2012 :

Dear 2012,

You built me and broke me. You exhausted and excited me. You gave me love, then took it away; now we understand that only was it when our time was ripe and ready that you could give each other back to us. It is but a beautiful, wonderful gift I will never, ever forget.

Thank you for all of this and more. Adieu to you.

Most sincerely and genuinley,

Natalie

“In fact, my soul and yours are the same,
You appear in me, I in you,
We hide in each other.”

—

Rumi

25 Things You Should Remember To Do Every Day :

Googling:

how to tell people who know you that you cannot or do not want to see them because you have to much shit going down (without them getting offended and with them being understanding)

"Part of a holiday letter I wrote to my daughter . . .

If you ever catch yourself feeling blue, as we all sometimes do from time to time, here are ten things that if you do three days in a row (I promise) will make you feel better.

1. In the morning write down five things you are grateful for.

2. Think about a random act of kindness you can do for someone that day.

3. Eat well (you know what that means); drink well (no coffee, soft drinks or alcohol).

4. Exercise hard for 20 minutes.

5. Write an old friend an email or better yet a letter.

6. Actively relax, meditate or pray for 10 minutes.

7. Take a walk in the sun.

8. Watch a John Hughes' movie like "Ferris Bueller’s Day Off" or "The Breakfast Club".

9. Sleep deep and long.

10. Remember that you are loved (I promise)."

- Frank Warren, founder of PostSecret

To San Francisco we go :

Guaranteed Things That Will Happen To You In Your 20s :

15. You will understand that the biggest battle you fight in your twenties is the one you’re in with yourself. The most important thing you can learn in this decade is how to love yourself. Without that knowledge, your life will always be a little bit terrible. You will always be dating someone who’s a little bit rotten and you’ll always be working a job that sucks. It affects everything so be sure to make yourself a priority.  Work on liking yourself before working on getting someone else to like you.

15 Guaranteed Things That Will Happen To You In Your 20s :

“All good things are wild and free.”

—	Henry David Thoreau

MY OWN PERSONAL COMMANDMENTS :

• Be Natalie.
• Let go.
• Act the way I want to feel.
• Do now, wait later.
• Breathe.
• Practice patience.
• Take courage.
• Take risks.
• Love.
• Be in the present tense.

"Silence doesn’t mean not talking and not doing things; it means that you are not disturbed inside. If you’re truly silent, then no matter what situation you find yourself in you can enjoy the silence."

- Thich Nhat Hanh

"I tell her how isolated I feel and how lonely I am and hungry and tired and she says ‘oh’."

- James Simon Kunen

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

—	Mark Twain

“…there can be a place 
so cold any movement saves you.”

—	Naomi Shihab Nye, "Snow"

“I always pray, ‘God, you already know the answer. Help me to live into the answer, and give me strength to bear the uncertainty.”

“God, show me this person not as I see them but as you see them. Help me to be for them what I am called by you to be. Remove from me my fears and my selfish desires, and show me how to love them as you love them.”

“God will rarely say to us ‘stand still’, ‘be still’, or ‘sit still’ unless He is going to do something.”