In August my two best girl friends from college and I took our first road trip. The three of us packed our bags - me from NC, one from NY and the other from Maryland - and drove my four-door Mazda Protege from Richmond, Virginia to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Our four-day weekend consisted of walking along the beach, sitting on our beach chairs on the beautiful sand, riding rollercoasters at Family Kingdom and visiting two of the Ripley's attractions. Our meals consisted of finger-licking barbecue from Sticky Fingers and a seafood buffet at Captian George's. Our adventure out of town was exciting and relaxing, but the most memorable part was the purchase of my ring.

We definitely wanted to do some shopping and since I was the official trip planner, I knew Broadway At The Beach was the place to go. One thing I've learned about vacations is you spend alot of money and you come back home exhausted. We didn't even hit the tip of the iceberg at Broadway - there are shops everywhere! I learned later this is THE place for nightlife in Myrtle Beach, but we were in bed way before the night crowd hit the town.

Out of all the wonderful shops the local Christian store caught my eyes. As we walked in I thought to ask if they had what I've wanted for so long - a promise ring. At my church our young high school girls participated in a purity ceremony to make a promise to the church, themselves and God they would keep themselves until marriage. What an amazing challenge in a sex-driven society.

The store had several of these promise rings on display. My eyes scanned each one trying to find the perfect one. My fingers are short and fat so I knew I needed something that fit comfortably and I found the perfect one. I brought the ring, placed it on my finger as almost a fashion statement.

That was two months ago. When I first put it on I felt like one of the girls. All of the single ladies at the church are wearing them, but I wonder if the promise was as much a burden to them as it was for me - initally. A promise to God? Wow, can we say big deal? But the problem for me was I gave the ring too much credit. I treated it like I was a superhero and everytime I put it on I had a forcefield around me. Need strength against temptation? Put on the ring and say goodbye to all your worries. Uh - yea right.

I know the ring simply isn't enough. The promise has to become a personal committment to self-empowerment. My ring says "True Love Waits." I know there are plenty of people who doubt waiting is the best way to go, but for me it has become the most wonderful decision of my life. Now I can refocus my energy on the things that truly matter to me and allow God to bless me in that area when the time is right.

So my "True Love" will meet me and see my ring finger and ask what it means. And I'll say, its a reminder of the one who truly loves me completely.

Here's a picture of me and my girls. We're bracing for drop on the log ride:

Sperling's BestPlaces says the New York Times got it all wrong last year. Many single women, like myself, sighed at the news that confirmed our inner thoughts - no one is getting married any more!

Last year, the New York Times published the results of its census study that 51% of U.S. women live without a spouse. Sperling's discovered the Times census study considered single women as young as 15 years old and over the age 65.

Fortunately in our country and in 2007,  15 year olds weren't getting married any more. This means their 51% wasn't accurate. 

Sperling's restricted their census data to single, widowed, and divorced women age 25-64. Sperling's conclusion is significantly different than the New York Times. With this cap on age, less women single - only 34%. Big-time celebration for single women!  

I'm surprised to know the gap between single men and women isn't as wide as previously thought. Sperling's report says the U.S. has about 6% more single women than single men.

Now single women can sigh - in relief. There's still hope for us.

Here are the top 5 best cities for singles - sorry, there are no Hampton Roads cities on the list.

Check out Sperling's full list of  the country's Best Places for Singles. 

MySpace is a blessing and a curse - depending on how you look at it.

Sometimes I look through my friends pages and there are times I wish I didn't look. I see all the wonderful things going on in their lives and I look at mine and wonder if I'm doing all I can to succeed.

I've decided to take a vacation from looking and get to the business of living.  I realize you can look at everyone's lives as a spectator or you can go about living your own.

Social media networks are a great way to network, but looking up information on former classmates or old boyfriends can become an obsession if you let it.

From October until December 2008 I'm determined to put my eyes back on the prize and find out who I am. 

My birthday is two months away and I worry I've spent my 20's looking instead of living. I don't want to celebrate my next birthday carrying so much baggage into a new year.

