This has been a wonderful year for me. I’ve had some wonderful adventures with Chris and I feel extremely blessed. I feel like I should write a deep musing about the passings and the goings-on, good and bad of the year ahead. Perhaps a few sincere resolutions. And while those are all stirring in my heart, I just can’t seem to focus enough to write about them. So, I hope you will forgive my corniness by just doing some “Top 5s” of the passing year. Maybe something more deep will come later. Chris is going to add some of his “Top 5s” too.

Top 5 Movies watched in the theater this year:

1. Lars and the Real Girl (see post)
2. Once (see post)
3. 10 mph (a great movie about life in the slow lane)
4. Grindhouse! (because who can resists zombies and a girl with a machine-gun leg?)
5. Sweeney Todd! (made me glad I’m a vegetarian! Tim Burton’s cheesy gore was magnificent; as was Mr. Depp (who can give me a bloody shave any time he wants…)

Top 5 unusual but great albums of the year:

1. Radiohead “In Rainbows” (the best album you never bought)

2. Fiery Furnaces “Widow City”-how to describe this band? Think wacky wordsmith-ery with quirky background music. It brings to mind Seargent Pepper- era Beatles and early 70’s Who, with a female lead singer. At first listen you might think it too strange, but then you won’t get the music out of your head.

3. Panda Bear “People Pitch”. When you hear Panda Bear’s voice, you will swear you are listening to the Beach Boys in a big hollow cave. Combine that with whooshy train sounds and skateboard over pavement sounds and you have an album that is haunting and just plain cool.

4. LCD Soundsystem “Sound of Silver”- I never thought “dancehall punk” would be a term, but somehow this band accomplished it and made a catchy album that could possibly start a robot apocalypse. Love it!

5. Blonde Redhead “23”. This band isn’t very unusual, unless you count the fact that it is made up of a Japanese fashion school dropout and her friends, who happen to be Italian twin brothers. This album is positively magical, with undertones reminiscent of Lush (remember how they rocked?) and a sound all their own. They are cute, and also kicked ass live at Osheaga!

Top 5 websites of the year

1. Instructables.com You can learn how to make cool things like homemade light sabers and artificial moving hands! You can also learn how to make “practical” stuff too (but how much fun is that?).

2. Etsy.com A positively awesome site full of homemade artwork, clothing, jewelry and everything you can possibly imagine, all hand made by folks like you and me. You can find unique, inexpensive goodies and you know where the money is actually going to.

3. AskANinja.com Because, believe it or not, ninjas really DO have all the answers.

4. Channel102.net The strangest, funniest web episodes you never saw until now. My particular faves include “Defenders of Stan” and “Cakey! The Cake from outer space”.

5. roadsideamerica.com If you’re planning a roadtrip, you can find the world’s cheesiest tourist attractions here, such as the Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum, The Grave of Pete Kibble’s foot (whoever he is?), and the site of the Great Molasses Flood of 1919. C’mon, you know you wanna go!

Top 5 shows we’ve been watching from Netflix

1. Heroes (lovin it!)

2. Coupling (hilarious!)

3. Scrubs

4. House, M.D.

5. The Office

Had to add a “6” here which is actually a tie between: 6.The L Word and Psych

We’ve got plenty more to catch up on, including Battlestar Galactica, Friday Night Lights and LOST.

Top 5 moments of the year

1. Having a new nephew!

2. renewing our vows in St. John

3. Finishing many house projects, number one of which being the bamboo flooring!

4. Seeing almost 60 bands in the past year, and having a great time at music festivals like Osheaga and the Green River fest

5. All of the little trips and long weekends I got to take with Chris during the summer, even when we went nowhere at all.

Have a great New Year everybody–2008 will be really, really great! (someone told me a year motto has to rhyme in order for good luck in the new year).