2012

I can honestly say that 2012 has been the best year yet. I have fit so much into 365 days. 1 US territory,  4 countries, too many airports and flight hours, new friends, old friends, started a blog, became a fan of Instagram, an insane amount of traveling, a growing love for outdoor activities, my first pair of colored jeans, my 3rd year of nursing, and a BIG move to a new apartment. To recap:

Went to my first Jazz game in forever. 

Spent a lot of time with this little lady and experienced City Creek for the first time. 

Meg moved away :(

Went on my annual trip to AZ to see these girls!

 Of course the highlight of my year was living on a ship in Southeast Asia for 3 months! I loved, loved, loved this summer. I met so many amazing people and made some great friends. 

USNS Mercy 

Spent 24 hours in Guam.

Indonesia 

My first helicopter ride. AWESOME! 

Never feeling so loved as I did in Indonesia. 

Making friends from all over the world. 

The Philippines. 

Vietnam 

Amazing, amazing sunsets. 

Cambodia 

Fell in love with a few sailors. 

Went to the best football game of my life! Go Aggies!! 

Somehow learned to love hiking. 

Went to Zions for the first time. 

Reunited several times with high school besties. 

Kayla came to Utah! 

Mercy Reunion. 

Disneyland 

Sea World 

An awesome Halloween costume.

A crazy miracle happened and I learned to like running.  I'm still amazed. 

12 hours of Twilight Marathoning.  

My first Coach purse. Yes, there will be more.

I'm pretty sure that 2013 will have a hard time beating 2012, but I'll give it my best!

Tuesday Tangents

1. First, lets do a movie review. DO NOT go see Playing for Keeps. It is terrible and insanely boring. Gerard Butler only took off his shirt once, which is just shameful! More skin may have saved the movie.

2. The Christmas episode of Downton Abbey season 2 (yep, I'm a little behind) was likely the best 1.5 hours of television I've ever seen. I LOVE that show! I informed my dad that I don't need a love life if I can live vicariously through Mary and Matthew's relationship. If my cousin was that hot, I'd marry him too! kidding My father is now very concerned that my love life will continue to remain dull. Likely.

3. The McRib should be outlawed. The commercials make me queasy, I can't imagine what the actual thing would do.

THERE IS GOOD IN THIS WORLD

Like everyone else, I can't get Fridays events out of my head. I don't have children, but the last few days I've noticed children in a different light as I think about those who were taken from this earth so early on into their lives. It's easy to get discouraged about the evil that is all around us and think that there is no good left to humanity. There is good, and I've chosen to focus on it. Friday night helped remind me of the good people in this world. I went to the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas concert as I do every year with my family. I usually leave bursting with Christmas cheer excited to give and open gifts. This year I left comforted. They had a moment of silence for those affected in CT at the beginning of the program and for the first time that day, I had tears in my eyes. It was so touching to be among 21,000 people in a room full of silence and the spirit. I cannot describe it. Along with beautiful music, they told the story of the Candy Bomber who organized candy drops after WW2 for those deprived during the existence of the Berlin Wall. The pilot was a farm boy from Utah who saw a need and did something about it. Most of the people around me were crying, including myself. At the end of the story, a large curtain dropped and there stood a tiny 92 year old man...the Candy Bomber. I think that it was just what everyone needed. He was the cutest thing! We all needed to be reminded that there is good in this world. I personally have faith in humanity and know that there will always be good around me if I look for it. And just for kicks, let's throw in the word good again.

Tuesday Tangents

1. A couple of weeks ago, I spotted mini Hostess doughnuts in the candy machine at work. This particular machine is tucked away and I don't think many people visit it. When I heard that Hostess was  going out of business, I almost cried! I'm sentimental like that. I can't remember the last time I had anything Hostess and I actually hate Twinkies, but I felt like I hadn't said a proper goodbye to the company that helped contribute to a significant ammount high school weight gain. I remember eating almost an entire box of doughnuts during EdNet (college classes over the TV) during my sophomore year. Anyway, I had been fighting the urge to buy a package but on Sunday, I finally gave in. Yes, I spend money on Sundays if I work. It turned out to be a good move because Sunday required some emotional eating and those waxy chocolate lovelies were just what I needed. Thank you Hostess. I'm glad I could bid you farewell with while gaining 2 lbs. 

