I have a collage on my wall that I made last spring in AK (when I was doing that Artist's Way book). It reminds me what I really know and am about. There are lots of flowers, smiling people (a mom and daughter, a woman with a kid, this grinning sort've bohemian outdoorsy-type guy beside a piano), cherry tomatoes, the prairie and ocean, a front porch swing, gardens, a few 'green' things, paintings and frosty mountains. One of my favorite parts is a quote that I tore out of an Oprah magazine article called "What I Know Now," a collection of letters written by women to younger versions of themselves. Such great wisdom! The little bit I tore out is, "I'd have smiled more, worried less and worn sexier clothing." So apropos for what I was about last year, and something for me to remember here in this sometimes stark academic city where people rarely smile as they walk down the street and don't say 'hello' or 'excuse me' on the bus. Earlier this week, I was excited to see that a book's just come out with all of those letters. It's called What I Know Now: Letters to My Younger Self. I think it might make a great gift for any woman on your Christmas list. (p.s. I've always wanted to ask the 'elders' in my family-- and the 'youngers,' actually-- to write letters like that. Wouldn't that be something amazing to read and have?)