Desk Decor

If your job is anything like mine, you probably spend a lot of time sitting at a desk. So, to counterbalance the fluorescent lighting and filing cabinets, it's important to add a little personality to our work spaces. Actually, throughout the first year of my current job, my desk had zero personality. Aside from office supplies and five industrial sized tubs of antibacterial wipes that were there when I started, my little pod was a bit sterile (in two ways, apparently). Then one day, it dawned on me that my co-workers probably thought I was a germaphobe with lots of paper clips and no friends. So, I've been sprucing it up with fun pictures, and an over-dramatic plant that dies and comes back to life without fail every Monday.

If your desk is in need of a little something, here are some fun ideas:

This adorable monogrammed mug ($8 from Anthropologie) is a great pen/pencil holder. I just bought one!

If you have lots of magazines and binders, organize them in this cute set from See Jane Work.

Fill up drab wall space and keep track of upcoming vacations with a calendar. For just $9.99, you can meet a "nice jewish guy" (and make your co-workers uncomfortable) every single month!

Or perhaps Ron Swanson is what your desk has been missing all this time. Is anyone else completely obsessed with Parks and Rec? I'm one click away from ordering this poster, and a side of bacon:

Fabric thumbtacks - sure, why not?

Pictures of family, friends, and pets are always nice reminders of life outside the office. Check out stores like Marshalls and TJ Maxx for cheap (but really cute!) picture frames. Need some free wall art? Add pops of color to your bulletin boards by tacking up pretty cards and stationary you've received. 

What are your desk decor essentials?

Welcome to Audix...

Last week, my office upgraded our phone systems. We all got new phones, were trained how to to use them, and given tip sheets to remind us of all the things we immediately forgot. The phone trainer let us in on a few secrets too, such as -- people can 100% hear you when you cover your mouthpiece with your hand and say things you shouldn't. Always mute.

Anyways, this new phone situation entails re-recording our voicemail greetings. For normal people, this is no big deal. I however (due to sitting in an open space) have still not done my recording. Because this is inevitably what happens to everyone who needs to record a voicemail greeting:

Take 1: 
"Hello." --  you sound like Lionel Richie. Delete. 

Take 2: 
"Hi.  -- Strong start. Followed by long pause due to forgetting your name and/or place of business. Delete.

Take 3: 
"Hiiiiiii. Sh*t---." -- Although no one has actually called you in at least 5 months, you *will* receive a voicemail before you have a chance to delete this.  

Take 4:
"G'day" -- You've developed an Australian accent. Delete.  

Take 5:
It's getting painful for everyone. Co-worker removes phone from your hand, pretends to be your assistant and does it for you. 

Lots of things, like voicemail and conference calls can kick social anxiety into high gear at the office. But if Lionel Richie had the courage to pose for an album dressed head to toe in denim, I can certainly find the courage to record my office voicemail during business hours.

Feds Say It's OK to Complain About Work on Facebook

Sick of crappy assignments? Convinced you could be making more money as a babysitter? Bewildered at the amount of time your boss spends on Shopbop.com? Well, now you can vent freely on Facebook without fear of getting canned.

The National Labor Relations Board says that communicating with coworkers about the workplace on Facebook is protected by law.

While it's legally allowed, any professional with half a brain would know better than to use their wall as office group therapy. Trash-talk all you want over drinks with your friends. That's why Happy Hour was invented. But blasting your work gripes on Facebook to a lengthy list of "friends" - including current co-workers - is a bad career move. From potential employers to your cubemate, you never know who's scoping out your online persona. All it takes is one tasteless status update for others to determine you're legitimately nuts.

Keep it classy.

The Savvy Source: Food Blogger Dishes on Career and Cooking

The life of a freelance writer has it's perks - no boss, the freedom to work in pajamas and to spend some quality time with Oprah... But on the flip side, it's totally up to you to stay focused, pitch creative story ideas and land assignments. When I wrote for NicoleWilliams.com, I met Michelle Hainer -- a fabulous writer (for InStyle, Country Living, The Nest, RootSpeak.com and more), editor and food blogger. Thanks to her blog, Made by Michelle, I did the unthinkable - baked a pumpkin pie, from scratch. This is a huge culinary milestone in my humble opinion. So I figured, we could all benefit from some career and cooking advice from Michelle.

