Home Office Lunch Recipe: Chopped Salad w/ Croissant and Swiss

David and I went on a little lunch date to some fun french restaurant on Friday, and ordered soup, and split a cobb salad. This cobb salad was $14, so it's a good thing we split it. But, it put me over the edge to finally make my own salads! As easy as salads are, I never do them because of the time involved in prepping everything - chopping, wiping, eating. However, this cobb salad had everything nicely chopped and served in little sections on the plate. I figured I could chop some vegetables and put them in some Tupperware the night before. So here's a delish lunch recipe:

1 red pepper
1 red tomato
1 avacado
1 croissant
two slices swiss
sprinkle of pine nuts
sprinkle of blue cheese
dash of salt
1 package mixed green (I used Dole brand)
dressing: optional. I just squeeze a lemon onto the whole thing.

Time to make: 5 minutes
Time to prep: depends on your ingredients and how you grocery shop. I live above a grocery store, and order things online for delivery through Fresh Direct. ;) Actual cutting time of the vegis could be 20 min, which includes cleaning time.
Servings: 3 salads

PREPARING THE INGREDIENTS THE NIGHT BEFORE:
Chop the red pepper, tomato and avocado into little squares. Put them into a Tupperware container, or Glad square thing, but keep them in their own little groups. Have a package of pine nuts in your cupboard, and a hunk of blue cheese in your fridge, for continued re-use.

ON THE DAY OF YOUR LUNCH:
Slice the croissant in half. Place the swiss cheese on each half (if you are hungry, otherwise, eat one half). Place in the toaster or oven on low heat. You can easily over-toast the croissant.

Meanwhile, on a plate, take a fist-full of mixed greens. This container of mixed greens should last you for 3 salads. On top of that, sprinkle from your chopped vegetables. Don't use all of the vegetables. You will use these over 3 salads. Sprinkle on some blue cheese and pine nuts. Add a dash of salt. Dressing is up to you.

Take your croissant out of the oven and place it on your plate. Tell yourself you are out for a swanky lunch at Fast in French in Charleston, SC, and enjoy!

Hotel Home Office : Justification to Hire a Cleaning Service

As you may know, I got a cleaning service in my home last year, because we got the bedroom repainted (on the landlord's dime) because of the chronically leaking ceiling form the penthouse patio above. And crummy workers who just don't fix it. So I hired the cleaning service that time because the paint, primer, scraping, flaking old ceiling, etc. had gotten all over the house and made me quite sick with fever, so I hired a service and was blown away with how well they did.

That was a year ago. I constantly dream of having a cleaning service on a regular basis, but I do such a great job (ahem), why pay the money? But my great job takes an entire day. And as a Home Office Worker, if a client comes over, that is at least 2 hours of sucking up animal hair before they come, or it's on a Saturday for three hours, scrubbing the tub, the bathroom walls, the stove, and collapsing into a clean shower. And to be honest, I used to be able to take a bath in our apartment tub (because I could get it so clean), but lately, I'm not so sure. I doubt my own scrubbing.

So I had a cleaning service over today. Zen Home Cleaners (here is my review of their cleaning). I learned about them on Daily Candy three years ago. yes, that's how slow I am to make a commitment. And this isn't even a commitment. It was a "First time cleaning" to see if I maybe want them once a month. And you know what? I do. Here's why I'm not going to feel guilty about it:

I love working in good hotels. Why? Because it's clean! The bathroom is clean, the carpet is clean, the side tables are not cluttered and dusty. Everything is clean. And if it's not, I can call someone to freshen up. The air is clean. When I breath, I'm not breathing in must and dust.

It's no wonder we get distracted in our Home Offices, and sometimes you just can't maintain the dishes all of the time. But to stare at dust, or to reach down to plug in a computer cord that came unplugged, and to have to touch other dusty computer cords, which is then on your fingers when you start typing on your computer, is not inspiring. Or, to reach under the desk to turn on a little lamp I have under there that shines up through my glass topped desk, and it is covered with dust, and then I'm covered in dust, or at least I feel like I am, and then to work with clean fabric kept protected in my giant Ikea cabinet? I don't think so.

So like Cybil Shepherd in a Loreal commercial, I'm going to insist, and encourage all of us, to commit to the cleaners. Put the money away in a monthly budget, and treat it like a phone bill. Because we're worth it. And our ideas are worth it. And its our ideas that can possibly put food on the table and polish on our nails.

Princess and the Pea Needs a New Desk Chair

I really may go out an buy a new desk chair. Function-wise, this Ikea one is fine, but I swear, I am getting those veins! I like high chairs, or maybe a stool. I love the swivel desk chair from Pottery Barn, but would love if it came a little bit taller...Meanwhile, I'm sitting on two couch pillows.

