Ten

Today marked 10 years married to The Hubs.  Ten years that truly passed in the blink of an eye.  Ten years!  Ten years means more to me than you know.  I am my husband's longest running wife.  I say that with a sense of humor, but it truly makes me feel oh-so good.  My dear Hubs was married twice before me.  His first wife and he lasted just under 9 years.  His second wife under five.  When we hit our 5-year anniversary, it was a happy dance.  When we hit 9 it was a sigh of relief.  But 10... ten is new ground for him.  And, of course, for me.  This year begins, in so many ways, an absolute fresh, new beginning for me.

But I will get into that a little later...

I am the type of person who must research things.  When it came to figuring out an extra-special gift for The Hubs, I must admit being pretty empty of ideas.  When this happens, I pay a long visit to Google.  I started with finding out those "traditional" gift guidelines.  Here's what one site told me:  traditional: tin, modern: diamond, alternate gem: blue sapphire.  That helped get my brain moving.  I also had a little creative boost from Nancy.  She had inspired me to create this book (different topic), and I had done so with different dimensions, but the same basic steps.  (Thanks Nancy!)  I decided to also make one for The Hubs filled with 10 Favorite Memories from the past 10 years.  And, in line with the traditional gift, I made it so that it would fit in a tin.  Check it out: 

The tin with the book inside.

The top and the inside bottom of the tin.

The book on top of the tin.

Two pages inside the book.

But... it wasn't enough.  So I also decided The Hubs needed this, too;

Yep, it's a new wedding ring.  He lost his original ring years ago.  Then he bought a replacement ring.  This story deserves a whole post to itself, so I'll just sum up by saying that I wasn't too pleased.  This ring contains the more modern versions of the 10-year anniversary.  The stone is blue sapphire, with a few diamonds to either side.  The band itself is white gold, which I figured could "stand in" for the tin.

He was very surprised. 

I'm just happy he liked it.