All My Thoughts on All Things Denim

1. Jeans: invented in California for miners. I think?

2. If I could, I would wear a chambray top everyday and it would go with anything I own.

3. Can I pull off those high-wasted jean shorts?

4. Breakdown of Denim Shades:
           100%   Skinny jeans are dark jeans.
             70%   Probably flared jeans. Probably from the late 90s.
             50%   Mom or dad are wearing these jeans.
             10%   Oh, awkwardly light jeans. You must be sooooo fashionable.
               0%   White is technically catagorized as a "colored jean". Get outta here.
             ** Highlight the above line for a secret message.

5. Forty-seven. I think that’s the age when you have to start wearing boot-cut, high-wasted, no-fit jeans. Also known as, mom jeans.

6. How did the style go from flared to skinny jeans so quickly?

7. I miss flared jeans. 

8. Holy jeans...I have no comments. 

9. There is a girl sitting in front of me in class wearing a denim vest. That is all.

10. I NEED a denim dress.

11. Is it really worth buying a denim jacket?
 

12. Overalls are for children and farmers.

13. I loved colored jeans. These colors exactly:

Mustard  -  Wine  -  Coral  -  Mint  -  Black

  

14. And now for pictures...

JEAN CRAFTS:

Denim armrest pocket.

Denim coin purse.

Heart-printed jeans.

Lacey jean shorts.

Chambray shirt pillow.

Denim organizer.

Denim picnic pockets.

Denim wall organizer.

Denim placemat.

 

Dear Freshman-to-Be Sister, Part 2

HOW TO LEARN FROM...

...Mom's first phone call lecturing you to watch your spending habits.

I say "phone call", but you will likely get many many phone calls like this. Especially during your first few years, when you don't have a stable source of income and you're trying to adjust to all these situations where you can spend like crazy. I'm not sure what you and mom will want you to do, but I didn't have a very serious job my first year and a half. I was given a monthly allowance and had some money saved from working in high school. So, the trick is learning how to spend the little money you do have. When it comes to being thrify...I'm your girl:

a - Savor your meal points. It's something you'll learn as you go, but take advantage of Emporium and the likes. These are places where you can spend your extra meal points that you didn't use in the dining halls.

b - Don't go to Walmart. Walmart is a TRICK. You go there, thinking all you need is some milk, shampoo and 3M wall-hook and on your way to the wall-hooks you see some candles, so you stop to smell them and end up buying two pictures frames, a bag of Doritos and a coffee mug. It doesn't make sense, but it happens. The only way to avoid this unnecessary spending, is just to avoid Walmart. Living on campus, with meal points, there is really no reason to go to Walmart more than once a month for the necessities.

c - Beware of sorority merchandise. Especially your first year, you'll want to buy EVERYTHING. But slow down. You've got four years of merchandise to buy and once you actually see the physical merchandise, you regret like 40% of the purchases. Be picky. You don't have to get everything everyone else gets. If you need a good eye, ask me. I will tell you if it will actually be cute or not.

d - All the shopping here sucks. Seriously, we just got a Franchesca's and that's the best there is. I mean, Target is the BOMB, obviously, but the other stores in the mall are crappy. There's a Vicky's Secret...which will please you, I know. The boutiques downtown are too pricey. Just avoid shopping unless you need something quickly. Try to plan ahead so you can better spend your money when you are in Springfield or STL or KC where there are good stores and selections to chose from.

e - Don't eat out at restaurants. Look. ALL YOUR MEALS ARE ESSENTIALLY FREE FOR YOU AT THE DINING HALLS. Savor that stuff. God knows I will. You're going to be "swiping me in"* on the reg. There are so many options and someone else has already prepared it for you. Ooooh it's so great. So don't eat out at restaurants. I mean, obviously you will. You can walk downtown and get some great options, but try and do so sparingly. You WILL do this a lot Junior/Senior year, so don't worry about missing out.

* This is a popular phrase that describes the process of you swiping your student ID (how you pay for your meals in the dining hall) once for you and once for ME. So that I, too, may eat for free.

f - Take advantage of free things on campus. It's hard to control your spending habits. Especially when there are so many fun things to do with friends that only cost $10 here and there. But, there are a lot of great, fun things to do on campus that are free too!

