9 Months

I can't believe it's been nine months with our little dude on board. 

As of today, I'm officially 39 weeks. One week away from his due date. And I have to say... 

I'm not tired of being pregnant. 

Honestly? I have had the best pregnancy, which has genuinely left me stunned every single day. 

For most of my life I feel like I have only heard about fertility challenges, how terrible and difficult pregnancy is and the absolute horror show that is labor and delivery... not to mention how a newborn wreaks havoc on your life, how babies ruin your body and blah blah blahdy BLAH. 

Well.... eff all that. 

To be very clear here... I have deep respect, love and high hopes for those who are trying to conceive or adopt and meet the baby that's waiting for them. I believe the women who struggle through difficult pregnancies and pregnancy loss are to be hugged and taken care of and listened to as they grieve through their pain or loss. I am deeply sympathetic to and wish nothing but healing for anyone who has had a traumatic birth experience or a postpartum mood disorder. And to that end, if hearing about someone's positive experience with conception and pregnancy is triggering to you, I get it. If that's you, heads up: you probably won't want to read the rest of this post. 

But.. there are good stories too! And because I have one, I'm going to tell it. 

Cheers, 2018!

pc: Alex Monette

Writing these posts at the start of each year is one of my favorite ways to spend New Year's Day. It helps me to reflect on the year as a whole and gain new perspective on what I thought mattered... and what actually mattered.

This year was a big one for us. Ryan switched careers, his father passed away, then my dad got sick, and moved in with us for a bit, we planned a wedding, and we got married. And those are just the really big things. As I wrote this post, I realized just how much we packed into every month of 2018.

It's Easy When You're Young Not To Realize That You're Lucky

p/c: @alexandriamonette

I originally wrote this post a couple of weeks ago when the wine and the words were finally flowing after so many months of the well being dry.

The word well that is. The wine well has never been fuller than it has this past year.

The gist of it was an overview of how utterly emotionally exhausting this year has been, juxtaposed with all the struggles of those closest to me and the world at large as a reminder that I have no right to complain. A nice hot mess of feeling sorry for myself and then feeling guilty for feeling sorry for myself.

I don't feel that it accomplished what my inebriated mind intended it to do, so I took it down the next morning.

But I desperately do want to reclaim this creative space again and the only thing stopping me is how overwhelming a feat it seems to pick up where I left off, complete with an explanation or recap of where I've been. So here I am, reposting this in a (ridiculously) pared down version, as a means to rip the bandaid off and just get back at it.

The recap is this: This year has been hard. For me, sure, but for everyone it seems. I don't know if this is just adulthood-induced hyperawareness and this is why adults always seemed so stressed out when I was a kid or if things really are that bad in the world. It sure feels like the latter.

But then we got married and all of the people closest to us came out and made our day incredible for us and for that I am grateful. It was the brightest spot in an otherwise pretty dark couple of years and it has created a lightness in me that has made me cautiously hopeful again. To be the recipient of such love and generosity, to feel like I've entered a new, elevated phase with the love of my life, to be done with the (fun) stress of planning and paying for a wedding, and to have come to my own realization of what needs to take priority now that we have started this new chapter as a family unit.

That reprioritization has made me a lot more aware of the changes I need to make to be the best version of myself that I can be for my husband, my family and friends and the planet. And the best version of me desperately needs a creative outlet and a platform to share and connect.

Which brings me back to this space. My little digital sanctuary.

I'm excited to reconnect and to carve out time for myself to focus on this space in a new way. While this is a place where I still want to write about all things to do with my life (helloooo wedding posts!), living in San Diego, surf shack decor, travels, fitness, and the ocean, I'll also be adding in a lot more about my focus on a more eco-conscious lifestyle and conscious consumerism, my personal creative projects, and eventually, our grand adventure of starting a family (!!!!).

Onward...

Soul Work

Earlier today, Ryan saw me reading and working and jokingly asked me if I was doing homework (it's a joke only because I'm not in school anymore - finally!). Without a second thought, I told him that I was doing Soul Work, a phrase that felt indulgent and hokey and worthy of an eye roll (or five). But also... accurate.

It's what I've been immersed in for the past month or so coming into this, my "butterfly" year. There's not really a structure or a point or a goal for it. It's just what I feel like spending almost all of my free time on lately. I've been super introspective and in my own little world for weeks: reading, journaling, listening, planning, dreaming.

