2010: The Best Of...

If you've spent ANY time with me at all, you probably know how I felt about 2009. So I was eager to embrace 2010. And embrace I did. What a fun year! It went too quickly! But there were definitely good things. So let's revisit them, shall we?

Best Trip of 2010:

Do you even have to ask? CEDAR POINT, hands all the way down (unless you're going over the top of the hill on a coaster while reading this).



(Sorry for the blue line. My photo stitcher was acting up and it would have taken forever to get right. So deal with a blue line).

Best Restaurant of 2010:

Going to have to go with the restaurant where they know my name, they know who I want to be my server, and they have the Best. Bread. Ever.

Good ol' Faustina.



I prolly ate here like 100 times this year. Doesn't hurt that it's only half a block from my new digs. Yessir. If you ever want to go, I'm ALWAYS game. Just text me.

Best Article of 2010:

Hey! Look! I started reading articles! Prolly the best one (or ones) is the creepy x-files stuff happening that "Scientists" and government officials are saying were "natural causes." Ha.

Where are Mulder and Scully for reals when you need them?! This is total alien stuff here. Read about it for yourself.

Best Book of 2010:

So last year I read 45 books. Pretty impressive. I'm not sure because the lines of 2009 and 2010 are blended (something I'm changing for next year, so I'm sure), so I think around 25 or 30. Not as many, but I didn't spend half the year in a bed either. So I think I did pretty good.

I'm actually going to award two, because I can make up whatever rules I want.

--Funniest Book: Definitely Timothy Carter's EVIL?.



Here's my review: Timothy Carter's EVIL? - Grade: A+. Epoch was a decent read, but EVIL? outdoes it by LEAPS AND BOUNDS. Hilariously brilliant, irreverent and ingenious all at once, this book had me in stitches. And it humorizes sensitive and otherwise untouchable-with-a-ten-foot-pole-by-conservatives subjects in a playful and appropriating way. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a little humor who doesn't mind talk of homosexuality and pubescent teenage boys' favorite solo activity ;)

I still giggle when I think of this book. It was simply hilarious.

--Best Book: Undeniably, I can pick no other than Lev Grossman's The Magicians.



Here's my review: Lev Grossman's The Magicians - Grade: A+. WOW. Just wow. This book is AMAZING. One of the best books I've read in a long, long time. George R. R. Martin asserted: "The Magicians is to Harry Potter as a shot of Irish whiskey is to a glass of weak tea." That's a pretty ballsy claim. Like whoa. Now I'm not the *biggest* Harry Potter fan I know (don't judge!), but so many people love that series - this is a big claim. I don't think Mr. Martin was off in the slightest. Every piece of this book resonates with magic. The prose is flawless, the characters are lovable, yet starkly human and imperfect, and the plot is gritty, raw, and brilliant. The book is poignant, gripping, moral, deeply adult, fantastical, and so real all wrapped up in one shining wafer of delectable yumminess. I even went back a few times if I thought I was reading too fast, because the book was just that great. The main character is obsessed with this author, Christopher Plover, who supposedly was a co-founder of the modern English fantasy tradition alongside the likes of C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. He wrote five novels about a fantastical place, Fillory, and the more I got into the book, the more I felt like I needed to read these 5 books. I went searching for them. The library didn't have them, nor did Amazon. Strange. I started searching rare book stores, only to be confronted with the fact that this Christopher Plover is a made-up person! Talk about thorough world-building! I mean they even went to the lengths of creating this guy his own blog: http://www.christopherplover.com/ That's over-the-top! The created author thing reminded me of fake author Christopher Brooks in Brockmeier's Truth About Celia. So innovative, so thorough. Grossman's world is REAL. And yet it's fiction. But the fiction is REAL. And we are caught in an existence loop that astounds, astonishes, and fascinates me to no end. Definitely going to check out Grossman's others books. And this book has a spot on the top shelf of my bookcase, where only the most cherished novels find roost. Hats off to Lev Grossman for being stunningly wonderful.

Best Movie of 2010:

I saw 30 movies in 2010 (+ or - 2)! That's pretty good if you ask me. After such a dry year in '09, I'm finally back in the Theaters seeing the good stuff. So this one should be kind of hard, but I'm going to have to give it up to Inception.



I don't know that I've had a movie open my mind up the way this one did. Inception was genius in every sense of the word. Every aspect of that movie defied anything I've ever been presented on the screen before.