• Wednesday and Saturday nights are usually $1 movies.
• There are free Friday Craftnoons at the Art Center.
• Stich-n-Bitch...that's a thing, though I've never done it.
• The Shack is the newest addition to the Student Center and it has pool tables and board games and darts.
• Newsflash: our campus is a BOTANICAL GARDEN. That means there are flowers and trees that are just beautiful! I could walk around on a nice day for hours in this place. Plus, the nice weather brings out the weirdos, so people watching can be considered an activity in itself.
• Ultimate frisbee, sand volleyball, soccer. All are available on our outdoors intramurals fields (which we call Stank).
• The Rec Center is BOMB. You can swim (indoors and out), there's a hot tub and a sauna, racquetball, rock climbing, a ping pong room (if you don't mind the company of Asians).
• Adventure off-campus to Devil's Ice Box.
• On that note, there are like 64 parks in Columbia. So many trails and forests and cool places to walk around. Sometimes, when Emilie Bell and I had a test that wasn't too serious, we would take our study guide and study while we walked. 
• Bonker's is a ridiculous kid's play place (like the Discovery Zone, if you recall) and it's only $1 if you're over 18.

There are so many things to do on campus (and off) that don't cost a thing. Mizzou publishes semesterly schedules to the events and on-goings, so if you pick one of those up, you can get the scoop on what is going on.

So then, at some point, you realize...you have to get a job. Shucks.

Here's another list!

a - Start talking. Your friends have jobs. Your older sister has had jobs. The people you know, know about jobs. So start asking around! This is your first opportunity to take advantage of your networking...a concept that will be pounded into your mind as you start looking for a career. Think how many college kids here are applying for jobs...what makes you any better than them? (Actually, you do have experience in retail, which is more than I could say when I got my first job.) You can get a recommendation from a friend who works there. Winner winner.

b - Start asking. The first thing I did was just headed downtown and walked in any place I thought seemed interesting. "Hi, my name is Kaitlin and I was wondering if you are hiring? Could I get an application?" If I had a dollar for every time I said that, I wouldn't have even needed a job.  After downtown, make your rounds of the mall. There are a lot of place (and therefore applications) in a short distance.

c - Fill out and turn in your applications. Just do it. It's annoying and inconvenient. But you just have to do it. When you turn in the application, ask if the Hiring Manager is there and if so, give the application directly to him and smile and be wonderful and be someone he will remember when he looks at your application.

d - Follow up. Actually, this is very annoying to the manager and the employees who have to answer your phone calls. But if you are really interested in a place, call and ask to speak to the Hiring Manager. Remind him of your pleasant, happy voice and just put your name out there again.

e - Get hired! Once you hear back and accept and go through all the rig-a-ma-role of hiring paperwork, you'll be ready to start. So, you'll fill out a sheet of your availability. Now, don't try to an overachiever. You can always request more hours, but it's very hard to back out of hours that you've been working. And college requires strange hours for studying and group meetings, etc. You need to leave some nights open so you can have a little freedom. I recommend starting with, at the most, 20 hours a week. Then, once you get better at managing your time, you can start working more. By the time I left MC Sports, I was working 30 hours a week and it suited me just fine. 

f - Value your time. It may seem like it would be difficult to work a lot and still make time for school. Especially at mall jobs, where you probably won't get off work till around 10PM. But I always thought it just made my time more valuable. When you get off work and only have four hours to prepare for a test the next, you aren't messin' around on Facebook for an hour before you start. You get home, you pack up, you walk to the library and you study. I was a better student when I worked Junior year than when I didn't work Sophomore year. Also, it doesn't mean that you can't do fun things, it just means that you need to plan your fun things in advance and ask of work ahead of time. 

Obviously, you are the bomb and you have already held a job. I've always respected you for that. I'm just offering you my wisdom on a job + college, because it's a little different I think. 

Dear Freshman-to-Be Sister, Part 1

I can tell from your Tweets, Instagram'd photos and Facebook updates that you are excited for MIZZOU. Well sister, Social Media and excitement put you off to a good start as far as succeeding in this ZOU *pun*. I'd like to give you a few other tips so when you come to school next year, you'll know everything I didn't.