Here's what Soul Work is shaping up to mean for the month of March:

• Finishing reading The Desire Map and identifying my "core desired feelings"
• Finishing listening to The Fire Starter Sessions and completing the worksheets
• Fully participating in The Salty Club: cooking the recipes, doing the workouts, following the journaling prompts
• Meditating by the ocean, spending time enjoying it up close or getting in it at least once each day
• Running or yoga once a day
• Drinking more water
• Outlining content for my book
• Spending more zen time in my little nook in our office

I'm curious to see if there are other people doing Soul Work this season and what that means for them. If you're reading something awesome or listening to a great podcast, let me know!

Good Intentions

Rumor has it that it's already February, huh?

Something tells me that's the way things are going to go in 2018. Between wedding planning and work and this weird rate of warp speed that life seems to be moving at in my thirties, I can already tell this year is going to be a blur. I know that some years are just meant to be that way. But after two years that I'd actually rather forget, I want to remember this one.

To do that? I have to get a little more intentional than I was last year.

Last year, in 2017, in my personal life my goal was to not have goals. Just flow or be still. I needed to force myself to not do anything. To be aimless for a while.

But I am not an aimless person by nature. I am a stress and achievement addict, a productivity junkie. Granted, it's a habit that I am actively and aggressively trying to break, but I know that there's a happy medium. Something between relaxed and productive, between flowing and planning, between apathy and anxiety.

I woke up this morning with a new determination to work on finding that balance this year.

A few weeks ago, we did a vision boarding exercise at work. Mine came out more or less how every vision or mood or inspiration board has come out for me since I was a kid. There are constants: fitness, the ocean, surfing, bright colors, fun, art, food and the outdoors. All of which I want more of in 2018.

So, even though it's one month into the new year already (shhhh), I'd like to set some intentions for this year:

• Protect the Ocean: Towards the end of 2017, I started to find a renewed sense of purpose, a mission around ocean conservation. It started with a surfing program and continued through beach doing clean-ups and watching documentaries. I was so driven towards environmental action and animal protection as a kid and I lost that part of myself in my 20s. It feels really, really good to get it back. This year, I want to focus even more on reducing waste, being more mindful about how my lifestyle choices impact the environment, educating myself more on my purchases, and choosing the planet over convenience. 

• Don't Be Sorry, Be Better: I've written my fair share of apology texts and spent days of my life feeling bad for things I've said or done. I need to focus on ways that I can be better instead of sorry. 

• "Remember When You Wanted What You Currently Have": This is a quote that I see pop up from time to time and it has never been more relevant than this year. There are years where we have everything we could ever want. Those times are fleeting and I think this year is going to be one of them. And since it won't be that way forever, I want to make sure I am savoring every bit of it. 

• Stay the Course: I want to continue studying A Course in Miracles and growing from what I learn in my studies. I notice that when I distance myself from studying the Course, it's because I want to do something that doesn't really align with its teachings. Which should be the first sign that something is awry and there is a lesson to be learned. (And if I want to sound like a real crazy hippie, I'd share that I am becoming of the belief that the Course is the true path to ending emotional legacies, which means that I have be intentional about creating time for it.)

• Let Go without Letting Yourself Go: Somewhere along the line I confused letting go with letting myself go. I let go of fears about my health and Lynch Syndrome by just letting go of taking care of my health at all. I let go of people's opinions about me and somehow this manifested in letting go of the way I showed up. I don't want to do this anymore. It's time to put some effort into my appearance all the while making sure that I'm doing it for me and not someone else's opinion of me or what I should look like. 

• W.A.I.T.: The most important acronym for me these days: Why Am I Talking? I really need to work on this one this year. Work on listening more, interrupting less, being mindful of why I'm saying whatever I'm saying. Is is because I want to control something? So someone will like me or think I'm smart? Paying more attention to why I'm saying whatever I'm saying feels key.

Let's do this 2018.

You Can't Conquer The Ocean

photo credit // Groundswell Community Project

I think it was my fifth surf therapy session with Groundswell Community Project. I was paired up with a volunteer, a surf sister, Rebecca, who I hadn't met before, so I was introducing myself. I was giving her my elevator pitch, a quick synopsis of why I had joined their summer program. 

