Tuesday Top Ten

1. Welcome to the first Tuesday post of 2012, kids. It’s a whole new year. Anything could happen!

2. Can I interest you in some high quality free fonts? How about the most popular typefaces of 2011? I think this one is my favorite from the list. but it’s hard to choose.

3. Ten days into January I have managed to stick to my Read the Bible in a Year plan. I have been reading the chapters from 1 Chronicles last just in case I fall asleep. Then at least all I’m missing is genealogies, right? It has been a lot tougher than I thought. I’m learning that when you commit to something like that you will undoubtedly face a whole lot of spiritual opposition. I feel like God has been bringing to the surface a lot of gross, pride filled things in my heart through it. It’s not fun to face the dark parts of yourself, but it does make me love Jesus even more and helps me to understand grace and how desperately I need Him.

4. Holy cats! Have you guys see the Coachella lineup?

EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY (yes, all caps), Bon Iver? The Head and the Heart? Florence and the Machine? The Shins? Feist? Tuneyards? Radiohead? The Black Keys? I want to go so bad! It’s a pipe dream, for sure. Maybe they’ll do the live Youtube stream thing like last year and I can crank my space heater and put on some shorts and a hippie headband and pretend I’m there.

5. After my twitter feed exploded on Sunday night with PBS enthusiasts, I was inspired to finally check out Downton Abbey. I’d been hearing so many good things about this show but I was a tad skeptical because most of the rave reviews I heard were about the clothes and sets. Last time I watched a show for the clothes (ahem, Mad Men) I was super disappointed. Good clothes and handsome cast members do not make up for depressing and uninteresting storytelling. Or cheaters.

Thus far I have watched two episodes and am happy to report that it has lived up to the hype. The characters are complex and interesting; it is well acted and subtle in that British way. Maggie Smith is hilarious as always. It’s a lot like Gosford Park except with less murder mystery and more girls trying to find husbands. I’m really excited to get to the second season which takes place during the Great War.

Gosford Park plus tragic WWI romances? Please. I’m all over it.

6. My hockey team is so bad, you guys. They keep losing in spectacular fashion and getting injured. It’s disheartening. When Eberle went down this week I let out an Eeyore style, ”Ohhh-kayyy”. It’s not like I expected them to make the playoffs this year, but I was hoping for maybe 10th place? Not another lottery pick anyway. Not another 2-8-0 stretch in the last 10. Yeesh. I is a sad little Oilers fan.

And don’t even say it. I would cheer for Toronto before I’d jump ship and cheer for the Canucks. So, never in this lifetime basically. Leave me alone Canucks fans. Go complain about Brad Marchand/Boston/officiating some more. Everyone loves hearing about that.

7. While I didn’t exactly make any new years resolutions this year, I did set a few goals for myself. One of them is to learn more about website building, coding and all that other nerdy stuff. There are some really good resources on the internet at Smashing Magazine and Code Year. The trick will be making the time to actual sit down and learn. (Thanks Ryan and Brook for the links).

8. My reading list is getting out of hand. These are the books I have either started or am supposed to read in the near future.

This does not include the long list of books that I would really like to read. Like War & Peace or Anna Karenina. Kidding! Who has the attention span for that? When I finished school I distinctly remember saying, “Fantastic! Now I can read for fun! Now I can read things I want to read!” what I didn’t realize is that this would be an even more daunting task than trying to make it all the way through a course pack before the final exam.

9. Since I came back from Christmas holidays I have been making a concentrated effort to make my lunch every day. This is more for financial reasons than anything else because eating out is expensive. But my pants are starting to fit a little better. Bonus! If you’ve got any recipes that are fairly easy and would feed me for weeks at a time feel free to send them my way.

10. Last night, Jimmy Fallon and Napoleon Dynamite went hunting for Mammoths.