fireflies.

"I believe that if you work hard and are grateful for where you are in your life, your dreams will find you."

- Jennifer Roberti.

Welp, my little blades, the quote is my best friend's and the star was created for me by my new friend whom I met through Twitter, Jana Kris. A lovely girl who lives in Germany and who creates great cartoons of a charming earthworm...

My bf's words today soothed and inspired me... She lit me up! I SO believe in them. And when I received this picture in my email, I smiled as brightly as a child about to ride on her first roller coaster ride -- pure joy.

And so... I leave you all with this. As I was driving along the 101 past Summerland and along the Pacific Ocean, through the Santa Ynez Valley and along the canyons leading to my cousins' home in Solvang, CA... My best friend and I were chatting about friends and family and dreams and money and children and homes and basically, all the ingredients that make up the recipe called life.

And as I spoke of some things bright and some things seemingly dull, she spoke these words and suddenly, I saw clearly.

I saw how lucky I am.

How beautiful my life is.

How stunning it is to be alive.

To be loved.

To be reaching for my dreams.

To be picking them off the trees like ripe peaches.

To be surrounded by family and friends who embrace me with open arms and reams of love, reams of love.

To be a writer.

To have Gatsby as my co-pilot.

To live in a castle.

To drive a VW bug.

To be the daughter of a Lebanese woman and a Dutch man.

To have a beautiful, successful and endlessly generous sister.

To be with WME.

To be with Arete.

To have old friends like Danny and Jeff and Stefania.

To have new friends like Scotty and Jeffrey and Carolyn.

To be alive.

To be healthy.

To be an actress.

To have dreams as alive as fireflies on an dark east coast night.

To drink a chai tea.

To attend class.

To have attended Barnard.

To go for walks.

To have loved my childhood.

To be a woman.

To be editing my movie.

To smell a lavender rose outside my window.

To chat with a friend.

To shnuggle my niece and nephew.

Ahhh... yes, my little blades... All of these things.

I am grateful. And I shall continue to work hard. 

And tonight... think of ten things you are grateful for. And start -- maybe little by little, beginning your day with gratitude -- 5 things or 10 things. And I promise you that gratitude will be the frame to a much happier day.

Promise you.

Frustration pushes your dreams away. Gratitude welcomes them in.

And then... in comes love.

And on that note, I send you all Love... Always...