A decade in review...

I liked the idea of looking over the past decade and how my life has changed. It's changed a lot thank goodness from my middle school awkwardness of 2000. Embarassingly, many of my years were somewhat defined by my current boyfriend. And I was one of those girls that started young, cause I'm a lover like that : ) But I wasn't actually allowed to go on a date until I turned 16, which is agonizingly long when you start having "boyfriends" in middle school... And I look back now and realize that I was completely boy crazy and feel really bad for all of the torture I put my parents through. Sorry mom and dad!

2000: Graduated middle school and finally moved on to high school. Middle school years are not good ones in my family. I finally stopped looking like a boy and more like a girl. Getting the braces removed helped this greatly. Boyfriend Eric.

2001: Freshman in high school, boyfriend Eric. Nothing too exciting. It was freshman year, you think you're all cool for being in high school... but you're not really.

2002: Sophomore year of high school, boyfriend Elliot. Oh the rebelliousness begins.

2003: Junior year of high school, boyfriend "he who must not be named." Finally turned 16, got a car and freedom (and along with that quite a lot of craziness). LOTS of ups and downs.

summer between jr. and sr. year with my girls in Newport

2004: Senior year of high school, boyfriend Michael! He's a righteous dude (say it like they do in Ferris Bueller's Day Off). Calmed down and barely applied to BYU in time.

Senior prom

2005: Freshman year of college. Moved out of the parental home and into Heritage Dorms at good ole BYU. I had to learn how to live with girls for the first time. It was hard, and I was snotty, and had a hard time being around so many Mormons. Lots of adjustments. Boyfriend Michael!

Some of the freshman roomies, we were nerds and went matchy matchy sometimes... typical freshman girls

2006: Sophomore year of college. Moved out of the dorms and relaxed because I wasn't a freshie any more. Decided for sure to earn a degree in Social Work with a minor in Spanish (because I like to torture myself). Boyfriend Tyler

Oh Brianne-abell. I think Sophomore year is the most ridiculous year of high school and college.

Summer 2006: went on a 2 month study abroad in Spain! Travelled through France and Italy with my Rachel for a week afterwards.
2007: Junior year of college. Full of the most ups and downs of my life thus far, even beating out my junior year of high school (which was pretty intense). Fiance/ex-Fiance, blah blah blah and then I swear a whole year without a boyfriend! Well almost, November of jr. year to October of sr. year and considering my track record, that's pretty dang good : ) Roommate fiascos, blah blah blah and then I finally made friends with these amazing gals.

winter break in San Fran with Katie, Julie and Lauren. I ended up living with Katie and Lauren my sr. year and Julie has become my NYC bff : ) good things certainly come after trials.

2008: Senior year of college. Gave this dude the time of day... (technically it was Oct. 2007, beginning of my senior year)
Lived with these girls plus my lovely Rachel. I surprisingly have absolutely no pictures of the four of us together.
Graduated with my Bachelor's in social work and a minor in Spanish
Moved to NYC to earn my Masters in Social Work at Columbia University.
and got engaged to that dude... (Oct. 2008)

2009: Graduated with my Masters in Social Work with a Clinical emphasis on working with children, adolescents and families (meaning I wanted to do therapy with children, adolescents and families...)
Got married to that dude aka my Dapper Dan Man (July 2009)
moved in with a boy (well my boy), went on a honeymoon, found my first big kid job, and worked (and am still working!) as a family therapist.

um... 2008 and 2009 were kind of big years for me I guess : ) lots of life changes!

I anticipate and hope that 2010 will be a bit more stable and not have quite so many huge life decisions/experiences. I would like a little break from all the big changes please!

It was a good decade overall. Lots of ups and downs, lots of big life changes... but those never stop do they? Most decisions that we make can effect the way our lives go in some way or another. I'm just glad my decisions from 2000, 2001, 2002, etc. lead me to the place I'm at now because I'm pretty happy with my life!