Best of 2012 Blog Post

Best of 2012 Blog Post

I am currently on my 12th day off of work on my 19 day break. With Andrea still working at the hospital, I am starting to run out of things to do with my time. For this reason, I decided to take a minute to reflect on some of the things that brought me the greatest joy in the past year: music, movies, and entertainment. Obviously I am not going to do a long sappy post about getting married, moving to Chicago, and starting my career. I leave that stuff to Andrea. Below I share my picks for the best songs, movies, and TV shows of the year. I admit my lists may not be perfect, as I am limited to choosing between things that I have been exposed to during the year on a fairly busy schedule. Surely I have missed some things so feel free to make me some recommendations in the comments. 

Best Songs of 2012 (Songs That You Know)

Tongue Tied - Grouplove

Grouplove hands down wins my prestigious best new artist award of 2012. Their first single "Colours" was the type of song that was kind of annoying at first but then really grew on me. By the time, "Tongue Tied" came out, I was in love with this band. Extremely catchy band that sounds like no one else.

It's Time - Imagine Dragons

Ever since I fell in love with the Killers, I have enjoyed being supportive of Mormons that can rock. I feel a special tie to Imagine Dragons since I watched them win the BYU Battle of the Bands in 2008. "It's Time" is the song that put them on the world's radar.

Little Talks - Of Monsters and Men

Of Monsters of Men is an amazing new indie rock band from Iceland. I won't go into detail on this one, since I already explained my take on this song in a previous blog post where I covered the song with my wife.

We Are Young - Fun.

I don't have to say much about this song. You have all heard it. In fact, you all probably heard it thousands of times since it first grazed our ears on some Super Bowl commercial. Even though it was overplayed, you can't deny that it is a great song.

Everybody Talks - Neon Trees

Continuing my Mormon rock love is the lead single "Everybody Talks" from the new Neon Trees album. While the album wasn't as good as Neon Trees' debut, "Everybody Talks" is probably the band's best song since "Animal".

Madness - Muse

Muse, probably my second favorite band of all-time, has the amazing ability to reinvent themselves and sound completely new and original in every album. Even after they have been making music for nearly 20 years. They are amazing - as is apparent in this Queen meets "Creep" by Radiohead single.

Home - Phillip Phillips

I never thought that I would put an American Idol in my list of best songs. I do dig the occasional Kelly Clarkson but not like "Best of the Year" love. When I first heard "Home", I got very excited because I assumed Mumford & Sons had released a new single. Having watched a lot of reality show singing competitions, I generally have no trust in America's ability to choose successful artists, but in 2012, America made a great choice.

Daylight - Maroon 5

I have to say that Maroon 5 has gone downhill ever since their debut album Songs About Jane. The follow-up album was also pretty good, but since then it has been mostly crap with about one standout song. "Daylight" is such a song. 

The A Team - Ed Sheeran

"The A Team" is a beautiful song. It is so beautiful that it took me a while to realize that it is a song about a girl who has ruined her life by abusing drugs. 

Ho Hey - The Lumineers

"Ho Hey" is a very simple song. A lot of music today is over complicated with computer sound effects and auto-tuned voices. This song is so good that it doesn't need that stuff.

                                    Best Songs of 2012 (Songs That You Probably Don't Know)

The Way It Was - The Killers

My list of best songs could not be complete without giving props to my favorite band The Killers. Although their new album, Battleborn, didn't live up to the high bar they set with previous albums, it still had some great songs including my personal favorite "The Way It Was".

I Am The DJ - Neon Trees

I hate it when bands don't put out their best songs as singles. If Neon Trees had picked this song as the follow-up to Everyone Talks, we would still be hearing them on the radio today guaranteed.

Itching On A Photograph - Grouplove

Another amazing song from breakout artist of the year, Grouplove.

Gimme Twice - The Royal Concepts

This song reminded me of a better version of the band Pheonix. Very catchy song from another European band. Why do European's make way better music than we do over here?

Hopeless Wanderer - Mumford & Sons

This is one you may be hearing on the radio in the near future as their album is still fairly new. "Hopeless Wanderer" is, in my opinion, the best song of their new album, Babel.

