If you could go back in time and talk to yourself 10 years ago, what would you say?

Dear Steph in 1999,

I’m from the future and you better listen to me because I’m you. You’re fourteen years old and you better stop thinking you know everything because you truly don’t.

1. Be nice to Mom & Dad… they’re only looking after you and trust me on this – if they trust you then they’ll let you do things. Tell them you appreciate them every once a while.

2. Don’t focus on wanting to be older, enjoy your life right now with your friends before you’re old and playing bills.

3. When you turn 16 and get a job, SAVE money. You’ll thank me/yourself later. Also when you’re in college, don’t use your credit card if you can’t pay it off at the end of the month.

4. Stop thinking about boys too much, you’ll meet the right one soon and his name starts with a T… don’t give him a hard time and start dating him right away before you move. Prepare yourself for a long distance relationship.

5. Help Mom & Dad cook and learn from them, otherwise you’ll be making your husband cook most of the time.

6. After playing sports in high school, keep exercising when you get into college because if you don’t – you’re going to be fat! You’re not fat now at 14, you only think that because you’re tall compared to all of your girlfriends.

7. I’ll save you decisions on going to college and tell you that you’ll be going to RIT in New York and it’ll be tough being far away from your family, but it’ll be worth it in the end. You’ll make lifelong friends there who will be in your wedding. You’ll become a sorority girl!

8. Don’t dye your hair yourself – you have beautiful thick hair now. You don’t want to mess up with your hair! Go every other month and get your hair done.

9. Tell Mom to quit buying beanie babies, they’re not worth any money now in 2009.

10. Smile… because it’s contagious! Enjoy life since time will go by so quickly.

Love, Steph in 2009

Word’s got it that today is National Delurking Day which means you’ve got to comment and say hi (even if it’s just the word “hi”)

Todays guest post is brought to you by Jennifer from Free and Flawed.
This is all part of the 20 Something Bloggers “Blog Swap 3“.
Don’t forget to go check out my post over on her site.

Hello readers! I’m Jenn from Free and Flawed. I’m sorry to say that I haven’t read Stephanie’s blog before being assigned as her partner for the 20SB swap so I’m not sure if we share readers – but I’m looking forward to catching up on her life!

I thought that I would take this opportunity to get a fresh perspective on a blogging question. Most people have a system for saving good ideas. I’d like to share mine with you and hopefully, you’ll share your system with me.

Do you rip pages from a magazine, fold over pages in books, collect quotes or post-it notes? I do.

When I need to remember something, in particular an idea for writing, I will first add a reminder on my phone’s calendar. I like that because I don’t have to go searching for it – it reminds me! My backup is usually a post-it note. My purse is usually full of them. I carry a notebook with me, but that would require me remembering to open it. At least with a purse full of post-its I’m bound to pull out one or two ideas on any given day.

I’ve been known to give my mom a call and have her write something down for me so she can remind me later. That’s pretty sad eh? I think I need to get a digital voice recorder thingy. That would come in handy – especially when driving and I’m unable to fumble with my phone or notepad.

When I’m reading a book, I will underline or highlight the quote or section I want to remember. Then usually I will fold the corner of the page over. Later I’ll type it up on my computer or put it on my iPod.

So what tricks do you have up your sleeve? How to you remember your great ideas?

What inspires you?