Enjoy! Just a little house-keeping before tomorrow’s 2 Year Anniversary!

How to be Smarter: Have you ever heard your boss complain? Maybe not. Have you ever heard your boss’s boss complain? Probably not. What about the CEO of your company? Definitely not. The farther up the chain of command you go, the less you hear complaining because it’s the people with the best attitudes that rise to the top. If you want to be at the top of the chain someday, you won’t get there by complaining.

How to be Prettier: I have professed my love for Bandolino shoes before; they are a great blend of affordability, walk-ability, and style. These are a nice mixture of work-appropriate feminine comfort, and they come in a huge variety of colors (I like the brown/dark brown, wine, and black suede).

How to be (less) Awkward: In general, the boyfriend or girlfriend of the driver gets the front seat on long drives; the exception would be if venturing into unfamiliar territory, and another passenger knows the route or area better.

How to be Smarter: Sometimes we become so afraid of trying something new, we tell ourselves trying something small that is new will build up our confidence to try something big.  But I really believe that it is the act of making that one big change that can give you the courage to not only conquer that task, but conquer your entire “scary list.” Instead of giving yourself bangs and hoping it will give you the confidence to change jobs, change your job and then cut your bangs for the first day of work.

How to be Prettier: Candy-cane stripes: for work and for play.

How to be (less) Awkward: Sometimes when we see people we know very well, we forget to give them a proper greeting, and instead greet them with “did you bring the package I asked you to?” or “why are you wearing that coat?” But everyone, from siblings to boyfriends (maybe especially siblings and boyfriends), deserve a proper greeting before a snappy comment is said.

How to be Smarter: To increase the chances of your wallet being returned if you lose it, have a photograph of a baby in it (Source).

How to be Prettier: Having white teeth is one of the quickest ways to appear more pulled-together and youthful. To help your teeth appear whiter, use a lipstick or lip gloss with blue undertones.

How to be (less) Awkward: If you want to be listened to, think about how your words sound to others. Make them interesting with inflection, clearly spoken with enunciation, and intelligent-sounding with word choice.

Happy Thanksgiving!

How to be Smarter: When someone posts big news via their Facebook status (“I’m engaged!,” “I got into my dream school!”), instead of responding to that status, write an individual comment congratulating them on their wall. That way when everyone else comments on their status, you will not get 35 notification messages.

How to be Prettier: The most fun an elegant winter hat can be.

How to be (less) Awkward: Daily events to be grateful for.

How to be Smarter: Marriage secrets from two different perspectives; good article to discuss with girlfriends.

How to be Prettier: Occasionally when you and a friend go together to get your nails done, let them chose the color you will wear. They might choose a color you had never considered that looks great, and even if they don’t, it’s still nice to look at your nails for the next week and be reminded of your girls.

How to be (less) Awkward: You can’t worry about the people who don’t like you. You can only try to be the best friend/daughter/sister to the ones who do.

How to be Smarter: Keep your resume fresh by updating it every few months, even if you are not currently looking for a new job. It’s easier to update your resume while you are doing the job each day and your tasks are fresh in your mind, as opposed to after you leave. A good place to start when updating your resume is to read the company’s formal job description for your current job (it might be saved in an email from when you first applied or went on the interview), and then add or subtract so you are only left with your most relevant duties.

How to be Prettier: I bought this minidress–one of my favorites–at a sale event; now it is available online for a sale price as well. It’s pretty short, so I usually wear it as a tunic over skinny jeans with navy boots or flats.

How to be (less) Awkward: A cheap thrill when you’re feeling down is to google all the songs with your name in them, and download the good ones. For other Molly’s: Miss Molly by Bob Wills, Molly’s Lips by Nirvana, and Molly Smiles by You Army.

How to be Smarter: Eight baby-steps equals one big step; remember to chose each baby-step strategically so that it is going in the direction you want the big step to head off into.

How to be Prettier: Keeping your tall leather riding boots shiny and clean makes any pair you own, regardless of price point, look designer.

How to be (less) Awkward: Wishing your ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend is horrible doesn’t actually make her horrible; it just makes you kinda mean.

How to be Smarter: An easy way to convert webpages to PDFs.

How to be Prettier: Lively tortilla warmers, great to perk up your kitchen or to give as a gift to a chef-inclined friend.

How to be (less) Awkward: Sometimes at work you need to speak loudly to be heard; sometimes in relationships you need to speak softly to be heard.