Around My Head - Cage The Elephant

Cage the Elephant was one of my new favorite bands of last year with their great song "Shake Me Down". "Around My Head" was not as popular but every bit as good.

The Pit - Silversun Pickups

"The Pit" is another song that is gaining radio popularity. Definitely Silversun Pickips' best song since "Lazy Eye"

On Top Of The World - Imagine Dragons

This is another case of a band choosing the wrong song to release as a second single as the catchy, happy "On Top Of The World" is a much better song than depressing "Radioactive".

Helena Beat - Foster the People

This one may be cheating as I believe it was released in 2011. But since I didn't make a list in 2011, I am going to call it fair game. This song (and video) is amazing. Check it out if you haven't heard it.

If You Ever Come Back - The Script

This one may have also not made the 2012 cut off date, but was also too good to cut. I was hoping to put a song from The Script's new album on my list, but considering their new album is terrible, I had to dig back into their last album.



While I was going to go into my picks for the best movies and TV shows (maybe I will finish tomorrow), I am running out of time until Andrea comes home from work. I am going to surprise her with flowers and a nice fondue dinner to end 2012 and celebrate the one year anniversary since I proposed to her. It goes without saying that that was a great decision.

Happy New Year!

I don't even like turkey

Thanksgiving. A great holiday that I look forward to every year. I had to work on Thanksgiving this year and it was the first time we would be away from family and therefore away from moms and grandmas who know how to cook. Colin suggested that we to a restaurant to celebrate. I am a big believer in traditions so I simply knew I had to attempt cooking a Thanksgiving dinner. I decided we would have the essentials: turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, salad and pie. So I went online and found the easiest recipes I could and went for it. It was mostly edible. The turkey was okay at first and then I realized that I always prefer ham over turkey. I thought everything was delicious and I was so proud of myself. Colin was not so thrilled but I wouldn't even let him comment about anything because I knew I would punch him if he said anything negative. Overall we had a lovely dinner.

I love Thanksgiving so much because it is a great time to reflect on all there is to be thankful for. I am so grateful for just about everything in my life. I feel so blessed to be able to have such a wonderful husband. He is such an amazing person and he finds a way to love me despite my craziness. I am grateful for our families. We both have such different but amazing families who love us and would do anything for us. I am thankful that Colin and I both have jobs that we mostly love and that allow us to live in the amazing city of Chicago. I am also so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the testimony I have that he is the Savior of the world and that he loves me and all of us. I could continue this list on for another 3 pages but you would be bored I am sure. Basically if you are reading this just know that I am grateful for you. I am sure that no matter who you are you have affected me in ways that you may not know and you have made me a better person through your friendship and example. I love this holiday season and I hope we can all enjoy it! 

Halloween Adventures

 Once again I have let months go by without updating this lovely little thing. Luckily my attractive husband posted all the songs he has been singing for the last few months. He is really so talented and I love listening to him sing.  I just wish he would make our bed when he posts videos on our blog :)

The past couple months have been full of exciting adventures and boring everyday life. The last week in October Colin and I both went to visit our families. I went to Denver and Colin to Utah. It was fun for me to be able to spend time with my family. My parents just moved to a new house less then a mile away from our old one. It was a little sad going home to a different house, but I really like the new one, so I got over it pretty quick. My sister Tamsen also came in from BYU and spent the weekend at home. We had some pretty epic times...

Facials....I am pretty sure we all broke out in acne the next day.

Watching my sister Becky in a marching band competition. She is the smallest one with the biggest instrument.

 We also went to a place called Anderson Farms. It has become a family tradition to go there every year and pick out pumpkins and go through the haunted corn maze. It was so freaking scary. 

I had a really great time with my sisters. They are the best. I also loved just being in Colorado. It snowed while I was there and I thought it was just gorgeous. It is such a beautiful place. It was nice looking out at the mountains and not at buildings.

Colin and I returned to Chicago a couple days before Halloween. I had to work Halloween night so all we really did was go to the Chipotle right underneath our apartment building. We dressed up as nurses...Colin's genius idea. I was already in my scrubs and he put on another pair of my scrubs. It was the most pathetic Halloween costume ever.  But it got us our $2 burritos, so I guess it was worth it.

