morgan autumn levy

By the numbers and the memories. 

Albums purchased: 51, not including singles, partial albums, EPs or freebies.
Top 10 favorites, maybe:

• Bon Iver’s “Bon Iver” 
• The Civil Wars’ “Barton Hollow” 
• Adele’s “21” 
• Florence + The Machine’s “Ceremonials” 
• Feist’s “Metals” 
• Ryan Adams’ “Ashes & Fire” 
• Radical Face’s “The Family Tree: The Roots” 
• Wilco’s “The Whole Love” 
• David Bazan’s “Strange Negotiations” 
• St. Vincent’s “Strange Mercy” 
• Bonus from late 2010, Robyn’s “Body Talk”

Shows attended: 18 that I kept the ticket stubs from, not including festivals or secret house shows or shows in bars or shows where I paid at the door or instores or…
Highlights include:

• Stumbling upon a secret Mumford & Sons house show attended by Jake Gyllenhaal
• Seeing many longtime favorites for the first time
• Tailgating for U2/Florence + The Machine
• Bon Iver at the Ryman (top show of the year, I think)
• Wilco at the Ryman
• Yann Tiersen at 3rd & Lindsley
• All of Next Big Nashville, er, Soundland
• Surprise Feist show at Third Man Records
• Road trip to Chattanooga on New Years Eve Eve to see the Avett Brothers
• The Civil Wars at the Belcourt before they exploded
• Memphis in May
• A hilarious evening sponsored by Groupon with Britney Spears and Nicki Minaj
• Seeing Sufjan Stevens play the soundtrack to “Beyond This Place” in Brooklyn

Highlights do not include:

• Adele at the Ryman because she canceled twice (still bitter, obviously)

Trips taken: 16
Airports: 13
Favorites include: All of them.

• Flying to San Antonio with David, just because we could
• Memphis in May with Christy and Ben, dressing Ben entirely in Blue and literally running away from a tornado, seeing Ludacris and Ke$ha and getting into a fight at the Mumford & Sons set
• Flying to St. Louis and back in 24 hours
• Bourbon trail, teepee motel and caving with Molly in Kentucky (first of many 2011 Molgantures)
• First-ever trip to California - LA to visit Marion
• A beautiful day in rural TN on the lake celebrating Ben’s birthday
• A week in Vermont in the summer, eating hand picked raspberries and straight from the garden asparagus with my grandpa and escaping to the coast of Maine for 24 hours
• Rock Island weekends
• Mule Day
• HOLIDAY WORLD!
• Bourbon Fest and the urban bourbon trail with Christy
• Two Chattanooga runs - the aforementioned New Years Eve Eve Avett Brothers show and a spontaneous trip with Alison earlier in the fall
• The most perfect extra-long weekend at the beach with Molly
• Three trips to NYC (two with friends, thus two with lots of fun, plus one with a creepy expensive hotel)
• A trip back to family in Virginia for Christmas

Instagram photos posted: 311

New (food/drink) places in Nashville visited: 26-ish, as remembered by Foursquare. T’was the year of the food truck.
Top 10 new favorites: Sloco, The Wild Hare, AM@FM, Bar 308, Riff’s Fine Street Food, Tavern, Shish Kabob, DegThai, Jeni’s, YaYo’s OMG

Books read: 33.5
Books I’m in the middle of right now, even though they are mostly overdue at the library: 9 
A handful of them I would recommend to anyone, even if you are a man and even if you don’t run: 

• Bossypants - Tina Fey
• Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (And Other Concerns) - Mindy Kaling
• Born To Run - Christopher McDougall
• Just Kids - Patti Smith
• The Gift of Asher Lev - Chaim Potok
• Double Dexter, Jeff Lindsay
• A Visit From The Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan

New favorite website: The Hairpin
Hairpin meetups attended: 1
Favorite thing I read on my new favorite website in 2011: This 

Memories made: Obviously I can’t number them, but…
…Here are 15 that will not be forgotten (and that were not included in travels/shows above):

• Getting initiated into the iPhone club
• Becoming a NWS certified Storm Spotter and taking a self-defense class
• Running my first 5 miles on Thanksgiving morning
• Breaking my foot (twice)
• Skating a lot (no relation to above item, believe it or not)
• Santa rampaging
• Picking Marion & Kevin up at BNA for a quick pitcher at Wilhagens on their layover
• Watching fireworks in the Antioch Waffle House parking lot with a carload of awesome friends who were passing through town on the 4th of July
• Front porch parties at the new, non-roachy deuxplex
• Judging the Nashville Lifestyles Bartender’s Bash
• Dragon Boat racing
• Midnight swinging and sippy cup wine at the park down the street with Christy
• Getting my first tattoo
• Bonding with new (and old) friends after an evening in the ER with a broken leg (not mine!)
• Bottomless mimosa brunches in Brooklyn with Christy, Molly, Lauren and The Australians