Best of 2012

I used to do this every year, and then for 2011 I wrote it but never posted it because, honestly, I was too cynical at the time to want to inflict it on the world. But I thought it would be worthwhile to give the summary another shot for 2012.

12 Goals I Wrote For Myself for 2012:
1. Get out of college. Preferably with my GPA intact. - (Done.)
2. Move out on my own, Lord willing. - (Also done, more or less)
3. Get a decent DSLR camera - (Done, thanks to some very generous graduation gifts)
4. Spend as much time with Jordan as possible - (We got more time than in any other year before, so that can be called successful)
5. Work on letting God break my obsessive need for validation - (Well, I didn’t do so great at this one, so He pried my fingers loose)
6. Actually get an internship. For real this time. (Done. And got published again as a result)
7. Get rid of everything I own that is nonessential (Done. I got rid of at least ⅓ of my stuff, if not ½, and much of what is left is in storage)
8. Get my car fixed and drivable (Done, for the majority of the year, though it stopped working for good towards the end)
9. See shows in at least two new states (Done-- saw shows in Tennessee, Colorado, and Indiana for the first time)
10. Write more than 20 blog posts and more than 12 songs (Fell short here-- 17 blog posts, and only about 4 or 5 new songs are in a more or less complete state)
11. Do a better job knowing when to humble myself and ask for help (That one also kind of was forced on me)
12. Live in joy (I get a feeling I’ll be working on this one for the rest of my life)


10 Significant Events of 2012:
1. Shooting the Rock and Worship Roadshow at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, February 10, 2012
2. Visiting Nashville over Spring Break 2012
3. Graduating from college summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Digital Writing, May 5
4. Being a bridesmaid in my dear friend Kate’s wedding
5. Moving to Colorado June 3 to live with a longtime friend and mentor and her family
6. Getting engaged to my highschool best friend, August 12
7. Getting my first tattoo
8. Shooting the Music With a Mission tour, meeting up with a whole crowd of my Disciple fan-mily friends, and getting to meet a fantastic NRT coworker (all in one night), October 7
9. Waiting in line all day with a friend for the midnight release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and then sharing my first-ever midnight showing with friends
10. Visiting Texas for Christmas and sharing my first holiday with my fiance

Photo credits-- graduation picture by my sister Mercy, bridesmaids picture by Curt Collier, engagement picture by my friend Ruth, tattoo picture by my friend and housemate Mangy, MWAM tour shot by Sarah Atkins, Christmas picture by my sister

10 Random Places I Visited in 2012:
1. A courthouse in South Carolina with a fountain that looked silver in the moonlight
2. A resort in Nashville, Tennessee in order to photograph music-themed topiary created by a friend’s uncle
3. A random little cafe in Little Rock, Arkansas filled with work by local artists
4. The surprisingly comfortable motel in the little nowhere town of Hayes, Kansas
5. A little carnival in Greeley, Colorado, outside of an arena where we went to see Skillet
6. A Kroger parking lot in New Albany, Indiana that proved to be an exceptionally hard-to-find meeting place
7. A strange barn in Georgia covered in red, white, and blue decorations where my friend Daer and I ended up when we got minorly lost on the way to a rehearsal dinner
8. A little church hidden in the sidestreets of Arlington, Texas, with an unusually good sound system
9. The grave of Bonnie Parker, famous as one half of the outlaw duo Bonnie and Clyde
10. A friend’s grandparents’ friends house near Woodland Park, Colorado in order to help with evacuation on the first day of the Waldo Canyon Fire


The 10 Songs that were the Most Special to Me in 2012:
1. “Glass Heart Hymn” by Paper Route
2. “Center Aisle” by Caedmon’s Call
3. “The First Time” by MercyMe
4. “Once and For All” by Disciple
5. “Holy (Wedding Day)” by The City Harmonic
6. “Superhero” by Family Force 5
7. “Be Somebody” by Thousand Foot Krutch
8. “Life in the Pain” by SafetySuit
9. “Heartbeat” by The Fray
10. “Something Beautiful” by Needtobreathe


10 Books I Read in 2012 (“read,” not necessarily “recommend for all audiences”):
1. “Howl’s Moving Castle” by Diana Wynne Jones
2. “The Sparrow” by Mary Doria Russell
3. “Searching for God Knows What” by Donald Miller
4. “Heart, You Bully, You Punk” by Leah Hager Cohen
5. “Warbreaker” by Brandon Sanderson
6. “One Thousand Gifts” by Ann Voskamp (re-read)
7. “Letters to Malcolm” by C.S. Lewis
8. “Till We Have Faces” by C.S. Lewis (3rd re-read)
9. “Body Piercing Saved My Life” by Andrew Beaujon
10. “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien (11th re-read)


10 Miscellaneous Things I Learned in 2012:
1. God will not always give us what we want, but He will always, without fail, give us what we need.
2. Loving people and being liked by people are two very different things.
3. The American dream is never going to satisfy me.
4. Freedom is found in grace, which by its very nature is only to be accepted, not earned.
5. There is something incredibly, unspeakably valuable in a friend who has been through the darkest nights with you and yet is still willing to share absurd jokes or talk about nothing at all over a cup of coffee.
6. Sometimes it’s not a bad thing to lose things, even if it hurts.
7. At the end of the day, every single person you meet is a human as fragile and brave as you are-- no matter how different their lifestyles or beliefs are from your own. As such, there is very little reason to be afraid of anyone.
8. I would rather be honest and not get a position because of it than to fake who I am and get somewhere on false pretenses.
9. Christ will always be the cornerstone of my life. This will not always make me well liked, and it will often lead me to places that even the church will not support me in, but I would not have it any other way.
10. I cannot throw something out and call it worthless or invalid simply because it doesn’t make sense to me. This goes for events, ideas, beliefs, and truths. I find no other way to face life than head on-- even when it’s hard, confusing, and even when it hurts.


10 Goals for 2013:
(This is problematic to write this time around because I have so little idea of what my life will look like for much of the year. So I’m going to have to aim pretty low)
1. Finish a draft of my novel “Starlings”
2. See (and shoot) at least one band I haven’t seen before
3. Make a more dedicated effort to keep up with guitar playing
4. Plan a wedding (more specifically, mine)
5. Learn to take more personal initiative
6. Invest better in relationships that I have slighted much more than I should
7. Keep up with Greek
8. Learn at least one new piece on the piano (from sheets, not that I personally arrange)
9. Drink less coffee (and learn to drink it black)
10. Volunteer more of my time investing in the ministries and causes I care deeply about