Music To Be Thankful For

Happy Thanksgiving! I am so grateful for my wife Andrea who brings all of the holiday spirit into our marriage. I am pretty sure if it were all up to me, I would not eat turkey on Thanksgiving, not dress on Halloween, and not wear green on St. Patrick's day. It's not that I don't enjoy all of those things, I just need somebody with a little more pep to get me going on the holidays. I think she is planning on blogging about our different festivities so I won't go into any more detail about them. Unfortunately, Andrea had to work Thursday, Friday, and Saturday while I have been off work so I have had way too much time on my hands. So here is my blog post to dump off some of the songs that I have been playing lately.

Imagine Dragons - Bleeding Out

If you haven't heard of Imagine Dragons, then you should definitely check them out. I first heard them at a battle of the bands at BYU my freshmen year, and now they off winning MTV Music Awards and stuff so that's pretty cool. I guess Brandon Flowers and Tyler Glenn were getting lonely as the only Mormons making it big in the music industry. Other songs from them to check out: It's Time, On Top of the World.

Grouplove - Close Your Eyes and Count to Ten & Love Will Save Your Soul

Grouplove hands down wins my best new artist of the year award. They are so original and catchy. You have probably heard these songs already but if you haven't then you need too: Colors, Tongue Tied, Itching On a Photograph.

Carly Rae Jepsen: Call Me Maybe

As much as it annoys me, I have to admit that this song is very catchy. And since everyone else in the world was doing their own video to it, I thought I would join the bandwagon. I did change it up a little bit. Other song to check out by Carly Rae: None - not even this one.

I'll Be There

This last song is a new one that I started writing back when I was still in school. Once I got married and working, I never really found time to finish it. But I finally did, so I hope it sounds alright.

Chi-town

Our first week in Chicago was so full of adventure. When we drove up to our apartment for the first time I nearly died. I was overwhelmed with how different it was. There were people everywhere. There were cars everywhere. There was parking...nowhere. It was crazy. We finally found a parking garage that was two blocks away from our apartment. We moved all of our stuff in from the car and we set up our air mattress and there we were, in Chicago! We spent the next few days making tons of trips to the nearest Target (30 min away) and the nearest Bed Bath & Beyond (3 blocks away). We bought a mattress, a computer, a desk, a microwave, and folding table and chairs. We had sub-leased the apartment for 3 months. We had not seen the apartment before we moved out. It was very old, had no AC and was just not what we wanted.  

 Through a random miracle we were able to get our of our contract and we moved out a week later! We only moved two blocks away down the same street. So now we live in a high rise apartment with a parking garage attached! (Moving twice in the same week was awful btw, don't ever do it). I can now say that I am a professional U-haul truck driver. 

Here is a list of things I have learned about living in Chicago. 

-5 and 6-way intersections exist

-5 and 6-way intersections are impossible navigate. 

-It takes 30 minutes to drive one mile.

-Quarters are a rare commodity

-Wells Fargo does not exist in this city

-Everyone loves baseball for some reason

-There are cops everywhere, but I rarely see people getting pulled over
-Gas is so expensive ($4.70/gal) 

The list could go on and on. Now that I have lived here for 4 months I can say that I love it here. There is always something fun to do. Our first week alone we went to the beach, to a comedy club, to 3 museums, to the zoo and tried a ton of great restaurants right on our street. Here are some of the other great things we have done...

Free Death Cab for Cutie Concert

Boat tour with Colin's company

Watching Pride parade

Navy Pier

Cubs game

Museum of Science and Industry

Millennium Park

Planetarium

Basically Chicago is awesome and you should come visit!!

Journey to Chicago

After we returned from Florida we had a couple of days to get all of our stuff packed to move across the country. I was so excited to start such a crazy adventure. The reason we moved out to Chicago was Colin got a job with a consulting firm and he was scheduled to start at the end of May. The plan was to drive Colin's car out to Chicago. All we really had to pack were our clothes and wedding gifts. We had absolutely no furniture. We didn't even have computers because both of our laptops died a week before graduation. All of our stuff would not fit in his car though, so we ended up renting a U-box from U-haul. All we had to do was go to the nearest U-haul in Littleton and fill this storage unit with all our stuff. They then shipped it out to Chicago.

