a look back on 2014

Two thousand and fourteen. The years keep speeding by, don't they? This year brought both good and bad like they all do. Here is my 2014 in review.

Movies/TV Shows-these are the good ones
The Monuments Men-I read the book, the movie was pretty good, I liked that they brought this less-known story to light about the group of men tasked with recovering the worlds priceless treasures. Also, Clooney and Damon together again. The beginning was a bit like Oceans Eleven where Danny goes around rounding up his crew. And hellooo Jean Dujardin, mais oui!

Austenland-a sort of spoof on Jane Austen and why women love her literature. I went through a brief Bret McKenzie phase and the first time I watched it I was seriously torn between wanting Keri to end up with Bret or JJ Field. But then JJ's blue blue eyes win me over every time. My girlfriends and I watched it together twice this year and had a hootin' hollerin' time each way through. It is a ridiculous movie but we love it, The fake accents and tans, the stuffed animals, the silliness. This movie is the quintessential chick flick.

The Muppets Most Wanted-I loved the reboot a few years ago and this one was a pretty good sequel. I love the quirky muppet humor and the cameos. Bret McKenzie wrote the songs again and I loved the disco flavored "I'll Get You What You Want" song. And then Celine Dion singing a duet with Miss Piggy was hilarious. I saw this in the movie theater and was nudging my sister the whole time with, "I love this, I love this." Also, the Russian gulag with Tina Fey was so funny. Mom loved that Josh Groban had a cameo.

The Book Thief-I was wary of how this one would be made into a movie, the book was so unique and poignant. But the movie was pretty good and stayed true to the necessary parts. I was pretty much bawling at the end when Liesel meets Max again. It's been awhile since I've seen it so I forget the other parts I like, Rudy was good.

Parenthood-I got into this show because I needed a Netflix show to watch. It can get pretty dramatic and sappy, but I've cried two or three times watching it. One time when Crosby taught his son how to ride a bike. Sometimes I think the characters are idiots but you just get sucked in.

The Fault in Our Stars-I got sucked in to the hype and read the book. Two teenage kids with fatal illness meet and fall in love, but will it last? A bit better than the trashy teenage novel plus a good sense of humor. Then I saw the movie and my emotions were all over the place. It was just the kind of movie you need when you want to feel all the feelings and cry your heart out. I saw it with my friend Katy and she said it's good to watch something that reminds you you have feelings. I thought the kiss in the Anne Frank house was a bit melodramatic, but now I totes need to go to Amsterdam. Bikes, Canals, Falafels.

Wives and Daughers-I went on a bit of a Victorian Era binge this summer and ran into this miniseries on Netflix. I loved it. Molly is totally my kind of heroine. I hate her stepmom and stepsister, and Rodger, I want to punch him in the face when he thinks he loves Cynthia. I love Rodger though, he is so earnest and honest. Molly eventually gets some gumption and ends up with the person she is supposed to end up with. I love that the BBC ended their version with Molly joining Rodger on his expedition to Africa. Molly is boss.

The Giver-I thought the movie was a great adaptation of the book, I came away pleased. I loved how they represented Jonas receiving the "memories" and how they took real historical events from our lives to draw out our own experiences and emotions and think about how Jonas would perceive them for the first time. One of my favorite books of all time and I was pleased with the movie adaptation.

Big Hero 6-I wasn't sure what to expect from this Disney installment, there wasn't much hype about it. It was cute, heartwarming, fun, full of awesome animation and creativity. I didn't think there'd be much to love about Baymax, who looks just like the Michelin man, but he steals your heart. "Hairy Baby!"

Forever-Englishman solves mysteries as a medical examiner in NYC. However, he can't die and has a Sherlockian knowledge of death. Kinda predictable, but me and mom like it. Also I love me a handsome Welshman-Ioan Gruffudd.

The Hobbit-We'll say 1, 2, & 3. Good to return to Middle Earth. Mom likes them just because Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch are in them, even though Ben is just a voice of Smaug the dragon. I could have done with just 2 movies, but I like how it intersects with the LOTR movies and shows the set up for the clash of good versus evil. A lot of the fave characters are around, I do miss all the other hobbits though. I have read the book but don't remember it at all. So I have no opinions on that. And is it just me or does Legolas look different in the Hobbit versus LOTR?

