Finding a delicious restaurant close to my house ღ Good times and good laughs with great friends ღ First seeing the newly refurbished beach ღ How fun playing street fighter with Matt is ღ Becoming a Yelp! addict ღ Already having such a good start on all my years goals ღ Trying chicken adobo for the first time ღ Massive LOTR binges with my mom ღ Sakura Allure green tea ღ Having so many people who I care for greatly and mean so much to me, I love you guys! ღ

I want to be able to wake up in the morning each day and feel as though anything can happen. I want thrill and excitement and pure bliss. I have read all these books and have heard all these stories. I want an adventure of my own. I want to fall in love, and fall down. I want to learn to pick myself up and learned to be swept away. I want to see, feel, touch every beauty of this world. Hold someone when they feel their world is lost, cry when I feel mine is too. I want to instill hope into the lives of all the people I've touched and find hope from the least expected places. I'm a dreamer and I want to always dream big. Because at the end of this great trek, life, I want to know that reality can be just as good as dreams.

On the bleak landscape where the Tower stood, the Fool sits, empty, despairing. He hoped to find direction on this spiritual journey, a path to his spiritual self, but having just learned that most of his life was a lie, he now feels lost. Sitting on the cold stones, he gazes up at the night sky wishing for some kind of guide. And that is when he notices, nearby, a beautiful girl with two water urns. As he watches, she kneels by a pool of water illuminated with reflected starlight. She empties the urns, one into the pool, one onto the thirsty ground.

"What are you doing," he asks her. She looks up at him, her eyes twinkling like stars. "I am refilling this pool, so that those who are thirsty may drink, and I am also watering the earth so that more fruit trees will grow to feed those who are hungry." She nods back to a single fruit tree that stands nearby, a nightingale singing amid its branches.

"Come," she invites. "Sate your hunger and quench your thirst."

The Fool plucks some fruit from the tree, then kneels by her and drinks from the pool. The water tastes wonderful, like liquid starlight, and the fruit is equally delicious. Both help to heal his wounded heart.

Having quenched his thirst and sated his hunger, the Fool lays back to gaze up at the stars. "They're so beautiful," he said, "but so distant."

"Like possible futures," agrees the girl. "Cool and distant. Yet if you keep one in sight, it can guide you to your destination no matter how far away it is." Even as she says this, she began to fade away, like dew, vanishing. All that remains is a gleam that was at the center of her forehead. This rises up and up, until it settles in the night sky as a shining star. "Follow your star," the woman's voice seems to sing from that light, "and have hope."

The Fool takes in a breath and rises. It is a dark night, a desolate land. But for the first time, he has a guiding light to show him the way. Distant as it is, it restores his faith.

1. Watch 22 new movies
2. Read 22 books
3. Go to Portland
4. Do something super terrifying
5. Become employed
6. Move out
7. Start singing regularly again
8. Dress up as a giant banana and dance to the banana phone song in public
9. Complete something that makes me proud
10. Read another book with Matthew
11. See more theater
12. Take up archery
13. Write a short story
14. Bake a pie from scratch (round 2)
15. Write a So Thankful Sunday Post every Sunday
16. Complete 3 crafts (preferably with Mom)
17. Get an exercise regimen
18. Try 22 new foods
19. Get a passport
20. Actually utilize my savings account
21. Tell the people who mean something to me I care about them, on a regular basis.
22. Enjoy each day, even with its faults and never stop being thankful of life.

I really don't know what to say, but as to every beginning I feel something needs to be said to ring it in.

To 2011,

You were pretty unpredictable. I have to say you felt like my most important year yet. I learned a lot about myself, things I somehow never knew. I fell in love and got my heart broken. I fell in love again. One love in a year seems generous, but two seems crazy. I was fortunate this year. I mean sure, if you were to ask my 10 year old self or even my 16 year old self, if this is how I imagined how I would be at 21 I would have never imagined it to be so. I am a completely different person from what I had imagined myself to be, yet not in any ways that I regret. I'm happy, and sad at times, but mostly happy. I like the person I am, the morals I have, and the things I believe in. You know what, 2011, thanks to you I feel really special.

I am looking forward to what 2012 has in store for me. Already it is shaping to be an exciting year. Quite different than my previous ones. But I suppose that all depends on my decisions.

I don't have any resolutions this year, because I am happy being me. Throw at me what you will 2012, I'm ready to catch what you've got, except for the rare times when I bat up and hit out of the park instead.

My family being super generous with money ღ Being excited for all my packages coming in ღ Finally crossing off a bunch of things from my wish list ღ Showers ღ Clementines ღ Hot Cocoa ღ My present from Jess H ღ Leaving Jess's number for the waiter she was digging ღ Having him text instantly ღ Finally getting to pee after what seemed like the longest car ride ever! ღ Barnes & Noble ღ

Florence + the Machine (ex-boyfriend Cole) - Florence has proven to endure the toughest of break ups and managed to produce an entirely new album with no memories attached within 5 months. As if her music wasn't proof enough that she is a goddess :D

Spring Awakening (ex-best friend Kyle) - To this day Spring Awakening still remains my favorite musical ever, along with musical I have seen most times. I will always look back with fond memories of this musical and sincere thanks to the friend who started my obsession.

Footloose (ex-hookup) - Let me start off by saying that I love Kevin Bacon and I love musicals. In fact that was something he knew about me after our first meetings. So the fact that I had not seen Footloose, the movie staring Kevin Bacon and with it's own musical, amazed him. He brought his copy over for me to watch the very next time we got together. He was that serious. And I was seriously pleased with such a perfect, classic, Bonnie Tyler enthused, movie.

The amazing wonder of riding in the front cabin of a monorail at Disney World (ex friend Kim) - In all my trips to Disney to have never experienced this before is a travesty. There is no experience of Disney fireworks to compare with with that one. We had such a blast that weekend

Miyazaki Films (ex-boyfriend Cole)- Beautiful movies, just astounding. I will always be thankful for the introduction to those.

Paulo Coelho (ex boyfriend Cole) - This author was of great importance to this relationship. With his insight to love, it seemed destined. I am so happy to have been introduced to his work. Its comforting to know that if sometimes I lose my faith when it comes to love, I can always go back and read something I once strongly believed in , which inspired me.

Dreams by Fleetwood Mac (ex-fling) - This song I feel was so appropriate for the way things turned out for us. But I will never forget it. He asked me one day if there was ever a song that made me cry no matter what, this was his. A true masterpiece of a song. As you readers have seen it made it to my list of greatest songs.

Death Note (ex-crush Hot Nick from Chinese class) - I actually didn't even watch this until way after crushing on him. I thoroughly recall him discussing this show and me being wildly intrigued. It ended up being my first ever anime. It remains my favorite.

I guess the point of this post was to show that no matter how things end, there is always good that comes from every event and I truly believe that as people leave our lives we are greeted with the arrival of someone new. Each mistake is just a stepping stone to an even greater adventure, if only we aren't afraid to take the leap.

That my So Thankful Sundays are back on track ღ Wrapping Christmas presents ღ How fun Borderlands is ღ All the volumes of Ouran currently on lease from Jessica ღ Getting the tree up ღ Creating your own Call of Duty game modes with your boyfriend ღ A really good pizza ღ Flipping out over Soul Eater characters not even met ღ Obvious winking ღ