"Yeah, so I just learned how to swim a couple of years ago and this," I said, sweeping my hand to indicate the ocean on the horizon, "...is the next thing to conquer." 

We didn't have much time. Rebecca was listening, but at that particular moment she was mostly looking for the best place to help me get in the ocean as quickly as possible, trying to make sure I got on a wave or two on a particularly choppy day. Which is why I doubt she noticed when my own words stopped me in my tracks.

"Conquer" the ocean. Like it was just another achievement waiting to be checked off. Like it was something almost mechanical, merely requiring strategy, calculations and persistence.

Like it was even remotely possible. 

This sudden awareness of how I was describing the ocean was the seed of only one of the many salt water-soaked lessons that I learned with Groundswell Community Project this summer. I am profoundly and deeply changed after spending 8 weeks with their wonderful volunteers and their incredible force of a founder, Natalie Small. And of course, with Mother Ocean.

Only now, after reflecting on my experience for the past month to try and make sure I accurately articulate how it's changed me, have I felt able to share. 

May Cause Miracles

All you need is love.

In the past whenever I heard that phrase, I had a very narrow interpretation of it: if you had a love in your life, romantic or otherwise, that was all you needed to be happy.

But this year, I started to look at love differently. I started to look at it as a life philosophy. I looked at as something I could inject into my life on my own, moment to moment. I started to view love as the absence of fear. And I arrived at that definition by doing a 42-Day Fear Detox designed by Gabrielle Bernstein in her book, May Cause Miracles.

Honestly? It's changing my life.

I completed the workshop in February and have spent the last two months building on the spiritual work that I began during that process. The lessons I learned in those 42 days have become so important to me, so eye-opening and so sacred, that I decided I wanted to share them here. Which, naturally I was afraid to do, because it's a bit different than the content I usually post. But ultimately? It abides by the same North Star I've always had for this blog: to write about things that make me happy.

And if it makes other people happy too? Even better.

Good Riddens, 2016

This post has had some harsher titles in drafts. Let's just say F bombs were involved.

I usually love writing these recaps each year, but this one was hard. 2016 started out mildly shitty and ended really shitty. And it was shitty for a lot of what happened in the middle too.

Peace Out 2015!

Photo by Horizon Light Productions

They say that your 29th year is when Saturn returns to the exact same position in sky as it was when you were born. According to astrology, the return of Saturn means crossing the threshold to adulthood... a time for taking stock, getting introspective and coming to terms with the direction your life is going. But for me and for some of my friends, 29 has also meant one last gasp of irresponsibility.

In many ways, I acted more carefree in 2015 than I have in my entire life. There have been weeks and months where it felt like I was purposefully indulging in one last free-for-all... not caring about my diet, my spending habits or my fitness. There's been a lot to celebrate and I used all the weddings, birthdays and good news as a chance to really let loose, take chances, and party hard.

Which, as I look back now, seems to have made for a pretty fun year...

Not That Kind Of Girl

I have a love/hate relationship with Lena Dunham.

This, apparently, seems to be the general consensus when it comes to Dunham and my theory is that your feelings about her (if you have any) are based on where you fall on the spectrum of being able to relate to her. For a lot of girls, Dunham grew up in a different world. For me, not so much.

Dunham and I are the exact same age, give or take 30 days. We both have an unhealthy obsession with pop culture, are raging liberals and hypochondriacs, and we fell in love with writing at a young age. We grew up in (her) or adjacent to (me) a world of affluence, where people with graduate degrees from liberal arts colleges and an appreciation for highbrow culture were a dime a dozen. We both lived in New York City in our early twenties, she still does. We have similar stories about shitty guys we've dated and shittier men we've worked with. Most tragically, we both thought people would want to read a book of our self-absorbed essays about all of these topics.

The biggest difference? Well, Dunham actually published hers.

30 Before 30

original pc: Horizon Light Photography

My 20s have been good great to me.

For starters? I've seen my writing in print. I've crowd surfed at music festivals, climbed on stage at the MTV VMAs, flirted my way onto a band's tour bus, and lied my way into a fancy album release party. I've run half-marathons. I've run a full marathon. I've even walked 60 miles for charity. I lived in New York City for two years and in London for three weeks. I've lived alone, dined alone, traveled alone, gone to the movies alone, gone to concerts alone...  I even went to Coachella alone. I conquered my biggest fear and finally learned how to swim. I've zip lined through the jungle in Mexico, stood in ancient ruins in Rome, and watched the lights twinkle in Paris from the Eiffel Tower. I've waited tables, sold Apple computers, researched story lines for a novelist, and edited a magazine. I've drunkenly bear-hugged Bill Murray and I've soberly called John Mayer a moron to his face. I got a tattoo.. then another.. and another.