I was going to make this a single post. But, I’ve been adding to it for three months now, so I’m just going to make this a series of blog posts to introduce and prepare you for college at Mizzou next year.

Now, don't think this means you've got it easy. I had to learn all of these thing (and much, much more) and I think that's part of the experience. As I look back on my year, I joke with my friends that all I learned in college was how to procrastinate and B.S. But also, I think you learn to learn...which is probably the most valuable, under-appreciated skill that most people don't even recognize is happening. So that's really what this letter is about, learning. Not just boring ol' school stuff; be ready to learn from your mistakes and learn from your friends. Cheesy, I know. But even after I tell you these things, you'll still have a lot to learn. LOVE that experience. It makes you better prepared for the real world...I hope?

The following posts will teach you “How to learn from...” various mistakes and situations that will arise over the next four years of your life. As you’ll see, they are quite detailed.

HOW TO LEARN FROM...

...Your first bombed test.

Turns out, high school was kind of joke. Apparently in college, they want you to like READ textbooks (and they want you to read a LOT of them) and study your notes and heaven-forbid, apply what you learned in a comprehensive essay question! Here is what I (try) to do:

a - Attend class. It's harder than you think. And just sitting in class while Pinning every cute outfit doesn't count, though God knows I spend most of my time doing that. You really need to be engaged to learn. But, you'll learn how to make up for it when you aren't.

b - Find a friend in your class, or make one. You are going to miss class or mishear your foreign professor and it really helps to have an extra set of notes when you start making your study guide. You don't have to be besties, you just need to know that you can both benefit from the other and take advantage of that.

c - Take good notes. First thing you're going to learn is about Word Notebook Layout. It's kind of a fancy way to take notes organized with tabs and in a simple outline format. Bonus, you can record audio...though, I've never needed it. I don't necessarily worry about taking notes in their best form, just focus on being sure you have all the information and keep on top of when you miss notes.

d - Do the readings? I'm gonna be honest with you. I have probably read a total of like 4 inches (mom will appreciate this measurement) worth of textbooks. I've probably been assigned like 4 feet of textbooks. You just have to learn to skim. When you're in a hurry, skip the stories or example of concepts you already understand. They say to do the readings before class, but if you wait and do it after, you can use the lecture notes as a kind of guide to understanding what you really need to know. Because that's what every professor will tell you: You need to come to lecture and do all the readings, but it's the over-lap that will be on the test. If they say it class and you read it in the book, know it.

e – Know when exams are coming. It’s good to know that exams come in groups. You’ll hear the term “First Rounds” used to define the week of the semester when you have the first exam in most of your classes. Sometimes they’re on the same day, which is a bummer, but even so, you’ll make it work. Most classes have three exams and a final. Or just three exams, with the third being during finals week, but not over cumulative material. This being said, it helps to write each of your tests, for each of your classes in your planner as soon as you know the dates (provided in the syllabus). Then, look ahead to upcoming weeks so you can plan to prepare for tests. If you have two tests in one day and another the next day, you need to put in a little more preparation time and be sure you don’t make other obligation for that week.

f - Make a study guide. These aren't like high school study guides, and depending on the class, you may not even get one. But most classes will give you some kind of guide listing the key concepts you'll need to understand. Then, I go through my notes and textbooks plugging in all the required information. This is when I focus on the organization. I actually love making study guides. I have often thought I would accept payment to turn other student's notes into SGs. But, if you'll notice. I like to use my own outline form. I find lists are easiest to memorize (or "learn" as professors think we should be doing). As I'm creating the SG, I focus on putting everything into words that I understand, not just what the professor says exactly.

g - Study. UGH, the worst. Two ways to do this: 1) team up with that friend I told you to make at the beginning of the semester, or 2) be self-motivated and study solo. I like to take a highlighter to the SG as a walk through it the first time: one color for the term, another for the definition; one color for the title of the list, another for the listed items. Then I just go...

**When you know you will have comprehensive essay questions, it is most beneficial (and kind of annoying) and essential to practice writing out your answers. Determine what you think the essay questions will be, and write out your answer over and over until you can do it by hear. Practice using the terminology that you KNOW professors will want you to use, too!

