## If you're anything like me, you view birthdays and anniversaries as a double edged sword. 

### Great if handled properly. Very painful if you screw it up.

One gift that I got my wife that has been valuable to us and our relationship years later was not the product of really long-term planning. It actually hit me in a sort of panicked moment when I realized that my wife's birthday was coming up and I needed to make this gift good for a number of reasons. 

But what would be both creative AND valuable to the relationship? A shared journal of sorts, saved on the world wide interwebz of course.

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/blakemiles/hello-world/ee96e6d0d42b5b083608e21d9bc1e8132f97516b/Screenshot%202016-08-23%2023.47.24.png

# Here's how I made ours...
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## 1. Pick a name based on an inside joke, or a pet name between you two
## 2. Search for the domain (if you want to get pricey) and buy it on a place like [NameCheap](www.namecheap.com). They even accept bitcoin!

https://static.hostadvice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Name-cheap1.png

## 3. Connect the domain to a [Wordpress blog](https://en.support.wordpress.com/create-a-blog/). If you don't want to spend money, just use the free domain from WordPress. Depending on the pet name you use, this may be necessary. (ie. snookums.com is probably already taken)

https://s.w.org/about/images/logos/wordpress-logo-stacked-rgb.png

## 4. Go find a bunch of pictures and stories that your significant other will appreciate

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/blakemiles/hello-world/ee96e6d0d42b5b083608e21d9bc1e8132f97516b/Screenshot%202016-08-23%2023.46.44.png

## 5. Publish a number of posts in advance. I went and found a bunch of memes over on [Memebase](http://memebase.cheezburger.com)  that I thought she would like. 

## 6. Draw out the 'present'. I gave her little bits of hints throughout the day in her car and when she got home that all added up to the actual domain... the final hint was written on a piece of paper written `.com` which completed the whole URL. She was thoroughly confused why I was writing our pet name for each other on little scraps of paper, but happily surprised when she found out why.

My wife really liked it and we used it as a platform to tell our parents that she was pregnant with our first child. I've been able to use it as a baby log of sorts since then as well. Anytime our son has done something new or silly, we've added pictures and notes about new things he's up to. 

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/blakemiles/hello-world/ee96e6d0d42b5b083608e21d9bc1e8132f97516b/Screenshot%202016-08-23%2023.46.20.png

We're still updating it periodically with the most recent ridiculousness that our son is coming up with. 

Thanks for reading! Hope you find this useful in your procrastination-fed moments of panic! 

### I figure this will be more effective than me losing some notebook 20 years from now and having both my son and wife hate me or something :)

## What was some of the best gifts you've given of been given?