2. Don't you just love seeing trees strapped to the tops of cars? It just screams Christmas cheer! I've never bought a real tree but I really want to just so I can strap it to the top of my roof.

3. Last night was my work's Christmas party. I helped plan a few parts of it including the superlative awards (most likely to, best dressed, etc). It was fun to collect and count the votes and see what we each thought of each other. The nice ones that you actually want to win such as: The nurse you'd like to take care of you or a family member or most helpful were hard to total up, because so many people were voted for. The winner of those categories didn't win by much. It felt good to see that my coworkers think so highly of each other. While counting the votes over the last couple weeks, I was noticing a startling trend. I was getting a lot of votes for one particular category. Some of the votes came from people who know me well and others not so much. It got to the point that I asked a couple of them if there was some weird pact to vote for me or something. I was getting votes for...wait for it...most likely to be married in 2013. What? I know, I know. I don't get it. It's no mystery to the floor that I don't date much, so I'm chalking it up to my coworkers feeling so bad for me that this is their effort to make it happen.

4. I loved Oprah a lot more before I started following her on twitter. Now she is driving me crazy. I don't understand most of what she talks about! I have a hard time admitting that. I had to delete her off my twitter feed. Sad day in my life.

5. This week so far: sporting an epic ugly sweater, 3 movie theater trips, a reuniting lunch with friends, 1 session of Body Pump, late nights (including this one),  & catching up on season 2 of Downton Abbey. To come: Dinner with a bestie, my first trip to Utah's first Trader Joe's, a couple of frostbite forming runs, the MoTabC Christmas concert, present wrapping, starting the 12 days of Christmas for someone who needs a boost, and planning a going-away party for a friend. Love this time of year!

Very Slow Jogging-Like Movements in the Great Outdoors

I am a self professed running hater. Because of this, I've found other forms of exercise. Spinning, a weight lifting class, and I even bought a road bike. About a month ago, a running-lover (don't you want to hate those people?) friend made a trail sound so tempting, that I decided to give it a shot. The picture below is the trail during fall time. I'd do just about anything to crunch leaves. The crunch crunch sound under my trodding feet made running those first few times more tempting. 

I don't think I'll ever say that I love running but aren't these blurry i-phone pictures beautiful? I'd rather die than run on a treadmill. I have the attention span of a small house fly so I need lots of distractions when I'm "running". The great outdoors provides this. The cold winter air is also helpful to cut back on the gallons of sweat that I usually dump out of every pore and orifice when exercising. Yesterday's "run" felt great. My lungs had plenty of energy, the sky was couldy, and we discussed important world issues such as Gossip Girl and online dating. Just what I needed.

Tuesday Tangents

1. My online social life is now complete with the addition of Twitter. Facebook, Pinterest (which I rarely look at anymore), a blog, and Instagram. I don't love Twitter but as long as Whitney W. continues to keep me entertained, I'll stick with it. Please Whit, keep providing.

2. Summary of my Christmas shopping: 3 presents for Aubrey, 1 to give away. 5 presents for Aubrey, 2 to give away. This is a problem. 

3. I love Christmas Music. I try to branch out but I always go back to Michael Buble, Josh Groban, and my all time FAVORITE Pandora station- The Christmas Song Radio. It's full of old school crooners like my man Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Burl Ives. I love everything on the station, but my favorites are the ones I like to refer to as "crackly songs". The recordings that are so old that you can hear the static and the old equipment clanking along. Oh, I love them. I want to dress up in a vintage sweater, drink hot chocolate in front of a flocked tree with a beehive hair-do. 

4. It's been a bit of an emotionally stressful week. Mostly tied to work and a couple of people who let me down. I need it to stop the stress soon because I have a full blown acne mess on my face that always happens when I'm under pressure. Fug.

5. I organized a beard contest at work last week. Yep. A beard contest. A doctor at work who is blessed with quite the crop of facial hair had the idea of ending Novembeard/No Shave November with a judged event. We had 3 judges, including a retired barber. It was awesome! I was impressed with the turnout and it was so fun! The prize was a $150 gift card to a fancy restaurant here in town. What did I get for organizing it? Nothing. Oh well.