Yeah, but where should I study? Great question, Bec!

Top Five MIZZOU Study Spots:

1. The basement of the Student Center (also good for between-class, on-campus napping)

2. A single desk, down a secluded aisle, in a quiet section of Ellis Library

3. Sorority study room (depending on the house I'm sure)

4. Upstairs in the Student Center after 5:00 p.m. (if you have a friend who can get you in)

5. The study rooms in the Res Halls (dorms, they call them Resident Halls here)

h - To cram or not to cram? Whether or not you want to, you will. But what's important is that you still find time to get a little sleep before the actual test. Interestingly enough, after running on 24 hours straight I think you'll find there is too much sleep. Weird. I know. But I find that three hours is enough so that you feel kind of rested, but not exhausted. It's something you'll figure out for yourself though.

i - Test time... Most are multiple choice, scantron, luckily. But sometimes you get a essay questions, as I addressed before. As much as you just want to pile everything you know into the answer and hope you've hit the answer somewhere, it is best to think for a minute as to what you really think the professor wants you to say. Sounds like something they would warn you against, but it's actually a good trick to help you keep your answers focused on one point. Don't forget to use those terms you practiced when you were studying!

But, your first bombed test isn’t the end of the world. And unfortunately, it’s probably not the last test you’ll bomb over the years. But there are always other exams and assignments that you can make up points with, and that’s just what you’ll figure out as you go. Most classes post grades pretty religiously to Blackboard, so you can monitor yourself throughout the semester and know if you are going to need to put in a little more work.

Tests aren't fun, but you’ll survive them!

Good luck learning!

#SB13ChuckYeah

Here we are in Charleston, South Carolina. Sometimes called "Chuck Town," leading to our hashtag, which is a clever twist on a phrase starting with a word that rhymes with "chuck"
...there ya go.
"Are you having a great Spring Break?"
"CHUCK YEAH!"

The fifteen hour ride was eased a little by the fact that I can sleep like a rock in the car. We left at midnight on Friday night and I was unconscious for the next seven hours...awake for five...out for two aaaaand awake for the last hour. I entertained myself with two good reads: Gone Girl and John Dies at the End. Actually, I can't get into Gone Girl, but John Dies at the End is bizarrely good SiFi read, recommended by Abbie Loveall after we saw the movie at Rag Tag.

Along the way, we stopped in our old beloved Knoxville, Tennessee (see #rockytoproadtrip) to reminisce and eat crepes.

 

So, we arrived at our awesome little beach house. Complete with pool, two kitchens and, best of all, plenty of beds for all ten of us. That's a lie, the "best of all" is that it was only $151 each...and it's nicer than my East Campus house, so that's good enough for me.

We went out in search of dinner and stumbled across this great little restaurant called Poe's Tavern. The walls were decked with an awkwardly abundant number of Edgar Allen Poe images, but the food was fabulous and the waiter was awesome. He gave us some recommendations on what to do in Charleston, as well as some suggestions on the best beers to try. After our burgers, we went grocery shopping and headed home to settle in. Once the rest of the clan arrived, we made our plan for the week and then got very very excited and passed out asleep in exhaustion.

Sunday, March 24

As planned, we took Sunday easy. Woke up late and got up around slowly. We all bummed around reading or watching our respective TV shows. It was gloriously relaxing and only made sweeter by the afternoon trip we took to the beach. It was a bit chilly, but we were happy to be on a beach (without Missouri snow) none the less.

Left to right: Elizabeth, Kaitlin, Kate, Katherine, Katie, Emily, Lindsey, Kate, Abbie, Laura.

The best part of walking along the beach was seeing the houses! Look at some of these. I was just daydreaming of my life someday, drinking sweet tea on the porch of my South Carolina home.

Monday, March 25

Monday morning, we woke up and headed into Charleston around 10:00 am. We wandered and wandered around the College of Charleston's campus until we found Greek row...

Yes, their Greek houses were in these skinny little buildings.

Until we found the Theta house! Only six girls live in the house, so one was there to give us a little tour. It was strangely narrow and tall, but it's so fun to see Theta houses across the country!