Also, I guess Downton Abbey and Sherlock were on the beginning of this year? DA was good, Sherlock was even better, I was dying when Benedict Cumberbatch was being a french waiter and then Martin kept punching him. This feels like so long ago. Weird.

Books-I read over 60 books this year. I remember feeling in Jan/Feb time that I just had to keep reading all the books, like I was in some kind of competition with myself. I've definitely slowed down but I have pleasantly been kept stocked with enough to read. Here are my top picks from my literature this year:

The Fault in Our Stars

The Wednesday Wars

I Am Malala

12 Years a Slave

The Monuments Men

Unbroken

The Boys in the Boat

Us

The Outsiders

Emily of Deep Valley

Hamlet-I feel so smart saying I read this. It was really good though. I read it with the play in one hand and sparknotes in the other, but it totally helped me understand what was going on. Also, I watched the Kenneth Brannaugh movie version and it was long, but very good. I enjoyed Ken as Hamlet, Kate Winslet as Ophelia, and Billy Crystal as the grave digger (I forget his name but he says the classic line with the skull, 'Alas, Poor Yorrick, I knew him', or something like that.) But seriously, everything we say is from this play.

The Distant Hours

Neil Armstrong: A Life of Flight

Wives and Daughters

Trips-I had a goal this year to NOT travel internationally this year because I felt I needed to reign that in. And I made it, (I do not count 4 hours on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls as being international). But I did make a few good trips.

AZ in February for my birthday, sun, family, Olympics, yay.

NY in May for brother's medical school graduation, flew the red eye out of Seattle got uber delayed and spent 7 hours in the chicago airport, eventually had to fly in to Syracuse so I think I am done doing those. Got to visit Niagara Falls for the first time and felt very American whilst riding on the Maid of the Mist. Wandered into Canada for a bit, just enough to say we were there and use "Eh" a lot.

UT in September for brother's wedding-bonus: also got to see many of my old roomies!

UT in November for Jessica's wedding

Spokane like 5 or 6 times-1. moved brother into his apt 2. visited brother and rode the Hiawatha bike trail 3. Visited brother for Labor Day weekend and did just about everything 4. drove brother and sister in law's stuff up for General Conference 5. Eric Hutchinson concert! (That's a lot of Spokane in one year, not that I'm complaining, just I've been there maybe 4 times in my life before, but it's a nice drive, I can get from my house to brother's in two hours).

Seattle in December to see the Nutcracker ballet with Mom

Firsts
Got my first gray hair-found it about two weeks after turning 27, NOT COOL-generally felt my body getting old this year
Fixed interior door handle of my car
First pedicure of my life

First pair of prescription sunglasses (lame I know, but they have seriously changed my life)
First Great Lake-Lake Ontario

Concerts
Sara Bareilles in August with Jenny, Michelle, and Alexis was pretty perfect in the outdoor Portland venue

Eric Hutchinson in November was one of the best concerts I've been to. I even splurged and bought the VIP passes so Michelle and I could meet and greet Eric. I wish we could repeat this one.

Also I got to go to TWO professional ballets this year, Giselle in September with Gretchen at Ballet West in SLC, and the Nutcracker in December with Mom at PNB in Seattle. I am a lucky gal. I'd never seen Giselle or Nutcracker professionally before so it was so much fun.

Worth Remembering
Won the Theurer Family World Cup bracket tournament
Lost a close friend

Got a raise
Learned a lot about myself-my strengths and weaknesses
Learned that I am to be an AUNTIE for the first time
Got lots of scrapbooking done

Gained a Sister in Law who not only has the same first name (and now last name) as me, but also the exact same spelling, (we're still figuring out how to do this...)

