Aniston's longtime hairstylist, Chris McMillan is her constant companion, joining her in Chicago while she filmed The Break-Up last summer and sticking close to her at Sundance. Photo by: INF
Jen Faces Her Future| Jennifer Aniston, Vince Vaughn
Whether mother and her daughter can repair damage done after years of silence remains to be seen. But as Aniston gets ready to celebrate her birthday (friends are mum about plans), she seems eager to begin the next chapter of her life. She has talked about reading more, working less, buying a new house – perhaps one far from Hollywood.

"I've just realized that I can move; I don't have to live here. That's just dawning on me," she told the Register. "That realization has made it so much more fun for me this year." Another fun thought: motherhood. And as she says in January's InStyle, "I hope to be on the road to having a family in the next year." With Vince? Who knows. "Deep down, they hold the same values," says his friend. "They're right for each other. I hope they hang on."

The only thing she is committed to for now is to look forward, not back. "I watched my mother be very bitter and very angry throughout a divorce and never let it go ," she said recently. What interests her instead: "Accountability, taking responsibility, because it's so easy to blame."

And though she will probably not be sending her ex a baby gift any time soon, Aniston refuses to point a finger. "There is no real animosity," says a pal. "They are not enemies." As Aniston puts it – to heck with the cliché – "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Amen. "She's looking more beautiful than I've ever seen her look," says her Derailed costar Melissa George. "She is a very vibrant, luminous woman. She's handled it all the right way."

• By Karen S. Schneider. Alexis Chiu, Mark Dagostino, Lisa Ingrassia and Ryan Pienciak in Park City, Julie Jordan, Johnny Dodd, Michael Fleeman, Susan Christian Goulding, Lycia Naff, Omoronke Idowu-Reeves and Jenny Sundel in Los Angeles and K.C. Baker in New York City
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