I've hosted and cooked an entire Thanksgiving meal for my family. I've run through the South of France in the rain with fresh baguettes and stood on Gaudi's rooftops in Barcelona. I finished my bachelor's degree then my (first) master's degree while working full-time during five very caffeinated years. I've skinny dipped in the Pacific Ocean and strolled through Central Park. I took a gondola ride through Venice, explored the Vatican, and toured the Palace of Versailles. I've been on the top of the Empire State Building at 1am, gambled the night away in Vegas and watched the sun set over the Grand Canyon. I packed up everything I owned and moved to California, with no job prospects in sight. I met a boy, I fell in love, and we adopted two rescue dogs.

I found out what made me happy and I am grateful every day.

And don't get me wrong, my 20s still feel far from over. Unfortunately, regardless of how I "feel," it doesn't change the fact that in 15 months, I'll be entering my next decade.

Honestly? I'm not scared to turn 30, I'm not dreading it like I'm apparently supposed to. Not one little bit. How can I with all the wonderful stuff I got to experience during my 20s? In fact, I'm really excited for my 30s, for focusing more on the people and activities that I love and less on the things that I don't, for being done with school, for settling down... but... I mean...

There's still time to make my 20s go out with a bang.

Adios 2014!

2014.... In looking back on this past year, some of the things that happened in the earlier months seem like they belong to an entirely different time and place. It's been a weird and wild and wonderful year, that for me has been more about the ocean and water than anything else: spending time in Sayulita, learning how to swim, moving to Ocean Beach. 

Thinking about it as I write this, I think that closing the year by getting a new tattoo of some waves that Ryan drew for me was probably the perfect way to honor it. Waves was definitely the theme, from scenery to aspirations to the way that life seemed to work this year, with the good and the bad coming in sets.

Still.... sitting down to recap the highlights, I realized there was not a single month that went by without love, growth, or adventure. And for that I am grateful.

#GIRLBOSS

Most of the time, I get packages delivered to my office. Such was the case when I had my first order from Nasty Gal delivered a few years ago. Little did I know that "NASTY GAL" would be splashed across the packaging in an incriminating font.

Obvs, I made a point to stress to everyone who saw me shamefully carry the box back to my desk that it was clothes, just totally normal clothes, I swear... Still. Because of that, I didn't really order from Nasty Gal much in the years that followed. I wasn't super impressed by the quality vs the price and it wasn't totally my style anyway.

But recently, Nasty Gal and it's CEO, Sophia Amoruso, started popping up everywhere. Everyone on social media was reading Amoruso's book, #GIRLBOSS, and then my friends started reading it too. By the time my friend Raina chose it for our company's book club selection, I was intrigued enough to give it a shot.

Edie: An American Biography

Sometime last year, Mucho Mucho Bueno Bueno shared their current read: a biography on Edie Sedgwick, socialite and model from the 1960s. Being a fan of Sedgwick, as well as a lover of all things '60s pop culture, I was intrigued. I ordered it and two days later, Edie: American Girl showed up. Like most of the books on my bookshelf, I didn't get to it for a while. This summer, I finally picked it up and it. was. awesome.

From A Rented Room On 9th Street

It's far from quiet in our little AirBnB room on 9th Street in Huntington Beach. There's the rain, for one. The cars splash through it every few minutes. There's intermittent fireworks, fragments of drunken conversations. Our middle-aged male host is downstairs on the couch making out with a women with short blonde hair. Our Finnish housemate is laying on her bottom bunk bed in the next room, flicking through her cell phone with the lights on and the doors open. Ryan has a pillow on his face trying to block out the noise and the light. I have my MacBook screen on minimum brightness, my headphones in, lowly playing one of my favorite albums, Gregory Alan Isakov's "That Sea, The Gambler".

We're up here for the Vans US Surf Open, something I'd daydreamed about as a 16, 17-year-old surf-culture-obsessed wannabe who was trapped on the wrong coast. I worked in a mall at the time and went to Hollister on my breaks to sit and watch the Huntington Beach webcams they played on projector screens in the store.

