I'm trying to figure out the most optimal places to put the ads and if I should use text/media ads. Any opinions would be great. www.adobestyles.com
When your page loads in browser, whatever portion is visible without scrolling down is called "above the fold". The section of a Web page that is visible without scrolling.
On the sidebar you've labelled over the Google Ads as "more resources", careful about that please. It may mean resources offered by you! Google may take it as "encouraging clicks". Google says: ads may be labelled "Sponsored Links" or "Advertisements". Also, having a Privacy Policy is a must on AdSense enabled sites now, try to include that quickly.
Thank you for telling me about the Privacy Policy as part of google TOS, I've added it to the footer navigation.
It's very important to place ads at right place. I think it's better to place on upper position of your post.