How to be Smarter: If you can’t figure out what you would like to do for a career, pretend you are introducing yourself at a party. Do you want to say “Hi, I’m Molly and I’m a teacher”? “Hi, I’m Molly and I’m a dentist?” or something else? Practice a few different ones; which one makes you feel most confident and excited? Be that one.

How to be Prettier: Everyone always calls a sequined skirt a holiday basic, because, well, it is. This one is reasonably price and not super tight.

How to be (less) Awkward: Friends make you feel comfortable by letting you be yourself. People that make fun of you for not doing things you don’t want to do, are not your friends. And there is a decent chance they were never your friends.

How to be Smarter: A book I recommend to get some new ideas flowing in your head: Four Hour Workweek.

How to be Prettier: A really soothing brand of end-of-the day facewipes that are less irritating for the winter. Use only half of a wipe at a time to make the package last longer.

How to be (less) Awkward: I think a cute thing to do when it rains is to look out the window and say, “oh good, a free window washing!”

How to be Smarter: “To illustrate” is a nice alternative to “for example” in school papers.

How to be Prettier: How you feel you look affects your whole day. Five extra minutes in the morning–just five–spent arranging your hair or whitening your teeth or doing your eye makeup–can change the course of your whole day. Spend the time–the 5 minutes of time–for a whole day’s worth of rewards.

How to be (less) Awkward: When at a large group dinner, it can be hard to talk to everyone; your primary responsiblity is to make sure the people to the left, right, and directly across from you are involved in the conversation.

How to be Smarter: If you are supportive of the people in your life when they need it, they will be supportive of you when you need it. Build your support network on good days so it is available for you on bad days.

How to be Prettier: My absolute favorite winter hydrating mask, which also happens to smell amazing and be the prettiest pink color.

How to be (less) Awkward: If your significant other exhibits behaviors that a parent would discipline a kid for (not wanting to share, lying, name-calling, or putting down others’ accomplishments), it’s time to think if they should really be your significant other.

How to be Smarter: If you start the month by doing the hardest thing on your to-do list, the month can only get easier after it is completed.

How to be Prettier: A short NY Times piece about the positive effect of wearing red for a first date or in an online dating photo.

How to be (less) Awkward: It’s nearly impossible to make someone else laugh without making yourself happier. If you want to have more fun, make someone else have more fun. It can be as simple as emailing an old inside joke, one you haven’t used in a while, to a friend, while waiting for the ‘hahahaha’  to come back into your inbox.

How to be Smarter: In relationships, the ability to factor the other person’s interests and personality into your own idea of the future, without causing problems in the present, is important. If you have spent your whole life imagining being with a laid-back reader, and you fall in love with an outgoing hiker, you don’t need to pout and cause a fight each time reading quietly on Saturday afternoons is turned into an all-friends-included trip outdoors.  But you can ask yourself: is this the type of Saturday afternoon I’d like to have forever? The idea is to accept the other person for who they are presently, while reconciling this person’s lifestyle choices with your own vision of the future life you’d like to have. From there, it is easier to determine how long the relationship should last.

How to be Prettier: It’s November, so if you’re planning on having an appropriate dress to wear to your own or a significant other’s Thanksgiving meal, now’s the time to start looking. Some of my favorites: here, here and here.

How to be (less) Awkward: iPhone corrections.

How to be Smarter: In every way I can think of, succeeding is less about being the absolute best of the bunch, and more about being the one that absolutely doesn’t give up. Lots of people can say they stayed up late and saw the stars, but a much, much smaller number of people can say they fought through the tiredness and didn’t give in to their comfy bed to stay up to see the sun.

How to be Prettier: A really sweet shoe charm (and a slighty cheeky one).

How to be (less) Awkward: For a quick smile: look up Google Maps directions from Japan to Connecticut; then scroll down to number #27.

How to be Smarter: Next time you’re running errands, buy a sheet of stamps and keep it in your wallet. You probably use stamps more often than you realize, and it’s an inconvenience to always be hunting around for them when you want to mail just one letter. Plus, every time you are with someone and they complain they don’t have a stamp, you’ll look like a hero when you pull one out of your purse and present it to them.

How to be Prettier: This is an entire site devoted to brand-name beauty products, all available in 3 fl. ounces or less for airplane travel.

How to be (less) Awkward: If you really wanted a job in marketing, and someone offered you a job in finance, you would not hestiate to tell them thank you, but that’s not what you are looking for. If you really want a committed relationship, and your crush offers you something less than that, you should not hesitate to politely thank them for your time together, but that’s not what you are looking for. This frees you to move on to find someone that wants the same thing you do.