How to be Smarter: “Tea deserves special mention on any list of the world’s healthiest foods. The second most widely consumed beverage in the world (after water), all forms of tea (black, oolong, white, green and the newer Yerba Matte) are loaded with antioxidants and anti-inflammatories.” (Source: “Healthiest Foods on Earth,” msn.com). 

How to be Prettier: Acid wash jeans are going to be huge for fall. If you can’t get on-board with the pure acid wash, full-on jeans for fall, start with an acid washed jean skirt. 

How to be (less) Awkward: Don’t assume people spend their days stalking you on facebook. “Well, I’m sure you saw the pictures of my Alps vacation on facebook…” is not an appropriate way to respond when someone asks you how you are doing. It sounds pretentious.

How to be Smarter: Fun fact to chew on: “McDonald’s has made more millionaires, and especially black and Hispanic millionaires, than any other economic entity ever, anywhere” (source: Washington Post). 

How to be Prettier: If you eat too much for dinner, it is a salad for lunch the next day. Simplest diet plan I know; easiest to follow. 

How to be (less) Awkward: If you find a hair in your food, assume it is yours; there is also no need for the rest of the table to know about it.

How to be Smarter: There is a lot of emphasis in America on what you do for a job and the way you earn money. But don’t confuse what you do to make money with what you do to make you happy, and don’t let your answer to the question “where do you work?” or “what is your title?” define yourself, for good or for bad. 

How to be Prettier: I think it is so beautiful when people wear colors that match their eyes.

How to be (less) Awkward: You are a big girl. Big girls don’t hang up on people when they are mad or being annoying. You say goodbye like a civilized person at all times.

How to be Smarter: The book “Ignore Everybody (and 39 Other Keys to Creativity)” was written by a fellow blogger, Hugh MacLeod. I highly recommend.  

How to be Prettier: The only tip I have for sticking to a workout is buying an ipod and filling it with the kind of songs that you love, and then only allowing yourself to listen to it when you are doing something physical. 

How to be (less) Awkward: When you go to someone’s house, plan ahead, feet-wise. If you know it is the kind of house where you have to take off your shoes, either bring socks or make sure you don’t wear shoes on the way over that will make you feet smelly.

How to be Smarter: You know how at work, sometimes people send you emails that are complimentary? You send your boss an update about a project, and he responds with “Great work on this. Keep it up,” or a client tell you she appreciates your “diligent follow-up”? Save those emails in a folder in your inbox, and on days when things are not going your way, flip through it. Call the folder something unassuming, such as “Orientation Materials” or “HR forms.” Calling a folder “Compliments” looks weird when your computer freezes, as it always does, and the strange IT guy remotely logs into your computer and paws through your emails.

How to be Prettier: Studs are huge this fall. Studded shirts, corset belts, and shoes are what everyone is wearing. An example of studded flats I love, but you can find the style for much cheaper.

How to be (less) Awkward: Just because it is too hard to say the words, out loud, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be said. Find a way to email your thoughts, or text them. Thoughts and worries and concerns are always valuable, regardless of the medium in which you say them.

How to be Smarter: Eating ginger snaps cuts down on being carsick.

How to be Prettier: I wear this purse with my solid colored dresses and tops because I think it spices up the outfit. 

How to be (less) Awkward: When traveling on the train or the commuter rail, stay in your seat until the train stops. The conductor always leaves enough time at each station for you to get off the train. You don’t need to stand up and be ready to sprint to the nearest exit. Be happy when you are riding on the train; eventually, the train will stop and it will have to be your stop. For now, look out the window.

How to be Smarter: Never miss a good movie scene. 

How to be Prettier: Point your chin slightly down in pictures–it makes your eyes look bigger. 

How to be (less) Awkward: People who throw trash on the ground are litterbugs. What they are saying through their actions is “I have this beautiful thing that I’m free to walk all around and over and love as I wish, and I chose to throw my trash on it and leave the mess for someone else to clean up.” If you are silly enough to date a litterbug, then you better be strong enough to move on after he is done trashing you.

How to be Smarter: Learn how to get by on less sleep, and do something productive with the time you spend awake. I can cut my sleep down from 7 hours to 5.5 hours by having one extra cup of coffee in the morning, and I spend that 1.5 hours working on other fun projects I wouldn’t get a chance to otherwise.

How to be Prettier: When I was on vacation this past weekend, I walked behind a girl that was wearing the most adorable outfit. I have tried to find matching pieces online: black leggings, flat black sandals, a red and white striped tunic, and a blue clutch. The look was casually nautical, and totally cool.

How to be (less) Awkward: Pretty much every online store has an email address. If you buy something and you love it, send a quick email and tell them how happy their product made you! Especially if the item is from a cute, small online store or off of Etsy–everyone loves hearing that their product makes people happy.