We had a few hiccups in our journey. The first one being that the car wouldn't start the day before we left. We tried to jump start it a few times but nothing was working. I was freaking out because I thought it had died for good (its a '95 Buick Skylar so this was a possibility). Colin then had the great idea to put a gallon of gas in the tank and see if it would start then (This was not obvious at first because the fuel gauge said we had a quarter of a tank left). We put in a gallon and it still did not start. For some reason Colin thought we should try another gallon, so we went back to the gas station and bought another gallon. It started!!!! The stupid thing was just out of gas. I made my mom swear not to tell my dad about the whole thing. I knew he would not let us leave if he found out. She didn't tell him and we left the next day!

We split the drive into two parts. The first day we drove 8 hours to Omaha, Nebraska. It was also Colin's 23rd birthday. I felt so bad because it had to be the worst birthday ever.  We ate at Applebee's to celebrate his life and then spent the night in an extremely ghetto motel.  

The next day we drove another 8 hours and finally got to Chicago!! We had no problems along the way. The drive was horribly ugly and boring, but I am glad we made it safely.

Disney World

Two days after our Colorado reception we packed our bags and flew down to Orlando to spend a week in Disney World with my family. My family is in love with all things Disney. I had not been to Disney World in about 4 years, so I was excited to go back! Colin had been to Disney World a few years ago, and lets just say he is not as in love with it as I am. We still had a wonderful time in the happiest place on earth! ;)

 My mom bought these hats for us. I got Colin to agree to put it on for one picture. This is the picture. 

We spent four days at all the different Disney parks. My favorite park is Animal Kingdom because I love animals I guess. 

 One of the highlights was when Tamsen and Colin auditioned for the American Idol Experience at Hollywood Studios. 

I got to sit in on both of their auditions. They both did a great job but neither of them made it. I was still a proud wife/sister. 

We also spent two days at Universal Studios which is like 20 minutes from Disney World.

The best part of Universal was the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! 

The butter beer was delicious!! 

One of my favorite parts of the trip was at night my sisters would come into our room and Colin would do magic tricks for us. We also played poker with my sisters and they were way better then me. It was a great time and I am sure we will have many more Disney adventures throughout the years!!

Wedding Reception

Hello again blog world. It has been weeks since I have spent some quality time with you. This is due to the fact that I am so dang lazy when it comes to writing on this thing. Oh and my precious lover decided to post an extremely embarrassing video of us singing together. Anyways, I have decided to spend my day off catching the world up on our lives. Unfortunately that means going all the way back to May and giving brief descriptions of all the exciting things we have done since then.

The first major event that needs some attention is our Colorado wedding reception. What a long time ago that was...May 5th to be exact. There are many things about that day that should never be remembered. Like the fact that I spent the first half of the day ordering my army of decorators around as we prepared for the reception. This army included my mom, my three sisters, Colin, and other amazing family members that randomly showed up throughout the process. Once again I was possessed by a demon known as the bridezilla!! Despite my craziness, we were able to prepare a lovely reception!

Here are some pictures of our work. 

    

We had such a great time at the reception. So many lovely friends and family were able to come and it was so great to be able to catch up with everyone.

Some of the most memorable moments were:

Cutting the cake:

I dominated. 

 

Throwing the bouquet: 

On my first try I accidentally hit my grandma in the face.

Luckily she survived. 

On my second try my sissy Tamsen caught it. I hope what they say about catching the bouquet is true...

and Dancing!!

Dancing is something Colin and I didn't really plan for at our wedding because Colin hates to dance. 

To my surprise my family decided to break out the moves. I was so happy. 

Me trying to convince Colin to dance 

 I had such a great time and I am so grateful for everyone who came!

Little Talks

Hey everyone. I finally decided to contribute to our wonderful blog.

So I am sure that most of the people that read this (all 5 of you) know that I like to play the guitar and sing. I do not claim to be especially good at either, but I do enjoy it. Andrea, despite having more natural aptitude for music in my opinion, does not enjoy it. For the longest time, I have tried to get Andrea to sing with me to no avail. But recently she finally mustered up the courage to do a duet with me. In turn, I am showing my appreciation to her by posting our efforts on this blog (she will probably never sing with me again).