The vibes here and the town itself isn't exactly what I thought it would be like, but then again, not much has been since I moved here. It's been different and better, unsaturated and surprising. Sometimes you need to dig up the things you worshipped in your youth to see what they really are... sometimes they put the things you aspire to now in perspective.

At the end of the day, you create your life. If you don't want to have regrets, your best bet is to leave nothing unexplored.

A Visit From The Goon Squad

There aren't many novels that I'd recommend to everyone. Sure, there are novels that I'd recommend to some people and novels that I'd recommend to others, but only a handful of novels meet my criteria for across-the-board recommendation. One of these is the 2010 mega-hit, "Freedom" by Jonathan Franzen. And it just so happens that the latest novel to make my list is the other 2010 mega-hit, 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winner "A Visit From the Goon Squad" by Jennifer Egan.

I've spent the last couple of weeks tearing through Goon Squad in progressive stages of discomfort: sweating on the bench in my yard with a breeze, sweating on the bed with a fan, and sweating on the couch with no fan, respectively. It's been humid here.

Or rather, I should say, "humid." My friends in the Northeast would probably hit me if they caught me complaining about what humidity is to me these days. Regardless, this book does what any ideal summer reading should do: it makes you completely forget about how hot you are.

The Second You Start to Take Something Seriously...

...it loses all of its magic. 

It's been a while since Californication was worth quoting, but as I sat there loyally suffering through the last few episodes of its final season this past weekend, this line stood out. Hank asks his boss why he doesn't pursue his music outside of a hobby and this is Rath's rationale: "The second you start to take something seriously, it loses all of its magic."

I've battled with my creative energy my entire life. It can be all-consuming at times and during those times I begin to resent it because my need and desire to engage in creative endeavors feels like unproductive activity. And I'm a stress-addicted Millennial with 1.5 Master's Degrees and a guilt complex around wasting my time doing anything that doesn't produce "success" in some way for me.

I know, I know, first world problems, right?

Anyway, eventually, without fail, I try to monetize my hobbies. I enjoyed sewing so I started an Etsy store for tote bags that I made. I enjoyed writing so I went to Hunter to try and meet the right people and get noticed by an agent and make connections for a literary career. I enjoyed going to concerts and reading, so I started doing freelance music and book reviews.

Unfortunately, each time that I try to monetize something or "take it seriously," I become very overwhelmed by it. I get intimidated by all of the people who have been doing it better or longer than me. I take rejections harder, the hobby starts to become a chore. It usually ends with me giving up the hobby altogether because it stresses me out too much.

Over the past couple of months, I started to do this with this blog. A few opportunities came my way and I was able to make some money. And then more started piling up and I started getting very serious and equally stressed out about it. And then my best friend texted me and made a casual comment about how there had been so many sponsored posts and it hit me.

This blog had turned into a part-time job.

I didn't just write when or what I wanted to anymore... I had an editorial schedule with a purpose. Instead of using Motivation Monday posts as a vehicle for accountability for me and inspiration for my readers, I had to schedule them around fitness sponsors. Then I even stopped working out altogether and just posed in the clothes they sent me. I didn't have time to work out... I had to go to this networking event or that grand opening party. I had drafts of fun posts, like cheesy DIY projects I'd done, that I kept pushing out because I had paid posts to get up. I felt fake and stressed out and guilty.

Boo hoo. I'm making a small profit, partying and I get free stuff. It's dumb to complain about. But then something worse happened.

"I Can't" Vs. "I Don't Want To"

Throughout this diet, there has been a common reaction when I tell people what I'm doing. Usually they ask how much weight I've lost and then ask me what the catch is. I tell them the basics: no caffeine, no alcohol, no wheat, no dairy... Without fail, their response is: "Oh, I can't do that."

What they really mean to say is that they don't want to do that.

I'm not judging here. I'm guilty of it too. In fact, I've said I "can't" do tons of diets, but really, at those times, I just didn't want to make the sacrifices to lose weight. Now, I do. Which made realize something: I think we should stop saying "I can't" when we mean to say "I don't want to." And here's why: when we say we can't do something, we're not being honest with ourselves and others. 

