Permission to dream

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Dear M,

You're scared. And I get that. It's terrifying being on the verge of doing something you've dreamed about for years not knowing if you'll make it through; if you'll find the right words; if anyone will even care when it's all said and done.

So do something for me. Make a list of all those doubts. Put them down on paper. Let ink bleed from pen like blood gushing from a vein. Get it all out of your system and once it's out, let those doubts stay on that piece of paper because you don't need them. Rip it up. Burn it. Tuck it away in a secret spot.

Then, give yourself permission to dream.

Top Books of 2010

Around the start of the year, my friend Rhiannon asked me to make a list of my must-read books (or something to that effect) from 2010. It's taken me awhile to get around to it, but here are my favorite reads from the past year:

Waiting: True Confessions of a Waitress
By Debra Ginsberg
I picked this up at a Half Price Books in Austin shortly after moving back home to Texas. This "part memoir, part social commentary, part guide to how to behave when dining out" intrigued me because I've worked in food service through the years. When I was younger, I also loved the idea of becoming a waitress when I was old enough to work a part-time job...the closest I got were my two jobs in bakeries.

Aside from amusing anecdotes about her wide variety of waitressing jobs, I also felt like I got an excellent perspective of what it's like to be a waitress - the good and the bad. And it definitely makes me think twice how I act towards a server who may not be top-notch. People are HORRIBLE and sometimes as a customer you're just caught in the aftermath. It happens, deal with it.