It’s the very last day of what was vastly the most fun – and I would have to say most pivotal – year of my life thus far. And it’s raining outside. And I’m drinking coffee. Pretty much what’s happening right now is a recipe for reflection. Let’s examine both sides of the mirror, shall we?

TwentyTwelve:
If you’ve been reading my blog for even a short while, you can surely tell I’m big on personal growth. This was a year of personal growth that I could not have predicted. That thing people say about God’s greatest gifts being unanswered prayers rings so true. It was a year that so many of my dreams came true and yet others fell flat to the floor. Some of those I can pick up, dust off, and work harder for. Others I can see with a little distance that it’s time to let them go.

New York has begun to feel like home. I’m not there right now and I’m homesick for it in a way I no longer feel about Nashville. Nashville feels like “where I come from” but not where I’m going.  And that’s ok.  That’s not any less important.

One of the absolute best things about the year has been the new and changing relationships in my life. Being away from good friends has been hard but it’s been great to see how strong the ties are. There’s a quote by an author I love about no string being long enough to say the thing that needs to be said. Well, our strings are endless and can conduct any sound or silence we need to share. I’m so grateful. Then, there are the new friends. In New York I’ve made some new girlfriends who laugh with me and encourage me. It’s also really cool how I’ve come to have friends all over – some from my travels, some from the way everyone moves around so much. My conversations are peppered with “Sarah in Seattle said…” and “I just chatted with Garrett in Oklahoma…”  And again, being far away doesn’t make those relationships any less important.

A student of many things but especially love, I spent a lot of this year battling with myself about what love is supposed to look like. A romance, filled with magic and big gestures and unicorns and easy forgiveness? A partnership that’s made of saying the things that are hard to say and sharing the weight of both the light days and the heavy ones? How many red flags can you collect, how many grudges can you hold, or how many times can you turn a blind eye or give another chance and another?  I’ll admit, I stopped believing in the magic and its importance for a little while, but I would have to say by now, at year’s end, I’ve found what I believe is the right balance of all of that. A reality that just might have some unicorns in it. I’m choosing to believe.

Ok, let’s move on to TwentyThirteen:
I’ve been planning out my business for almost two years now and one of the greatest things I’ve learned is that planning only does so much good. I have big plans for this year, and part of that is to roll with the punches. I’m hoping to get back into working with artists/bands more, which is how I got my career started in the first place, and also to host a national marketing event. What might come of that or what other opportunities may present themselves, I am open to find out!

My new book is called Paper Walls, and the first draft is a little over halfway finished. I want to finish it this year and start the process of polishing it to put it into your hands!  I’m also about to start my third turn through The Artist’s Way and I’m so ready to rip my seams open and recreate my creative self.

The year of the half-marathons! Heather and I are planning to run at least two half-marathons this year (two halves make a whole, folks!), one in LA and one in Seattle. It’s an excuse to travel and gives me new goals in my running.  Please show up with posters and cheer for me.

Usually I have an idea of where I hope to travel during the year, but this year other than the half-marathoms where I end up will be mostly where Loved speaking engagements take me, or if any of my with with clients requires travel (here’s hoping!)  Though I have to say I’m hoping that Chicago, San Francisco, Portland, and Paris (ha!) come calling.  I also would like to do more traveling in the Northeast.  Even having grown up there, I’ve never been to Boston or Baltimore.

I want to see more of what’s right in front of me. I want to notice things more, like the way people walk or what my friend is saying to me between her words or how the rain is falling in a pattern that makes me think of sheet music.

There’s also this thing about love. I know we can’t necessarily control when people come and go in our lives. And come and go. And come and go. But, twenty-thirteen just might be the year of the unicorn. Keep your believing eyes alert.