Favorite Internet offerings
when the Full House guys joined Jimmy Fallon it was a dream come true
and then Kevin Bacon went on Jimmy Fallon and made more dreams come true
this Anne of Green Gables wedding photoshoot is amazing
when 14 baby pandas were together at the same time
when triplet pandas were born

Least Favorite Internet offering: The Ice Bucket Challenge

the 2014 Sochi Olympics

Other happenin's
Still working the same job at an orthopeadic office in town, I like the people I work with, I get pretty great benefits at my job, but I'm still living in the TC and still severely underemployed. I got out of my calling as Activities Chair which caused me a lot of stress and consternation. I served as a RS counselor for awhile until all my peeps started ditching the YSA branch (one of whom was the RS pres) and then didn't have a calling for awhile but have been RS teacher for the past few months. Work was crazy this year, switching to a new computer system-I put in a ton of overtime and still am getting overtime though not quite as much. At least I get paid for it. Made a goal to reach a certain amount in my savings this year (no particular reason) and made it. Still watching it grow and that is a good feeling. Spent a lot of this year feeling not necessarily lonely but companion-less as most of my current friends have left the branch for other wards, moved, gotten married etc. Some are still around but we don't really play like we used to. Sorta sad, but I also don't feel like making new friends with the babies in my branch because they would just do the same thing to me all over again and I'm not really into that happening. My unofficial motto started this year as "Speak Up" because I feel like I generally do a horrible job at speaking up for what I want or saying things I want to say. I feel like I did this a time or two, and I'm glad I did, one time it got me out of the horrible calling that is Activities that was dragging me down. I spent a large part of last winter ill, which affected me being able to go exercise which I think led to a significant weight gain for me. I feel like up until this year I have gained weight but not so quickly. I also blame my work situation, long hours or days where I'm running around all day don't really evoke the gym attendance desire in me. There are other factors as well, not really sure why I'm writing this, but I'm keepin' in real. I got a raise at work and that felt good, the extra moneys feel good too. I lost a good friend unexpectedly this year and learned a lot about life, death, friendship, myself and who I want to be, grief, time and priorities.

I have a list of goals for 2015 (I like goals better than resolutions) which may come up in another blog, but suffice it to say I'm looking forward with hope to this year. Besides my 10 year high school reunion (which I am not looking forward to, and probs won't attend, but just thinking about it makes me want to throw up in my mouth a little), I have good things to look forward to. I gots tickets to see the So You Think You Can Dance tour because it's coming to the TC! Holla! I'm going to go to AZ again in February for a visit and hopefully again later in the year to see my new baby NIECE!! You guys don't even know how excited I am. First time auntie and I will be the best auntie ever. And hopefully some other trips and changes.Well, thanks for indulging me in my year end review, it's fun to see what I was up to this year. Let's have a successful 2015

my favorite albums of christmas

I wanted to write a little about my favorite albums of Christmas music. I consider myself to be a connoisseur of Chrismas music-I have over 200 songs in my iTunes-so here are my all time favorite albums. Note: these are complete albums, not one off singles that, though popular, do not equal a whole album. I tried to decide if I could rank them, but I don't think I could.

*N'Sync's Home For Christmas
Why I love it: Well, it's N'Sync, duh. But also their a cappella version of O Holy Night is one of the best out there. It's my childhood, but I could also relate to the "coming home" theme when I was in college. I like how all the members get featured better and each one gives a Christmas wish/shoutout. The best is Lance in his bass voice, "And I want to wish you a Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to the world." Hahaha!

James Taylor-James Taylor at Christmas
Why I love it: I love James' mellow version of some of these songs. So peaceful. Also, he sings a few that not many others do. Go Tell it on the Mountain is fun. Some Children See Him is amazing, I cry like a baby when he sings about how children all over the world think about baby Jesus being born. Who Comes this Night? is great and his version of In the Bleak Midwinter is one of the only versions I can handle. Also, his take on River is so melancholy and poetic.

Ella Fitzgerald-Ella Wishes you a Swingin' Christmas
Why I love it: Ella's voice is from another generation, we don't get that kind of singing anymore. The jazzy versions are fun but she also does some great traditional carols. I love her version of What are you Doing New Year's Eve? She also sings a song called The Meaning of Christmas which made me cry the first time I heard it. I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone else sing it. But the song is wonderful.

