#6: One Line a Day

Did you know, the traditional first anniversary gift is paper? Yeah, sometimes I wonder who came up with that stuff because WHAT KIND OF ANNIVERSARY GIFT IS MADE OF PAPER?!  And then, I ate my words.  Who was I kidding, there are lots of options for paper gifts - tickets to a sporting event/theater performance/concert, books, framed prints, the list goes on.  (Cotton as the second anniversary gift - that one gave me a run for my money.)

Some of you may remember we mailed a notebook back and forth to one another during our two years of dating long distance.  That notebook was featured in some of our engagement photos, and truly became one of my favorite keepsakes from our dating story.   Once we got married, I realized we got out of the habit of documenting our relationship as closely as we did while we were dating.

Photo by Katie Hoffpauir Photography

In an effort to solve this "problem," I purchased a Custom, 3-Year One Line a Day Journal from Uncommon Goods as Alex's 1st Anniversary gift last year.  I was a little nervous about whether he would be excited about such a gift - I mean, it was essentially just an overpriced notebook of sorts.  However, we started writing in it on January 1, 2014, and over a year later we are still at it.

Sometimes, we miss a few days (or a week) and have to go back to fill things in, but I can say that we have only forgotten one day in its entirety and had to fill in with "Free Space - See you next year!"  Now that we are on Year 2 (3, really), it's super fun to read back over what we were doing at this time last year.  In some cases, we're remembering things that were fun or special, and other cases, we realize we're still struggling with things we hoped we'd be past at this point.

Either way, it's nice to know we will have a record of our second, third, and fourth year of marriage to look back on for years to come - and maybe even some wisdom to share with (God-willing) future children.  It won't be long before I'll start thinking of how to document Years 5+.  Ideas, anyone?

- Lauren

For more from my "20 in 14" list, click here.

Note:  I was not compensated in any way for reviewing products featured in this post.  All opinions are my own.