Time Estimation Disorder

"heyyyyyy, soooo sorry, got stuck in a meeting. Be there in five." 

Personally, I'm a huge fan/offender of using extra letters to convey emotions via text or email -- stress, angst, happiness, excitement when a friend signs into g-chat, etc. But overuse of "Y"aside, the ease of being constantly connected to our friends makes this tardy text all too familiar. We've all come down with T.E.D., Time Estimation Disorder. (teddddddd)

In a nutshell, as this very true to life article explains, thanks to technology and the ability to document our lateness every step of the way, we're all a lot more casual about keeping people waiting. Well, except yours truly. No matter how hard I try, I am always on time. It's so uncool.

PS: The extra letters tactic is not good for work. For example: "Hiiiiii, let's meet at 4 for my review." Write like a 4th grader and you can kiss that raise goodbye, sister.

Awkward Conference Calls

I work in an industry where conference calls are as frequent as Lindsay Lohan's arrests. After a particularly horrible seven person call today, I decided that the only way to shake the lingering awkwardness, was to write about these phone faux pas.

Dead Silence. 
My call today got off to a rocky start. The first group of us to dial in sat in complete silence for about 8 minutes waiting for the final caller. I think we all knew that small talk would prove a worse alternative, so there was an unspoken decision (clearly) for total quiet. After a few minutes, someone had the heart to at least say, "I'm sure we're all multitasking here...". If by multitasking you mean, debating whether or not to poke my eyes out, then yes.

Awkward Small Talk
A little welcome banter is a nice way to kick off a conference call. 30 seconds is ample time to chit chat it up about the weather and your respective cities. Once you've established that "Topeka is beautiful this time of year", you should hope that all parties are present so you can get down to business.

Small Talk Gone Wrong
Don't get too personal with co-workers during the welcome banter. If it seems questionable, don't ask.
You: "Jim, how's your wife doing?"
Jim: "I'm not sure, why don't you ask her personal trainer, Kip."
You: "Oh, great ... so anyways, I think we need a new strategy for our web initiative."

Best Websites for Women

As if stalking celebrities on Perez wasn't enough to keep you distracted at work ... Forbes came out with a list of the Top 100 Websites for Women. (I was super excited to see that I contribute to a couple of them - Lemondrop and Nicole Williams.)

Here are a few of my other faves from the list, check them out for some fun Friday reading!

Corporette - great tag line sums it up well: "a fashion and lifestyle blog for overachieving chicks"
Dooce - witty, clever, awesome photography
Jezebel - great for your daily dose of snarkiness
Martha Stewart - everything is just so pretty on there ... I'm this close to planting an herb garden and spending my free time making paper crafts.
Smitten blog by Glamour - great mix of celeb scoop and real life advice

What's on your must-read list?

Start-up Success: Design Divas

Check out part 2 of the web reality show I'm producing for Marriott -- featuring 2 fabulous women entrepreneurs, creators of Coverplay. Their product is part of Marriott's Tots Travel Too program, which helps make travel simpler and less stressful for families with babies and toddlers. (Here's part 1 in case you missed it.)

If you're into fashion and design - you'll love this webisode. And you'll be super jealous of Amy and Allison because shopping is actually part of their job.

New Arrivals Part 2: Design Divas
How do you make a big idea stand out from the rest? From trend research to choosing fabrics, The Coverplay ladies share style secrets and take you behind the scenes in their design process.

Start-up Success Story

Starting your own business sounds like a dream come true. No boss, no dress code, no 50 person shared fridge packed with "salads" from last February. But in reality, running a successful company is a stressful 24/7 job. Your brand is your baby. It needs constant attention to grow. And you can't just throw in the towel when times get tough.

I learned this firsthand thanks to a cool work opportunity that came my way. Within my first couple weeks at Ogilvy, I joined the Digital Influence team responsible for creating a first of its kind social media program to generate awareness for Marriott's new Tots Travel Too program.

So, what does this have to do with small businesses? A lot...

Off I flew to LA to film a web reality series about two women entrepreneurs, Amy Feldman and Allison Costa, best friends and inventors of COVERPLAY, an adorable slip cover for playards. Marriott heard about their product, and ordered a huge shipment as part of their Tots Travel Too program that helps make travel simple for families with babies and toddlers. So after years of hard work, and tons of ups and downs ... the opportunity of a lifetime arrived. Amy and Allison's "baby" hit the big time. And now we're sharing their story online, with the help of top women bloggers  -- in a series called "New Arrivals". We're also premiering the videos at 5 networking events in LA and NYC, with Ladies Who Launch.

