, you might enjoy this peak into the life of J.Crew creative director and president Jenna Lyons. Related: We are smitten with the inspiration wall in her office! [NYMag.com]

• Want to live longer? Befriend your coworkers! According to recent study it could add years to your life. [Jezebel]

• Saving money is tough but here are nine things you should stop paying for. [SavvySugar]

• Have a question for us? About our careers or looking for advice? Head over to our Tumblr and Ask Working Girl!

by Working Girl Two

Once upon a time I used to really, really loathe commuting and everything that goes along with it. These days I don’t mind commuting. It’s a nice “me” time. What I really hate though is waking up. So without further adieu, here is a day in the commuting life of WG2.

6:35 a.m. — the latest I can wake up and still do my hair, make-up and look presentable. Today I got up and did my hair because my dad and I were supposed to go to dinner at a fancy schmancy restaurant. AND THEN HE BAILED ON ME. Which wouldn’t make me so mad except I could have slept an extra half hour. Seriously, I like to sleep. Moving on…

6:45 a.m. — out of the shower and now in the kitchen on my iPhone. I like to check my emails before I get to work like a crazy person. All about damage control.

6:55 a.m. — still on my phone because I got distracted by all the daily deals. Groupon and Living Social have ruined me forever.

7:10 a.m. — curlers in my hair and making lunch. Usually this means I’m making pasta at 7 a.m. Weird I know.

7:15 a.m. — wishing I hadn’t spent ten minutes on my phone when I can do that on the bus. Now racing to put on make-up, put together purse, etc. to get to work on time.

7:30 a.m. — out the door!

7:31 a.m. — will undoubtedly run into the building maintenance guy and ruin him cleaning something. Today it was the floors he was washing. Sorry dude!

7:38 a.m. — dawdled to the bus so I missed it…gotta wait for the next one.

7:41 a.m. — on the bus. Since I’m one of the first pick-ups of the route, I always get first pick of seats which is amazhing.

7:45 a.m. — since I already checked my email, I usually check my Twitter, Tumblr, play Words with Friends, and check US Weekly before I ready my Nook or watch something on Netflix.

8:00 a.m. — still on the effing bus. It takes FOREVER.

8:15 a.m. — finally at my stop!

8:16 a.m. — turn on my rock-out music so I get pumped for work! This inevitably does not work. Worst part of my commute is this walk because I’m that much closer to my desk.

8:30 a.m. — finally in my office building. The walk takes forever because of construction. Blegh.

8:35 a.m. — stop and say ‘hi’ to my best work friends. I’m all about the socializing.

8:45 a.m. — sit at my desk, turn on the computer and start to load all my programs.

8:46 a.m. — go the kitchen, drop off my lunch, get my water for the day, and prepare my breakfast.

8:50 a.m. — sit down for the day. And never leave my desk. Just kidding, that was dramatic.

And that is a life in the morning of WG2. Thrilling isn’t it?!?