Schitzo Thursdays, and other afternoons

Hi Mistas!
Sometimes when I disappear from this blog, I am in Facebook writing posts over there for different groups. I started a group called Home Office Collectives (notice spiffy "ad" over to the right of this post, in the new column for Sponsors). It makes me miss FashionMista, though, to not share conversations that go over there. Someday soon I will make a blog for Home Office Workers, but until then, here is a post I just put up that some of you may relate to. If you are in Facebook, and work at home or in a shared space, come join our group and play with us over there!

Post:
Here's my day in and out of the Home Office, and then I want to hear about your day:

Wake up late (8am), slow walk Gerdy in Central Park (lovely).

Shower, makeup, curl hair, suddenly it's 10am for a quickie scrambled eggs and coffee, and an attempt to make a quick Mothers Day newsletter for Katie James burp cloths.

Got to go, have a client meeting at 11am on the East side (I'm on the West) and hopstop.com says it's 30 min by taxi. Jump in a hybrid taxi, and learn about why the taxi drivers hate the credit card machines as we cross through Central Park into blocked traffic at 5th Avenue.

Make it to meeting on time, hair still in tact, ready to absorb and toss around ideas. Two hours later, meeting over, search for Whole Foods begins for sudden craving for their prepared foods. Return missed calls while in meeting and leave messages. Call the wrong number for finance and have a conversation that consists of insistent "Hello!"s with a random man who is not finance for 2 minutes.

Eat ham and swiss wrap on subway on way home (with other exotic prepared foods from Whole Foods). Get inside, greet all animals and feed them. Get reminder call from finance that company is staying with us tonight, then get off phone in order to design and send stupid Katie James email that will lead to no sales (sorry, had to insert self-doubt in the day).

Send newsletter and check gmail quickly. Gerdy lays at feet, waiting to go outside since that is the habit once I walk through the door. Gather up Gerdy and checks from clients, David's half of the bills, and partial reimbursement for vision appointment and contacts (YES!), and head the the dog friendly bank.

Stand in line forever, thank goodness for iPhone. Get email from someone at Newsday.com who got the newsletter and loved the burp cloths and dog treat bags and is doing a Mothers Day collection and requests high rez images for webpage. Hurrah!

Walk back home with minimal chicken-bone-eating by Gerdy. Put away food from earlier, look at dishes in sink with disgust, return client call but leave message, then notice the horrid moldy spots on bathroom walls. Horrid moldy spots on bathroom walls have been there for weeks. Company is sleeping over tonight. Oh dear.

Turn on Patty Griffith on iPod speakers. Scrub horrid bathroom walls walls and tub with lemon Lysol and Soft Scrub with Bleach. Pray that none got on designer Paige jeans.

Thought occurs to self that this is the day in the life of a Home Office Worker, because now I must go find high res images of products to quickly send to reporter who may or may not include in her Mothers Day Collection. Today was supposed to consist of meeting, invoicing for April, finishing Bridesmaid skirts, and making a Mothers Day email for someone else. It's 5:30pm. The day is still young.

What's your day like??

Come Play in My New Group! Home Office Collectives

Home Office Workers of the World Unite!!

Starting yesterday, in response to a offering for free chair massages to women who work in offices to the Ladies Who Launch NYC Incubator group from Laurie at www.nychairmassage.com, I realized that Home Office workers indeed miss out on perks that make working in corporate offices easier and less Dilbert-like.

I emailed Laurie, lamenting this fact, and she responded right back with how Home Office Workers should not be denied such offers, and that if I could get 4 girls to come to my Home Office, we could have free 30 minute table massages. Are you kidding?? Sooo, I quickly emailed lady versions of Home Office Workers who might be up for such a stress relieving excerise, and am happy to say that Sabina and Rebecca from Red Branch PR are coming (Sabina all but insisted on champagne), joined by Lindsay of AdFemm.com, and me!

THEN, not to stop the excitement, I decided that Home Office Workers need a place to collect - if not in person (because we may not want to leave our houses b/c we may be too busy or whatever), then online for starters!

Home Office Collectives

I will create a group blog for it, where official Home Office Workers can write about their experiences in their Home Offices, such as favorite chairs, desks, printers, lights, sounds, aromatherapy, you name it, it will be discussed.

In the meantime, Home Office Collectives lives as a Group in Facebook, and you can join and post pictures or videos of your own home office - with pets if you have them! Click here to visit the group. Yes, you will need an account in Facebook to join. But honestly, if you don't have an account there by now, you are really missing out. I spend all of my free time (7 minutes a day) playing the Oregon Trail on it, which is the most least challenging version ever. So come join!!