For example: let's say your friends ask you to come out to the bar and you don't really feel like it. Your response may be: "I can't." That's when your friends start calling bullshit and you either A. Piss them off because you're being so vague and acting like you have no control over your actions or B. Allow yourself to get peer pressured into something you didn't really want to do. But what would the reaction have been if you simply said, "I don't want to tonight"?

"I can't" was the same reaction that people had when I told them how much training I had to do for the marathon. "I could never do that!" No, barring some actual physical disability that prevents you from the training and impact that running a marathon involves, what you mean to say is that you don't want to do that. And I don't blame you! I don't want to do it again either!

That's the second benefit of not relying on the crutch of "I can't": accountability and self-knowledge. 

By taking ownership of your feelings and decisions and interests, you start to hear yourself more clearly. Many people who have learned how much weight I've lost on this diet, seemed incredibly interested to try it, only to shy away when they understand the discipline that's involved. Maybe they don't want to give up their morning coffee or enjoying happy hour with friends and that's great... I'll soon be rejoining them.

But when you start admitting that to yourself, you are admitting that you are accountable for the state of health that you're in. Start saying that you don't want to work out instead of "I can't" and that you don't want to diet to lose weight instead of "I can't" and eventually you will realize where you stand on your approach to your personal health, even if that means finding out that you're standing in your own way.

I hesitated to write this post because isn't about superiority or judgment or trying to push my crazy fad dieting onto anyone else, though I worry that it sounds that way. In fact, it's very much the opposite. Because there's one more benefit to being honest about not wanting to do something: it stops you from being hard on yourself and allows you to be satisfied with your choices. 

• Stop saying that you can't move to your dream city and say instead that you don't want to move to your dream city if it means leaving xyz behind, because those things are more important to you.

• Stop saying that you can't quit your job and travel the world for 6 months and instead say that you don't want to work the extra jobs and sacrifice the time or career progression that it would take to finance or indulge a trip like that. 

• Stop saying that you can't break up with your significant other and instead say that you don't want to because you're scared to be alone or scared of the unknown.

• Stop saying that you can't get a pet and instead say that you don't want to because you value the freedom and flexibility of not having that obligation to another living being. 

Most importantly, don't be afraid of admitting why you don't want these things. They're who you are! And if you don't like what you hear when you say it out loud, at least now you know and you have the power to either change it or stop beating yourself up and accept it. If other people don't like who you are? Well, then you're making room for people who do.

I believe so much in the power and freedom of transparency. When you're honest with the world and yourself about who you are, you attract the people and experiences that reflect that and reject those that clash with the way you choose to live. When you say "I can't" you are saying that you have no choice as to what happens to you.

When are you saying you can't when you should be saying you don't want to?

Tree Bad, Fire Pretty

Some weeks are better off forgotten and this has truly been one of them. With all the craziness going on between work and school, even if I'd had the time to blog, I haven't had much happy stuff to blog about. Hopefully that's over now that a couple of things are out of the way.

The wonderful thing is, no matter how stressful life can get sometimes, being home always makes me feel better. Last night I came home from work and spent the evening relaxing with Ryan and the dogs. We grabbed a few drinks next door at the bar, went back home and hung out in the yard and lit up the chiminea (which by far is Ryan's best Craigslist find).

Our Christmas tree has been outside drying out for a few weeks and we decided it was finally time to burn it up while we had a fire going. Over the course of a few hours we cut off all the branches until all that was left was a twiggy trunk (which we're saving for a DIY project that I'll share soon!).

There was something nice about the cyclical nature of burning it up and watching it float off in sparks and smoke. For me, seeing all those discarded trees on the side of the road each year is such a sad sight and I'm glad we could get rid of ours this way instead.

New Year's Revolution

Today is the start of a new year and somehow we managed to conquer our hangovers and get out of the house long enough to take in this beautiful view.

Nothing beats the vibe in Ocean Beach and our day there set a tone for the year. It helped me to set my intention for this upcoming year as well: to keep things easy, breezy and bright, just like OB. But I always like to get a few goals down in writing, so here is my list for 2014.

1. Spend at least three days each month at the beach.
2. Finally, really learn how to swim.
3. Try stand-up paddle boarding.
4. Learn to play the ukelele.
5. Go to bikram at least 2x a week.
6. Pause more in the moment.
7. Smile at one stranger every day.

Let's do this 2014. I can't wait to see what you have in store.