College of Charleston Kappa Alpha Theta Chapter

After that, we went around downtown Charleston towards the Old Market. This was a lot of fun: a long, narrow stretch of covered-indoor booths selling local little goodies, like strange soap flavors, local hot sauces and hand-crafted jewelry. As well as other typical tourist treats like magnets and postcards and crap. Then we headed back to the car and took a little detour on our way home, at the Angel Oak Tree.

Contrary to my Instagram'd picture of the occasion, you are NOT allowed to climb (or carve) the tree.
We settled for just taking a million pictures with the tree.

All the K names: Kate, Katherine, Katie, Kate, Kaitlin.

That night we recovered from our adventures and Katherine, Katie and Elizabeth made us a delicious taco dinner. This is part of our (somewhat failing) attempts to save money on this trip. We each take a turn making dinner every night, allowing one *SPLURGE* for a fun dinner out. After dinner we sat around the living room and played the paperslip game and the What If game. Both were a blast and our Game Master, Abbie Loveall, did a lovely job directing the festivities.

Tuesday, March 26

Tuesday, we split up. Lindsey, Kate, Abbie and I took a day trip to Savannah, Georgia, while the rest of the clan ventured out to tour the oldest running plantation. We both had an equally great time...if it hadn't been for the pants (more details to come). We left early that morning for the two hour drive before arriving in Sunny Savannah at a little late. I say "Sunny Savannah" as a joke, because, though the skies may have been bright and sunny...even Foreigner would have been unprepared for the "Cold As Ice" chill through the windy streets. (Yeah, yeah. That joke was a bit of a stretch.) Anyway. We showed up late and called the director of the tours who said, "Oh that's alright, we'll meet you at the square..." As if there were only ONE square in this stinkin' town. We stumble on a square, only to discover there are two tours going on. We ask one group who politely declines our being a part and then we stand in the back of another, hoping to go unnoticed. At the end of his speil, the period-dressed gentleman asks, "Does anyone have any questions? 'Like, is this my tour group?'" clearly directed at us. The group turns and we explain that we're lost and he explains that we are NOT lost here. So we call again, find this other square and finally meet up with out tour. Awkward.

The tour was a two-hour adventure through the streets of Savannah, stopping at beautiful buildings and squares on squares of history. I say "squares" because these are the official names of what we call "parks" in the midwest, expect that all of these have some kind of monument erected for some general or founder of something in Savannah. The end. You've just experienced the walking tour of Savannah...only for you, walking isn't difficult because your toes have gone numb, you aren't HATING yourself for not having a jacket and you probably won't have bright red, wind-burned cheeks for the rest of the day. I cannot express to you how cold it was. True, it was not snowing like it is in Missouri, but I didn't pack clothes for upper-30s weather. I PACKED FOR SPRING BREAK.

Savannah Cotton Exchange

A church. They were everywhere.

Here we have the oldest running theatre in America.

Once the tour was over, we thawed out in a cute little dinner called Henry's. They had just about every breakfast or lunch food you can imagine and we all devoured our orders. After that, we went back to the car and drove to the Riverwalk. We wandered down the strip stopping in little shops along the way.

It was here that Abbie bought "The Pants".

Tuesday night, we came home and crashed so hard. Abbie and I made pasta for dinner and half of the group went out to a bar we found called The Windjammer, while I stayed home to take a bath. Because I'm on vacation, and baths should always happen on vacation.

Wednesday, March 27

Wednesday morning we got up and drove to the ferry, which we took to Fort Sumter. 

Yeah, I did take this. I'm sooooo artistic.

We spend an hour here and it was kind of nice. It was still COLD, but the sun was shining and if you laid in the sun, it was quite nice. The night before, I told Aaron we were going here and he said it was something he wanted to see, so I asked what a cool souvenir would be. A magnet? No. A postcard? Not really. A shot glass? No. What do you want Aaron, a rock? Yeah, actually. A rock from there would be cool. So that's what I got Aaron: a rock from the grounds where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. He's a pretty simple guy. 

Some flags.

Some guns.

General Thomas Sumter...lazy eye included.

American flag with 33 stars.

