A year in the making

I finished putting together a book for RJ that chronicled 2007, our 5th year of marriage. It turned out really well and I would highly recommend it as a gift to a loved one. RJ really appreciated it. It also explained why I took so many pictures of him at the oddest moments of the oddest things. Here are a few sample pages in the book.Front/Back cover – I bought a hardcover day timer in January. It's a week at a glance approximately 8 1/2" by 22" (when opened). I took out all the extra pages (telephone numbers, measurement and timezone information) but left one on each end for the cover layouts and a dedication page. I found pictures of us from the past 7 years, colour photocopied them and made a collage.

RJ won his NCAA March madness pool, so I took a picture of the score sheet and added it in. It would have been nice to have used the actual paper but he would have noticed it missing. On another page I colour copied his lacrosse and hockey tickets from his New York trip and he thought that they were the originals. Colour copies are really good and thinner than photos.

Of course the Cheesebag had to be featured prominently. But I wasn't there, so how did I get the pictures? The guys sent pictures to RJ afterwards and with a little snooping on the computer I found and printed them. Don't hesitate to contact people who would have pictures of the event you missed. It's a quick email in most cases. On another page I took screen shots of a YouTube video that had pictures of RJ in it. Remember that they don't have to be the best quality because they aren't going to be too big.
RJ was in Vancouver this week so I had Bauer write him letters about his outings to daycare, the dog park and his quiet nights at home with me. I added a MasterCard moment... 5 days of day care $65, 5 trail walks $19, 2 days at Canine Cove $12, 1 tired puppy...Priceless.

Our vacation to Niagara Falls and RJ's birthday. I wrote in point form some memories of our trip. Some of the nicer photos I matted to make them stand out and give them a more formal look.

A quick tip for anyone who wants to attempt this: It's better to have too much to choose from than not enough. Take pictures of everything. A picture a day is a good rule of thumb. Write something down everyday. Something funny that was said, a thank you for something thoughtful that you're loved one did or something that's become a tradition between the two of you. (ie: RJ and Bauer wave to me every morning from the bonus room window as I drive off to work. Cute right?) You might not use it all but the little stuff adds up and when you are putting it together and find that you have a few blank pages, you will have filler at your finger tips. AND the person you give it to will be impressed that you remembered so many of the little things.