Best Night Out of 2010:

I'm actually going to vote for hiking Mt. Timp in the dark. This didn't make my recap, but on August 20th, 2010, Turtle and I got together with Bex and a bunch of other people and decided to hike Timp. In the dark. And of course, we went up the more dangerous side. lol Turtle and I prefer to hike with our natural night eyes, so we raced ahead of everyone who had lights. We did have flashlights so if it got hairy or I didn't know where the trail went next we went ahead and clicked on for a sec. It was a HARD hike, but Turtle kept up. And the payoff was worth it. Seeing the city lit up that high stole my breath away. I was so tired (and cold - it's VERY windy at the top) I covered my head with a jacket and actually dozed off (sitting on rock hard, uncomfortable ground!), but luckily didn't miss sunrise. Which was also ... (Tangent: I feel like I use the same descriptive words over and over - I need to invest in some new ones. Stunning, beautiful, gorgeous and awesome are just feeling stale to me! They're all I ever use. End tangent). So I don't have adequate words to describe the sunrise. Calling my parents, and being like "Good morning, what are you doing?" [answer] "Cool, I'm sitting on top of Mt. Timp watching the sunrise" was pretty fun. The hike back down was harder, especially because it started getting hot. Yech.

Best Blog of 2010:

Hmm. I read SO MANY blogs. Gotta say I LOVE me some Failblog and some Win(FailWIN). I read them the most, but they also post the most, so no fair. I think I'm going to give the award to the lovely Andrea.

She's just so fun! And blogs about her adventures outside Utah, and so much more. Plus this is the only blog this year that spawned an actual friendship. Yup, me and Zer Andrea are friends in the Real World also. Crazy, right? People don't actually talk to each other anymore... oh. But we do. We do.

That said, anyone remember who referred me to the lovely Andrea? Meggers? Dice? NoraNora? Somebody showed me her blog... I didn't just stumble across it. Shrug. Well, she rocks.

And I'm totally gonna be her fashion advisor from now on. So look for me to be featured regularly in 2011 (Right Andrea? Right?!)

Best Conference of 2010:

I don't believe I went to a single conference in 2010. Unless you count the ones in my office, which you couldn't pay me to do. So no conferences for me. Sad.

Best Challenge of 2010:

I think I'm going to pass this award to my sister for 2010. Because going on her journey was hard for all of us, but especially her. (As stated, special blogs on her journey are in the works).



Love ya Sister. With all my heart. For always.

Best Moment of Peace 2010:

I struggled with defining this last year, and this year is no different. But I'll do two.

--General: Anytime I was with friends. Especially around a campfire (so at the Lake and in November)

--Actual: I think I'll vote for sitting on top of Navajo Knobs after a strenuous 4.5 mile hike and staring out at the world. To think what pristine breath-taking (literally) sights Nature and God have given us gives me serious pause.

Best Album of 2010:

This one's actually kind of hard. I don't know what to pick. I only got like 12 albums the whole year, and 11 of them were on Black Friday. If I had to pick from among those, I might confess that my favorite is actually:



Surprised? I really like a number of songs from this album, not 1 or 3 like the others I bought. So I'ma give it to them. Which is kind of funny, since I don't even super like them (especially not live, they sound awful... or at least use to). But there ya go.

Best Rush of 2010:

Prolly riding coasters at Cedar Point (see above).

Best Change I Made to the Place I Live in 2010:

Oh wait. I moved into a place by myself. That's pretty gosh-darn AWESOME! I don't have to answer to anyone, I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, and don't have to worry about bothering anyone, or upsetting them, or conflicting with their schedule; it's just bliss.

And I got some pretty cool furniture (NOTE: This picture has never before been published, so feel SPECIAL) (though I still need a couch):



And just wait til I get my glass centerpiece for that table. Then I will be so styling Stacy London and Clinton Kelly will want to do a show on me for everything to do RIGHT in your life to be fashionable. Fashion isn't just clothes, people, it's about hot interior decorating too!

Best New Food of 2010:

Nom nom nom. I love me some potato chips. For better or worse. Good thing I found these stellar organic, all-natural, super-duper-healthy chips!!! Love ya!



And be honest. That brand name just rocks. Nom nom nom. These chips are simply delish.

Best Place of 2010:

We've already covered this. CEDAR POINT (above). Now I'm just feeling redundant. But it's worth it. 100%.

Best Tea of 2010:

Look, another one I don't have to skip this year!

The winner is: Sweet & Spicy Herbal by Good Earth



Even my Mormy friends can drink it because it's caffeine free. The stuff is dang good (and if you can find where to buy it, tell me. I want it. I can't find it at any of my grocers).

Word or Phrase of 2010:

HAHAHA. Going to have to go with "Your Face" on this one. I don't even know who started me on it. But I just started saying that back to people when they would say something to me. And one of my friends totally got addicted to saying it too. It's all that comes out of his mouth now. And I think it's so funny. Like 6-year, but funny. >.> Your face is funny.

And that's that. Not many complaints in 2010.

So here's to an even BETTER HAPPY 2011! Cheers!

(My saga on my sister still awaits! Keep Reading. I'm actually going to blog in 2011!)