2012: The Best Of

My "Best Of" list, while it does include many things that debuted in 2012, is not solely comprised of such things. It's a list of the best things I discovered in 2012. Or just things I came to see/love in a new way throughout the year. Or just things I've always loved.

Films:
Wreck It Ralph
Hottie Boomba Lottie
Captain America
Hunger Games
Thor
The Avengers
The Hobbit
Moneyball

Skyfall

YouTube videos:
Inspirational Running
Stay Awake
Stop-motion Excel

Books:
The Fault In Our Stars
Fahrenheit 451
The Race Beat
Wordplay
My Name is Asher Lev
American Jesus

Twitter pages:
Modern Seinfeld
Threadless
Maureen Johnson
John Green

Musical artists:
Imagine Dragons
A Great Big World
Greg Holden
Walk Off The Earth
Watsky
Opus Orange
Julia Nunes

Personal photos: (This one could go on forever but here's a few that never cease to make me smile)

Television shows:
Community
Parks and Recreation
Sherlock
The Mindy Project
Arrow
Doctor Who

Road trips:
Northern California w/ Trent, Phillip, Grant and Emily (Days 1&2, 3, 4)
Southern California w/ Becca
Mid-week Meridian, Idaho w/ the VPLCT

Other events that changed my life:

• Seeing Jordan three times in the spring & then talking every single day (in some form) the entire time I was home
• Lorraine getting her mission call to Paris, France
• SJ's mission farewell
• Longboarding down the canyon (finally)
• Writing for The (Daily) Universe
• Brooke telling me she was having a baby (It's a girl, by the way)
• Seeing Imagine Dragons live
• Spending a great deal of my free time during the second half of the semester with Peter
• Winning 52 free meals to Chick-Fil-A
• Tuesday lunches (and sometimes dinners) in spring term with Trent
• Finally getting a smartphone

It's been one heck of a year. I'm stoked to see how 2013 turns out. Have a great Christmas, my dear friends.

3 songs I couldn't get out of my head at work

Each summer at work my mind gets filled w/ a great number of songs and these three were just from tonight. One time I actually wrote an entire post on it filled w/ links to different music. Some nights I'll go through probably ten or twenty songs. For whatever reason tonight had only these few. I don't even know why it was these three; I wish there was a way for me to figure out why certain songs play such a big role in different parts of my life.

Last YouTube video I watched: Insufficient Funds: A Story of Canada

By the numbers: my first week back home

I flew home last Tuesday, the 19th of June. Here's some stuff I've done in the last week.

• Number of things I've eaten from Kopp's: 3. (Cheeseburger, caramel cashew in a waffle cone & onion rings)

• Number of episodes of Grey's Anatomy I've watched: 47. (And counting)

• Number of episodes of Doctor Who I've watched: 0. (I miss DW nights at the Lava Lounge)

• Number of text messages Jordan and I have sent/received: Something exorbitant. (Let's just say I've sent and received more text messages in the last week than in any other week since I've had a phone. Easily)

• Number of times I mowed the lawn: 1.

• Number of new pairs of shoes I've acquired: 1. (Wonderful Birkenstocks)

• Number of times I've run two miles: 3.

• Number of times I've seen my best friend Kate: 1. (It included paninis and raspberry frozen lemonade)

• Number of times I've listened to Brandon Flowers' solo album Flamingo in its entirety: 2. (But this number will be rising quickly)

• Number of fireflies I've seen: 3 (I saw them all last night when I went to close the windows on each of the cars)

• Number of new bands/albums I've listened to: 8.

• Number of days I've written in my journal: Every single one of them.

• Number of slices of delicious thin crust pizza I've eaten: I can't quite remember but it was a lot.

And today was my first day of work. Have no fear, people. Your cream cheese is in safe hands once again. It's interesting to work a full 8 hours again but soon enough it will become all I know.


Last YouTube video I watched: At Or With Me

Running in Wisconsin

It's a heck of a lot easier than running in Utah. I've found that out very quickly. So far I've gone twice, both times around 2 miles. Running 2 miles in Utah, at least for me, kind of sucked. It definitely helps that everything here is green and just beautiful.

