Decade In Review

Here's to the "Aughts" . . . .

2000: Moved from Maine to RI for summer, then Iowa City for graduate school.
2001: Noted how impossibly beautiful the weather was, both in New York and in Iowa, on my brother's very unhappy Patriot Day birthday.
2002: Earned an MA in Art at the University of Iowa.
2003: Earned an MFA in Art at the University of Iowa. Moved to Chicago.
2004: Traveled to Venezuela for the first time.
2005: Continued to travel: Mexico, Venezuela, DR
2006: I was 18 all over again. Sweet Home Chicago.
2007: Summer at Gaspee! I was 18 a third time. Mercy. Went to a Halloween Party. Met this guy . . . .
2008: Sold a house, bought a house, turned 30, and got married in the month of June. On November 13, 2008, I gave birth to Annika Tipton Archer, who is delightful.
2009: Settled in to being wife, mother, homeowner, teacher. Gave up on some paths to focus more on others.

Best of all in 2009, I saw my photography work find critical success. This is the most satisfying coda of all for this decade. The high points in the last 10 years for me have been my creative work, my travels, and my new family. To see my work starting to find an audience makes my efforts seem worthwhile.

It was essentially my entire 20's, this decade, and it's over. But then again, so are my 20's. I never could have articulated this life a decade ago, and I know that I did not ever foresee the specific steps along the way. But I can look back at the last 10 years and say that I have ended up exactly where I wanted to be.

Happy New Year :)