Brianne Garcia

I’m not making any argument for or against Facebook, or debating how much exposure to creating various profiles online should be deemed appropriate, but I have noticed that, in any case, the way young girls see themselves and the ways in which their self-image develops during puberty is probably and almost undeniably changing.

Don’t freak out, but if you’re reading this, you’re probably single. You already knew this, of course, but sometimes it stings a little when a total stranger points fingers and is all like “You’re alone!” But no worries: being single in 2012 is going to be pee-your-pants awesome and abundantly fulfilling.

These four little words, when left dangling at the end of a sentence like a cancerous limb, can result in a mental breakdown for the person on the receiving end of this inconsiderate conjunction…especially if typed via text message, IM, bbm or Facebook message.

Feeling important makes you an obsessive barbarian drunk on yourself. Feeling wanted makes you a human being high on someone else. Big diff. Learn your drugs.

So, after nearly a year spent in New York becoming a real New Yorker (I can give directions to tourists! I’ve made it!), I flew home to St. Louis for a long weekend. Within this time frame, I realized lots of surprising, juicy new bits about myself, thanks in part to lots of reflection and my mother’s not-so-subtle observations of how the Big City changed me.

Finding a size 8 in a pile shouldn’t be a conquest, it should just BE. I know, I know. This is an age-old complaint, that the fashion world shuns those who can’t effortlessly slip into sample sizes. But that’s the runway. That’s the cover of Vogue. That’s the movies. This is a store in New York that is only notches above Zara or H&M.