How to be Smarter: Try to avoid being only “one away” from something. You don’t want to be one paycheck away from being broke; you don’t want to be one fight away from ending things with your boyfriend; you don’t want to be one pound away from being at an unhealthy weight. Try to build a little cushion into your life and relationships so that you can mess up a little—spend too much on a new dress; accidently pick a fight over nothing; eat 3 slices of chocolate cake—without it having a huge impact on your living.

How to be Prettier: I hate the idea of wearing a color called army green; it sounds unpleasant. So even though army green is a trendy color this fall, I’m calling it olive green, and only wearing it on girlie pieces: a dramatic nighttime dress or a Hello Kitty top (also available in red).

How to be (less) Awkward: Unicorns Can Be Jerks.

How to be Smarter: History Lessons + Facebook Statuses = This.

How to be Prettier: Two big trends for this fall are studs and plaid; I love how this pair of shoes combines both. I would wear them with a simple, short black dress.

How to be (less) Awkward: If you’re walking behind a slow walker, jingle your keys to give them a heads-up someone is behind them and about to pass them.

How to be Smarter: Be wary of other girls that over-use the phrase “best friend.” Being someone’s best friend is a privilege that is earned over time and with care, not a phrase to throw around haphazardly.

How to be Prettier: Classic Tweed + Collarless Jacket + Sale Price = This is the Jacket I’m Wearing Today in My Air Conditioned Office.  (I removed the shoulder pin on the right hand side because it wasn’t my style).

How to be (less) Awkward: To remind you…

How to be Smarter: If you want it bad enough, nothing will stop you. Case in point: Horatio Nelson, one of England’s most admired sea admirals, never found a cure for his sea-sickness (Source).

How to be Prettier: Always eat your ice cream out of a small mug, not a bowl. The mug will still look full, so you will not feel like you are depriving yourself, but the volume of ice cream will be less than in a bowl.

How to be (less) Awkward: Don’t be afraid of being labeled unusual–the people that create interesting lives tend to be interesting themselves.  And I think, for a lot of people, being interesting often means being labeled as quirky.

How to be Smarter: Wear a suit to work occasionally–it will make your boss think you are interviewing elsewhere, making you more desirable at your current job.

How to be Prettier: This fall, during the in-between time of not needing a jacket and needing a down overcoat, try a cape in the autumn color of navy.

How to be (less) Awkward: When eating out and leaving the table to go the bathroom, put your napkin on your chair. At the end of the meal, when you leave the table for good, put your napkin on the table next to your plate.

P.S. Check out my guest post today on So About What I Said!

How to be Smarter: Everyone’s always talking about giving your partner space so you can have an independent relationship. But it’s not just about taking weekends off from each other, or agreeing not to meet up until after you have each gone to your own parties. It’s also about littler things—going down different grocery store aisles and then showing each other what you found when you reunite in the freezer section, having one person wait outside Starbucks with the dog while the other one runs in, or sitting side by side but reading separate books. There are smaller ways to create space in a relationship then spending weekends apart.

How to be Prettier: The new trend for fall is wear socks with heels. To pull this off,  wear thin, ribbed socks in a neutral color with higher heels than normal to avoid looking little-kid-ish.

How to be (less) Awkward: Weatherman mess-up.

How to be Smarter: What Is It About 20-Somethings?

How to be Prettier: In the same way nude heels elongate your legs, pointed-toe flats elongate your feet more than rounded-toes.

How to be (less) Awkward: When online dating, limit the number of pictures of yourself that you post to about 4-5, and have at least one be just a nice picture of you, by yourself, smiling.

How to be Smarter: Everyone has two or three female celebrities they always pay special attention to when they see their pictures in magazines or see them mentioned in an article online. But try to also have a few powerful females in the business or political sectors you follow as well—it’s important to reinforce to yourself, daily, that women can do great things and don’t just need to be famous for their looks or fashion sense.

How to be Prettier: I really like Madewell sales because they tend to have the sale items in a variety of sizes, instead of just the leftover sizes. I really like this mixed-fabric cardigan in a peach and grey color scheme—and it’s still available in every size at a sale price.

How to be (less) Awkward: If you are nervous about leaving a voicemail, whether on the answering machine of a crush or a potential employer, it’s okay to write down bullet points you want to mention before you leave the voicemail.

How to be Smarter: A reminder of what we have to be grateful for.

How to be Prettier: Modcloth’s Longer Length section is perfect for fashionable but work-length-appropriate dresses.

