In honor of the new genpink redesign (OH you’ve been reading via RSS and haven’t noticed?) we are introducing new and existing contributors to genpink. Let’s get started:

Teacher Girl

Coffee or tea?

Definitely coffee. I am Hispanic and I have memories of drinking coffee before I could talk. I had espresso in my bottle. Now, I am a recovering Starbucks addict, but I still have a gold card and go way too often.

Best advice for life in your twenties in 5 words?

Be patient, life is unpredictable.

Favorite quote:

“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.” -Anonymous

What makes you different?

I am severely independent and yet all I really want in life is someone to grow old with and take care of me. I am funny, passionate, and worry way to much. I am spontaneous and love organization.

Favorite pink thing?

Shoes! I have three pairs of pink shoes and I love them. A pair of wedges, a pair of stilettos, and my new glitter pumps.

If we were to buy you a present where should we look?

Either a bookstore or an office supply store. Office supplies seriously make me excited. If you buy me special post-its, I might just make love to you.

In honor of the new genpink redesign (OH you’ve been reading via RSS and haven’t noticed?) we are introducing new and existing contributors to genpink. Let’s get started:

Tiersa Buckley

Coffee or tea?

Coffee Definitely. It’s my morning life juice that gets my day started in the right direction. That is, if I don’t spill on myself before 8:00.

Best advice for life in your twenties in 5 words?

Listen more than you talk.

Favorite quote:

I don’t really have one.

What makes you different?

I guess what makes me who I am is my endless supply of creative imagination.

Favorite pink thing?

The flush in my daughter’s cheeks.

If we were to buy you a present where should we look?

Ann Taylor

If we are living by the teenager motto that it’s not official until it’s Facebook official... then we are OFFICIALLY engaged!

And because I do not want GenPink to get hijacked by all things wedding I created wedding.genpink.com! Stay tuned there for updates, inspiration and any other pretty pink wedding things that come to my head. Or you can subscribe via email. I’m planning on doing the same contributor model on that blog so if you are currently wedding planning, or recently married and have tips you’d like to share let me know and I’ll get you details.

We are also accepting any wedding sponsor offers ;) preferably in the pink, black and white color scheme!

I have about 6 weeks left in my 20s. I am pretty sure the normal reaction to turning 30 is freakout, but I am not really phased. I am proud of where I am in my life, my career, with my relationships and very much looking forward to what’s next.

In the 4 years since the launch of GenPink I’ve done two very successful guest post sets. I usually ask people behind the scenes to contribute based on a select topic and then do a big reveal once the posts are lined up. This time I decided to do it differently. Since I am turning 30 in February I have decided the theme of this series (starting January 1) will be Things to Do Before 30. I have seen any number of lists that include “25 Things I Want to Do Before 25″. Most of these lists are written by one person, I think it’ll be interesting to see what a collection of people come up with. Who knows, maybe we will end up with 100 cool things to do before age 30. I also know that one person’s wishlist to-do will not necessarily be on anothers.

So… this is where you come in, if you are:

1) Under 30*
2) Interested in guest posting (you don’t have to be a blogger)
3) Have something interesting that you’d like to accomplish by the time YOU turn 30

I’d like to invite you to submit a guest post. If you have previously guest posted on GenPink you can submit your post here (don’t worry you can email yourself your password). If you have never written on GenPink just send your finished post to guest@genpink.com.

Deadline is January 1.

Future post to come on how I’m choosing to ring in age 30. Hint: it involves costumes!!

*If you are over 30, (any age!) I’d love submissions on one something you are glad that you did before you turned 30. I’ll probably share this set after I turn the BIG 3.0.

This guest post was submitted by a reader of GenPink. If you’d like to submit a topic or post idea you can do so here:

If you’re looking for a good relationship that is faithful and loving to your mind, body and soul, Zumba just might be just what the doctor ordered.  First of all you might be asking what is “Zumba” and how can he heal my broken heart?!

Trying something new and venturing outside of your self is a great place to start the healing process.  You may have had the worst date of your life or just be depressed from a bad relationship.  Zumba really is the perfect man to work out all the day’s problems or woes. 

First of all, Zumba does not judge.  

He is a hip and stylish lover of all curves and body types. He likes to have fun and adds some spice to your life by taking your feet on the trip of a lifetime. Forget the dating sites and head to the gym! 

You’ll be able to spot this Latin lover quite easily, just by the sound of his voice.  He combines smooth moves with a new and interesting flair for sexy salsa beats and classic ethnic rhythms.  Updated and sassy, he really is the perfect date for young swaggers who like to move and groove. 

