07.22.19 Oh, the places you'll go (with apologies to Dr. Seuss)

The first six months of this year were expensive and exhausting (although nothing in comparison to 2003). From the first of March through the end of June, I passed through an airport or spent a night in a hotel in Baltimore, Buffalo, Chicago, Durham, Houston, Oakland and San Francisco.

Generally speaking, I really enjoy travelling - and in the couple of weeks leading up to our recent vacation I made an effort to remind myself of that by posting happy memories of past trips and souvenirs on Instagram.

For some of the posts, I went into the way, way back machine...like glass Donald Duck earrings from a trip to Disney World when I was about 15.

I still wear them, especially when attending Crafternoon events with my friend, Emily, who loves all things Disney!

Or these scrimshaw earrings that belonged to my mom and were purchased on a family trip to Boston sometime in the mid-1970s, when my father was attending meetings at MIT for the Department of Energy.


I was a little surprised to see how many pairs of souvenir pairs of earrings I have from the Boston area. In addition to the scrimshaws, I have a pair of beautiful black opals from my cousin's wedding weekend (in 2012!), and multiple pairs from our family vacation on Cape Cod.


I've written about some of my more recent adventures in previous blog posts - like our trip to Rehoboth Beach two years ago (the last time we were able to get all the kiddos in one place for more than a couple of days) - where I picked up two pairs of new earrings, and met my online jeweler friend, Hannah Long, in real life!

Some of the posts were more of a stretch - two weeks turns out to be a long time when you are posting a different piece and place every day.  So, I shared my UVa class ring and jewelry and a few pieces that I took on trips, so they weren't exactly souvenirs.

It was definitely a positive exercise, and reminded me of how much fun it is to see friends, family and new places.  Visit my Instagram, or click here to see my interactive map - and all the places and photos that I posted.

I hope you are enjoying your summer making memories and collecting souvenirs.  Our vacation in Napa was wonderful.  I didn't buy any earrings - but I did pick up a couple of cute tea towels!

Until next time.