New Year, New Me

I feel so thankful to 2013, for all its ups and downs.  The lessons I've learned, or am still learning!  The new friends made, places seen, inspirations discovered!  And the year could not have ended better!

A 2 week tour through China 

11/27 - 12/8


{from top left to right}
Thanksgiving Day meal at Incheon Airport, en route to China // one of the many debaucherous and 90% vegetarian meals we had in China // a priceless Nicholas Cage ad // view from my hotel in Beijing // restaurant hallway // Sasha Smith, keyboard extraordinaire, on the misty streets of Shanghai // adorable and "armed" statues in Beijing // Shanghai sunset // rambunctious little elves at Shanghai Airport 

Making a music video for "Deck The Halls" with some of my closest friends

12/17

Playing the most memorable concert of my life at my favorite place in the world, The Ghibli Museum in Japan

12/23

Spending Christmas with my family in Pennsylvania

12/24 - 12/31

{one of a kind vase made by the amazing Polkaros -- see more here!}

Returning to L.A., a little under the weather, but in time to ring in 2014 with my best friend

12/31/13

I realized this year, that despite the fact that according to the calendar that the entire world follows, the new year begins on January 1st... the only way 2014 will truly be new, is if I make it new.  Meaning, if I keep living life the way I have been, and not try to improve myself or the world around me in some way, then technically I'm sort of still living in 2013, or 2012, or sometimes even 1990! -- the way I act sometimes.  So this year, in order to make it feel new, to make it different from the last, I truly do hope I can make a difference in myself.  By being more conscious of the earth, and of the food I eat (and no, I'm not talking "gluten-free"!  I mean eating "cruelty-free").  By expressing my love to my husband, friends, and family more openly and with no reserve.  By feeling love for people on the street, or in the car next to me... because 99% of the time, I forget that they're not just some unnamed "blob" pushing a shopping cart, or an a-hole in the car swerving around me.  They're a person, just like me, with sadness in their life, with anger, with pain, with good intentions, with love in their heart, with insecurities, who can look over at you and perhaps also see nothing but another "unnamed blob".  Or maybe...in that moment, they actually see you too, and the complicated, beautiful universe that you are.  

New Year.... New Us.

Love,

p. a.