Werk Werk Werk Werk Werk.

Taking three days off of work last week has reeeeally made this week a hustle.  Especially because I’m an “Inbox Zero” person — meaning that I need to have my inbox at 0 unread emails at the end of each day or it looms over my head and permeates my dreams.  Anyone else like this?  Mr. Magpie is the opposite — he leaves things unread in his inbox for weeks and has his own filing system for keeping on top of things.  I wish I were more like him because, while tidy and often kind to the folks emailing me, my approach often leads me to down a dark hole of answering or delegating unimportant emails when there are much bigger fish to fry.  How do you guys solve for this?  I picked up one semi-solution that’s been helping me cope a bit lately from another female entrepreneur: I create a tag in Gmail called “Follow Up.”  Whenever an email crosses my inbox that I want to eventually get to but that is not worth looking at right now, I add this tag to the email and then archive it.  Then, on Fridays from 4-5 PM, I sit down with a glass of wine and go through all of the emails tagged with “Follow Up.”  It’s brilliant.  I know I’ll get to it eventually because I have a recurring calendar invite reminding me to work on my follow ups every Friday at 4 — but I can put those emails out of sight, out of mind until then.  My other solution is keeping a meticulous to-do list for every day of the week.  I’ll start stockpiling things to tackle weeks out — i.e., “Follow up with X customer” gets added to September 1st, “Figure out Pivotal billing” gets added to tomorrow, etc., so as tasks line up, I’m sure I’ll take care of them–when they need to get taken care of.  Every morning, I sit down and I look at my calendar of to dos and know that I won’t close up shop until every single item has been crossed off the list (or, on busy/bad days, pushed back to another day on the calendar).  I’ve used Sugar Paper for Target’s planners for the past few years and love them.  Unfortunately, they stopped making the exact weekly planner style that I’ve fallen in love with this year, but I’ll get by with this one ($15).  And while I was at it, I needed these post-its/page tags ($6).  BUT BTW, I know a lot of people are crazy for Whitney English’s Day Planner ($60).  I bought one for my sister and she is obsessed with it — and such cute covers to boot!  I’m constantly stocking up Le Pens ($17 for box of lavender ones) — they have the finest point but don’t bleed through your pages, and come in the best colors.  My only issue is that they do dry out quickly, so I feel like I’m constantly replenishing my stock.  Finally, I take prolific notes on EVERYTHING in my trusty Leuchtterm notebook ($19).  I LOVE the dotted lines (so European) and the fabric page marker and the durable hard cover which, incidentally, I dolled up with an emoji sticker or two, just for kicks.

But also, while we’re on the topic of office supplies, once we get dedicated office space, I’m totally going to go wild at Poppin — they have the freshest looking office supplies coded by color, and their mint green is REAL close to the color of my business’s palette, like this little notebook and pen situation ($25).  And, doesn’t a whole cup full of matching, on-brand pens make you happy?

What hacks do y’all use?  What tools?  Is this boring?  TMI?  Sorrrryy.  It’s my life.  I was one of those dorks who LOVED going to Office Depot / Staples for some back-to-school shopping.  Are you kidding?  Fresh pencils, new notebooks?  YAS.

Anyhoot, on to the more interesting stuff: what to WEAR to work.  I mentioned the other day I’ve been majorly into Tibi — so many structured, sophisticated shifts.  This one ($325) with its seersucker texture is calling my name.  Meanwhile, this $99 style from Mango channels the Tibi look for far less.  And, finally, this button-shoulder, flared-skirt dress is $49 and SUCH a great ladylike steal.

I’d wear any/all of these with pointy toe flats — my Valentino flats ($745) are in heavy rotation.  I also love these, these, and these.  And these are patterned but would look SO amazing with any of the above.

I also had to have this button-shoulder shift dress ($99), also from Zara.  I saw it and just knew it was ME.  So Parisian chic, so simple and pulled together. It feels like it’s calling for these statement studs ($48) and a monogrammed signet ring ($495 — get the look for less with this, or without the monogram with this).  This striped shirtdress ($325) also feels classic but fashion forward in just the right way.  And, this denim shift ($69) with a bold necklace (Lizzie Fortunato, on sale for $416) and some great heels or flats (these are $32!!!) can walk straight into a customer meeting.

Other staples —

+a chunky lucite link necklace like this one (on sale for $60) or this one ($28).  I also just snagged a few of these for gifts.

+Tippi sweaters in sophisticated neutral colors ($79) — although check out these colors, on sale for $29+, plus 30% off!  I love the neon flamingo, the pistachio, and the heather gray.

+a tortoise shell headband ($18) never goes out of style.

Finally, a bold red lip ($32) can pull your entire day together.  Trust me.

Mhhhm.  Happy weekend, loves.