snapshots of the year 2010

Best vacations: PARIS in April! Flew business class (which forever changed my view of travel). Enjoyed some of the best food I’ve ever tasted whilst viewing the amazing art, architecture and ambiance of France. Finally made it to top of Eiffel Tower. Saw Omaha Beach in Normandy. Utah for a week in July. Fall foliage and apple picking in rural Connecticut. Atlantic City for concerts and beach.

Best places to embrace my inner child: Walt Disney World in January and March with friends then Disneyland in March with mom, Corey & Alyssa. Master of the “Fast Pass”. Deserve a gold medal for spending 17 ½ hours in the parks at Disney World whilst wearing flip flops in January.

Best family time: whole family together in June, double decker bus touring with Jared, spending time with nephews and nieces at water park swimming & sliding, visiting the animals @ Bean museum and bowling, fixing a flat tire with my grandpa, outlet shopping and concert rocking with Alyssa and Labor Day Weekend with my mom enjoying Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and many hours of amazing US Open tennis

Best evidence that I’m an adult: buying a new bed & couch and going to bed every night at 10:00pm

Best rationale to pay for expensive rental car comprehensive insurance: a herd of sheep jumping in front of manual transmission rental car whilst I was driving rural roads to Mont Saint Michel on west coast of France. Couldn’t find 1st gear. Burned out clutch. Smoke billowing from hood, air vents, under car…everywhere. No offer of help. Phone service agent advised to just start the car again and see what happens. Good plan. Terrified of 1st gear and clothes reeked of smoke for remainder of adventure.

Best songs in iPod rotation: My Best Theory (Jimmy Eat World), All In (Lifehouse), Find A Way (SafetySuit), Burning In the Skies (Linkin Park), Rhythm of Love (Plain White T’s), Enough to Let Me Go (Switchfoot), Spinning (Jack’s Mannequin), as well as Hello, Teenage Dream and everything by Glee

Best television: Glee, Mad Men, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost, White Collar, The Good Wife, FNL & Hawaii 5-O

Best concerts/Broadway shows: Jimmy Eat World @ Harrah’s on New Years’ Eve, Keane @ Brooklyn Waterfront, Memphis, New Kids on the Block @ Radio City Music Hall, Lifehouse @ Roseland Ballroom and again @ In the Venue (SLC), Rock of Ages, Harry Connick, Jr. @ Neil Simon Theater, A View from the Bridge, Jimmy Eat World @ Terminal 5 (twice), Glee Live @ Radio City Music Hall, 25th Anniversary Tour of Les Miserables, Goo Goo Dolls @ Roseland Ballroom, NY Pops Holiday Concert @ Carnegie Hall

Best hours spent in a movie theater: Inception, The Social Network, Iron Man 2, Easy A, Tangled, The Other Guys, Life As We Know It & Toy Story 3

Best need for a movie ticket refund: Step Up 3D, Killers, Leap Year, Date Night & Letters to Juliet

Best reason to continue renting: massive water damage in shower & pantry due to building rooftop leak

Best guilty pleasure: 48 hour trip to Utah for a 3 hour massage, watching Gossip Girl and eating Magnolia cupcakes

Best New York moments: early morning photo shoot at the Brooklyn Bridge, Shake Shack opening 10 blocks away, bus commuting down Fifth Avenue, Zipcar treks to New Jersey for Target and Cheesecake Factory, cabs accept debit cards as payment and city transforming with all four seasons

Best plans for 2011: birth of new nephew in March, British Isles and Prince Edward Island vacations, niece Julia’s baptism and having dinner in Cinderella’s Castle at Walt Disney World in January