2013 Superlatives

Ever since sixth grade, I had a great fear that 2013 would never come. I read a skewed version of the Mayan prophecy, and from that time on I was terrified that the world would end in 2012. Luckily, my tweenhood fears weren't realized and the year came and is now closed. I'd like to take a moment to honor some of my favorite things of 2013.

Best Meal: Pizza in Peru
One night my sister and I were left to roam the streets of Cusco alone while my brother and parents had dinner with members. We ended up eating dinner at a small pizza place. The chilled glass bottles of Inca Cola and Margherita pizza were amazing after the heavy traditional food we'd been eating. I literally ate 3/4 of the large pizza.

Best Movie: The Way Way Back

All I'm going to say about this is that it's an instant classic.

Most Embarrassing Moment: Fainting in Peru
On the first day in Peru, I felt exhilarated. I didn't think I was going to be affected by the altitude at all. I was dancing around, pretending to be a ballerina in the hotel room. And I felt fine when we took a tour to the ancient temple ruins, but we were just standing around for too long. I started to get lightheaded and held onto my sister's shoulders for support. But then my vision went black, like I'd just stood up too quickly, apparently I slowly tumbled down to the dirt and was down for almost 30 seconds, but I don't remember any of that. I stood up, brushed myself off, and felt fine for the rest of the day. I didn't even think I'd actually fainted. It was really only embarrassing because I'd bragged so much that I wouldn't be the one to get sick or feel the altitude. I triggered something in everyone else though because the dad and young teenage son of the family traveling with us also started to feel faint. The dad actually laid on the sacrificial altar of the temple for 20 minutes until he felt better.

Before fainting.

After. See, I was totally fine.

Best Album: Trouble Will Find Me by The National

I can't believe how many of the lyrics strike me. Sometimes I find albums that seem like they're only 5 minutes long because I love all the songs and never press skip. This was that for me this year.

Best Television Show: Dawson's Creek
While I really enjoyed Call the Midwife, nothing made in 2013 compares to the classic kids from the Creek. It took a year to get through the entire series from start to finish. It was definitely worth the time investment. I always feel more intelligent after watching it.

Best Holiday: Pioneer Day

I have always loved July 24th. Pioneer Day is hands down my favorite holiday...after Christmas. We always spend it in Spring City, UT with my extended family, and I love it. This year was especially great because my brother was just home from his mission, so all of the cousins were back together again. The street dance could have been better, but getting taunted by some of the townsfolk teens on bicycles that night was pretty great. In the morning, after falling back asleep after the firetruck wake-up call, my cousin and I were the very last people in line to get the firemen's breakfast. I don't know why that was so hilarious, but it really was. Off-roading in a squished car and of course the demolition derby rounded out the perfect day. Even the music during the fireworks show was larger than life--it was like someone had forgotten the patriotic playlist, so someone just grabbed a mix tape from the 90s out of their car. My cousin and I also decided that we want to enter the powderpuff derby this year, so I still need to find someone willing to teach me to drive stick.

Best Decision: Going to that one Service Project

When my stake teamed up to help some wards in South Salt Lake, I was skeptical about the whole project, especially because it was so rainy the day we set out to serve. But it ended up being a major turning point for me. I worked at a house that needed yard work and painting done. It was slow going at first, but then I went inside to help paint the old woman's stairwell. I'm not sure how many cats she had, but she'd put up catwalks for them, and the walls were covered in hair, and the smell was so overwhelming, we put Vick's vapor rub under our noses. I was the only one willing to climb the ladder on the stairs and get the top parts of the walls. It was exhilarating knowing that I was actually doing something meaningful to help. It would have taken that woman't nephew an entire weekend to paint what we did in two hours. It was a lot of fun too. I didn't like that singles' ward very much, but when ten of us were crammed in the tiny stairwell, all working at various levels, I was part of the community. I was genuinely happy. And the feeling carried on for the rest of the year. There was something about the quaint, tiny houses that convinced me to move to Salt Lake, which is probably the true best decision of 2013; I just didn't want to forget about the day I painted a cat lady's house and loved every minute of it.

Best Purchase:

I think that's a tie between all the books I found at DI and Savers and the dark green corduroy skinny jeans I bought for myself while trying to do my Christmas shopping.

Best Photos:

 Sometimes, in rare moments, the best things do get documented by photography.