This is not a book...

...but just a page out of my life.
This is Draper and Draper. Yes, he's cute. Most of the time.



This is what Draper likes to do to things he loves, like his squeaky toys.



Apparently he also does it to things I love, like my glasses. They don't squeak. I don't have the heart to take a picture of the real crime scene. This will have to do.



He's thinking about what he has done in his crate.

The next book I made...

....was for the two wonderful people who are now my brother and sister-in-law.
This is them. They look even more amazing in real life.



It was their wedding present actually. It's important to note that I have this thing about giving presents - finding the right present is one of my hobbies (or possibly obsessions). I like when people get something they love. It's an inherited trait from my parents – a present's quality is not about the cost, it's about the intention. I love it.

SO. Back to the story.
We (we being me and my same adorable boyfriend/now husband) didn't know what to get them. And us being students at the time, we weren't really in the position to get anything fancy. The things we could afford seemed boring. Soup spoons just weren't gonna cut it.

We both interviewed family and friends to fill in some blanks and make sure we knew the whole story. This is always the best part – finding out 'the real' story. Wink wink. Smile. Nod. Often stories are even more book-worthy than initially thought.

The best part was that we put the book in the car that took them from their ceremony so they could read it on the way to their reception.

Here's their book. You can look at some pages here.


Since we gave it to them their life together has evolved. Including natural disasters, moving, and babies. So naturally as they grow, so does their book.

The first book I made....

...was a gift for my boyfriend. The lucky man who is now my husband.

This is him and him.

Spitting image, don't you think?

We had been dating for 3 years at that time and I wanted to celebrate that. But we had been together so long, through so many holidays and birthdays, I had kind of run out of things to get him. And frankly, I didn't really think a new wallet could really convey 'I love you so much and I'm so glad we're together.'

A photo album or a scrapbook wasn't going to work because a.) I had no idea where any of those scraps might be and b.) we have an uncanny ability to not take pictures.
I really want to take more pictures. New Years resolution 2009.

I decided to write our story out. I didn't want it to sound like a journal entry, mainly because I've never really kept a traditional journal and I wouldn't even know where to start. I just wanted it to be something simple and fun for us to smile about when we flipped through it.

This book was the answer. That's us and us.

Stick figures and rhyming words. All the details I loved hinted at but not stated, because we both knew what I meant. And the book I used let me add pages whenever I wanted.

You can check out some of the pages if you'd like on Flickr right here.