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

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!

(Hi, Working Girl One!)

It’s been over three and half years since I was just a bright-eyed sales assistant determined to prove myself.

In three and half years, I’ve had five titles, six bosses, and worked at two publishing companies. I’ve gotten promoted, cried at the office, had some amazing experiences, gotten laid off, and met some of my best friends.

If you asked me a few years ago where I would be right now, I probably would have told you that I’d be an event planner at a magazine working on amazing, fabulous events.

Sure, I work at a magazine and handle some events, but it’s not exactly what I pictured it would be. A few years ago, I pictured a confident 26-year-old who had the answers to every question her bosses asked her and was always prepared. And had an amazing wardrobe, obviously. None of these things are true, except that I am, in fact, 26.

Three and half years ago, I had clear goals in mind. Move from sales to marketing. Check. Get a promotion. Check. Work on events. Check. Today, I’m struggling to determine my new career goals. After more than four years of being a Working Girl, reality is starting to set in. Reality being the “oh, so this is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life” feeling.

Friends of mine are starting to go back to school, either to advance their careers or change them. I used to be the one who had it all figured out. I scored the amazing job right out of college. I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I had it all figured out, until I didn’t. Sometimes it feels like everyone else does now.

OK, it’s still the same Working Girl but with a few upgrades.

Like, this lovely new layout! You like? Big thanks to Steph Anne at Yellow & Savvy Design for creating a wonderful new design for us.

You may have noticed Working Girl Two and I blogging a little bit more lately, and we hope you’re as thrilled as we are about it. We’ll be back to blogging even more, and you’ll still see some contributors and guest posts.

To kick it all off, we wanted to start with a giveaway!

Working Girl Two and I are obsessed with See Jane Work and have been dying to give away the Working Girl’s Survival Kit for a while now. No joke, like years. This thing seriously has everything you need. Or maybe everything I need…I won’t even tell you many times I’ve had to make a Duane Reade run for deodorant or stain remover.

To enter to win, you can do one or all of these and leave a comment below for each.

• Follow our new Twitter (don’t worry, we’ll still be tweeting at @workinggirlone and @workinggirltwo)
• Like our new Facebook page
• Follow our Tumblr

Giveaway rules:
Up to three entries per person. No entries after August 12th at 11:59pm. Open to U.S. residents only. Winner will be announced next week!

Working Girl reached out to See Jane Work and asked if they would sponsor this giveaway, and they did! Yay! Help us show them some love and check out their Twitter and Facebook.

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.

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

• Men lost more jobs than women during the recession and now they gaining more jobs in the recovery. 768,000 jobs to be exact, according to a Pew Research Study. Researchers couldn’t account for the difference but the Huffington Post has an idea why. [Huffington Post]

• We’ve shared our love for Bethenny Frankle before – and plan to do so again, soon. The girls at HelloGiggles are also fans, naming her She-Ro of the Week. [HelloGiggles]

• Woman fired for not dying her gray hair? Not cool, boss, not cool. [Houston Chronicle]

• A few weeks ago on Meeting Notes, we shared 33 Ways to Stay Creative. Here is a fun — and creative — video of 29 very similar ways: