Scrapbooking

After the passing of a childhood friend, I am realizing the importance of photographs. Emily Michelle was an amazing person. She always had a smile on her face, and the things that came out of her mouth were hilarious. She made an impact on everyone that she met. Unfortunately, on June 20th, 2012 Emily lost control of her vehicle and crashed into a tree. She died before anyone had the chance to remove her from the car. We were getting ready to go to her viewing, and her family asked everyone to bring pictures of Emily. I ripped apart my room trying to find a good picture of the two of us. All I could find was 2 pictures of us at an NSYNC concert. TWO PICTURES!!! How is that even possible? I never want to look back at my life and my friends and realize all I have left is their memory.

I have attempted scrapbooking in the past, but the entire book is usually one event. I want to challenge myself a little bit more; each spread will be one month of my life. Each book will be one year of my life. No one will be forgotten or left behind. I am going to start full swing in January so that I can have a complete 2013 book, but for now, I will catch up on some memories that need to be cherished.

I went to a few big events over the past two years that I saved ticket stubs. The earliest was a Jo Dee Messina concert. This was one of the first concerts at the new Clayton Center for the Arts at Maryville College. It was built my senior year so I thought it was fitting to remember this time. A few months later I saw Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger from The Doors at the Starland Ballroom. Skip a year or two and I am at a NJ Devils vs. NY Rangers hockey game with my new best friend and my new boyfriend (although I don't know if we were official at this point (maybe a scrapbook would help with that answer) ha ha). Lastly, I went to another Bruce Springsteen concert. It was an amazing triple date with my parents, Tom and Jo, and Steve and myself. I think we were official at this point. Luckily, I have at least one picture of each of these events so I decided to make a spread dedicated to these events.

The family just got back from Sea Isle City, NJ a few weeks ago. We had our annual family vacation and it was just as good as always. We took a ton of pictures so there will be plenty of material for July 2012. Steve and I also went to the Edison National Historical Park in West Orange, NJ. This was his largest laboratory, manufacturing site, and home. Very cool. When it is all finished, I will make sure to post a picture of these two spreads.