Decade in Review

**thanks for the blog idea, Caro!!**

1999: gained my freshman 25 (oops), won the NAIA National Golf Championship, earned NCAA All-American accolades, broke up with my high school sweetheart, transferred to Ole Miss to play golf for the Rebels, went pot-luck and ended up becoming best friends with my roomie (still to this day!), dated the lead singer of a local band who wrote the song "Naked Sorority Girls" - classy, right??, met the Showalters (my family away from family), earned a 4.0 for the first and second time in college.

2000: continued the 4.0 streak, qualified to travel to every golf tournament, became a total book nerd, got my belly-button pierced to prove I wasn't too nerdy, went to Hawaii with the team in the fall, dated some real poo-heads, got my braces off after 2 looooong years, chopped my hair short over Christmas break in an effort to turn over a new leaf.

2001: continued the 4.0 streak, continued traveling to every tournament, was introduced to the writing of C.S. Lewis, became a Christian, joined FCA, met my ultimate Geminemesis in German class, dated the KC, got elected to Ole Miss' homecoming court, became entranced by poetry, literature, and the music of Tori Amos, and became totally obsessed with working out (in a good way).

2002: broke the straight-A streak by FAILING Accounting 101 (haha...blame it on the golf traveling), saw Tori Amos in concert for the first time, went to every Ole Miss football game in the fall including Tech (thanks for the awesome time, KM), repeated Accounting 101 in the fall and got an A to replace that big fat F!, officially graduated Magna cum Laude in December with my English and Business degrees...

2003: found out I was accepted into Ole Miss Law School on Valentine's Day, went skiing for the first time in my life - mastered pizza, french fries, and the bunny slopes, participated in the Jean Jones Run/Walk for Cancer for the first time, walked at commencement in May, began law school in the fall, met the girlfriends who would eventually stand in my wedding, hated school for the first time ever, dyed my hair dark brown over Christmas break because blonde was just 'too happy' for me during that time.

2004: school got better, organized the law school student body's participation in the run/walk in honor of Professor Mason, decided to study abroad in Cambridge, England, had the time of my life in Europe that summer, climbed to the top of St. Peter's with my friend, Stephen (elevators are for sissies!), had my birthday in ROME, saw Paris...took a cruise there, attended the final day of the British Open with J.D. and got invited behind the ropes and managed to get the winner's autograph, went punting for the first time, studied under three of the most brilliant professors I have ever had, ate haggus, posed for a pic at Platform 9 3/4, went back to Oxford forever changed.

2005: had some amazing times with my sister in BR, appreciated my friends who had now become more like kindred spirits and sisters, had one hell of a time taking my girls home for Spring Break '05, bought a pair of cowboy boots, walked for Professor Mason again, watched Charity graduate and move away, earned way too much money as a law clerk in Jackson, celebrated Jamie getting engaged, returned to Oxford in the fall ready to rock out our last year, turned around two weeks later to help my family rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, came back two weeks after that to a tall glass of chardonnay thanks to the KC, became waaaaay over-involved in extracurriculars but still managed to party it up with my girls a few days a week, danced my Fridays away to the jazz band at the Downtown Grille.

2006: graduated, went to Vegas for an awesome trip with my parents and sister, stood in Jamie's wedding, met Jared, rid my life of all 'complicated' friendships/relationships/etc., got a brand new boyfriend (Jared), took the MS bar exam, started work as a real lawyer in Jackson, was romanced and pursued like something out of a fairytale, celebrated passing the bar with Jared over take-out Amerigo and a glass of champagne, met the Amys, began Thursday-night 3-way with Charity and Jamie, got tricked into going to Austin for an alleged conference for Jared's work...turned out to be his proposal weekend (Sneaky McSneakerson), fell sinfully in love with the bling-bling on my ring fing, rang in the New Year at Winter Park Hospital as Jared was the first patient of 2007, sick with the flu that I had the week before.

2007: planned our wedding with my dad, became ever-thankful again for my girlfriends - especially Laura - that spring, learned how to waltz, combined checking accounts, got my own AmEx that linked to Jared's (I shopped...he paid...yeehaw), married Jared on 8/4/07, traveled to Greece for our perfect honeymoon, vowed to do 'lots of traveling' before we started a family, moved into the Orlando house upon our return, found out Henry was on the way in November (glad we took a BIG honeymoon!), holidays ruined by morning sickness, rang in the New Year at my dad's bitchin' apartment on South Beach...not as glam as it sounds, as I was asleep by 10:30 and pissed at the midnight fireworks because I 'needed to sleep'. yay first trimester.

2008: found out we were having a boy, decided on his name, lost Jared's Poppa "Henry Gwynn" in February, had an amazing baby shower hosted by the same dear friends who hosted our wedding shower LESS THAN one year prior, missed Sue's wedding, gained and lost 45+ pounds, welcomed our sweet baby H on July 11th, got a funny text message from my brother encouraging us to name him Apu (get it...he was born on 7-11), realized how much I love my mom, began sleeping 10 hour nights by September (thank you, my son), left H for the first time - at 3 months old - to go out for Jared's 27th birthday, breastfed my boobs off, found out we were being transferred to Houston in November, welcomed Jared home that evening wearing 2005's cowboy boots...and nothing else, rang in the New Year by quarantining a flu-sick Jared to our room while doing baby duty in the rest of the house...thus clinching the family tradition of horrible New Years!

2009: closed on our Texas house in January, missed Jamie's baby shower, took Henry on a looong road trip to San Angelo, proudly stood in Charity's wedding, went to Orlando for Easter and Nana's 75th, joined a new life group and made instant friends with the fabulous women there, bridesmaided for Jonathan and Stephanie in June, hosted one helluva fun lingerie shower for a bestie in O-town, quit nursing two weeks before H's first bday, got a huge 4th of July surprise...Baby #2 is on the way, gave Henry a ball party to celebrate the Big 1 a week later - thankfully, no morning sickness yet, back to Orlando to bridesmaid for said bestie, morning sickness sets in...worse than the first time...has me thinking possibly pink, Baby #2 is declared BOY in September, left H with my mom and dad for a weekend getaway to Oxford for a Showalter wedding, we dedicate the rest of our year's worth of time and energy to creating fun memories with Henry - he's a lion for Halloween, we go to Disney in November, and Santa Claus seems to have brought every possible age-appropriate toy imaginable for Christmas, we celebrate our first HAPPY (and healthy) New Year since meeting each other in '06.

Wow...crazy to see how much has gone down in 10 years! Thanks for reading to the end, friends. Here's wishing all of you a happy new year and a fantastic NEW DECADE!