so what if i'm a packrat!

It's Spring Break and for some that means spring cleaning.  Just to be clear, I do not consider myself to be included in that "some."  However, lately I've been thinking that I have too much stuff; too much clutter.  For example, I know it's not "normal" to  have 4 christmas trees, 2 wedding dresses, 12459 pairs of shoes, and so on.  It's no secret that I need to get rid of stuff.  But today I stumbled upon a box that convinced me to never get rid of another thing, ever again... My box of cards.


Inside this box (and a few other, ok 5 other boxes) are all of the wedding invitations & cards, birthday cards, letters, wedding programs, baby shower invites and thank yous, christmas pictures, post cards, pen pal letters from becky since we were 7 years old, broadway ticket stubs, graduation programs, and paper keepsakes I have ever gotten.  Yes, I do in fact save EVERYTHING!!!

And I have thought about photographing each one and backing up the pictures digitally to save some space (because 5 boxes is a lot) but there is something oh so special about opening these cards and going back in time...

like this one from my sweet cousin Ivory:

How presh is that?  This card was in my very first care package when I moved away to college in 2004 and adorned my desk that whole school year.  (Thank goodness it was pink and matched the decor :)  And a photograph just doesn't capture all that. Some things you just have to hold in your hands to appreciate.

In another box of cards and keepsakes, I found all of my wedding planning calendars, checklists, books, and receipts.  How fun is that?!!!  Our wedding was 5 years ago this July, so I'm just starting to forget a lot of the little details of the planning and organizing that went into that best day of my life. Like the ever-changing budget (that ultimately went out the window), switching center piece ideas every week and saving Michael's coupons to buy tulle and vases, all the wedding guest books we bought and couldn't seem to find on the day of, picking out our wedding rings at a pawn shop in Vegas, reserving everything for July 14 and then moving the date to July 7 a few months before the big day. There was A LOT that went into our wedding! {Luckily my mom and aunt nessie did everything so all I had to do was smile for the camera and eat fondue... and i did!}

I forgot all of that... until I found all of this stuff:


In conclusion, I have decided that it is a good idea to keep everything (as well as photograph and back it up on a terabyte) as long as you pull it out and look through it every once in a while.

Now back to NOT spring cleaning!

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