Happy new year!

Welcome to 2010 everybody!! It's a new decade. In honor of that I"m gonna do what Jesse and Jon did and go through where I was the past 10 years cause a lot's changed.

2000 - I started high school. Had to find a whole new group of friends after 8th grade (long story). Threw myself into forensics and debate. Also threw myself into journalism and got an assistant editor position on the newspaper.

2001 - I was in geometry class when the planes hit the towers. I remember the teacher working on a laminate and doing something with triangles (no idea what the math principle was but I know it had to do with triangles) when Dr. Powers came over the loudspeaker and told us what had happened. The teacher said "This doesn't seem that important now" and we just watched the news the rest of the day.

2001 - My family moved into this old house in Lafayette Square. It was built by Horace Bixby who taught Mark Twain to be a steamboat pilot. I thought the house and history were super cool but I had no idea how much it would change my life.

2002 - I started school at St. Elizabeth Academy. I can still remember being in the office and having Thelma and Maria come in and introduce themselves, only to find out they were in my homeroom. Also in my homeroom was a girl that would become my best friend and my sister, Meagan.

2003 - I went to London and Ireland with Meagan and girls from SEA. That's also when Mom told me about a program called Oxbridge at William Jewell College.

2003 - I had an interview from Oxbridge and was convinced I bombed it.

2004 - I got into Oxbridge. I graduated from high school. I started college at Jewell. I joined ADPi. I had a revelation when I was at Red Lobster with Dr. Reynolds after going to the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum, cause she said "have you thought about going into Historic Preservation?". Mentioned that to a friend at church and he took me to Campbell House. And my sister got married. It was a big year for me.

2005 - I did my first summer internship at Campbell house, reading 300 personal letters of the family. From that day on I was hooked. I was also FRC for ADPi. Yeah... well I did get a diamond sister out of the deal :-)

2006 - I finished my sophomore year and said bye to my sisters. Got the Oxbridge research grant and spent my summer going through the huge 1938 estate case. Then I went to England. Fell in love with the Warners. Loved Oxford. Went to Germany. Came home for Christmas. Had the best New Years Eve of my life thus far in Scotland.

2007 - I went back to England for 2 more terms and spent 5 weeks traveling around Europe. I definitely got homesick and there are things now I wish I had done over there or that I wish I hadn't but man I wouldn't trade my year in Oxford for ANYTHING. Mom and Dad came to visit and I got to take them to King Lear at the RSC... where upon Ian McKellan getting naked Mom leans over to me and says "That's the biggest schlong I've ever seen". yep. that's my mom. After England I did another summer at CHM.

2008 - I applied for grad school. Had an interview with Jay Rounds and loved the museum studies program. Got into UMSL's museum studies program and got an internship at CHM. I graduated college and said bye to ADPi. I moved into my apartment. Cassie and I became roommates. I worked at Steinmart for the summer. I started grad school. I met my cohort. I found my passion for museum education. I got close to my sister and she went through some hard times as well as her friends in Rolla that summer. Plus Mom opened her shop. Another busy year.

2009 - I went to Philadelphia for AAM and loved the city. I spent the summer in Natchez. I developed an amazing exit project. I found an amazing church. I started applying for jobs. Emily got engaged to the WONDERFUL WONDERFUL Luke.

Hard to believe it's just been 10 years since my grandpa died and everything I listed here started. What a crazy decade it's been.

Here's to 2010 and the next 10 years of our lives!