I'm so sorry that I'm posting about our Valentine's Day so late, but I had to wait until we got a new camera. (Ours was stolen in the park) Last time we made a trip to the big city we stopped by the Asian Wal-Mart and bought a little point and click. So I was finally able to take pictures of the amazing present I got on Valentine's Day.
Scott got the idea to make a personalized Monopoly board around Christmas time. He looked up the traditional Monopoly board online and began to duplicate it on a computer program... but instead of using the traditional roads/ places, he put in all the things that we love about America. Park Place became Starbucks, and Board Walk became our first home as a married couple. All the rail roads became our old fishing holes and the water works and electric company became the Durham Bulls and the Atlanta Braves.
It took him a little less than 3 months, and he worked in secret about every other night. Finally, on February 13 he spent two hours in a local printing store downloading all the material he made and making small corrections. He printed his creation out onto 4 pieces of photo paper and arranged it onto some heavy duty card board.
Not to mention, he printed out all the play money on different colored paper and he also printed out all the deeds onto photo paper. At first glance, you'd think this is the real game. I took a ton of pictures so you'd get the idea. His craftsmanship is almost perfect- the attention to detail is amazing. He didn't leave out a single detail. The only thing we're missing are the little game pieces, but we use a little elephant from Thailand and some local coin money as pieces haha!
The Title Deeds look just like the ones in the real game. The first two places on the board after passing GO became two cars I owned that were junkers...
And these three places were our source of income at some time or another.... I really miss the Mission!!
Here's three churches close to our heart.. North Main, Parkwood and Providence.
Wondering why it looks so much like the real thing? Scott downloaded the Monopoly fonts and colors.
Some of our favorite places to eat.
These are three of the beaches that we frequent with our families and sometimes just by ourselves. He wanted to fit Bald-Head-Island on there, but there was no room. So he went with the most recent beaches we've been to. We had a good time reminiscing about the times we played with our nieces in the sand and throwing the foot ball, games of Hand and Foot and of course, Pier fishing.
Scott glued this picture of us fishing right onto the board. It was taken at Durant Nature park.
Of course, what would Monopoly be without the Chance and Community Chest cards?
He decided to change all those, too. I love that on each one he included a picture in the middle. You can't see it clearly, but in the picture above I'm showing the camera my profusely bleeding thumb where a catfish got me. That was my 'right of passage' sting.
About one minute into his presentation, I just began crying and crying! I was so overwhelmed that he had tried so hard to make our favorite game. Plus, seeing all of our old haunts and seeing the pictures of all our family members made me so happy and sad all at the same time.
This might be my favorite Chance card. We always blew money on Starbucks... looking back, I still don't care! $4 for a perfect drink is never a sin!!
Scott began taking me to Carowinds every year for my birthday when we were dating. It's a tradition we hope to resume when we come home in 2 1/2 years. The picture above is of us eating caramel apples.
I'm so glad Scott included this... I love looking back on that day at the beach!
The picture above is of Scott holding a catfish. We used to drive to Falls lake around 5 pm and we'd take our camping stuff and stay till 1 or 2 in the morning. It was our favorite thing to do... We'd build a little fire, sometimes I'd bring a picnic (usually it was just Bojangles) and then around 11 I'd fall asleep by the fire but Scott would keep reeling in those cats until the wee hours.
I LOVE the Handopoly money. He put pictures of family members in the middle..... So when we're dealing with money in the game, I'm always saying "Hand me a Jason, and I'll give you a John" haha! funny stuff.
Here's a few shots of the board.
The Luxury Tax picture is of Scott golfing at Myrtle Beach.
Oh, and I can't forget. Instead of passing GO, we pass CHINA. Also, instead of going to jail, we have to join Mary Kay. (For those who don't know, I tried to sell Mary Kay a while ago and did not make a great sales-person... so we lost a little money in the endeavour and now we laugh about Mary Kay being prison! I'm sticking to buying it, now.)
One last thing... our first Valentine's day as a married couple, Scott gave me a scrapbook of all the things we'd done while we were dating. He had receipts and pictures... it was so sweet.
And these three places were our source of income at some time or another.... I really miss the Mission!!
Here's three churches close to our heart.. North Main, Parkwood and Providence.
Wondering why it looks so much like the real thing? Scott downloaded the Monopoly fonts and colors. Some of our favorite places to eat.
These are three of the beaches that we frequent with our families and sometimes just by ourselves. He wanted to fit Bald-Head-Island on there, but there was no room. So he went with the most recent beaches we've been to. We had a good time reminiscing about the times we played with our nieces in the sand and throwing the foot ball, games of Hand and Foot and of course, Pier fishing.
Scott glued this picture of us fishing right onto the board. It was taken at Durant Nature park.
Of course, what would Monopoly be without the Chance and Community Chest cards?
He decided to change all those, too. I love that on each one he included a picture in the middle. You can't see it clearly, but in the picture above I'm showing the camera my profusely bleeding thumb where a catfish got me. That was my 'right of passage' sting.About one minute into his presentation, I just began crying and crying! I was so overwhelmed that he had tried so hard to make our favorite game. Plus, seeing all of our old haunts and seeing the pictures of all our family members made me so happy and sad all at the same time.
This might be my favorite Chance card. We always blew money on Starbucks... looking back, I still don't care! $4 for a perfect drink is never a sin!!
Scott began taking me to Carowinds every year for my birthday when we were dating. It's a tradition we hope to resume when we come home in 2 1/2 years. The picture above is of us eating caramel apples.
I'm so glad Scott included this... I love looking back on that day at the beach!
The picture above is of Scott holding a catfish. We used to drive to Falls lake around 5 pm and we'd take our camping stuff and stay till 1 or 2 in the morning. It was our favorite thing to do... We'd build a little fire, sometimes I'd bring a picnic (usually it was just Bojangles) and then around 11 I'd fall asleep by the fire but Scott would keep reeling in those cats until the wee hours.
I LOVE the Handopoly money. He put pictures of family members in the middle..... So when we're dealing with money in the game, I'm always saying "Hand me a Jason, and I'll give you a John" haha! funny stuff.
Here's a few shots of the board.
The Luxury Tax picture is of Scott golfing at Myrtle Beach.
Oh, and I can't forget. Instead of passing GO, we pass CHINA. Also, instead of going to jail, we have to join Mary Kay. (For those who don't know, I tried to sell Mary Kay a while ago and did not make a great sales-person... so we lost a little money in the endeavour and now we laugh about Mary Kay being prison! I'm sticking to buying it, now.)
One last thing... our first Valentine's day as a married couple, Scott gave me a scrapbook of all the things we'd done while we were dating. He had receipts and pictures... it was so sweet.
The next year he took me to a fancy hotel where he had prepared a delicious meal and put our wedding pictures all over the walls and there was romantic music and candlelight. This year he made our favorite board game... so it's safe to say he raises the bar every year. February 14th 2010 cannot come fast enough!!
Thank you, Scott for such a speical present. I'm so blessed to have you!
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