How to be Smarter: Fallen Princesses: I love the way these photos made me think.

How to be Prettier: I think dresses that fall just below the knee tend to shorten most girls’ legs in an unflattering way. 

How to be (less) Awkward: I hope you never get punched in the face at a bar. But I want you to think about what would happen if the boy you liked was standing there with you. In the one second after you get punched, does he bend to help you or does he punch the guy to defend you? I don’t think there is one answer that is better than the other. I just think its interesting to think about what you would want a guy to do, and if that lines up with what your current guy would do.

How to be Smarter: People are more likely to click links in emails/blogs if they are in green. 

How to be Prettier: I have a theory that your life is better if you can look down at your toes peeking out from under the covers and they are painted a color that makes you happy.

How to be (less) Awkward: Many guys are the kind of guys that stay until the end of the credits, metaphorically. And plenty of guys are the kind of guys that want to see the same movie as you, again, metaphorically. Find the guy that wants to sit until the end of the credits and wants to see the same movie as you. I’ve dated guys where we both wanted to see the same movie, but halfway through, one of us wandered away to get popcorn and never came back. And I’ve dated guys where we both wanted to stay until the end of the credits, but we couldn’t agree on a movie to watch. You have to find the person that wants to watch the same movie, next to you, until the end of the credits.

How to be Smarter: I feel like the outcome of tests like these are less important than answering the questions and thinking about the way you react to life. Knowing yourself, your real self, is more important than knowing lots of other things you learned in school.

How to be Prettier: I do love jungle animals, especially elephants. And I don’t think your clothes are the only items you should own that are beautiful, interesting, and uniquely your style. 

How to be (less) Awkward: At a minimum, you are required to be as careful with other people’s hearts as they are with yours. If someone is holding your heart with two hands, treat theirs like glass as well. If someone is juggling your heart, tossing it up in the air, and dropping it on occasion, it’s okay to clutch theirs less tightly.

How to be Smarter: If you’re riding in cars with your mom and buckling up, then when you take a cab and a perfect stranger drives you, you better be buckling your seatbelt. 

How to be Prettier: Collar-less jackets look good on everyone. Less stuff around your neckline let’s people focus on your pretty face. 

How to be (less) Awkward: Another site to add to my roster of things that make me laugh and give me topics to joke about off-line with my friends in real life.

How to be Smarter: Nobody that loves you for keeps will ever give you an ultimatum. If the choice is ever “xyz or me,” choose the xyz. People that want to stay in your life will never give you a choice to let them leave.

How to be Prettier: Whitening toothpaste, whitening floss. At least twice a day. I think three times is better though. 

How to be (less) Awkward: Everybody hates telemarketers, including telemarketers. You can ask nicely to be taken off their list, or you can scream it. Either way will get you the same result, and the screaming way only hurries along the process of accruing bad karma.

How to be Smarter: On Saturday morning, I had the pleasure of drinking coffee and eating a bagel with Lisa Barham, who writes one of my favorite series about, among other things, fashion forecasting (www.agirllikemoi.com). Lisa said one of my new favorite quotes to reference, “we are not one-dimensional.” She said it after I explained that sometimes my interests seem so divergent and like they shouldn’t go together in one person, and she said it so simply. We are not one-dimensional. I like that. 

How to be Prettier: No vending machine food. Think ahead enough and bring 5 apples to work on Mondays. You don’t need the vending machine in the break room, and neither does your heart and your body.

How to be (less) Awkward: You are an adult; you shake hands with everyone and you stand up to greet people. And you let old women off the elevator before you, and you give your seat to people that need it on the subway.

How to be Smarter: Life is long (if you are lucky); there will be people you meet that aren’t very fun that life forces you to be involved with on a regular basis. Try to find one thing about this type of non-fun people that is okay, maybe even tolerable, and focus on that thing. Examples of things to focus on: the fact that they are important to someone you do love; the fact that they know a lot about random movies; the fact that they bring in cupcakes to work every Thursday. Grasp onto that little thing and love it.

How to be Prettier: Eyebrows, mani/pedi once a week, get a little sun, have clothes and shoes in your closet that you like. Do these things right and the rest falls into place. 

How to be (less) Awkward: Secret to dating the best boys: don’t date boys that spit in front of you; don’t date boys that don’t make you laugh; don’t date boys that don’t tell you they like the way you look in your glasses.

How to be Smarter: If a boy likes you, he will return your missed calls, even if you didn’t leave a voicemail.

How to be Prettier: Ruffles, ruffles, ruffles, for the end of summer/start of fall season. On everything–from boots to bathing suits to work skirts.

How to be (less) Awkward: Have a bad memory with bad things and a good memory with good things. Be the first to forget your dumb fight with your best friend or the job interview you had that went badly, and the last to forget your co-worker’s birthday and your sorority sister’s big test.