[A Year In Review: 2011]

Top 10 Most Important Dates of 2011

1. 2.22.2011 - The day I officially became an adult.
2. 3.25.2011 - When my father passed away.
3. 4.17.2011 - The day I started this blog!
4. 6.2.2011 - My high school graduation.
5. 6.4.2011 - The first time I ever traveled overseas. 
6. 8.27.2011 - When I finally took advantage of being 18 and got my nose pierced, a decision I am happy about every day.
7. 9.01.2011 - My first day in my new home in Eau Claire. 
8. 10.31.2011 - The first time I ever ran 2 miles.
9. 11.2011 - When I realized how solid the relationships I have are. 
10. 12. 22.2011 - The day I cut off 10 inches of my hair and donated it. 

Favorite New Experiences of 2011

1. College! 
2. Traveling abroad
3. Becoming a vegetarian
4. Live Simply November
5. Realizing how unimportant money and "things" are, and how much more other people could use the "things" and the financial resources I have. 
6. Donating plasma
7. Driving long distances
8. Learning how to knit
9. Becoming a Telefund Caller
10. Learning more about politics 
11. Becoming close to my high school teachers
12. Being involved in student body government
13. Falling in love with hockey
14. Being in a musical
15. Becoming a fan of country music

Best Concerts of 2011

1. North Choir Italy Tour 2011 - Concert in Rome - June 
2. North Choir Italy Tour 2011 - Concert in Levanto - June 
3. Florence and the Machine/The Black Keys - July 
4. Bon Iver - December 
5. The Compassion Project with Richard Davidson - May

Favorite Media and Entertainment Discoveries/Releases (In no particular order)

1. The Colbert Report
2. The Hobbit
3. This blog, this blog, and this blog
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
5. Kinfolk Magazine
6. Community
7. Limitless
8. The Da Vinci Code (Book)
9. This youtube video that always makes me smile...and that I now have memorized
10. The Hunger Games
11. Crazy, Stupid, Love
12. Brave New World

Top 10 Favorite Songs (In no particular order)

1. Home - Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
2. Re: Stacks - Bon Iver
3. Little Black Submarines - The Black Keys
4. Dog Days Are Over - Florence + The Machine
5. Chicken Fried - Zac Brown Band
6. The Show Goes On - Lupe Fiasco
7. Made in America - Toby Keith
8. Oceans & Streams - The Black Keys
9. Go To Sleep - The Avett Brothers
10. Roll Away Your Stone - Mumford & Sons

Things I Am Most Grateful For

1. A growing relationship with God
2. A family that is close, honest, and so caring and selfless. 
3. Friends that I can laugh with, be crazy around, but most of all, be loved and supported by. 
4. My InterVarsity small group
5. An education, and the finances that make it possible
6. A job that I really enjoy
7. A beautiful film camera
8. Warm wool socks/scarves/hats
9. Music, both creating and listening 
10. Blogs :)

Blog Stats 

1. Today's Letters - The inspiration for this blog (and this post)
2. Top 5 Posts - "Industrious" "Smile" "Snapshot" "LSN: Goals and Guidelines" "LSN: A Challenge" 
3. Top 5 Countries that read this blog - United States, Russia, Italy, Germany, UK
4. Month with the most traffic - November
5. Most random search keyword that lead someone to this blog - "salty blue" minerva

Looking Forward to in 2012

1. The world ending, obviously
2. Visiting my soul sister, Hannah, in Iowa this March
3. Starting my training position at Telefund
4. Running my first 5K in March
5. Celebrating this blog's 1 year anniversary!
6. Never having to take another Biology class again
7. A summer of new possibilities, and hopefully travel