I definitely have some work to do!

After church I usually have the same routine - I grab the Sunday newspaper, eat dinner and read the comics. My favorite comic strips are For Better Or For Worse, Classic Peanuts, Garfield, Dilbert, The Family Circus, Blondie and Beetle Bailey. Doing my regular routine I opened today's comics and immediate went for my ultimate favorite - For Better Or For Worse. Last week's strip should have told me something was up. As I read I notice today's strip is a summary of the lives of the characters. In the last scene the creater, Lynn Johnson, thanks all her loyal readers and then tells us shes' starting the strip over again with new characters. Leave it to me to get teary-eyed.I mean Grandpa Jim passed away at age 89 - that was enough to make me want to really cry. Sure its just a story, but I love reading. For me its a great pass time.

I still love For Better Or For Worse! I'm going to miss my characters but I look forward to meeting the new characters. 

Check out their website - its like the characters have a life of their own!   http://www.fborfw.com/char_pgs/deanna/

 Adrianne Jeffries isn't lying about the growing amount of debt teens face. But teens aren't alone.  Young adults between the ages of 21-30 are in serious debt too.

Yesterday I was sitting in the parking lot waiting for my clothes to finish at the laundrymat when I took a deep breath and pulled my check registry from my purse. With dread I flipped open the book and checked my account online to make another attempt to balance my check book. I'm getting better at it, but for some reason I really hate doing it. I love dishing the cash out, but when it comes to actually knowing what's in my account brings on a load of guilt and frustration.

Gas prices and the basic cost of necessities are really causing me to rethink my spending. Yesterday I decided I need to get anal about my finances. Usually that word would be definitely a negative thing, but the only way I see myself really getting better about my finances is to buckle down and actually track where my spending is going.

I already know where some of the problem is... shopping. Just today I stopped in MacArthur Center and left with $9 worth of new earrings. Not a real expensive purchase, but  after I heard the price and slid the card I immediately thought did I really need them? The challenge for me is to determine my needs from the wants. My other problem is I buy lotions, body wash, soap and other toiletries way too much. I still haven't used up the Victoria's Secret and Bath and Body Works sale items from last year. It has to stop somewhere. So Victoria's Secret and other stores may not see me as much.. its a reality many Americans are facing which, of course, affects the economy. If young adults, like myself, are going to survive and climb out of debt we have to start with acknowledging there's a problem. Then develope a game plan to solve it.

For the next two months I plan to review my spending and really scale everything down. I don't have major debts, but I'm to the point now where if I lost my job I'd be in big trouble. That's such a scary thought. I have to turn this around. The next two months will be a huge start.

That's my goal- what's yours?  What are you doing to get out of debt?

Check out Adrianne's article on HamptonRoads.com here: hamptonroads.com/2008/08/teens-falling-debt

Check out the newest member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. - Barbie!  Mattel Inc. decided to create a limited-edition Barbie doll in honor of the 100th anniversity of the sorority. 

Check out the article on our Barbie here: www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/1042314,CST-NWS-barbie07.article

Attending my first National AKA Convention

Over 35,000 members of the sorority will travel to Washington, D.C. from July 11 through July 18th for our bi-annual  national convention.  This year's event is especially sentimental for the sorority because it is a milestone year. Only one other member of the Divine Nine - The nine intercollegiate sororities and fraternities for African-Americans - and that was Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

This event will be a personal milestone for me as well - its my first convention and first full-week vacation. After working two and three jobs struggling to make ends meet I finally get to just sit down and relax for one week. I'm excited.

I'm just amazed at how far the women of my sorority have come since 1908. The emotional part of it all is knowing your apart of history.

Washington DC here I come! I'm looking forward to braving the Metro system and trying to budget my money in this major city. Ever been to DC? Let me know your tips for budgting.

Can public service work actually wipe-out student loan debt? 

According to Kathy Kristof of the LA Times it can. So what's the catch?   Apparently on the "debt-forgiveness provision of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, enacted last fall"  was passed to "encourage college graduates to enter -- and stay in -- public service careers that many people might spurn in favor of better-paying jobs." 

