My Chandler's

I don't know if any of you remember Chandler's or even know what it is. It's an appointment book, or actually, it's an assignment book that starts in August and end in August the next year. We used them in high school to write down our homework assignments. In the beginning of every school year you would go and buy your supplies and you made sure that you got this very special book. Then you would spend 2 week decorating it with things that you cut out of magazines. When you got to school you made sure that you put all the really important dates in there. Birthdays, monthly anniversaries, weekly anniversaries, daily anniversaries (if the relationship lasts that long) dances etc. Rarely did the actual homework assignments make it in there. You would carry your Chandler's proudly on top of all your other books and you would look at everyone else's in study hall.

I haven't thought of one in years until a friend and I were going through some of her old boxes and came across her collection. They were decorated in a classic 80's theme complete with pictures of Johnny Depp in his 21 Jump Street days!!! They had really sappy poems in the back about some one dying in a car crash, ( We were so morose!) We spent the day looking through the Chandler's, watching episodes of 90210 and drinking a lot of wine.

That summer we decided that we were going to get Chandler's again, call it hanging on to our youth, but I prefer to call it an outlet for our creativity.

The first year I really didn't decorate it, my daughter Emerson put Kim Possible stickers all over it. She told me that it looked too plain. (The Chandler gene must be inherited) I was trying to by mature, reserved, and here I am with Ron Stoppable on my "appointment book".

The next year I got a little more into it. I went through all my magazines (I'm a gossip junkie) and I really couldn't find anything that said who I was "today". It was then, that I had an epiphany and went over to a scrapbook store. I just got a few sheets of quotes and a few stickers. I also put a few pictures of the girls in it. It was a little more fun than school pictures in my wallet.

This year there are no holds barred. I spent (and continue to spend) a small fortune at the scrapbook store and I decorate each page that is not taken up by the actual date book part. Each page is carefully crafted with love as a tribute to things that we did this year so far. Our road trips down Route 66, our Hannibal trip, Cubs games etc. Everyone loves it and anticipates each new page.

Then, I still can't believe this... I lost it!!!! I cried for days!!! Another friend found one on clearance at the grocery store and I got to start new. Matt felt so bad that I had lost it after working so hard on it, he didn't even blink at the scrapbook store bill to replace all the stuff.

This August when the new Chandler's comes out, I will put this one in the box with the other old ones and start anew. They have really become works of art.