We came home and napped before getting ready and taking taxis downtown. We ate at a seafood place called Hank's, where I paid more for dinner than I ever have. Ouch.

Rare Seared Tuna...very rarely seared. But DELICIOUS.

The weather was actually kind of nice (or maybe we just learned to stop trying to dress how we wished the weather) so we walked around the corner to the adorable little dessert bar called Kaminsky's. They made delightful little dessert cocktails and they were the perfect sweetness with our seafood dinner. We all tried each others drinks: The Hawaiian, Dreamsickle, Toasted Almond Joy, Dark Chocolate, etc. Nom nom nom.

Kate with her Dark Chocolate.

Mine was the doorman's recommendation: Dreamsickle. It was glorious.

After dessert, we walked to a bar that had been recommended called Closed for Business. The decor of the place was so stinkin' cool and they had like 42 beers on tap. We all tried the local and less-local brews. Mine was the Palmetto Amber, brewed right there in Charleston.

After CFB, we trekked to this place called Speak Easy. As imagined in 1933, this bar was a hole in the wall. Actually, a refurnished apartment with probably a total 30 seats and a little bar in the corner. We sat around on couches and talked as we consumed drinks with rosemary in them. The spice. In the drink. It was very strange. We chatted and gossiped until it was time to go home and we called our cabs and rolled back to Isle of Palm.

Thursday, March 28

Today is our last day in Isle of Palms. We have BIG plans to take it easy. Fingers are crossed for nice weather later so we can actually be on the beach during our Spring Break...crazy, I know. Friday, we're heading to Ashville to visit Elizabeth's grandma and check out the town. I have been dying to go ever since Emilie declared it her next home. We'll stay Friday night with Elizabeth's grandma and then head home on Saturday.

How to Make Sushi on a Whim with Absolutely No Experience or Idea What You're Doing

Aaron and I are pretty fond of sushi. By that, I mean we have it for lunch or dinner about once a week. Don't be fooled though. We are pretty simple sushi people...California and Philly rolls are how we roll.

We got a little inspired one night, and made our own. So, here is How to Make Sushi on a Whim with Absolutely No Experience or Idea What You're Doing:

1. Watched some videos.
This being decidedly the shortest and simplest:

Then we realized we didn't know how to make sushi rice...so we watched this one too:

2. Create a grocery list and purchased goods.

For the Rice:
- rice
- sugar
- salt
- vinegar
- dashi? (which we could not find at Walmart)

For the Sushi:
- sushi roller board
- seaweed sheets
- cucumber
- avacado
- crab meat
- cream cheese
- salmon


In case you didn't know.
California Rolls = cucumber + avacado + crab meat
Philly Rolls = cucumber + avacado + salmon + cream cheese

3. Prepare the Rice and Fillings. Aaron steamed the rice and prepared the vinegar/sugar/salt solution and then help me cut the cucumber, avacado, crab, salmon and cream cheese into long, thin strips.

** After we tried the rolls, we found they were a little vinegary. Maybe it was our lack of "dashi" ...whatever that is? But you may look into another sushi rice recipe or tweeking the one in the video?

He's really more of a pretty face than a chef...

4. Spread the Rice. Once the rice was ready, we enclosed the roller board in a large ziplock bag and spread the sticky rice into a flat layer on the seaweed sheets.

This was a little tricky. We found it helps to spray Pam on your hands
and also to let me do it and not Aaron.

5. Roll the Sushi. Place the fillings on the rice spread and using the roller board, conceal the fillings tightly in a roll. This part is also tricky. If you watch the first video you can see how pulling the roller towards yourself as you wrap it around the sushi creates pressure on the roll and makes it a little tighter.

 
6. Cut the Sushi Roll into Strips. Again, use of the Pam spray on your knife will help your cuts be cleaner.

Otherwise, you'll get rolls like Aaron. Fail.

Be a pro, like me.

7. Eat the Rolls! Nom nom. What a delight.

We even bought some weird, orange Asian drink
and fortune cookies so we could be reeeeeally authentic.

