A Decade

Happy New Year!

I was perusing Twitter recently - sometime in late November, I suppose -  and someone had tweeted: there's a month left in the decade, what have you accomplished? Of course - it made me start thinking.... and for me, thinking always leads to picture collages and lists....

2010: Rang in the New Year in Gatlinburg with my Mom's side of the family and the most snow I'd ever seen. Graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi as part of the Centennial class. Vacationed to Florida with my friends after graduation and to Colorado, South Dakota and Indiana with the family. Turned 26 and around the end of the year finally found a job - that lasted a month. *sigh*

2011: Started the New Year with a new job, enjoyed spending weekends with friends in Jackson throughout the year. Traveled to Colorado to see my sister for Easter and celebrated the series finale of Smallville with friends in May. My parents moved in July and I bought my first home; also visited Colorado again in the Fall and visited Virginia as well. I turned 27 and hosted the holidays in my home.

2012: Enjoyed visiting with friends in my home and in Jackson on the weekends. Lindsey and I went to the Pacific Northwest for Spring Break and saw Oregon, Washington and Victoria, Canada in a week jam packed with activity and memories. Traveled to Virginia multiple times and went to Colorado in the Fall. I turned 28 and ended the year with snow on Christmas Eve in Virginia!

2013: Shortly after the New Year, my Nanny and went out to meet my Mom and sister in Colorado for a long weekend. Spent time in Virginia in the Spring and Summer; I attended my first Washington Nationals game and was hooked pretty quickly. I turned 29 while on a long weekend trip to Virginia  and ended the year hosting Christmas in my home in Mississippi once again.

2014: Visited Gatlinburg for Easter and conquered my fear of heights by going zip lining. I sold my home, celebrated my sister's graduation in Colorado and two weeks later, I packed up my things and moved to Virginia. Spent a week in July at Disney World and Universal Studios and started a part time job at Hallmark while looking for full time employment. I celebrated turning 30 with friends in Virginia. I was in a car accident the week of Thanksgiving that totaled my car but I was unhurt and we celebrated Christmas in Virginia - and I was so glad I didn't have to board a plane back to Mississippi when the festivities were done!

2015: I started my first full year of life in Virginia and shortly into the year I was hired at the job I still have today. I traveled to Mississippi, Pennsylvania and all over the state of Virginia and I was finally able to see the Cherry Blossoms in DC. I became a diehard Washington Nationals fan and crammed in as many games as I possibly could, I made friends throughout the year and I turned 31. The year ended in the best way possible - a week in the UK and ringing in the New Year on the banks of the Thames.

2016: I started the year experiencing some serious snow - something like four to five feet of it that shut down life for a couple days! We celebrated Spring by going to see the Cherry Blossoms and the Tulip Library in DC and with Spring, baseball season began again. In between all the baseball games, I traveled to California for a week and later in the year I went to Vegas to celebrate turning 32. I did my first 5K, we spent a weekend in DC at Christmastime and ended the year with a trip to New York City!

2017: Another year filled with travel all over the place - a lot of travel to places right around my home in Northern Virginia like Ocean City, MD and Assateague Island and trips to places a bit farther away like Gatlinburg and Las Vegas. I packed in the Nationals games, went hiking in the Shenandoah National Park took advantage of the proximity to DC to visit a Game of Thrones pop up bar with friends. I met Washington Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman, I turned 33, I sat on the Iron Throne and ended the year with another trip to New York City!

2018 required two collages -  I guess I did a lot in 2018.... that or I couldn't narrow down the pictures. The family explored more of DC and the Northern Virginia area, we started the year at Disney World and then went to California, Disneyland and Las Vegas in May. I packed in the baseball games, and we went to Jamestown and Williamsburg in September. I celebrated turning 34 with a weekend in Asheville and when Thanksgiving rolled around, I was touring Italy with stops in Venice, Rome, Pompeii and Sicily. 2018 was a full year - to be sure!

And of course - the final year of the decade - this past year...

2019: It snowed quite a bit in January and February and when March came we spent a week in Mississippi with family- we visited Laurel, which has become a hot spot since the show Home Town started airing on HGTV. And to think - I went to school 15 minutes from Laurel... about ten years ago! We visited the Smokies, did plenty of hiking and spending time in nature, I saw Queen in concert and of course - went to plenty of Nationals games. This was my first year attending Opening Day and everyone thought the Nationals would be terrible - but they ended up winning the World Series. I celebrated my 35th birthday with visits to Niagara Falls and Toronto, Canada. We spent Thanksgiving in Oklahoma and celebrated the New Year at a little B&B right down the road from home!

In short - what have I accomplished in the past decade?

• Graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with a degree in Anthropology.
• Got my first "adult" job.
• Purchased my first home.
• Traveled internationally for the first time - to Canada.
• Overcame depression & lived on my own for three+ years with no mental health issues.
• Flew multiple places on my own - which is an accomplishment since I hate flying.
• Sold my first home.
• Packed up my life and moved over 900 miles from Mississippi to Virginia.
• Traveled internationally for the second time - this time to London. 
• Got my second "adult" job - and boy is this one better than the first.
• Traveled internationally for the third time - this time to Italy.
• Became a licensed Realtor in the state of Virginia.
• Watched the Washington Nationals win the World Series

I also saw on Facebook a little piece of information that goes like this... If you were born in the 80's, raised in the 90's, and make it to 2020: You have lived in four different decades, two different centuries, two different millennia, and you're not even 40 yet.

Not bad for a decade.