I’m a hard worker and always have been. I started working when I was 14; I printed out cheap flyers advertising my babysitting capabilities and threw them in every mailbox in my town. I had my own little babysitting gigs and was doing quite well for myself; at $4.25 an hour, I thought I was making the big bucks.

As I grew older, I expanded my professional resume with retail positions, internships and jobs geared towards my career interests. I came out of college and now have a full-time job (and this super fun writing gig to keep me sane on the side) and am working towards getting the things I want for myself in life.

I consider myself - and many women just like me - to be a part of something new: the New Generation of 20-Something Women. No more relying on a man to determine financial status, stability or success; we are independent and have our own individual goals. Our own plans. Our fate in our hands.

Growing up, I learned that if you want something, you need to rely on yourself to get it and not someone else. I am taking that theory into account and notice that more females these days are too. Years ago, women were expected to find a man, get married, have children and keep the household. Rather than growing up and looking for our Mrs., 20-something women today are looking for a job, life experiences, travel and, most importantly, a life for themselves. Read More »

Happiness is on the rise! At least, those are the findings of a super-scientific research study released this week. The World Values Survey has been tracking happiness for 17 years in 52 countries and involving 350,000 people. The positive results are attributed to “societal shifts in recent decades: Low-income countries such as India and China have experienced unprecedented rates of economic growth; dozens of medium-income countries have democratized; and there has been a sharp rise of gender equality and tolerance of ethnic minorities and gays and lesbians in developed societies.”

The results surprised scientists, who had previously believed that happiness was stable when looking at societies over time. Bucking the conventional knowledge, happiness levels in forty countries “rose substantially.”

Denmark is the happiest nation, Zimbabwe the least, and the US was rated as the 16th happiest country. A similar survey released last week determined one reason America isn’t ranking higher on the list: Baby Boomers are generally miserable compared to other generations. Read More »

[Read Day One HERE]

Maybe it’s not the nights that will get me, but rather the entire days. This morning I read the newspaper (again), and I can’t decide if I feel 55 and retired, or 15 with a current event quiz looming.

I did get some comforting feedback from this little “project” today though, by a few friends who I met for lunch, informing me that maybe I am not the only romance addict out there — that maybe it’s an entire generation of twenty-somethings raised on Disney movies, and coming of age with hundreds of rom-coms (romantic comedies). While it is encouraging to hear I am not alone in this thought process, I would like to ask, is everyone else as hung up on this stuff as I am? (seriously, looking for feedback here…)

I have been able to hold out strong thus far, though, it was my trip to the gym where I was really shaken. I love going to the gym; since I don’t have cable I usually can catch up on a few terrible/wonderful (depending on if you are honest enough to admit you watch them) shows while working out. Read More »

Our generation has been called a lot of things. Lazy. Fame obsessed. Narcissistic. Unmotivated. Oversexed. Why haven’t you Twenty-Something’s moved out of your parents’ house yet? The general consensus seems to be. Why are your parents still giving your money? Stop watching reality TV and and get a real job!

Instead of pushing against the unfocused, immature stereotype so much of the older generation is trying to box us into, “Quarterlife” a new MySpace web show (soon to be a real NBC show) plays right into their frustrated hands.

Produced by “the creative minds behind My So-Called Life”, “Quarterlife” follows 6 white kids in their twenties, most of whom consider themselves some type of artsy bohemian. In weekly, 10-minute installations, the characters on “Quarterlife” walk around plugged into their iPods and deal with, you know, issues. Sexual tension, boredom, sexual frustration, confusion, sexual discontent…everyone’s so like, conflicted. So like, unsure. Happiness is fleeting, and nothing makes like, any sense at all. Read More »