8. Instagram a Picture. Obviously...if you don't take a picture it's like it never happened.

The Rules of (Adobe Suites) Design, According to Kaitlin

The thing about anything is that people have different tastes. I like to dress like my mom picked out my clothes (cardigans, scarves, boots, Birkenstocks) and others prefer a less modest style involving blingy embellishments, chunky jewelry and tight tops. That's cool, we're all different.

When it comes to design, things are the same way. Emily Armstrong (residing in the bedroom above mine) has a wild, whimsical, free sense of style. I, on the other had, prefer structured, clean designs. The fact that both of these styles can be considered creative is wonderful! The most valuable kind of creativity results in something that you are proud of and that pleases you exactly. I thought I would share my own personal "Rules of Design" (something a wild soul like Emily would never consider). Please keep in mind that these are simply MY rules, which appeal to MY taste and style.

Never, ever hyphenate your text.
I hate hyphenated text. With the ability to adjust tracking, leading, kerning, size, stroke, etc. there is no reason that you can't alter the shape of your text to fit an area or be more appealing. And hyphenation looks janky. You aren't writing a book, you're making art. Don't be lazy.

Don't fear the right-align and don't abuse centered text.
Centered text is easy. So easy an accountant could do it. Sure, it has its place, but a solid left or right alignment can really balance a layout. And I know right-align seems strange, but just try it. It can be really cool to back two columns of text aligned against each other.

White space is a wonderful, glorious thing.
Cluttered, colorful design has its place, but nothing is so sweet as a mostly white page. It's classic. It's easy to read. It focuses on the content. It is lovely. When you start a project, you start with a blank, white page...don't go too far from there.

Use the gridlines.
Oooh, I know I should. I usually just eye-ball it, which is alright, because I'm a pretty accurate eye-baller. But there are a lot of cases where working off a grid would really help me out. It can also help you to think and problem-solve a little more creatively. Seeing the page in sections can open your eyes to potential elements that might not register when you're looking at a blank page.

Drop shadows suck.
Drop shadows are like little shadows on your text. They really are the worst thing ever. I understand they need to be used occasionally. But, I just ask that you don't use it on more than one font per project.

Chose three fonts that work well together: a bold, block sans-serif; a thin serif or sans-serif; a script.
For any one project or campaign, this is a pretty good rule. I follow it religiously. Once you've chosen your font collection, then you just stick to it throughout the project. Nothing is worse than random fonts.

Don't italicize. Just don't do it.
Honestly. I don't like italics ever. I will bold, underline, even poke myself in the eye before I italicize text. I'm not sure what it is, but I don't like it.

Adjust the leading and the tracking and nothing else.
If there is one thing I hate, it's adjusting the horizontal or vertical scale of text. That is changing the physical structure of the typography and in that case, just use a different font! When you have more text than space, I understand that you must make some changes to the type, but I would suggest altering the leading or tracking. In case you didn't know,
Leading: the vertical distance from the baseline of one line of text to the next text baseline.

Kerning: an adjustment of the space between two specific characters to compensate for their relative shapes.

Tracking: the measure of the overall spacing between letters considering a block of text.

Alright. So the fact of the matter could be that I don't know what Kerning is really...and I just like to be in exact control of what my text looks like.

If you need a creative solution to a layout problem, just think a little harder.
One of the things I love about design are the challenges. Sometimes you're just goin' along when you realized you have too much text or too few photos or no photos at all. Then it gets fun. You have to be innovative and think creatively. This is how you learn new concepts and incorporate new elements into your style. As a Mad Man I know once said:

Just think about it, deeply.
Then forget it. And an idea will...
Jump up in your face.
- Don Draper
  

Let's talk about color.

Red: should be a little darker than traditional red.
Orange: don't use orange.
Yellow: NOT yellow and NOT gold...we're looking for a dirty mustard color.
Green: a dim, light (NOT lime) shade that you use sparingly.
Teal: all shades of teal are acceptable and wonderful.
Blue: you want a dark, navy with a grayish hint to it.
Purple: how 'bout a plum.
Pink: uggh, use a coral if you must, but it should be a perfect salmon color.

NO NO Fonts: 
Let's just get this straight. There are so so many fonts in the world. Please DON'T use the following ones.

Well there. I really can't make it any easier for you. Like I said, these are just the rules according to ME. But, who are we kidding, I know what's best...