45. “Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.”

- Eleanor Roosevelt

44. Know how to throw a proper dinner party.

As archaic as it seems, knowing a formal place setting is actually a useful skill to have.  At the very least, you won’t be as flustered at the restaurant.

Start with the outer utensils and work your way in.

43. Make your bed.

I’m serious.  Take those 30 seconds before you rush out the door every morning to straighten up that comforter and arrange your pillows.  Then come home to your bedroom after a long day of work or school and tell me that wasn’t completely worth it.  Your bedroom should be your sanctuary.  Make it a calming place to visit.

42. Attention is not the same thing as affection.

Don’t act (or dress) for attention, believing that this will gain you affection.  Don’t get these confused because they are two very different things.  

Now true affection?  That’s given without you ever asking for it.

41. How a man treats his mother -

- is a good indicator of how he’ll treat his wife.  Does he love and respect her, or does he expect her to wait on him?  It’s as simple as that.

40. Drink a real drink.

Learn how to drink a real drink.  Keep the liqueurs to a minimum; they give you hangovers.  Girly drinks in martini glasses are too hard to hold anyways.  

39. Self esteem: get some.

I will do my very best to raise you to be confident and to know the incredibly high value of your own self worth.  However, as you go through life, you will encounter mean people.  People who never learned “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”  You’ll quickly learn that the root of almost every mean act comes from lack of self esteem.

Don’t retaliate.  Be sympathetic.  Then remind yourself to never be like them.

38. Don’t fish for compliments.

Praise-worthy behavior will win you compliments.  Don’t ask for them.  An air of desperation is never attractive.

37. Get a professional to do your eyebrows.

When you are about 12, you will suddenly realize how hairy you are and that you must IMMEDIATELY get rid of all excess hair.  You will find my tweezers and you will painstakingly pluck all your eyebrows off into oblivion.

PLEASE DON’T.

Come to me and not only will I promise to let you pluck your eyebrows, I will take you to have your eyebrows professionally shaped.  Please do not do them yourself.

36. You’re allowed to change your friends.

Everyone inevitably grows up and grows into themselves as they get older.  You aren’t the same person you were at 15 as when you’re 25.  As you grow up, who you’re friends with at each point in your life is allowed to change - and you don’t have to feel guilty about that.  Pick good people to be your friends.

35. Never stop being curious.

Always be curious.  Curious to explore, curious to experience, curious to learn.  It’s a trait that you can possess at ANY age.  Really.