The song we did is called "Little Talks" by Of Monsters and Men. I love this song. With so many songs today lyrics generally fall into two categories: 1) blunt and obvious (and usually dirty) like most Pop, Rap, and Hip Hop or 2) abstract on the verge of meaningless like a lot  Indie or Alt. Rock music. Because of this emphasis on melody over meaning, I have a special appreciation for artists that put time into creating meaningful lyrics.

"Little Talks" is a love song between a couple with a twist. The husband is dead. His widowed wife is old, lonely, and delirious. The lyrics are posted below the video.

"Little Talks" by Of Monsters and Men


I don't like walking around this old and empty house
So hold my hand, I'll walk with you my dear
The stairs creak as I sleep, it's keeping me awake
It's the house telling you to close your eyes
Some days I can't even trust myself
It's killing me to see you this way

'Cause though the truth may vary
This ship will carry
Our bodies safe to shore

There's an old voice in my head that's holding me back
Well tell her that I miss our little talks
Soon it will be over and buried with our past
We used to play outside when we were young,
And full of life and full of love
Some days I don't know if I am wrong or right
Your mind is playing tricks on you, my dear

'Cause though the truth may vary
This ship will carry
Our bodies safe to shore

Don't listen to a word I say
The screams all sound the same

Though the truth may vary
This ship will carry
Our bodies safe to shore

You're gone gone gone away
I watched you disappear
All that's left is a ghost of you
Now we're torn torn torn apart, there's nothing we can do
Just let me go we'll meet again soon
Now wait wait wait for me
Please hang around
I'll see you when I fall asleep

Don't listen to a word I say
The screams all sound the same

Though the truth may vary
This ship will carry
Our bodies safe to shore

Grand Cayman

Day 4: Grand Cayman Island

To finish off the epic honeymoon posts, we end with our visit to Grand Cayman Island. What a beautiful place. We had such fun times there. The first part of our excursion was a stop in Hell!! I can't remember if it is an actual town or just a street, but they made a big deal of stopping at this gas station-type building so we could take pictures with little devil statues. It was ridiculous but made for some great pictures.

What in Hell? (Am I allowed to say that?)

Seriously?? Why is Grandpa dressed up as Satan? IDK!!

Colin has a better face for Hell then I do.

 After we left that strange little place we headed off to the sea turtle farm. I absolutely loved it.  At the turtle farm they raise and release sea turtles back into the wild and we got to hold some of them! They were so funny. When you pick them up they start flapping their fins so hard that it hurts your hand like crazy. In order to calm them down you gently tickle under their chin. They immediately calm down and let you hold them.

Here is one freaking out 

Just tickle their chin and then they love you. 

They had little baby sea turtles. They were so cute. 

After we played with the sea turtles we headed to a boat that would take us out to Stingray City where we would get to swim with the stingrays!! Now let me remind you that Steven Irwin was killed by a stingray so I was a little nervous about this. 

Again no pictures of this amazing adventure but here is what they look like from the boat.

Those are the huge creatures we got to swim with. Stingray City is a sandbar in the middle of the ocean where all these stingrays live. They have a billion tourist come and see them every day so they are well adapted to humans. We got off the boat and the tour guide helped us hold them. We even got to kiss them and put them on our backs. It was so scary, but really amazing. I am so sad that I didn't get any pictures with them.

I need to take a few moments to show you one of our tour guides. 

This man was crazy. I am not even sure he was a man. I swear he was part fish or something. We were in the middle of the ocean and the boat stopped. This man jumped off the boat and dove down to the coral to pick up this... thing. He then proceeded to cut it up and tried to feed it to the rest of us. He also brought up a starfish. Luckly he didn't try to feed that to us.

Look how blue that water is and how white that skin is. Oh yeah baby!

What a great adventure we had. I will never forget all the amazing experiences we had together our first week of being married. Some other notable things that happened were Colin participated in a karaoke competition. He won a medal, along with the other drunk participants, so that was pretty awesome. We saw almost every comedy show and most of them were hilarious. We went to a magic show and I was brought up to help, but I could not understand the magician's Indian accent, so I ruined his trick. We ordered room service every night so we would be sure to gain at least 5 pounds. But the most important thing was that I had the opportunity to spend time with the love of my life and start our amazing journey together!