2010 in a Nutshell

2010 was a seriously interesting year of my life. So many big things happened, and as a result I grew up more this year than I think I ever have before. I learned a lot of life lessons; the most important being that no matter how hard you try, sometimes you just can’t change people’s minds. I also had a few pretty harsh lessons in not worrying about what other people think about you (no matter how many times I have had to go through this, it never gets any easier).

Since 2010 has come to a close, I wanted to use this post to reflect on the most important things to come out of this year.

January was the month I got married and went on an amazing honeymoon to St. Lucia. After over a year of planning every little detail, the big day came and it was seriously the best day of my life. People always say that your wedding day flies by and that you don’t remember half of what happened. Not me. I can still play the entire day in my head from start to finish (although the time spent on the dance floor dancing to songs like Party in the USA and Bye Bye Bye does seem a little bit blurry).

Our honeymoon was in St. Lucia, and it was an absolutely fabulous vacation! We saw a volcano, waterfall, mountains, and other breathtaking scenery. We ate so much wonderful food - on our last night we got to go to a restraunt at the end of a pier and listen to romantic Celine Dion music while dining under the stars. Jordan also convinced me to zip line in the jungle...I’ll probably never do it again, but it was a fun experience. Oh yeah, and we had a butler. I would give pretty much anything to go back right now (although we are heading to San Francisco and Napa Valley for our anniversary next week, so I guess that will do).

The Saints won the Superbowl!!!! Enough said.

My niece, Madelyn was born at the end of March. My hubby is her godfather and we are pretty in love with her. She lives in Houston, so we don’t get to see her much, but we cherish being able to spend time with her! She's just starting to crawl and say things like "ma ma." I wish she were closer so we could see her growing up every day!

One of my really good friends, Molly, had a baby boy named Hart at the end of April. He's such a cutie! He’s so active and fun to be around. I love being able to watch him grow up!

Right before school let out for the summer, my brand new husband got shipped to Mobile to work for BP. He was there for three months working on cleaning up the oil spill in the Gulf. He found out that it might be an option for him one day while I was at work, and they asked him to leave the next day. It wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but we made it through! While he was gone I worked at a summer camp doing things like frog races, and learned how to cook fun things like lasagna. I also decided I was lonely and bought some fish named Dug and Kevin (from the movie Up). They died right before Jordan got home...guess they knew I wouldn't be lonely much longer?

In August I started working as a Kindergarten teacher. As much as I gripe about it sometimes, I absolutely love my job. There is no greater feeling than seeing a light bulb go off in a child’s mind – and knowing that you helped them learn something as significant as reading and writing sentences. I love my K1 Kids!

In October, we became homeowners! YAY!

And of course, there were many great moments spent with friends and family...this is getting long so I can't put the 100s of pictures of these times. Here are a few highlights!

Family

These pictures are from when me and my family went to the Jazzfest together, my birthday, when we spent Easter in Houston meeting our sweet baby niece, and one of my mom's art shows (this year she followed her dream and started painting mats which she sells at some really fun art shows).

Friends

These pictures are from visiting Harley and Lindsay in West Palm Beach, our super fun annual LSU tailgate, my trip to visit Victoria and Nashville, and Friendsgiving.

2010 was a good year, but I'm very ready for the adventures to come in 2011! I've already had a few interesting ones I'll post about soon. :-)