I play with a few friends a lot, and always get stuck into playing support. My friends aren't great, so I always end up playing a support that can be a carry. (Been playing a lot of gragas support, his Q and E makes him very viable IMO.) But, what I do, is start with a vision ward, and mana manipulator. I wait until at least 4:00, or if I see the enemy jungler ganking another lane, I wait for another :30 - :45. When I feel like we MAY get ganked, due to us pushing too hard and the jungler is MIA, I'll put down the vision ward in the brush above bot lane. Usually I'm able to take down the enemy's ward and get the gold back that I spent for the extra vision. I'll wait until 10:00 usually to use my explorer ward on the dragon. There are SOME exceptions. (Fiddlesticks can easily take a 6 minute dragon) on my first back, I usually have enough for another vision ward, a sight ward, and a philostone. So I buy that. Now, unlike MOST supports, this is where I get creative. I use my sight ward on the enemy jungler's red, also near his wraiths, so I can see if he's in that part of the jungle. This is where I get my farm as a support. If the enemy jungler is not near, I take the wraiths, golems, and give my ADC the red (on purple). Leaving one wraith and one lizard minion. Or taking the wolves, and blue for myself (on blue). After a few times going into the jungle, saying I haven't died trying to take the farm, or in better cases, when me and my ADC are ahead, and we kill the jungler trying to take his own buffs, I start building AP/AD items, still letting my ADC have the lane farm and buffs sometimes. However, this is usually when I roam. If you decide to look through my match history, I almost ALWAYS have boots of swiftness/mobility. I help gank lanes for the jungler, and get fed off assists, and some kills. I end up having the third or fourth most farm on my team, from taking the jungle, the most assists, and sometimes, even, the least deaths. As summoner spells I always take heal and clairvoyance. I can safely facecheck bushes with cv, track the enemy jungler's movement, and know who's building what in the very beginning. If you would like me to show you how to execute this support/carry route properly, I will be more than glad to show you how. Add me in game! Name: Managable
Hope this helped. A bit unorthodox, but it may work for you like it does for me. Just remember to keep your vision up.

EDIT: Wow, I wrote a book.

So, I've read every post in here, and I'm very grateful for everyone taking the time to write. I haven't had much time to try out the suggestions. I'll work on buying wards, and strategically placing them, as well as nabbing some wolves and such when I have downtime. I'm interested in trying Nidalee, and Taric, so I'll likely pick one of those two up in the next few days. I still like Thresh, but I think having a perspective aside from him may be good.

I liked your book Managable, and I'll try out those summoner spells. I've been running flash and exhaust, but I suppose I should take things to help my ADC rather than catch my opponents.

I'll work mainly on wards, and try to get used to just supporting. Thank you all once again for your suggestions (and thanks to any more that are posted as well.)

Flash and exhaust is good too, exhaust pretty much ensures a kill for your ADC, however, the thing I prefer is lane sustain. If your ADC can get 15 more farm from your heal, that's equal to a champion kill. Also, I try to help freeze the lane at the enemy's turret, denying them farm, it doesn't always work but I'm a lane bully so more often than not they have to back off a bit to use a potion or B, and that's when we push like crazy. Luckily, I play in bot lane with a childhood friend, so we kind of have hive mind about that kind of stuff and work really well together. If you're thinking about using a nonsupport champion as a support, let me know and I'll help you come up with a build.
(Like Nidalee, lol, she's got good harass, and post-6 can wreck the carry if you know how to switch forms well. One of my in-game friends actually made a video, showing you how exactly to play Nidalee. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9cmW3Odr1o)

Also, playing a few customs of hide and seek helps you learn how to properly kite.

First off, if you're pushed back to your tower, don't be afraid to take some farm yourself. Your tower doesn't regenerate HP, so killing minions is going to be better than making sure your ADC gets them all.

Second, if your ADC isn't in lane, why waste the farm? If you can last hit and freeze the lane until he comes back, you'll have a couple extra wards and/or your philo stone or kage's pick a little sooner.

Third: Dead enemy+living ally is better than dead enemy+dead ally. Even if you accidentally steal the kill, you'll both get gold off the kill and your enemy gets dead.

I'd also like to add, if you're playing TRUE support, like Sona/Soraka, and you take heal/clarity/clairvoyance it's a good idea to talk to your ADC about letting you have some farm so you can rush elisa's miracle. Usually they'll be okay with this, because it means you guys can stay in lane for hours without a problem, plus mana and health regen is a great added bonus.

Alistar is a free support, hopefully you have already? He isn't a squishy but very tanky support. He also has the capability to initiate Team fights.

A long but good support guide: http://www.solomid.net/guides.php?g=...ic-build-guide