*Throwback entry from one year ago! Happy New Year’s Eve! Love, Molly*

How to be Smarter: Do good and improve your vocabulary. www.freerice.com.

How to be Smarter: You are not a little girl, so don’t date a man that acts like a little boy.

How to be Prettier: My favorite boots to skitter around in the rain in–love the color and the newly marked down price.

How to be (less) Awkward: If you need advice about your long-term significant other, ask someone who is in a strong relationship you admire. If you need advice about how to go on a first date, ask someone who is a successful serial dater. Tailor who you are asking questions to their area of expertise.

How to be Smarter: Holding food directly above a dog will always make them sit because in order for them to look directly up they have to sit down.

How to be Prettier: If you aren’t going to wear your  full-on sequined dress on New Years Eve, when are you going to wear it?

How to be (less) Awkward: People standing in front of you are always more important than a text message on your phone.

How to be Smarter: Dry your hands completely after washing them. The extra water can dry out your hands even more after it evaporates, and damp hands spread 1,000 times more germs than dry hands (source).

How to be Prettier: An occasional dress-down outfit during a night out will turn some heads. You stand out when you catch people by surprise.

How to be (less) Awkward: If you are having guests over, make sure to have enough chairs for all. Nothing makes a guest feel unwelcome faster than having to count chairs and realizing they are one short just before the meal.

How to be Smarter: This New  York Times article is long, but intensely interesting and well-written. A good message for all, with a significant other or not, not to forget to work on improving relationships that  are so central to your life.

How to be Prettier: If you are going to pull your hair back, the higher the ponytail, the more dramatic it looks.

How to be (less) Awkward: Everyone is trying their best. I’m trying my best, you’re trying your best, we all are trying our best. Some days your best is better than other days, but don’t be mad at yourself if the day ends and all of your goals aren’t completed. It’s okay, sweet girl.

How to be Smarter: I do love a nice random facts site.

How to be Prettier: Start using anti-wrinkle cream at age 18. And don’t forget your neck. But if you are older than 18, its okay. Just start this week and you’re fine.

How to be (less) Awkward:  Almost every restaurant has it’s menu online now. Before a date, or a work dinner, look  up some options on what to eat beforehand. This saves time for chatting and enjoying once you get there, and it can help picky eaters reduce their stress of worrying there will be nothing they like on the menu.

How to be Smarter: The worst emotion people can have towards you is to be neutral. People don’t have to love you, but at least be interesting enough that they hate you.

How to be Prettier: Dark jeans are almost always more slimming than light.

How to be (less) Awkward: If something embarrassing happens to you, make a joke. Even if its bad. A bad joke does more to ease awkward situations than being quiet. If you are too embarrassed to even joke, just smile an embarrassed yet amused grin at whoever saw you trip/stumble/knock over the yogurt display in the grocery store and move on.

How to be Smarter: Every couple of weeks, skim over the New York Times Best Seller List and see what strikes your fancy for a good book to read. And the holidays are a great time to ask for some books you’ve been itching to read.

How to be Prettier: I love reading, I love love, I love this tee shirt. Rosie Music (the artist who makes them) is our featured business of the week this week!

How to be (less) Awkward: Some people do not like the cold weather. It is just not for them. But everyone around you is experiencing the same temperature that you are,  and there is really a zero benefit that comes out of complaining about it. Unless the person you are complaining to is giving away free mittens or something.

How to be Smarter: An adorably helpful holiday site that organizes your online Secret Santa.

How to be Prettier: Find that holiday gift–for you or for others–at a lower price by using a promotional code found on this site.

How to be (less) Awkward: I know, I know, it is so annoying when someone types something into gChat and then doesn’t send it, and you’re forced to stare at the bottom of the gChat where it says “Molly has entered text” and wonder what news they were going to drop on you but are too scared to press enter. But, unless it is your best friend, it is rude to ask why they haven’t sent it yet.

Hello!

If you had a second, I would love for you to fill out this 10 question readership survey.

Love,

Molly

How to be Smarter: You might be washing your hands leaving the bathroom, but others aren’t. Open the doorknob with a paper towel when exiting the bathroom to prevent (even more) germs from spreading.

How to be Prettier: I saw a girl yesterday wearing a leather miniskirt, and I was immediately inspired to buy my own. I love this one. I will wear it in brown. The pastel color is also beautiful, but if you have pale legs, you may want to wear it with tights. I can see it in any color looking beautiful with black tights, high heels, and a drapey tank for a night out.

How to be (less) Awkward: Never assume, outloud, that you will be someone’s bridesmaid. You must wait to be asked for the honor, before you start asking questions like, “what color are our dresses?”

How to be Smarter: It’s okay to say “no way”, and still be caring. It’s okay to say “no, I won’t” and still be kind. It’s okay to say “this is over” and still be friendly. And sometimes saying “no” is the nicest thing to do, for everyone, in the long run.