There are, however, a lot of hills within a 2 and 3 mile radius of my house it seems. I forgot about that in the time I was gone. Well, that's not true. I definitely remember them because I always thought about them when I went longboarding. I think my biggest issue with them is the fact that I never ran them before. The area around where I live really isn't that hilly, though. Yes, there are mountains literally right there but I don't run by them. There are big hills in Provo but my running routes don't go near them; I don't run nearly far enough to deal with them. (Yet.) Yeah, the Midwest is generally pretty flat, but not all of it. There are hills galore, at least where I live.

But the running itself is as good as it gets for me. Lorraine uses running to problem solve. It's crazy the stuff she can figure out while running; a lot of the time it's complex math equations and computer programming and fancy math stuff in general. She's basically a running mathematic genius. Anyway, that's not how things work for me. I shut my mind off playing sports. I do enough thinking in the rest of my life. Running still doesn't quite let me do that. Maybe someday it will but I'm not counting on it anytime soon.

So the point of this: running in Wisconsin is great. I love being around trees and greenery, in familiar neighborhoods and running past the houses of people I know. It's nice. Well, the running itself isn't all that nice but what I experience while doing the terrible act of running is. If that makes sense.

Last YouTube video I watched: Learn Me Right - Mumford & Sons with Birdy

Freshman fun (2 years later)

Last night I saw one of my very best friends dance with her husband at their gorgeous wedding reception.

Last night I also stayed up late talking about boys and the mysteries of life with my freshman roommate while sleeping in the same room once again.

Today I talked to and hugged another one of my very best friends for the first time in over two years.

This afternoon I also sat next to, hugged, joked with, snacked with and talked with two other really awesome friends who I've only seen once since they returned to Utah in December and January respectively.

It was a crazy weekend for freshman memories and friends, that's for sure. It all started with being around Jordan for a few hours on Friday. (Except I'm totally lame and we didn't take any pictures together. Bummer.) Being around him always makes me reminisce. 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Saturday night was Mikaela's wedding reception. It was an awesome night. Lorraine and I helped decorate Mik and Calvin's car. It's so fun being involved in wedding activities like that. Our good friend Kara was kind of in charge and had bought a ton of supplies: window paint, post-it notes, streamers, knock-off Oreos, marshmallows etc. The greatest part about the car was what Calvin's uncle did. He wired the brakes to a horn, so whenever someone stepped on the brakes off went a horn. It was hilarious.

the finished product

After the reception Lorraine and I went to SJ's house to hang out. When we got there she had a huge ice pack on her face. Her little brother accidentally hit her in the face with a lacrosse ball. It was both funny and sad. We got a lot of nice talking in and just reminisced on life and also we got to learn about her boyfriend Dave. This was the first time I met him but he's great. Once Lorraine and Dave left Sara and I kept talking of course and just philosophized like old times. It was lovely to sleep in the same room as her again and talk about life across the room in our beds. It was so familiar and comfortable and great. I'm going to miss her terribly when she goes to Ecuador.

This morning Sara and I went to a mission farewell for her really good friend and a girl I met through her. It was lovely. Then we went back to SJ's and ate crepes with her dad and little brother. Sara is a great cook and the crepes were DELICIOUS. We had strawberries, raspberries, chocolate syrup, maple syrup and homemade whipped cream! We ate a ridiculous amount but it was great.

This afternoon it was time to see Matthew for the first time in over two years. He did an awesome job speaking and I loved just seeing and hearing him again. In church I sat next to Sara, of course, and our freshman friends Braden and Will. They were two of Matt's roommates and this was their first time seeing him too. We all just laughed and had a great time all afternoon talking about their missions, summer plans and our plans to hang out in fall. Will and Braden are the guys Lorraine and I saw Imagine Dragons with back in March. Will and I already have plans to go to another concert together in September.

reunited at last.

