Adios, 2009.

Ok, look, so everyone else is bringing back their blogs for 2010 (I know; I’m such a sheep sometimes) and I think four months away from this blog was enough to adjust to my new life, so I’m back. I keep reading my Google reader and come across so many things I want to tell you guys about anyways.

It’s time to quit dilly-dallying and get down to business. I’m even getting started on my New Year’s resolution the day before Jan. 1st. That’s how dedicated I am. (And it also means I more than likely won’t be posting on tomorrow, haha.)

First, updates:

Although 2009 was a rough year for lots of people, overall I think it was a good year for me. Although it was probably one of the hardest years of my life, I think I learned a lot and I definitely came out on top. Here's proof:

1) I live in New York City.

2) I got a job as an editorial assistant at a national women’s magazine. (Check for 2009 New Year’s Resolution #1)

3) I lost at least five pounds. (Check for 2009 New Year’s Resolution #2)

4) I still have a thing for long distance boys, but I’m trying out the local scene, too. The boy mentioned in the date below didn’t work out due to moving to New York though.

Second, 2010 Resolutions:

1) Lose another five pounds. (Small goals, but hey, at least I keep them.)

2) Write, write, write. As an EA, I don’t get to write a whole lot yet, so I need/want to keep writing. I’m keeping this resolution pretty open, though. Writing will include this blog and any other possible blogs I may start as well as freelance stuff (which I really do plan on jumping on at some point in 2010).

3) I want to save money. By December 31, 2010, I want to have at least three months rent saved up. This will be no easy feat, but I started this when I started getting real paychecks. I have a lot of big expenses coming up (two weddings!), so I need to get serious about it.

4) Volunteer. Not just anywhere though. I want to find something I’m passionate about, so I imagine that will take me in the direction of something to do with media, women or the military.

I think four resolutions is enough, right? I only made two in 2009, but I kept both of them, which makes me happy.

What about you? Did you make any resolutions?

Wow, it already feels good to be back.

Miss me?

Sorry for the brief lack of posting. My mums was visiting, so I spent my time with her. She left today, so I'm a little really sad. I've never been one for goodbyes.

But to make up for the lack of posting, I thought I'd share some pictures from our adventures at the zoo. The animals were all out and about. And it's spring after all, so I was super excited to see babies! I saw the baby gorilla, but failed to get a clear picture of her. The other baby is pictured below. Sadly, mama panda isn't preggo, though. Cross your fingers for next year. Anyways, here you go:

Oh my goodness. I love the pandas at the zoo. What a perfect pose, too.

Even the sloth was out and about!

This is an anteater with her baby on her back. She came so close to us; it was crazy!

Cleanliness is even important at the zoo. The male grey seal is getting his teeth brushed!

Gift Emergencies Solved

Is it just me or is everyone getting married? I guess I’m sort of at that age where marriage becomes a real possibility. Then there is graduation; the class of 2009 is now out and about. And all us “adults” are working on that whole “career” deal, whatever that’s about.

All these celebrations call for gifts, too. But what should you get them? Shopping for presents is always hard unless of course they tell you what they want. During these occasions, you generally want a gift that’s useful, too. More stress.

Well stress no more because I found the coolest site: Ms. & Mrs. (I found it on SELF’s Beyond the Beauty Pages. Elaine, the beauty director, blogged about it.) This site offers “special occasion survival kits” for things like weddings, babies, college, new jobs and random emergencies.

I like the Shemergency and Working Girl’s kit most. Check it out:

Very Poor Choice

If you haven’t noticed, I’m pretty interested in magazines. When I was younger, I read all the teen magazines: Teen, CosmoGIRL!, YM, Seventeen and others. (Sadly, I just missed the Sassy era.) Now that I’m older, I read Glamour, SELF (love it!), Cosmo, Shape, Fitness, O The Oprah Magazine, People, Real Simple and pretty much whatever else I can get my hands on. Makes sense, right? As I get older, my interests shift, which I imagine is the same for the rest of these magazines’ audiences.

So then why is Miley Cyrus on the cover of Glamour?! I feel confident in saying that this 16-year-old does not have the same interests as me. I’m a 20-something-year-old. What about your older readers, Glamour? People claims it’s "pretty cool" for her to land her first women’s magazine cover at 16. Is it really? I say no.

The cover story is titled "America’s Most Famous Girl Grows Up," but I nor TheFrisky.com are buying it. Don’t get me wrong; I have nothing against Miley. In fact, I think she belongs on the cover of Seventeen. And when she reaches her 20s, then by all means, have her on the cover of Glamour. Maybe by then she’ll have grown up a bit more.

Right now her "life-changing" relationship was her first "real" relationship at age 13 with Nick Jonas. Well, maybe I’m wrong, but I imagine anyone’s first real relationship is life changing because well…. it’s your first even if it was "hard core". But hey, her life is moving at a higher speed than most people. They don’t have their first life-changing relationship until they’re 19 or 20, she claims. It gets better though. Next she goes on about her new boyfriend Justin Gaston:

“The best thing that’s happened to me in a long, long time has been meeting Justin [Gaston]," she moons. "He’s the most respectful and selfless person I’ve ever known.”

A long, long time? Let’s see, dated Nick Jonas at 13 for two years. Now she’s 15. Just turned 16 in November. How long exactly would you consider "a long, long time" to be?

I realize she’s promoting her new movie, Hannah Montana: The Movie, which is after all rated G. But Glamour, I know you can do better than this. Even Whitney Port, Cosmopolitan’s choice for May (not a strong cover either, but oh well) would have been a better choice.

Thia makes me a little sad inside.

