It's been forever since I've posted anything here but I couldn't possible overlook my best records of 2009. I'm a month late but here they are anyway.

1 - A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head
2 - Passion Pit - Manners
3 - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
4 - Big Pink - A Brief History Of Love
5 - Dinosaur Jr - Farm
6 - Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
7 - Mastodon - Crack the Skye
8 - Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
9 - Finale - A Pipe Dream and A Promise
10 - Mos Def - The Ecstatic
11 - Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
12 - Danny Balis - Too Much Living
13 - Built To Spill - There Is No Enemy
14 - The Mary Onettes - Islands
15 - Free Energy - Free Energy
16 - Converge - Axe To Fall
17 - Cut Off Your Hands - You and I
18 - Annie - Don't Stop
19 - Tinted Windows - Tinted Windows
20 - Wale - Attention Deficit
21 - The Wooden Sky - If I Don't Come Home You'll Know I'm Gone
22 - Julian Casablancas - Phrazes for the Young
23 - And So I Watch You From Afar - And So I Watch You From Afar
24 - Baroness - Blue Record
25 - Jesu - Opiate Sun
26 - Junior Boys - Begone Dull Care
27 - Metric - Fantasies
28 - Telekinesis! - Telekinesis!
29 - Junius - The Martyrdom Of A Catastrophist
30 - Paper Chase - Someday This Could All Be Yours (The Calamities Vol. 1)
31 - Washed Out - Life of Leisure
32 - Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3
33 - Pearl Jam - Backspacer
34 - VEGA - Well Known Pleasures
35 - Annie - Anthonio EP
36 - Class Actress - Journal of Ardency
37 - Isis - Wavering Radiant
38 - Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. II
39 - The Avett Brothers - I And Love And You
40 - The Cool Kids - Gone Fishing (Mixtape)

It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never have

I'm running a little late this year with my annual list but here is the list of the best albums of 2008 according to me.

01 - Glasvegas - Glasvegas
02 - The Cool Kids - The Bake Sale
03 - Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It
04 - M83 - Saturdays = Youth
05 - Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
06 - Al Green - Lay It Down
07 - Van She - V
08 - Julie Ocean - Long Gone And Nearly There
09 - Nicolay & Kay - Time Line
10 - Boris - Smile (US)
11 - The Roots - Rising Down
12 - The Broken West - Now or Heaven
13 - The Explorers Club - Freedom Wind
14 - EPMD - We Mean Business
15 - French Kicks - Swimming
16 - Murs - Murs For President
17 - Q-Tip - The Renaissance
18 - Sigur Ros - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
19 - Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
20 - Alaska In Winter - Holiday
21 - Sun Kil Moon - April
22 - The Little Ones - Morning Tide
23 - The Futureheads - This Is Not the World
24 - The Teenagers - Reality Check
25 - Does It Offend You, Yeah? - You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into
26 - The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
27 - Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak
28 - Nas - Untitled
29 - MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
30 - Vast Aire - Dueces Wild

Once again, the lakehouse was the spot for the New Year's blowout. Much alcohol was consumed and the dancing went all night. Good times.

We did a little snowshoeing while in Boise over the holidays. Actually, this was in Idaho City which is a few hours outside of Boise at about 6000ft.

While we were in Philly we caught a Flyers game against the Hurricanes. The seats they have behind the net are incredible. Click the image for more.

We went to Philly over the Thanksgiving holiday and spent time with the family. Meredith's Aunt Martha and Sandi threw us a great engagement party at Estia Greek Restaurant. It was a fantastic event. Click above for more Thanksgiving and engagement party pictures.