How to be Prettier: You don’t have to wear jeggings–not everyone likes them–but you have to know what they are. Jeggings are jean leggings, and they look like this. I would suggest them in darker colors, but I own a medium wash pair that I love.

How to be (less) Awkward: Great article from the Happiness Project about not being boring.

How to be Smarter: Relationships are like vases. They can break apart in two main ways: one, they develop so many unfixed cracks that one day when you go to take them off the shelf they just turn into a million little pieces in your hands; and two, they are solid with only a few little cracks, but one major event makes them crash to the floor and break everywhere. But if the vase is strong enough, and has enough support, the little cracks can learn to fix themselves, preventing the first way a relationship can break. And the cracks haven’t been allowed to get too big, when one major event happens and it falls to the floor, the cracks will already know how to fix themselves, preventing the second way a relationship can break. And, please note, that if a relationship is a vase, always be sure to have a pretty flower in it.

How to be Prettier: It is now December, which means it’s offically time to start hunting for your New Year’s Eve dress. This is my pick, in the magenta/pink. Sunday Brunch Dress, the site the dress is from, is also Smart Pretty and Awkward’s first-ever Featured Business of the Week.

How to be (less) Awkward: Not everyday of anything is the coolest. Not every work day will you solve a company crisis, and not every date will you spend the whole time laughing and telling each other embarrassing yet endearing stories of your childhood and walk home hand in hand. But that’s okay. Sometimes you need the less cool days–just the normal days–to appreciate the extra cool ones. And the good news is, a few normal days in a row usually means a few extra cool ones are right around the corner.

How to be Smarter: Your boyfriend’s ex-girlfriends’ are not worth your time or energy. There are plenty of other people to Facebook stalk, my dear.

How to be Prettier: My best friend and I just each bought this makeup kit together last weekend. We do not live in the same city, but we have spent a signficant portion of the last week gchatting about how much we love it. And I have been showing it to all my friends/roommates with glee all week. I highly recommend.

How to be (less) Awkward: Next time you go to Starbucks or your local coffeehouse with a friend, remember what they order and make a note of it in your phone. When they are having a bad day–be it two days or two months later–surprise them with their coffee or tea, just the way they like it. If you don’t have a smartphone when you can make a note of it in the “Notes” section, write it in a text and save it as a draft.

How to be Smarter: Most girls are very sensitive are being too clingy when they first like boys. But don’t confuse being clingy with being sweet. It is great to be sweet–everyone likes sweet. Sending a text that says “Hope your day is going well…can’t wait to see you this weekend!” is sweet. Sending 17 texts about weekend plans and calling three times to “check in” is clingy. Just err more on the sweet side and you are fine.

How to be Prettier: If you are lucky enough to have two pairs of Uggs, have one pair be the everyday pair, in Chestnut, Black, or Grey, and one pair be the fun pair, in Mulberry.

How to be (less) Awkward: If you are at work, dry your hands completely before leaving the bathroom so you don’t walk out with damp hands and your boss instantly asks you to shake the new investor’s hand. If you are on a date with a boy, it is not a bad thing if he comes out of the bathroom with damp hands–it means he washed them.

How to be Smarter: Pure cranberry juice is suppose to be so good for you, but I hate the taste. I mix it with gingerale when I don’t feel too well, and it always works. Sometimes I also mix it with orange juice for the Vitamin C.

How to be Prettier: I love getting ready as much as anyone. I love laying all my clothes out on the bed, and trying on different shoes, and asking my roommates’ advice, and texting my friends and seeing what they are wearing, and fixing my hair, and doing the eye makup perfectly. But sometimes, go out without all that fuss. I have a theory that reminding yourself that you don’t need to do all that prep to look nice is good for your soul.

How to be (less) Awkward: Try to make other people’s lives more fun when you’re around. And that means everyone’s–not just your friends and your crush. Make your mom laugh. Make your boss smile. Make the kid you’re babysitting giggle.

Good morning,

Today marks a very important day in the life of this blog—Smart Pretty and Awkward is one whole year old today. The last year of writing SP&A has been a wonderful experience, especially as you all have given me suggestions and ideas to make it better for you to read. I remember being very excited when I first had over 50 hits a day for a whole week. Now the blog has grown into something much larger with thousands of hits each day. I will forever be grateful to all my readers who have helped grow the blog over the past year by writing it about it in their own blogs; by retweeting on twitter; by joining the Facebook fan page; by buying SP&A merchandise; or by telling their friends.

I love the emails and messages I get every day–all make me smile and I try my best to respond to each and every one. I enjoy writing this blog very much; I am so happy you enjoy reading it.

Thanks for coming along with me on this journey! I look forward to another year together with you!

xoxo
Molly Ford