Challenge Day 5 and Picture Help...Please!

Yesterday was pretty awesome. Not awesome as in I won the lottery awesome....but awesome as in I finally went through all the paperwork that I have let accumulate in my house for months. There was a large tub full and it took me much more than 15 min., but I did it!!!!! Today I am going to attempt to start on pictures. This will be no easy job as I have LOTS of pictures and they are scattered everywhere.

Speaking of pictures.....I need some input here. I have lots of creative friends out there (hope you are reading my blog) and I need some ideas for what to do with pictures. Is there anything creative you can do with pictures other than just sticking them in albums? If I put all of my pictures in albums....I will have a zillion albums. I want to do something different. I also don't want to put them all in frames as I don't have enough wall space in my house to promote such a project. Ideas pleas?!

It is already 46 degrees at 7:30 a.m. While it is not Sunday's 62....I will gladly take it. Especially since the next three days are suppose to only reach the 40's and be cloudy and rainy. I must say...while this isn't the worst weather we could have.....I am definitely ready for more than just this little tease we have gotten of spring.

It looks as though we may be fighting a virus in my house. Zachary came home from school yesterday feeling pretty bad (mostly nausea and a headache with a low grade temp). He had spring play call backs last night and if he learned nothing else during his Fiddler on the Roof experience.....he learned that the show must go on.....even if you have to puke between scenes. So he pulled up his boot straps and made it to call backs. We will know what part he got Thursday. Last night though.....I don't think even the show could have gone on about 3:30 a.m. He woke up wishing he could throw up with a temp and a horrible headache. He finally got back to sleep about 6 a.m. while I on the other hand.....never did. This morning he still feels yucky and is still running temp....so I guess someone is going to spend the day in bed sleeping. And honestly....I am slightly jealous of this fact. He has had his flu shot this year (not that it means much I'm guessing) but I am thinking we are just dealing with an unpleasant stomach virus which side effects are....no one in the house gets to sleep past the wee hours of the morning.

On to today's challenge....and what is today's challenge you ask?????

Day 05 - A picture of your favorite memory.

I am really liking this challenge thing....except for all the memory stuff.  Number 1.....my memory is not all that great in the first place....and number 2....even though as I have said above, I have a bzillion pictures....few of them support the memories in this challenge. Today however....I have lots of pictures for this memory....but no scanner in which to transfer them. So for now.....I will simply have to put on the few pictures I do have and hopefully add more later.

To give you a little back info on my favorite day.....on Oct. 15, 1995 (my birthday)my dear sweet Tim took me to a little bar in Clearwater (which sometime later burned to the ground) because he was singing in a karaoke contest. I was not feeling 100% that night and almost didn't go...but it was the finals and he really wanted me to be there. I just couldn't disappoint this handsome guy....so I went. Much to my surprise.....he had it worked out that this was the night he would propose to me. Everyone in the bar was in on it.....except me. As he sang Cross My Heart by George Strait.....he walked over to me, got down on one knee and proposed. Needless to say.....there weren't a lot of dry eyes in the house. It was close to my favorite memory and definitely in the top two.

My favorite memory though was the day that came from the sequence of events that resulted from the above event. In July of 1996, we had been engaged about 9 months. We hadn't even really talked about wedding plans...not because we didn't want to get married....but because we didn't have money, time, or resources to do so. Friends were getting ancy as was I. I was ready to be Mrs. Tim Elam. Then a friend suggested that if he could give me a surprise "engagement"....why couldn't I give him a surprise "wedding"? It made a certain amount of weird sense (it was definitely a Lisaland kind of sense though!) So I began making plans.

It was decided that the venue would be our front yard. The chairs would be borrowed from the bowling alley (I had connections there), my dress was bought on clearance from a bridal shop for $30, and the guys would wear white shirts, black jeans, and black cowboy hats (and all of Tim's friends just happened to have each of these pieces in their wardrobes). The girls wore bridesmaid dresses from a friend's wedding (she was also one of my bridesmaids) and believe it or not....they all fit. This same friends mom made our cake, mints, and punch and by the time it was all planned....we were out about $250. The real trick here was keeping Tim in the dark about the whole thing....especially when everyone we knew.....had been let in on the secret.

The big day....August 10, 1996 finally rolled around.....and all went off fairly smoothly. Oh....there was plenty of drama leading up to it. What would you expect....it had all the elements for drama. It had secrets, me, tight schedules, me, tight budget, oh and did I mention....ME????? We pulled it off though and even had it set up so that Tim could sing to me. It was amazing....and such a happy day. While the groom pretended to run away when he realized what was going on.....he was really happy that I had taken the initiative and taken all the planning and chaos out of his life. All he had to do was get dressed, sing and say I do! What potential groom wouldn't be thrilled about such a cushy ride to the altar?

It was a wonderful day filled with family and friends to celebrate with. Sadly not everyone that we wanted there could make it (the being last minute and all), but those who did attend got a front row seat for a "surprise" wedding. We even had impromptu guests of people driving or walking down the street and wanting to watch the goings on.

So you can see why this might just possibly be my favorite memory ever. The thing is....this little synopsis really didn't do either the engagement or the wedding justice....so you know there will be later blogs describing both. But for now....my wedding day was my favorite memory thus far!