I probably monopolized Matt's time a little much but I felt justified since I haven't seen him in over two years and I won't see him now for another two months. It was so great seeing him and I can go back to Wisconsin a very happy kid having seen him.

I will never not love him.

Last YouTube video I watched: Permafrost (Laurena)

Summer packing & last adventures

I've spent a little time the past two days putting my clothes and a few other belongings in my now-weathered suitcase. It's been on quite a few trips now, many to and from Utah. The most exciting thing about packing today is the fact that I'll be able to fit my wonderful memory foam pillow and the suitcase won't be over the 50 pound weight limit. I'm very excited about this fact.

Packing is always interesting because it really shows you what things you like/need the most, especially when it comes to clothes. There are some shirts and pants I most definitely need and others that are nice to have but just aren't necessary. I've found that to be the case with a lot of my t-shirts. There are still things at home in my closet so I don't need to bring everything from here. It's hard to decide what to bring and what to leave though since I don't know how I'll feel a month from now and I don't doubt wanting a lot of the things being left behind in my closet in Utah.

Of course some of the hardest things to leave behind are books. I love having a lot of my books here in Utah because they make my room feel like a home. Luckily my brother and I both have all the Harry Potter books or I'd be real sad. This will also give me the opportunity/force me to read books I haven't read before.

Besides packing the last few days have been spent doing awesome stuff with awesome people. Becca and I made Swedish pancakes the other night at, like, eleven. They were delicious of course. Lorraine and Laura came over to enjoy them with us.

Lorraine, Becca and I also went to a birthday party for a friend, though the real purpose was to see Amber. She lived in the same building as us freshman year. Becca and her were also roommates sophomore year. It's always lovely to see Amber and just catch up on life. It's great when we all get together because suddenly all these inside jokes come out that we usually forget about, and then we just laugh really hard and people are confused as to what's so funny.

Thursday afternoon I got lunch with Jeff. We went to Cafe Rio and it was glorious. I seem to always forget how delicious Cafe Rio is until I go again. It was just the two of us which was lovely. We sat for a long time just talking about life and such. We're really good at transitioning between all sorts of topics of conversation. One minute we'll be talking about BYU football or basketball and then we're talking about his roommates' dating lives and then we'll be having some spiritual/churchy conversation. It's great times with Jeff and I'll miss our little hang outs.

Perhaps the best thing of this past week was hanging out with Jordan one last time before I leave. Actually, it is definitely the best thing that happened this past week. He came over yesterday morning and we went to the park and threw around my frisbee for an hour. Then we got shakes at the creamery. It was the first time he had the flavor graham canyon since getting back from his mission so he was super excited and he was not disappointed. We ate our shakes at my apartment and then watched most of the Sweden/England soccer match. At halftime we shared our friends' awkward engagement pictures and had a good laugh. I also shared some of my new music with him. Jordan and I became friends primarily because we loved each other's music, but we stayed friends because we have a lot of other stuff in common as well. Saying good-bye to him was difficult since we've only seen each other a couple times in the past month he's been home but it's all right this time around because we can actually call each other and text each other whenever we want. Fall semester is going to be awesome and we've already made plans for some adventures upon my return to Utah.

So tonight is Mikaela's wedding reception. Lorraine and I will go to that and then visiting SJ's house to have a little fire and to eat s'mores. I'm sleeping over at Sara's house so tomorrow we can go together to see Matthew speak in church. This will be the first, and really the only time, I'll be seeing Matthew this spring. I'm ecstatic. Now that he's home the mail has little meaning anymore. For two years I practically lived for checking the mail, but those days are no more. It's weird to not have that constant anymore, though now that my friends who are girls are going on missions I'll still be writing plenty of letters, that's for sure.

And now a photo tribute to Mikaela and I throughout the years:

I'm pretty sure this is the first picture
Mikaela and I were ever in together

Congratulations on getting married today, Mik! You're awesome and I can't wait to hear about all your married life adventures with Calvin in Colorado.

Last YouTube video I watched: Watsky raps fast