This guy wants you to shake your booty in front of him for at least an hour!  In fact, he demands it.  If dancing is your forte, he will mosey up easily to you and turn on his charm.  He is kind and gentle and at the same time he can overlook footwork flaws as long as you keep the relationship moving.

Mr. Zumba will introduce you to a cross between a hot Mexican party and great workout sex.  Zumba will leave you sweating, panting and wanting more.  You will find he will even work muscles you didn’t even know you had. His closet is full of an endless array of sexy music and themed outfits for taking the dance floor by storm.   He treats every woman as a goddess and will transport you to another world.

He is a man that can be counted on. 

Trustworthy, he is there without fail three times a week and will not sacrifice your comfort level to tailor it to his own needs.   He even gives you the fle

I am only 22 years old and I can’t have everything yet.
The belief that the very second you are handed a college degree you are also going to land a glamorous job, live comfortably in a modern apartment in the city and hobnob every night with all of the most successful 20-somethings in the industry…is far-fetched. Has anyone else noticed this is exactly how our parents’ generation tends to stereotype us Gen-Y-ers? As entitled brats who have no grasp on the meaning of hard work? I think of myself as the proud antitheses to that stereotype.

Now, I know I’m not the only one. But I also know there are many who are somehow clinging to that belief, and its unfortunate. Because they are setting themselves up for plain old pain (and also making the rest of us look bad).

My belief that a lot of people still have this completely ludicrous expectation for an automatically dispensed lifestyle is confirmed by one thing. The amount of people my age I’ve seen roll into a pit of depression once they add up the numbers and, “Wait, I’m negative? What now? Can I pay rent with an AmEx?” is disturbing. They are shocked to see there is no way they can afford to move out of mom & dad’s house while working their entry level job and making car payments on their brand new Jetta. Fat chance. Not unless they want to give up $10 cocktails, weekend trips away, and many other unnecessary things they thought simply landing a full-time job authorized them to indulge in. And, oh, how tragic would that be?

Do you know what I realized post-grad?

Reality is not cocktail hour schmoozing, mani-pedi’s, and mimosas every weekend while living in a charming apartment uptown.
Reality is working as many hours as you can get your hands on (50+ between three jobs) because maybe getting a full-time position in your career field isn’t going to happen right away but that shouldn’t be enough to stop you from chasing your goals. Reality is doing what you have to do until you get there.
Reality for this girl is moving into an apartment on the less fortunate side of town where the paper-thin walls revealing a mother screaming at her crying babies in Spanish every morning. Because rent is expensive and day-to-day life, minus the luxury, isn’t cheap. Reality was working three jobs at minimum wage until I could use my degree full-time.

Imagine my shock when I realized Sex & The City was not exactly true-to-life for a 20 year old. That shock lasted about one month, when the job offers didn’t exactly come pouring in this summer. I did what I had to do, and I’m happy about it. Trust me, it doesn’t do you any good to be bitter because your fairy godmother didn’t drop your dream job (as a fashion columnist) in your lap.

Just because you arent living glamorously yet does not mean you never will.
You are only twenty-something.

My advice & realization: Do not waste your time complaining. So what if you don’t have the money to do whatever you want? Who does? So what if sometimes you have to still eat ramen for dinner (I happen to love ramen, actually. So it worked out for me)? Learn how to cut corners and still be fabulous. Enjoy the treasure hunt that is thrift store shopping and save money. Learn how to love the taste of home-brewed coffee and save the Starbucks for special occasions. Learn how to pack a lunch instead of eating out every day. Be realistic.

Working hard for what you have is more to be proud of than being born into riches and never expecting or tolerating anything different.

The words that I live by:
It is only up from here. I will not be in this place forever, but I’ll enjoy it for what it is. Nothing will feel better than earning an upgrade someday.

Spend your 20’s enjoying what you’ve worked for so far, and dreaming about what your continued hard work will someday earn you.
But you don’t need it all now. You’re only twenty-something.

One of the first things people ask when the meet me is how I managed to become a home owner. When I tell them that I was just 22 when I closed on my town home, the questions usually start flowing. How on earth does a twenty-something make such a large and important purchase? While it is not easy, it is certainly not impossible, and it really can be a sound financial decision  for your future.

If you think about it, most 20-somethings spend a large portion of their income on living expenses like rent and utilities. Instead of just giving that money to someone and never seeing it again, how cool would it be if that money could go into an investment? Let’s face it, rent is money that you are literally throwing away, but a mortgage payment is something that goes toward your ownership of a property, something most people don’t obtain until much later in life.

