No matter how often I search “high-paying magazine job” on Monster.com, or how many fake ads I peruse on Craigslist, the harsh reality is that our economy still kinda sucks…and finding a job isn’t easy for anybody (even a charming, well-educated woman like myself).

Oh, how I love Christmas morning. There’s nothing quite like waking up to the smell of slow-roasting, honey-baked ham and my dad’s own personal off-key rendition of “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.” But, let’s be honest, as much as I love food/my family/blah blah blah, I (like most of you reading this) like getting presents the most.

Ah, the new year is upon us, ladies. I absolutely LOVE this time of year, when everything feels so fresh and full of promise (or is that just the fact that I finally have my mom to clean my dirty laundry?). But, as tempting as it is to delete the old year like last week’s Nip/Tuck season finale, there are still some (very valuable) days left in 2009.

Miss Nordstrom had swindled me into signing up for the real deal. Luckily, I only charged a good $110 to my new card (that’s sarcasm), however, in an effort to ensure that I never get myself into this kind of debt debacle again, I decided to stick to buying from people who understand what it means to be a struggling artist. So, I turned to the online shopping portal Etsy – my favorite place to spend time (& cash) on the internet.

Not everybody is headin’ back to a cramped, 8×10 box that college officials have dubbed “ the dorm.” Nope—some of you ladies will find yourselves hunched over textbooks in more reasonably-sized quarters. Yes, I’m talking about off-campus houses and apartments!

Lately, it seems like the whole freakin’ world has been on a self-help kick. In recent years, the $11 billion dollar industry has flourished. It’s provided us with “miracle” books like The Secret and an array of self-proclaimed internet self-help gurus (or trust fund babies with pink hair and Daddy’s cash?) like Gala Darling.

Hanging out with someone new is always exciting. I absolutely thrive off those first few weeks of a budding relationship when all I can think about is the other person and wonder if he’s thinking about me, too. I love anxiously waiting for that phone call or text message after the first date that seals the deal that you two might have a future together

I don’t know what it is about MTV, but I am addicted. Those crafty little sons of b*tches in Times Square know their target audience. They have me – and everyone else in the 12-30 age bracket – convinced that what we should really want to watch on TV are really attractive, dumb people saying really dumb (and totally unscripted) things.

Last night I did something that every college senior dreads: I said goodbye to my first friend to graduate. Although I was never super close friends with her, we lived in the dorm together freshman and sophomore years and kept in touch ever since.

If there’s one thing we all know, it’s that college is basically it’s own little universe. It’s that beer-drinking, bar-hopping, Cliff Notes-reading, coffee-chugging “safe haven” between the comfort of your parent’s home and that place everybody calls “the real world.” And unfortunately, we all know that “real world” is much less exciting than MTV moguls would lead us to believe.