How to be (less) Awkward: Eye contact is extremely imperative—in business, on dates, when talking to teachers. If looking someone straight in the eye is too uncomfortable, look just above their eyes at their eyebrows instead—they won’t be able to tell exactly where you are looking.

How to be Smarter: Sometimes not telling everyone you know about your relationship makes it seem infinitely more precious.

How to be Prettier: The way they are advertising this knee-length pleated black skirt in this picture doesn’t do it justice. I think if you wear it with heels and a white lace top, it would be wonderful. Actually, I’m betting on it, because today is my birthday and I just bought this as a gift to myself.

How to be (less) Awkward: If you don’t need to have your email linked to your phone, don’t. My life became a lot less stressful as soon as I had my personal email address stop linking to my phone—having my phone stop going off every 4 minutes because of a GroupOn email has made my life surprisingly more peaceful.

How to be Smarter: To achieve what you want, usually it’s less about being intelligent and clever, and more about outlasting everyone else.

How to be Prettier: When you use shampoo, concentrate on rubbing it into your scalp; when you use conditioner, concentrate on letting it sit on the ends of your hair.

How to be (less) Awkward: It’s not 1998 — in this day and age, emails don’t get lost and computers work fine. If you get an email, you need to respond to it. The sender knows they sent it and they know you received it, and you have an obligation to answer in a timely matter (even if it is just “Thanks for your email and I will respond fully when I have more time to think).”

How to be Smarter: To be taken more seriously, either at work, school, or by your parents, work on increasing your competence. Try to expand your know-how for tasks that are both simple, like learning how to contact your landlord yourself for apartment problems, and more complex, like taking an active role in helping a younger sibling decide where to go to college. The more jobs and responsibilities you master, the more you are treated more maturely by others in your life.

How to be Prettier: What a happy little shower curtain, especially in yellow.

How to be (less) Awkward: Today is 8-9-10!

How to be Smarter: If you are interested in math and/or The Price is Right, read this article.

How to be Prettier: The next big nail thing will be rainbow nails, which is exactly like it sounds: wearing a different color on each nail. You don’t have to try this trend yourself, but it’s good to know what’s happening out there. 

How to be (less) Awkward: This article about Ten Dumbest Reasons to Get Married was written for men, but if you change the pronouns from She to He, many of them apply to us girls as well.

How to be Smarter: Everyone you are jealous of is most likely jealous of you back. Envious of your friend’s high-intensity job? She is probably envious of your sweet vacation schedule. Wish your blog had a bigger readership? The girl with the bigger blog might be jealous of your ability to write whatever you want on your sponsorship-free blog. Wish you were a celebrity? A celebrity probably wishes they could go on a date and not have TMZ write about it that same night. Next time you feel jealous, instead of wallowing, ask yourself what this other person is probably jealous of about you. (What you are really doing is reminding yourself of all the good things you have going for you).

How to be Prettier: I own and love this piece of clothing. It is the softest sweatshirt I’ve ever felt in my life—their entire line of Tri-Blend products is amazing.

How to be (less) Awkward: This picture warms my heart, and the heart of any Star Wars fans out there.

How to be Smarter: I do not agree with everything in this article, but I found it to be interesting reading for those of us who like gender, relationships and sociology.  

How to be Prettier: By showering before you get in the pool, your hair becomes saturated with water and won’t absorb as much from the chemical-laden pool (Source).

 How to be (less) Awkward: The salt and pepper shakers should always be passed together at the dinner table, i.e., if someone asks for the salt, they get passed both the salt and pepper shakes.

How to be Smarter: In a discussion where you and the other person are disagreeing, use the term “rarely” instead of “never.” If you say, “you never visit me on my lunch hour,” the other party will immediately remind you of the time they visited you three months ago. If you say the phase, “you rarely visit me on my lunch hour,” it is much trickier for the other party to disagree.

How to be Prettier: These cleansing pads are made for post-gym use, but I keep them on my nightstand and use them on nights when I’m just too tired to get back up and go to the bathroom to wash my face before bed.

How to be (less) Awkward: If you still haven’t become that girl who goes to the beach with a matching bathing suit and cover-up, manicured toes and a trendy tote to hold your neatly folded towel and sunscreen that is not oozing everywhere, it may be time to realize you might never look that perfectly pulled together. That’s not a bad thing–that pulled-together-looking girl may wish she was more like you. But the sooner you both stop looking at the other person and wishing you were more like them, the better off you both will be.

This weekend, up on the roof, I celebrated 20 months of SP&A with cupcakes and good friends!