Josh Groban-Noel
Why I love it: Josh. Singing. All the Christmas songs. The whole album is just seriously one of the best, even if you don't normally love Josh. Silent Night is so powerful, also I found a Spanish version he sang and it is beautiful. I love the guitar on Little Drummer Boy and I love how it starts soft and quiet and grows more powerful, I picture a timid little boy visiting the baby Jesus and then growing in confidence as he realizes who he has come to worship. I'll Be Home For Christmas is special because there are audio clips of servicemen wishing their families a Merry Christmas, it helps to remind of their sacrifice they make. He sings two songs in Latin, Ave Maria, and Panis Angelicus, I don't know what he is saying, but Josh can handle the classical songs. I'm glad someone made him do them. He also sings with Faith Hill and Luther Vandross on two songs and the combos just work, ya know? And shout out to MoTab and the tabernacle organ that feature on O Come All Ye Faithful! Woot. (Also, someday Josh WILL sing at the MoTab Christmas concert and I WILL be there when he does.) Love Josh's singing on this one. I do have to mention Josh's version of O Holy Night, it's not technically on this album but it is one of the best ever. I think a lot of people trash this song but Josh is most excellent. Just really, this is a great Christmas Album.

John Denver-John Denver Christmas in Concert (or something like that)
Why I love it: You may not know it, but John Denver has a great voice for Christmas songs. The album I have is a live concert he did in DC in about 1996. He sang with a full symphony orchestra and also had a children's choir for a few songs. He sings a few of his own songs as well. I also enjoy his own Christmas songs like Christmas for Cowboys, The Christmas Toy, Christmas Like a Lullaby, and Noel-Christmas 1913. One of my favorites is John Denver's version of O Holy Night, he totally gets that high note and with a fully symphony behind him, the effect is magical. I also enjoy the live version of his song Calypso, so great.

Bing Crosby-Any cd, also the Kraft Music Hall recordings
Why I love it: Bing Crosby=Christmas at my house. Hands down. Mom's favorite its It's a Marshmallow World. I love his Drummer Boy duet with David Bowie. We also have this cd I grew up with that is a recording of a Christmas radio show done during WWII-they have interesting things to hear like using ration points to buy Kraft Cheese Spread, and they sing about Loose Lips Sink Ships, and the boys at war. Bing is at his best. And there is this hilarious song with this weird Irish guy that sings about "Caroline" and making her his girl, we're still not quite sure what all is supposed to be going on during this radio show but it's become this tradition at our house. They finish the show by singing Adestes Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful in Latin).

Honorable Mention goes to the Christmas Albums by Pentatonix-the a capella group. I just got their music this year so I'm not as familiar with all the songs but I do love them so far. The Nutcracker song is so much fun and I love their version of Mary, Did You Know?

Thanks for playing along!

iphotography

A post?! You say? Well, a post you shall have. This bligity blog post is about the status of my photographic technology and the lengths I take to make it all work together.

So, I pretty much only use my cell phone to take pics anymore. It's so handy, and honestly, the technology has outpaced a lot of the cameras that I have owned. (Minus the DSLR I still need to learn...). I only used my phone on my NYC trip of 2013 and the only pictures that weren't good were the Statue of Liberty and that was because she was so far away. If I know I'm going to be taking such pictures I take my handy Nikon, which also has a superb auto-correct for lighting (we're talking magical night scenes of Paris, guys), and also I've found a sweet spot for photographing fireworks.

But back to the phizzone. There are a few apps that I have that I'd like to share; what I like about them, how I use them, and how my photography flavor has changed. Here are the main ones I use on the iPhizzone, (and they are all free):

Normally I just take pictures with the regular camera app and then go back and edit them later. A lot of the apps let you take photos within them, but it can take too much time to open them, I can get to my camera without unlocking my phone.

Going Across:

Instagram-It was all the rage with the filters and the frames, but then it got topped. I rarely use the filters now, I don't like how you can't control how saturated the filter is. Mostly I just use it for the social media aspect. I don't really post pics on FB anymore, and I keep my instagram list small. For my closer peeps.

PicStitch-This was my first picture collage app. I like some of the layouts once in awhile, but the frames aren't moveable or resizeable and they just stay white. Nowadays I just use it if there's a layout I want but not available on any other app.

VSCOCam-I call this my "hipster" app. VSCO is some kind of editing tool that I've seen some of the professional photography bloggers I follow use. I'm too afraid to use it because I feel like I need more camera skills rather than just throw words around like aperture and focal point. I think it has some filters...but it's not super intuitive and I haven't really taken the time to figure it out.

