"If your dreams don't scare you, they aren't big enough."

This past weekend marked a year and a half that I've been living in Los Angeles.

Part of me feels like I've been here for years and years now, but the other part distinctly remembers everything I've gone through to get to this point.

This weekend I was out in downtown LA and drove right by the first place I lived when I moved to SoCal. It was in Koreatown with a girl I barely knew who was looking for someone to chip in with rent. I paid a portion and bought a twin sized air mattress (because my queen sized air mattress was far too big for this studio apartment) and shared the floor with a stranger and her sweet rescue dog (who almost immediately became my best friend).

From Koreatown, to Westwood, to North Hollywood and now to the center of it all--West Hollywood.

Driving through Koreatown this weekend (seeing as I'm rarely out that way) kind of felt like everything has come "full circle".

A year and a half ago: a girl who had no idea where she was headed or what was ahead, but she wanted to do it anyway. She packed up her car and drove three thousand miles to one of the biggest cities in the US.

A year ago: a girl who had established friendships and gotten a job working in the hospitality industry, trying her hand at just "getting there". Still uncertain as to where the path was leading, but chose to follow it anyway.

Today: I'm more brave, independent and aware of who I am than ever before. I live somewhere I literally dreamed of living years ago and I'm working for a company who honors and respects who I am on a daily basis. I have friends who have inevitably become family; I don't ever feel alone. This year I bought my first brand new car, moved to one of the hottest spots in Hollywood and "climbed the ladder" to an office job.

I am young, I am alive and I am free. And I am so, so happy.

People used to say things like: "Follow your heart, you never know where it might lead."

My heart has taken me places I never thought I'd see. Has the path been everything I expected it to be? Absolutely not. In some cases, it's been better. In other cases, I've had to learn how to adjust my plans. Nevertheless, the place I am in today is wholeheartedly because of the events and experiences from my many yesterdays and gives me hope for all my tomorrows.

Here's to living life to the absolute fullest.