Table of Contents
Introduction xiii
1 Health and Body Image
Living Inside a Real Body
Stress: The Root of Most Evil
An Exercise Regimen You Can Stick With
Why You've Got to Get Enough Sleep
Eat This Up: A Healthy Diet That's a Cinch
When Bad Habits Get the Best of You
Things Suck and They're Not Getting Better
Seeking Timely Medical Care
HMOs, POS Plans, and That Viper COBRA
2 Careers and Work
What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?
Résumés and Cover Letters
Networking: Wiring Your Connections
Ace Every Interview Every Time
Graduate School: Now or Never?
Internships: Golden Ticket or Slave Labor?
Temping Without Contempt
Being an Assistant Before You're the Boss
Talking to the Boss
Email Etiquette: Your Job on the Line
When Good Jobs Go Dreadfully Awry
Follow Your Heart
3 Money and Finance
Your Money and Your Life
The Id and Superego of Spending
Girl Walks Into a Bank
The Simplest Retirement Plan Explanation Ever
Credit Cards: The Gateway Drug?
Sallie Mae's No Poor Farm Girl in a Gingham Pinafore
Bankruptcy: The Land of the Lost
A Beginner's Guide to Investing
You're Special, but on April 15, We're All Equal
Neither a Borrower nor a Lender Be
Special Section 2 Two Gargantuan Purchases: Car and Home 163
4 Etiquette It's Not About the Fork 175
Everyday Dos and Don'ts
Restaurants and Bars Done Classy
How to Host a Kick-Ass Gathering
The Houseguest: A Blessing and a Curse
Weddings: The Stuff They Forgot to Tell You
Contact in an Increasingly Barbaric World
How to Be Social
Old-Fashioned but Still Fashionable
The Fine Line Between Dignified and Dictatorial
5 The Company You Keep 211
Being There
What Kind of Friend Are You?
Your Ever-Changing Friend Lineup
Where Are All My New Friends?
Friends in Different Income Brackets
Traveling with Friends
Who Left Her Dirty Underwear on the Sofa?
Letting Friends Change
Catfight Club
Balancing Friendship and Courtship
Defriending: A Delicate Enterprise
The Chosen Family
6 Dating, Sex, and Romance 243
Loving Yourself First: Corny but Necessary
What the Best Dates Have in Common
Text and Date without Going Bananas
The Drunken Hookup
You Con Text First
The Messy Intersection of Dating and Social Media
Let's Talk about Sex
Birth Control and STDs
Casual Sex
In It for the Long Term
Relationship Timelines
How to Have a Love Affair
Breaking Up Without Going to Pieces
7 Getting Along with Your Family 295
Seeing Your Parents as Real People
Making Your Siblings Your Allies
Home for the Holidays
Why Can't We Share a Bed? Partner, Meet Family
Should Your Parents Be Your BFFs?
Moving Home Doesn't Make You a Loser
Accepting Money from Your Parents
The Good Daughter
Family Full Circle
8 Spirituality
Spirituality: Defining the Indefinable
"There Are Hundreds of Ways to Kneel and Kiss the Ground"
Spirituality and Ethics
Your Social Conscience
When Things Fall Apart
Do a Tech Fast
It's All Process
9 Home EC for Modern Times
How to Find a Place to Live
How to Keep House
Hassle-Free Laundry
Tailoring for Those Who Hate It
Cooking for One
Handywoman Special
Creepy, Crawly Roommates
One Last Thing
10 Fashion Sense for Any Era
Foundation Items
Figuring Out What Looks Best on You
Designer Names for Less
Closet Overhaul: What to Dump
Bras, Panties, and the Dreaded "Body Shaper"
Hygiene and Maintenance
Hair You (Might) Wish Wasn't there
How to Get a Haircut You Don't Hate
After a Fashion: Parting Words
In Closing …
Appendices 415
Acknowledgments 427
Resources 429
Index 437