A Beautiful Mess-This app gets you into the scrapbook-y part of iphotography. I originally got it because it had cuter text that I could put on my photos. But I also really liked the filters because I could choose the opacity and the contrast. They also have doodles, phrases and borders one can add. I use these sometimes-but sometimes I feel like adding all that stuff in crowds out the photo you took. So I do this lightly. When I finally downloaded iOS7 and updated all my apps, I learned they also have backgrounds and collage capability. The app also has in app purchases to get more fonts and doodles if you're into that.

InstaFrame-This is my go-to collage app. I like it because you can choose a layout for different numbers of pictures, resize the frames and borders, change the color of the frame, add text, add stickers (I think), size the photos on a range of square to rounded corners, and put shadow behind the pictures. It really does a lot. I try not to go out of control with this one-I am not a 9 year old girl decorating her Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper. The one downside is that you can't rearrange the layout. I've wanted to at least flip the layout but I haven't found something that will let me do that yet. So the layout for five photos will always have two on the left column and three on the right. I use this one a lot if there are many photos from an event/trip that I want to share but I don't want to make 20 posts.

Snapseed-God Bless Stacey for alerting me to this one. It's Google's photography editing app I think and I just love it. Why? Because instead of filters it has the ability to let me adjust what I want. I use the tune feature most of the time and can adjust the saturation, brightness, contrast, shadows, warmth etc. Like mostly what I would mess with on Photoshop. It also has crop, straighten, and other filters, but the tuning is what I use most. I like the photographs I take. And a lot of time I like to stay true to the colors and light I saw-only make it brighter or crisper. Also, it doesn't crop your photo into a square like most apps do. I have printed regulation photos three times now edited by this app and it is a wonder. I have even gone back and done older pictures with this app and they look fabulous.

Aviary-I don't know what this one does. Someone sometime told me to get it. I think it does stickers? Idk.

And then! Because I like to print my photos for scrapbooking purposes I also use the Walgreens (blech) app which is pretty handy. I first got it because I learned Walgreens will print your instagrams in a 4x4 square. And then I also found out I can just upload photos from my phone that I want printed. It works really well. The quality has been really good so far and even the little instagrams with words or doodles turn out cute. The creepy thing is that I went to the store tonight to pick up my pictures and I got a text alert telling me that I was in the vicinity of a Walgreens and that I should head there for savings. Your phone really does track where you are.

As well as photos taken on traditional cameras-If I have images on my Nikon I want to edit I dont' get out my laptop and edit them on Photoshop anymore. These apps are much easier for the lay person (as well as the lay-z person! see what I did there?) But it is kind of a process. First, I load my SD card into the computer and copy the files I want to edit onto my computer. Then I open up my Dropbox account online and upload the files. Next I open my Dropbox app on my phone and save all the files I want to edit to my camera roll. Then I edit and print as explained above. It is so funny to me that I do more computing on my phone than my computer, and I hardly use my phone as a phone.

Let it be known that there are much more sophisticated apps and attachments for the cell phone to make iphotography even greater. There are crazy awesome pictures people pull off with cell phones. I've seen lenses that attach to the cell phone that are even more powerful than my DSLR. But everything I use above is for free and I don't have to learn complicated tools or techniques.

Anyways, Not really sure why I wanted to write this little DIY on cell phone photography on the bloggy but I did. I hope you learned something and let me know if there's a great app I'm missing!

world cup winner!

I won the Theurer Family World Cup Futbol bracket for 2014! Mom and I filled one out at the beginning of all this and it made the World Cup more interesting to me. (I honestly had probably never watched a World Cup game before). And we had no clue which team to pick, some were just because we liked chocolate more than beef so we picked the Swiss to beat Argentina (they didn't). I remembered that when Germany hosted the World Cup awhile ago they were pretty good, so I picked them. And Boom! Four years bragging rights! We are the champions! Also, my ancestors were from Germany, so I claim the Fatherland. With this victory, plus a March Madness win a few years ago I now have two bracket wins. I just need to find a third thingy to win the Triple Crown!

Joking aside, I did enjoy the World Cup, I saw a few games. It keeps me satisfied during the long wait until the 2016 Olympics. And let's be honest, there are a lot of good looking futbol players. I actually really did enjoy the young player from Columbia, James Rodriguez, he seems like a nice kid and he is a really good player. And Team USA did well for themselves. Bravo!

Proof: