At the beginning of the year, I figured that my theme song would “This Year” by the Mountain Goats. It still is. It tops the list.

While my top 2011 songs are not exactly traditional, I think they exemplify my year. These songs don’t necessarily come from 2011, but they each made a mix this year. So here’s the top 24 of my year: 2011 edition

Make a mixtape from it to remind you of me.

Links go to Youtube videos, most of the time official ones, but sometimes, to something more special.

Song Title – Artist – Album

Ashes & Fire   – Ryan Adams  – Ashes & Fire

It was tough for me to pick a song off of this album – but this song was stuck in my head the most.

Set Fire to the Rain  -  Adele – 21

By far my most favorite Adele song of of 21. I love this live version even more.

Half Light II (No Celebration)  -  Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

I was driving home from the bar in January and fell in love with this song as I waited for my car to get warm.

Marry Song  -  Band of Horses  -  Cease to Begin

This song will play at my wedding someday – maybe even live by Band of Horses

Wiser Time  -  The Black Crowes  -  Croweology

Mainly, this song reminds me of KB, which is why it makes the list.

“Windswept stars blink and smile
Another song, another mile
You read the line every time”

Lonely Boy -   The Black Keys  – El Camino

Every day I come to love this song and this album more.

Calgary  -  Bon Iver  -  Bon Iver, Bon Iver

I could have chosen Halocene, like every other person, but this song speaks to me more.

“Joy, it’s all founded
Pincher with the skin inside
You pinned me with your black sphere eyes
You know that all the rope’s untied
I was only for to die beside”

And this moment in the song- is my favorite moment in music of the year.

“So itʼs storming on the lake
Little waves our bodies break
There’s a fire going out,
But there’s really nothing to the south”

Shell Games  -  Bright Eyes   – The People’s Key

I don’t know what it is about this song, but I managed to wake up to it every morning for a month.

“Forgive myself for the many times
I was cruel to something helpless and weak

But here it come, that heavy love
I’m never gonna move it alone
Here it come, that heavy love
Tag it on a tenement wall
Here it come that heavy love, someone gotta share in the load
Oh, here it come that heavy love, I’m never gonna move it alone”

Barton Hollow  -  The Civil Wars  -  Barton Hollow

Best show I went to all year. These two are phenomenal performers. It was one of the best nights of my year. Also listen to Poison & Wine.

Dancing at a Funeral  -  Brett Dennen  -  Loverboy

I freaking love Brett Dennen. He has such a good soul.

Pickin’ Up the Pieces -  Fitz and The Tantrums  -  Pickin’ Up the Pieces

I didn’t want to include Moneygrabber, because I’m sick of it, but this is much better.

Whip My Hair (Cover)  -  Katie Gavin

This gets my award for Cover Song of the Year

Somebody That I Used To Know  -  Gotye  -  Making Mirrors

Give this song until 1:30 or so. Trust me.

Lost in My Mind  -  The Head And The Heart  

This band opened for Iron & Wine in June. I was disappointed in I&W, but very pleased with the opening band.

Your Fake Name Is Good Enough for Me   -  Iron & Wine  -  Kiss Each Other Clean

I was actually pissed that I didn’t get to hear this when I saw I&W at First Avenue. It’s by far my favorite song off of the album.

We Dont Eat  -  James Vincent McMorrow   -  Early In The Morning

Just listen.

A Girl, A Boy, And A Graveyard  -  Jeremy Messersmith  -  Daytrotter Session

While a bit of an oldie for JM, I think this is one of my favorites of his.

Devil Town  -  Tony Lucca  – Friday Night Lights Original Television Soundtrack

An ode to my Friday Night Lights obsession of 2011. I watched every season within the first 2 months of the year.

1957  -  Milo Greene

The opening band for The Civil Wars. I was BLOWN AWAY. I also am probably responsible for many of the Youtube views since they don’t really have an album out yet.

Dancing On My Own  – Robyn  -  Body Talk

My running anthem. Thanks Princess (aka Treece).

Everyday  -  Rogue Wave  -  Stubbs The Zombie – The Soundtrack

A very old cover. This is actually not the music video, but a couple used this song in their elopement video. I dare you not to cry. I DARE YOU.

Every Girl Like Me -   Sugarland   – The Incredible Machine

A band I never thought I would like, but I became slightly obsessed. If it wasn’t for the Jennifer Nettles reggae rap in the middle, I would love this song even more.

Everything Gets Gone  -  William Elliott Whitmore   – Field Songs

A funny thing about this artist: This song came through a podcast days before I went up north to go to a wedding with KB. I hadn’t moved it to my MUST LISTEN playlist yet, but listened to it a few times to know that I’d want the album.

Fast forward to the day before the wedding when KB’s friend hands him a CD and says “listen to this”  and it is an earlier album from this guy. We listened to it the whole weekend.

Crazy.

Bricklayer – the 4onthefloor – 4X4

Favorite local band. I expect big things from these guys. I mean, one is a ginger, so great things have to happen, right?

What were some of your favorite songs of the year?

I saw the Civil Wars and Milo Greene at the beginning of the month. Most definitely one of the best shows of the year. I enjoyed it more than the Iron & Wine show in June.

The Black Keys – Lonely Boy
Sufjan Stevens – Chicago
Florence + The Machine – What The Water Gave Me
The Civil Wars – 20 Years
Bon Iver – Come Talk to Me (Peter Gabriel cover)
Ryan Adams – Chains Of Love
Christina Perri – Arms
Belly – Feed the Tree
Jessie J – Domino
Meiko – Stuck On You (Acoustic)
The Rolling Stones – Sympathy For The Devil (Thanks to KB and Trav, I had this stuck in my head for days after a late-night bonfire.)
Snow Patrol – Called Out In The Dark
Dark Mean – Lullaby
Foster The People – I Would Do Anything For You
Milo Greene – 1957

Here’s the Spotify Link: http://open.spotify.com/user/lihuma/playlist/3BKT5M1neZwiVsEbJGnKTN

Spotify link

Here is the Spotify link:

James Vincent McMorrow – Sparrow And The Wolf
Old Crow Medicine Show – Down Home Girl
Foo Fighters – Bridge Burning
Kelly Clarkson – Mr. Know It All
Mason Jennings – Raindrops on the Kitchen Floor
Pacifika – 25 Or 6 To 4
Mount Moriah – Lament
Demi Lovato – Skyscraper
Mike Doughty – Na Na Nothing
the 4onthefloor – Howl For Me
Peter Wolf Crier – Settling It Off
Jane’s Addiction – Irresistible Force
Feist – How Come You Never Go There
Kanye West – Lost In The World
William Elliott Whitmore – Everything Gets Gone
Willie Nelson – The Scientist

I like my life, nay, I love my life. I love being a grownup.

I realized that I can’t think of a time in my life that I’d rather be in. Yes I’m in debt and money is tight. Yes, it is about to be winter and thus I get dark. But things are good. There is this huge part of life that I’m not going to write about out of the irrational fear of all things going awry and more importantly out of respect and adoration for this person. He’s important – so I’m not going to write about him here. So far I’m not bad at being with him. This terrifies me.

But right now, the good things outweigh the fear.

Here are some of the little things that I love:

- being able to get into my jammies at any point in time after getting home from work – whether it be 5 seconds or 5 hours.

- managing my own schedule – no lectures for curling up in bed after beer club at 9pm. No lectures for sleeping in.

- breakfast for dinner

- dinner for breakfast

- raking my own leaves

- jumping into my own leaf pile

- being able to have a friendship with my parents – rather than having them just be parents.

- being able to be a part of a community, like my work community, my friend community, etc.

And while there are a lot of responsibilities in being an adult that I do not like, they are not worth mentioning. I wouldn’t trade what I have right now. I am very lucky. I am very thankful.

I mean, I love to spend it on things like beer, shoes and other pretty things, but it is such a pain for other things, like bills.

I was not so good with money when I bought my house in 2005. I made SO many trips to Menard’s and other place because I wanted to make a home. Then my plumbing burst and I had repairs to make, then I got sad and I bought a lot of crap to make myself feel better. Then my bathroom fell apart and I had to remodel. Soon, my debt looked a little daunting. I graduated with a second Master’s degree. I had to start paying back my student loans. I felt stupid.

One of my goals for the last year was to become better with my money. Mainly, my debt to income ratio was not so good and my credit rating went down. It’s not terrible, but I carry a significant amount of debt in the form of a mortgage, student loans and credit cards.

I decided that I want to be credit-card debt free by the time I’m 36. I have 4.5 years to make this happen.  I know that I need to pay my student loans for a while, but my credit cards are another thing. They are stupid debt – meaning I was stupid to get so many credit cards in the first place.

My debt counselor told me that I need to find other sources of income, like getting a roommate (yuck) or getting a second job (tried it, hated it, but maybe it was just because of where I was working) to make myself solvent. I’m still trying to figure out the balance, and how I wish I could just barter for things like groceries and other necessities.

I balked at the budget my counselor gave me, thinking that I could never get by on $50 a month in entertainment – especially with Netflix being about 20 bucks a month now.

So then I have decisions like: do I go to beer club tonight, when I know I’m going to drop money at the bar tomorrow night and I can really only afford one? Do I run a $70 10-mile race because I know I need a race to train for, or do I save the money?

Both of these answers are no. No to beer club tonight (super big frown) and no to an expensive race. I’m not happy about either of these decisions, but they will keep me at my budget for the month. I also have had to cut out any shows for the year – like Ryan Adams in December. If the cover charge is over 10 bucks, I’m not going, unless it is super special.

I still think it would be fun to work part time in a restaurant or liquor store, especially if I got a discount. But I’m busy enough as it is that I don’t know if I could handle more. Consulting would be fun too, but those jobs are slim.

Yay recession!

During my Half in June I actually started swearing at all the hills and inclines. I’m pretty sure the spectators thought I had Tourette’s. I will avoid that very race  and any race on that path because those hills are the devil. THE DEVIL.

When I run from my house I have to conquer a few hills including a bridge. It’s part of why I love my neighborhood: It can be hilly or flat, I just have to get over that bridge.

My other running spot for all you stalkers is Como Lake. It’s a 5k with two loops and my main training ground because of the wide paths – though sloped towards the lake and slightly evil. It’s the lake of the hooligans who run too slow in front of me. It is also where I run into the man with a monkey and my speed increases as I run away – uh, I mean, run by.

The incline around Como Lake isn’t that bad, but during the last half mile of a 6 mile run this summer, I began to hate that hill, er, incline. It happens right as you round the corner of the northeast side of the lake – where the bike path and the running path rejoin. It is also where I usually run into the path-hogs and the etiquette-less runners/walkers.  It isn’t much of an incline, but I dread it nearly every time, because I know I’m only half-way around. The wind usually changes there and I’m running into the wind, so I know the run will get harder as I fight the wind off the lake.

Tonight I did a different loop. Parked in my normal spot, but hit the actual more challenging hill (not just an incline) first, the one that leads to the baseball fields and the conservatory. I wanted to run as far as I could tonight, lately I haven’t been able to do more than 2 miles or so without hurting. I knew that if I started with the hill, I could do my loop around the park and the lake and get almost 4 miles in.

But first I had to conquer that hill.

I had the brilliant idea to sprint up it.

Not my wisest move.

But running down that hill to take it on again was wiser. And more fun.

I felt like a little kid, sprinting, leaping, bounding down a hill (figuring that I would fall) and then turning around to take on the fun of the incline again. For every up there is a down. There is a balance to the world.

I had forgotten how exhilarating running could be. It stopped seeming like work tonight. I stopped being worried of how far I went and how far I HAVE to go, but how far I get to go. How far I get to push myself again. The enjoyment in a challenge.

Still a little freaked out though.

If you are on Spotify, you can find it here: http://open.spotify.com/user/lihuma/playlist/1MxCjgyb90sVZv14dwxBtJ

The Civil Wars – Poison & Wine
Rogue Wave – Everyday
The Black Crowes – Soul Singing
Foster The People – Helena Beat
The Dead Weather – Blue Blood Blues
The Mountain Goats – This Year
My Morning Jacket – Librarian
Band of Horses – Is There A Ghost
Patti Smith – Words Of Love
Passion Pit – Sleepyhead – Stripped Down Version
Bon Iver – Holocene
Foo Fighters – Back & Forth
Kate Nash – Don’t You Want To Share The Guilt?
Rihanna – Cheers (Drink To That)
INXS – Beautiful Girl – Feat. Pat Monahan

The longest I’ve done in my training so far is 3.2 miles. I’ve run a total of 14.6 miles in the past 4 weeks. Yeah. In my defense, it’s been hot out and it’s the beginning of the school year.

I was feeling rather awesome about the runs I did the last week. I felt like I was getting back into things.

I was feeling good.

Then my back went out.

I think it was a combination of stretching wrong one day and not stretching the next. Or maybe stress.

By Wednesday night, I was lathering on the Icy Hot and taking ibuprofen. I was worried that I’d have to cancel my visit to see KB for the weekend so I relaxed as much as possible.

I felt a little bit better on Friday. The ibuprofen was kicking in and not causing excessive stomach pain. So I decided to get in the car and get out-of-town.

A 250 mile drive to Fargo later and I was still waddling a little bit and my back was still swollen, but continued to feel better.

Despite feeling like a bum for eating a ton of delicious food all weekend and drinking lots of good beer, I still feel like I can do this. I just have to get my ass in gear.

I’m walking a little sideways today and am a little stiff, but I’m better than last Thursday.

I know I should be listening to my body and rethinking this race, but I’m too damn stubborn.

I’m giving myself one more day to rest, while I chill on my couch, watch Dexter and try to finish crocheting a blanket. Plus, it’s 90 some degrees out and that is the worst possible running conditions for me.

I’m also going to have to suck it up and go running this weekend. I’m just going to have to be okay with KB seeing me all sweaty and smelly from a run since he’ll be around. Plus I’m hitting up the Brew Review this weekend and the perfect pre-drinking fun could be a good run. I can earn my beer.

I’m giving myself until September 28th to make my final decision on the race. If I’m back in shape, where I can run/walk 7 miles, I’m going to do this. That’s where I was 1 week before the race last time. If my back continues to suck, well. I’ll just keep training for a half in the spring, since apparently, no one goes running in November-March in the TC.  Except I may run the Drumstick Dash or something in November. I need a goal, a challenge, something to look forward to, running-wise, or I think I’ll lose my running mojo again.

I’m still planning on running another half in 8 weeks.

I started running two years ago to mend myself. I needed a way to get through my anger and running helped.

Now just I run.

I run because I can. Sometimes I run to get myself in a better mood

I run because I want to be healthy. Yes, I run to lose the last 15 pounds that I want to lose, but I run so I can have a healthy heart, healthy lungs and a healthy body.

Running takes bravery – something which I don’t always have. Sometimes I get distracted and lose my drive to run. Sometimes I feel like I can’t do it. Like I’m crazy for even thinking that I  can do this.

Then I remember how good I feel when I’m done.