Work Week from Hell: Home Survival Guide
As we all know, in advertising, some weeks are kind. The kind of week that lets you clear out your inbox and think strategically about next steps. The kind that allows for nightly bike rides, board games and inviting your friends over. The kind of week that makes you consider actually taking that flamenco class. Or maybe really get into acro yoga, because face it: yoga pants were created for yoga — not as a less humiliating substitute to flannel pajama pants for when you drop your kids off at school in the morning. (Also, acro just sounds so fun!)
As we all (probably more commonly) know, in advertising, there is that other kind of week. The kind of week that makes you think that all of your clients got together and, over a really nice bottle of wine, decided to create a bunch of projects, all urgent, and all needed at the same time. The kind of week that makes your creative team think that over many bottles of wine, YOU forgot to push things into the queue and now the agency MUST SUFFER. Acro yoga? Not for you. If you want to “develop” yourself you’ll need to get up at 5 am and resist, at all costs, looking at your email. These are the kind of weeks that make you feel like a hybrid of a work automaton and a cyborg who spends their life outside of work locked into a wheeled contraption so you can transport a teenage daughter around (I am half woman, half car, all fluster).
I just survived a week like the latter, and I’d like to share with you some tips that helped keep me alive and sane during the hours I was NOT working and need to unwind.
Below you’ll find some quick evening meals that didn’t require much time or energy, paired with a delectable assortment of Netflix selects.
Monday
Holy cow. Well that day just happened…
Meal: Chicken quesadilla with onion, mushroom, spinach and mozzarella.
This one is super easy and a great go-to for me and my family. Cut and cook the chicken breast on a stovetop, then chop and sauté the onions, mushrooms and spinach together. Throw into a tortilla with some mozzarella and voila! This meal was most recently served with salsa and sour cream, and paired with The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Fun, light, and smart making it NOT the super junk food of comedy.
Tuesday
Umm, okay. That was the same day. Wait, I actually remembered to thaw the hamburger!! Pause, pat self on back, and prepare…
Meal: This hamburger croissant ring thing I got off Facebook once.
http://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a49848/cheeseburger-crescent-ring-recipe/
Open a package of croissants and place the triangles on parchment paper, in an overlapping ring. Brown the hamburger. Sprinkle over the ring and then put cheddar cheese and pickles in it. Tuck corners over the burger/cheese/pickle so that it’s like a kind of hamburger wreath. Brush with egg and cook for 15 minutes. When I make this, my kid goes nuts, so bonus! Served with ketchup and, on this particular day, paired with the revived MST3K- Mystery Science Theatre 3000: The Return. It’s actually pretty funny, people.
Wednesday
I’m seeing the trend. Also, crap. I forgot to thaw the chicken.
Meal: Amy’s Frozen No Cheese Vegetable Pizza.
Just grate some cheese on it and throw it in the oven. (I like to think they don’t add cheese so that I can feel that I still participated in making the meal.) Paired with Oh, Hello! on Broadway because sometimes after a day that kicked my ever loving…. I just want to be irreverent, and Gil and George do it for me.
Thursday
Silence.
Meal: I’m not a making dinner. I’m not. And I’m too tired to think about ordering out. I’m going to eat chips and salsa over the sink and if you can’t figure out what to eat I can’t help you.
On this day, nothing was funny and if I looked at a glowing rectangle for one more second I was going to lose it. I paired my chips and salsa with a lovely load of towels because everyone had conspired in my household to only use a towel one time before throwing it in the laundry. I also listened to an audiobook version of Phillip K Dick’s Ubik, which had some really great voice actors, if you dig sci-fi. A lot of PKD’s audio books are on Youtube if so.
Friday
Wha whaaaaat! Launch the confetti cannon! Drop the balloons! It’s Friday!! And I still have that chicken from earlier this week! Which I did not take out earlier, and defrosting in the microwave always makes it a little weird, but today I don’t care! I’m doing it!
Meal: Chicken enchiladas from one of those kits that include everything.
With those kits one box is never enough so you have to buy two, which means you have too much of something left over. It’s so convenient you still buy them and just end up with a weird surplus of enchilada sauce. And on this special day I served them with….the sour cream that’s still in the fridge from Monday! I’m on a roll! We then paired our meal with the documentary 13th. This was not a light fluffy comedy for a Friday night, and that was just right. Also the documentary was very well done. It put my week into perspective and has continued to be a point of conversation between me and my daughter. We’ve had the opportunity to talk about history, our country, justice. Win.
How does this post end? Well, I work in advertising and some weeks kick your butt and push your limits—it’s the nature of the beast. We all do our best to make it look easy, and the crazy weeks never last. Somehow, when it’s over, I chalk it up as a “rush”. I finished my week and the clients were made happy. Maybe this week I’ll reconsider flamenco…
