My Top Ten in 2010

I hope everyone had a wonderful 2010! I hope all are as eager as I am to see what 2011 brings! I love New Years because, even though I don’t think a slate is wiped clean just because we’re entering a new calendar year and a new trip around the sun, I do love the feeling it brings in spite of that. It brings excitement that this is a whole new year filled with a million surprises, joys, scares, laughs, loves, discoveries, and all kinds of feelings that are waiting to be experienced. So, welcome to the new decade (in T-minus six hours). What are your plans?

Here are my "Top 10 in 2010" (a bit messy, I know, but I didn't have a lot of time to compile it all):

one. The A-Team (2010) : The cast is brilliant--you have to love Liam Neeson, this is Bradley Cooper’s first major non-chickflick movie (with the exception of The Hangover and Wedding Crashers), I loved Sharlto Copley from District 9 and it is fun hearing a native South African speak with a Texan accent (something that definitely comes in to play as a comic relief in the movie), and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson adds is someone I’ve never seen but I love him already. I love action movies where comedy is properly done, and this was just my all-round favorite movie of 2010, barely beating Inception (and I have yet to see Little Fockers, so that doesn’t count).

two. Bueno Washed Swagger Double Handle Bag : I bought this as Christmas present for myself so it hasn’t gotten much use, but it is definitely my favorite purse. I like bigger purses because I tend to want to carry a lot of things around “just in case.” I bought it in silver/grey however so it should go with most of my outfits and has a bunch of storage compartments so I can no longer use the excuse that I might have left my phone somewhere!

three. Tokina 12-24mm f/4 AT-X 124 AF Pro DX Lens : A wide-angle lens=brilliance. I told my family that the comparison to a standard lens is like watching Mammia Mia! (my parents favorite movie) widescreen on HD versus standard screen and they immediately understood it’s importance. I only wish I had thought of this sooner! It is now officially the best lens I have in my camera bag. I use it almost all the time, and definitely came in great use during some of my December jobs and on my recent vacation!

four. Rooisbos Red Tea : From Kalahari, which is hard to find it stores, but I’ve also had other brands. It’s delicious! I am a huge tea drinker, and I was turned on to this tea from my boyfriend’s family, who are also huge tea drinkers and I often have tea from Zimbabwe, where they are from, when I visit with them. This is a red tea (which I only thought the types of tea were black and green) which is rich in antioxidants and it completely pure and natural with no additives or caffeine. It’s delicious and has a very smooth taste.

five. The Navy’s Blue Angels : A couple of friends and myself went to go watch the Blue Angels perform at the Dobbins AFR Base in Marietta, Georgia in October. It has been on my “bucket list” since I was a little girl and all I wanted to do was join the Navy. I grew up loving planes from my father and military and military history have always been interesting to me. So, naturally, a trip to see some of the best performance pilots in the Navy was definitely a top of not only 2010 but probably of my life... perhaps next year I can get a little bit closer to them than I was able to get this year. It is said there were over 20,000 people in attendance in the three days the Blue Angels performed.

six. IKEA : This year was the first time I have ever been to IKEA. I went to get some stuff to decorate my kitchen, and, other than getting a little bit overwhelmed (a bit confused) by the layout and the building, I had a lot of fun finding great deals and inspiring ideas. Check out the post “IKEA”-ing for some of my finds.

seven. Katy Perry’s “Firework” : There were a couple of songs this year that quickly became my favorite (number two might be Overtone’s “Colorblind” from the movie Invictus...definitely check it out), but I like how motivational Katy Perry’s new song is, which I think is important in music now-a-days, since there are a lot of kind of...unmotivational, to put it nicely. It’s also very catchy and fun, it’s one of those songs I definitely crank up with I hear it on the radio.

eight. “Plants versus Zombies” : I played this on my phone, but apparently you can play it through Google now. My boyfriend introduced it to me and I was less than convinced at first, but I tried it and was hooked. The only downfall: after I beat it, I thought “now, what?” Still addicting nonetheless and I am waiting for some updates soon!

nine. World Cup 2010 in Africa : So, Spain defeated the Netherlands. Though I didn’t really have too much of a preference on any country, Italy did already win a few years back, so I guess it’s okay they didn’t win this year. An African team would have been nice, but, hey, soccer is still my favorite sport, so I still had fun keeping up with the games. Another thing that shocked me: the large amount of American fans for the American team. I see fans get all decked out for football, baseball, and basketball and sometimes I see the mania with hockey fans, but I’ve never seen it for a soccer team, especially in the great detail that I saw. I was very impressed. Go United States next time!

ten. Dan Brown’s Digital Fortress : I love reading Dan Brown novels. With school, I don’t often get the chance to sit down and read as much as I would prefer, so when I get a break, you can pretty much guarantee there’s a book that I am reading. This year, I read Ken Follet’s World Without End (definitely a must-read if you have patience and a long-attention span), Nicholas Sparks' The Lucky One (in Nick Sparks fashion, I cried and enjoyed the read), Dan Brown’s Digital Fortress and The Lost Symbol, and I am about to start Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead through the suggestion of a good friend of mine. Though, I was expecting to LOVE The Lost Symbol, I was a bit more impressed with Digital Fortress. I love historical fictions, and though I dislike how Dan Brown followers read his books like they are the bible*, I love the way he tells a story. He adds an unprecedented amount of detail that adds so much more to the book and I always love his plots, they are definitely plots that keep you on the edge of your seat with your heart beating waiting to figure out the end. I highly recommend all the books that I read this year, but I like how Digital Fortress opened my eyes a little bit more about the world ahead of us.

*The information in the books are simply an interpretation by the author to tell a story entertaining enough to make money off of, this does not mean that the information to be taken as anything more than entertaining and interesting...see the opening page of every book that he has written.