Day Before Birthday

• Start morning with serious case of birthday blues. Cry heartily for about ten minutes. Feel remarkabley better afterwards.
• A lovely card and beautiful glass necklace arrive from my in-laws.
• Sweet husband gives me a "birthday eve" gift - a guide to adobe indesign, which had been driving me round the bend!
• Lentil soup for lunch. Lentil soup with toast, cheese and a sprinkling of salt is a seriously good comfort food.
• Go for a really lovely walk around a local garden. Fresh air, trees and the frozen pond see me shaking off the last of the birthday blues!
• Finish up with a cappucino and a slice of home-made victoria sponge in the restaurant
• Arrive home to a beautiful bunch of flowe...

My 20-year-old self if I could go back in time 10 years

• Low self esteem will damage you. Badly.
• Just because someone thinks something, doesn't make it right.
• Running away doesn't solve anything.
  • But sometimes getting away does.
• No matter how scared you are, you can't ignore certain things. You will pay, heavily.
• Trying to please other people all the time will wear you out.
• Get out! Get away from them! Go now, even if you have to rent a room!
• Never give up on your dreams
• Do what fires you up, no matter what.
• Don't ever let people say you can't, or you're just a dreamer. You will reach 30 and not have done any of the things you dreamed of doing.

• U2 - Running to Stand Still
• Def Leppard - Blood Runs Cold
• Wayne Hussey - A Night Like This (cover version)
• U2 - Kite
• U2 - With or Without You

Yes, U2 seem to make me cry a lot

• Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars
• Coldplay - Fix You
• David Grey - Alibi
• Meryl Streep's version of The Winner Takes It All
• Sara Maclachlan - Angel
• Loreena McKennitt - Dante's Prayer
• Celine Dion - It's All Coming Back To Me
• Guns N Roses - November Rain
• Guns N Roses - Don't Cry
• Def Leppard - All I Want Is Everything
• Evanescence - Before The Dawn
• Evanescence - Anywhere