Little Internet Joys

With Monday approaching shortly, I thought I'd share a few distractions I've recently discovered. Sometimes you just need a few minutes to do something completely aimless, you know?

- Dead at Your Age: I'll admit; this site is a little strange. You can learn about famous people who died at your age or younger. But useless bits of information are always entertaining.

- Monster Tetris Game: I can tell you now that I have never finished a game and probably never will. In fact, sometimes I get bored after about five minutes. But if you're a Tetris-lover, this just might be your Heaven.

- Life is Short. Synopit.: Ok, I confess I haven't used this one before, but it still intrigues me. Since we're always on the go, this site apparently summarizes long articles. If you try it, let me know how it goes.

- Bubble Wrap: The title says it all. I kind of love this one.

- Twistori: According to Twitter, it's a social experiment type-thing. I don't get it, but it still entertains.

I hope you still get things done during your day though.

Wake-Up Call

SELF magazine had a really interesting article in the March 2009 issue, “Single, pregnant and panicked.” When I read it, it shocked me and made me think. Then Salon.com wrote a blog post about the article, and it made me want to talk about it here.

The general point of the story in SELF is this: Unexpected teen pregnancies are not the bulk of unexpected pregnancies. That said, guess who makes up the bulk. Females in their 20s do. Women like me. Wow.

The beginning of the post on Salon.com starts with this: “About half of American women will have an accidental pregnancy before the age of 45.” I’m sure that not all of those women are single, nor are all of those pregnancies are unwanted. In fact, to be honest, I was unexpected. My parents were planning on waiting another year or so, but clearly I was a little impatient to get my life started.

But why the (for the most part) college-educated woman in her 20s? Some ideas include getting married later in life, but still being sexually active; living with their partners; and even being forced into having unprotected sex. SELF continues to say that birth rates may have increased because more unmarried women are deciding to keep their babies. I think maybe it’s partly a lack of education about the proper use of birth control or just not properly using birth control or this ridiculous notion some of us have that “it will never happen to me.”

But I think this quote says a lot: "It's confusing to talk about it," says Shanti Kulkarni, Ph.D., assistant professor in the department of social work at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. "It's easier to coalesce around this idea that it's not good for teenagers to get pregnant. It's not as clear what pregnancy means for the life of a woman in her 20s." For some women, surprise motherhood ends up being the blessing of a lifetime. Others choose abortion with no regrets. But the high rate of unintended pregnancy remains distressing, Kulkarni says, because "it suggests that women are not as in control of their sexuality and childbearing as we would hope."

Scary, isn’t it though? How do you go about solving it? Or should it be labeled as a problem? You can’t really tell a 20-something-year-old woman that sex is bad. You can tell her unprotected sex is bad, but chances are she knows that. What approach do you take? I’m glad SELF decided to run this story though because at least it brings about awareness.

The part Salon.com picks up is that in all the examples of SELF the women either give the child up for adoption or keep their child, but end up needing support from family. The article lacks two major points of view: the women who had an abortion and the woman who kept her baby and continued to support herself and child. I kind of agree. Thanks SELF for bringing this out into the public, but we need to flesh out the whole story. What happens to those women? What was their decision making process like? Do they come out ok, too?

By sharing all sides of the story, doesn’t that make you a little more educated at least in your choices should you ever become pregnant? And beyond the women, what about the men? I know SELF is a woman’s magazine, but shouldn’t someone inform men that, guess what, this girl in the story could be your girlfriend, and you’re about to have a baby.

I’ve never been in this situation, and I pray I never am. I’ve known a lot of women in this position though. So not to be a Debbie Downer, but remember, a lot of you are 20-something-year-old women, a lot of you are dating 20-something-year-old women, a lot of you have 20-something-year-old daughters, a lot of you have sons who are dating 20-something-year-old women.

Please read both stories. Let it sink in. If you want to chat about it, leave a comment or e-mail me.

PS: If you plan to comment about it, I’d prefer no negativity. I realize everyone’s opinions are different, but being that this is my blog, I ask you to be respectful. Otherwise, I’ll delete the comment. The point of this post is to bring awareness; not to judge.

You've Got To Be Kidding

As we all know, entry-level media jobs are far and few between. Minimally paid internships are also getting much harder to find.

This leaves behind the unpaid internship, which is fine during the college years when you still have health insurance and your parents to support you. But after college, with no money, no place to live and no health insurance, the unpaid internship becomes nearly impossible, too. What's an aspiring journalist to do?

Wait, wait, it doesn't stop there. In fact, it's getting WORSE. Your opportunity at an unpaid internship may disappear soon, too! Why? Because your mom decided she wanted to learn new skills to keep up with you (yet fails to see that you are still unemployed).

Don't believe me? Watch the video.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Please, dear media, come back to life.

Age is Just a Number, Right?

To be honest, at least once a week, I'm reminded that I look much much younger than my actual age. Great; I'll love it when I'm 40. Regardless of what I look like, my birth date can't lie. As I move through my 20s, I continually feel older.

A recent example: As I've posted before, my friends and I recently went to a Britney Spears concert. The girl sitting next to my friend announces, "I haven't seen Britney in concert since I was six!" For the record, Baby One More Time (her first big hit) was released in October '98 and didn't become a #1 hit on Billboard until January '99. AHHH!

Anyways, since I'm starting to feel old, I thought I'd share a way to make you feel old, too. Thanks to Billboard.com's Flashback Charts, you can find out what was the #1 song on your birthday, hs graduation, wedding date, etc.

On my birthday, the number one hit was "That's What Friends Are For" by Dionne Warwick and Friends.



What was playing when you were born?