This is the first of five webisodes that cover launching the company to awaiting their biggest shipment ever.  I loved filming this and getting to know such fun, smart, dynamic women. And I know you'll love watching their story. So keep checking the blog for the next episodes!


If you could start your own biz, what would you do?

Ode to My First Job

Way before my days of morning meetings and desks with fancy swivel chairs, I spent several high school summers working in a supermarket. My first real paychecks at the age of 15 came from 8 hour shifts wearing an over-sized pink smock, scanning groceries next to 60 year women named Roz and Pam. They were lovely, but we didn't really have much in common. Those summers were a blur of praying I didn't have to use the microphone to ask for a price check, asking the manager to void my millions of mistakes (gala or fuji - who knew?!) and having a crush on a bagger who only said "yo" and wore a gold Nike chain.
I really should have worked at the mall.

But to this day, every time I go to a grocery store, I give the cashier a knowing look. It communicates many things:

"I'm aware that strategically organizing my groceries in a paper bag is mind numbing, yet kind of fun at the same time"

"When people give you a "better than thou" attitude, you should totally "accidentally" smush their bread."

"I feel your pain when cheapskates tell you that 3 lemons are really 98 cents, instead of 99."

"I know you didn't choose to wear that smock. It's totally not your style. I'm not judging."

Looking back, I realize that being a cashier really wasn't so bad. I recruited a couple friends to keep me company, and learned some very important facts about produce ... and people. If you've ever had to take on an 80 year old woman who insists Borscht is on sale, then you can handle anyone. 

What was your first job?

Thanks for Saying Thanks

I just finished a week of shooting a web reality show for a client in LA. (I can't say what it is yet, but stay tuned!). It was so much fun to be out of the office and out on the town filming in sunny CA. While I was hoping to see Ali Lohan's insane eyebrows in person or another strung-out starlet being trailed by TMZ, my only celeb spottings were James Cromwell at Art's Deli and Darlene from Roseanne at Katsu-ya in Studio City (which is incredible sushi, FYI).

As our crew was packing up today, we all thanked each other for the hard work this week. And then one of the camera guys brought up a really good point... He said that the thing he loves about this business is that people are always so appreciative and thankful for what a production crew does. They get paid like the rest of us, so why the extreme gratefulness? Why do they get enormous gourmet candy apples and goodbye hugs, in addition to their paycheck? No one gets all that jazzed about people that slave away in front of a computer all day, right? No fair.

Maybe it's because they have to lug around so much equipment ... or know how to work $25,000 cameras ... or the fact that their expertise will ultimately help make you and your final product look and sound good (whether you're a producer or talent). Who knows...

Point is -- it's nice to feel appreciated. And we should all take the time to thank the people we work with - the people that help us do a better job - more often.  Just keep the hugs to a minimum, it may creep people out.

The New Girl

I would like to apologize to the three people that read this blog (hi, mom!) for my lack of posts this week. Blogging had to go on the back burner, because I started a new job ... hooray! Between trying to appear as though I knew what I was doing and wandering around aimlessly in search of the bathroom (also trying appear as though I knew what I was doing), I wore myself out.

I am sure many of you have been in the same boat. Starting a new job is like being the new kid at school. You wake up extra early, pick out a cute outfit, and hope people don't look at you like you have four heads. Luckily, I now work at one of the friendliest places on the planet, so that part went a-ok. There also happens to be a huge picture of Diane Keaton (adore her!) on the wall near my desk, so I feel like she's looking out for me. She provides a sense of calm when I need it. 

So in celebration of surviving week 1 and not walking head on into the clear glass doors in the lobby (although I came close) ... it's time to uncork the wine and have some fun this weekend.

At Work Beauty Crises Averted!

We've all had those "O-M-G I can't believe this is happening to me at the office!" moments. From coffee stains to stocking snafus, the key is to be well-equipped with an emergency kit to combat any fashion or beauty crisis with a quick fix. I can’t help you avoid walking around with spinach in your teeth, but I can certainly help you be prepared to get it out…

Click here for my full article on Shape.com, and read on for a few go-tos.