Yesterday we woke to the sounds of rain on our roof. It's a rare sound living in Southern California and fills me with childish excitement…and the wild urge to brew tea and act like I live in Seattle. WHERE'S MY NORTHFACE JACKET?!? Speaking of jackets, I made Polo wear his rain jacket (which caused JD to have an aneurism and express his malcontent in whispered mutterings) and we walked our neighborhood with our dusted-off umbrellas.

We made a plan–which often happens on our dog walks–to spend New Year's day at the beach. It's the place we call home and feel most connected to, well, everything. Life, space, hopes, each other. We'll take our books and a notepad and write our goals for 2013. We've been doing this for the past six years together and it's incredible to look back and see how far we've come.

There are goals we missed, dreams we made, and victories (both small and large) listed in a spiral bound book, filled with personal photos, plane tickets, a button I snagged at a New Year's carnival in Costa Rica, and tzatziki stain from a falafel gyro I ate while writing one year. It's a time capsule.

I hope wherever you find yourself this New Year's day, you take a moment to dream. Dare to wish for the impossible…then hope for more.

Here's to new beginnings, taking risks, and dreaming out loud…