The big question is, what is considered a public service job? 

The program applies to anyone who:

• Works full-time for a state, federal or local government -- including police officers, firefighters, the military and public school teachers.
• Applies to some people outside of government, including employees of tax-exempt, nonprofit organizations and those working in emergency services, public interest law or public child care, healthcare or social work.

Check out more about this at: www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-perfin29-2008jun29,0,4908212.column

And at: www.nasfaa.org/publications/2007/G2669Summary091007.html#forgiveness

Check out this too: http://law-career.blogspot.com/2007/09/college-cost-reduction-and-access-act.html

I'd like to know who's benefiting from this already and is it really worth the effort to get started?

I'm officially a VCU Ram!

Last Friday I made the journey from Virginia Beach to Richmond for registration. I found out my academic program begins at the end of the summer and would only be three hours. To make sure I had enough money to cover my classes I requested an independent study. The name alone makes you think you'll breeze through with an A plus, but its actually a great time to study a subject in your field.

Since I'm a journalist at heart, I decided to pursue a multi-media presentation. Question was, what would my subject be and how could I bring justice to a subject in less than a month. As I browsed through topics and discussed them with my advisor, the main thing on my mind was I wanted to touch on a topic that was relevant to today. Immediately I thought about gas prices and homes being foreclosed. My advisor suggested a study on homelessness in my area. I was excited to find out the City of Norfolk is the leading city in the country with the best implemented homelessness program.  The National Alliance to End Homelessness in Washington, D.C. is excited about the progress our local city has made. The plan posted on the website is from 2004/05 but my goal is to go through the plan objectively and see what has happened, what will happen and what can be done better. This will be a journalistic look into the eyes of homelessness. I'm looking forward to putting this all together within the next few months.

Has homelessness really decreased in Norfolk? And has the economy made this problem worse?

Check out the City of Norfolk Blueprint of the Plan to End Homelessness and tell me what you think.  www.endhomelessness.org/content/article/detail/635

 The cliche'd expression "between a rock and a hard place" describes my life so well these days. In about a month I'm starting the Strategic Public Relations graduate program at Virginia Commonwealth and I'm thinking.  With gas prices rising weekly I seriously have to consider if its possible to travel two hours away for 12 weeks per semester. The economy is making everyone I know have second thoughts about everything from purchasing food in the grocery store to getting in the car and turning on the A/C in 100 degree weather - I had to turn mine on today and suffer in the wallet later.  The hardest thing is making decisions that affect your future and you aren't sure if its good or bad.

If I move then I have to find a job and a place to live; I have a place to live and a job I enjoy right now. Then I consider will I be able to fully focus on my studies. But on the other hand, would I focus on my studies if I moved? Either way it looks like I'll have to make a choice that will require some sacrifices. I'm already sacrificing my wonderfully hard-fought weekends, but I realize to get what you want, you have to give up what's most precious to stay afloat.

A month ago I watched the news in tears as a woman gave up her dog in order to move into an apartment that didn't allow dogs. What a sad choice to make. She simply couldn't afford her home any longer after losing her job.  The state of the economy has made us all do things we normally wouldn't do.

I have a month to make a decision and I'm going into the month dragging my feet a bit. I just don't want to do the wrong thing. I'll have to let you know what I decide.

Are you making tough economic decisions? I'd love to hear about them. Leave a comment, or e-mail me at mariadjames@gmail.com..

It has been a few months since I've blogged and I have some pretty great things to share:

1. I've lost 10 lbs, but gained 2 back, so the war of the weight loss is still going on.

2.  I've decided to transfer graduate programs from Regent to Virginia Commonwealth University. I received the green light verbally that I've been accepted into the program, but I'm waiting to get the official e-mail or letter in the mail before I jump for joy. I'm excited because the program is only a year and its on the weekends.

I can't believe its almost summer! That's another great thing to celebrate.  I am hoping to have more good new to share later this week!  Let me know what great thing is happening with you here on this blog or tell me at mariadjames@gmail.com.