Now, there are some major challenges to buying a house in your 20’s, one of the main ones being that you have to have already decided where you want to live, unless you plan to simply buy the property as an investment and rent it out, but that’s another topic entirely. Many 20-somethings are figuring their lives out and that includes where they want to spend it. For me, the choice to stay in the city where I went to college was one that I fell into, but I don’t regret it for a second. I have my home here and a job I love, I just have to hope the other things fall in to place.

Another challenge is that you may also believe that you won’t qualify financially for a home. After all, buying a house is probably the biggest purchase you will ever make, but the reality is that now is one of the best times that you could possibly be in the market to buy a home. Many houses are selling for way under their market value as the economy tries to make a comeback. Homes that us 20-somethings might never have gotten approved for 5 years ago are now within reach today.

If you are seriously thinking about buying a home in your 20’s, here are the three main things you need to do before you buy.

1. Get your finances in order and begin talking to a mortgage broker about your financial options. Before you can go home shopping, you need to know how much home you can afford. Find out how much your monthly mortgage payments would be and make sure you factor in any homeowner’s association costs plus utilities and home repair. Many 20-somethings will qualify for FHA (Federal Housing Administration) loans, which require minimal down payments on homes (I did and my down payment was less than $5K.

2. Find a reputable real estate agent whom you trust and who listens to your needs. Trust me, you need an agent. They can negotiate deals that would make your head spin. My agent was able to get the price of my house knocked down by nearly $50K and he found out about homes that weren’t even on the open market yet. He was a major source of support when one of my deals didn’t go through. I can’t stress this enough: you need an agent.

3. Decide how much home you need. Do you want to live in a condo, a townhouse, or a single family home? Do you want to have to take care of a yard and landscaping? Do you need a garage? When I was home shopping, I was shown houses that had garages and yards, but I knew that I simply did not want to deal with any of that stuff. I ended up buying a 2 bedroom 2.5 bath townhouse because I didn’t want to live in a condo building and I wanted to rent out my second bedroom to make my mortgage more affordable. I also knew that 2 bedrooms would be great while I was single, but if I did meet someone and we wanted to live in my house, 2 bedrooms would be space enough. I also needed an in-home washer/dryer and big closets. Decide your non-negotiable up front.

Buying a home as a 20-something is neither crazy nor impossible. True, there are many pros and cons to buying a home at such a young age, but for me, the positives outweighed every negative aspect that came up. Something to always remember is that if five years down the road you did change your mind and want to move somewhere else, renting out your home is always an option. Once you invest in a home, that investment is yours and yours alone. Though being a single, 20-something, female homeowner is not always a walk in the park, it is something that I have not regretted in the nearly four years I have owned my home.

Teacher Girl is a 20-something lifestyle blogger who blogs at www.teachergirlblogs.com.  Have more questions about buying a home? Feel free to contact her at teachergirlblogs@gmail.com or via Twitter @tgblogs.

Ironically I’m at a conference about blogging but I haven’t had time to stop and blog (aka I fail at NaBloPoMo). However, the good news is BlogWorld gave me soo many ideas! So, very cool stuff to come. In the mean time I shared a few of my fav quotes on Facebook.com/genpink and my personal Google+.

What would you like to see next from Genpink?

I know my live-by-the-planner-bestie may glare at me for saying this but … In your twenties you can do all the planning you like. You can plan to graduate with honors. Plan to get a kickass internship far far away from your parents. You can plan to ask that hottie at work out and you can plan to pick the salad over the pasta. There is a false idea of what the word “plan” really means. Plan is not set in stone. Plan is not a fortune teller, and plan is not an enforcer.

If you stopped and looked today, are you currently living in your 5 year plan from 5 years ago? Mine is similar with a change of cast. Turning 30 will do that for ya, out with the old in with the new!

How do you treat plans in you life?

In honor of the new genpink redesign (OH you’ve been reading via RSS and haven’t noticed?) we are introducing new and existing contributors to genpink. Let’s get started:

Jenny Blake

Coffee or tea?

Coffee: skim cappuccino to be specific. LOVE the ones with fancy designs in the foam — see Exhibit A!

Best advice for life in your twenties in 5 words?

Live big, start small. Enjoy :)

Favorite quote:

“Action is the antidote to despair.” –Joan Baez

What makes you different?

Hmmm, tough question! I like to think we’re all more similar than we are different…but I do wear a zebra-print retainer to bed at night.

Favorite pink thing?

Red velvet cupcakes? Okay, fine, those are red. Pink velvet cupcakes!

If we were to buy you a present where should we look?

My Amazon.com wishlist — every time I get a book in the mail it’s like a little slice of Christmas!