Happy & Healthy

THE DILEMMA OF THE HOME WORKER

by Ilonka Leenheer

As I type this, I'm still in bed wearing my pajamas. If you want to call a huge T-shirt from an ELLE party two years ago with the text ‘Get Your Booty On The Dancefloor’ pajamas. Glasses on, hair in a bun, no makeup. If you don't want to call yesterday's makeup makeup.

No, I'm not sick. I also don't have a hangover. And I'm not imitating Carrie Bradshaw. This is how I start my workday. The alarm goes off (what time, that's nobody's business, I'm my own boss yes!), I grab my laptop, put on my glasses, and start writing. After an hour or two, I get hungry and actually get up, shower, get dressed, eat, put in my contacts, everything that goes with it, and then the afternoon part of my workday begins.

The cat has gotten used to it by now (she even finds it very cozy, extra long together in the basket), the postman and/or courier too, to the most bizarre outfits in which I open the door.

I was curious to what extent I would start slacking when I started freelancing from home 2.5 years ago. All those nice outfits, I mainly wore them for my colleagues. But aside from my unusual morning routine, which I once tried to explain to the postman with the words ‘I work in bed’, causing his eyebrows to shoot up, it's not that bad. Of course, I don't sit at my desk in a pencil skirt and heels, but there is still a huge area to explore between ‘dressed up’ and ‘sloppy’.

Slowly, a favorite home uniform has emerged: skinny jeans, a big shirt or sweatshirt, and sneakers. And it has to be a really nice sweater, okay, from Rika for example. And these pants from Ganni are a winner: the comfiest home pants there are, but with heels on you can easily go to an event.

What I do every day, whether I go out or not: makeup. I don't want to be too shocked when I accidentally see myself in the mirror or on my screen. Not that I'm that hideous, but I have Boris Becker eyelashes (for the younger ones among us, he was a reddish tennis player with pale white eyelashes and eyebrows) and if I don't have mascara on, I look like I'm sick. And I also like to think that I have an even complexion. So I happily put on some CC Cream from Chanel (that doesn't count as makeup, right?), eyeliner from Lancôme that even stays put when you rub your eyes hard from work frustration (or sleep, so) and whatever mascara I can find the fastest in the mess that my home office is. And my latest find: lip balm from MAC that colors your lips, so I can immediately run out the door when someone calls me for a cup of coffee or a glass of wine. I mean for a work meeting.