Plan B: Dressmaker

Chances are, I'll be an unemployed college graduate come May. As much as I love hearing those happy-go-lucky stories about girls getting their dream job offers on the morning of graduation (Atoosa, I'm lookin' at you)—and as optimistic as I am—I realize that things like that don't happen in this economy.

If I do find myself with an empty schedule, I have already come up with something more productive than laying around my parent's pool re-reading a stack of my favorite paperbacks (which doesn't sound so bad).

I'm going to dust off my sewing machine and work my way through Built by Wendy Dresses, designer Wendy Mullin's new guide to "making a girl's best frock." That way, when I do find a job (or when I'm forced back to college to get a more practical degree) I'll have a closet full of new dresses.

How to Make It in... NYC

I love Entourage. I love Kid Cudi. And most of all I love New York.

So I will, without a doubt, love the new HBO series How to Make It in America. It is produced by Mark Wahlberg, the creator, writer, and occasional cameo actor of Entourage. It stars Bryan Greenberg, Lake Bell, Samaire Armstrong, and, yes, Kid Cudi. It is about a generation of young creative types who pack their bags and, with a little money and a lot of ambition, move to the greatest city in the United States.

Over the past few years, I have spent quite a lot of time wondering how—and if—I will be able to make it in the city that never sleeps. I have no job, no apartment, and what seems like no life skills that will be necessary to survive on my own.

The first episode, which debuts on Sunday and is already available online, has given me a bit of reassurance. Like the characters in the show, I enjoy working hard (they would call it hustling, I would call it writing), I am an eternal optimist, and I can survive on a little sleep and a lot of coffee.