the souvenir treatment

As you might have guessed, I like to do a little bit of shopping on vacation. (last vacation related post, promise) But I never really gravitate toward souvenir type things. We've already got enough crap at home, we don't need any additional t-shirts or koozie holders.

But there is one exception. Sea shells. For some weird reason I'm wicked psycho about seashells. It is physically not possible for me to walk down the beach without bending over every two steps to pick up a shell. It's great cardio. I even have a type of shell that I look for each year - this year was sand dollars. (told you - psycho much?!)

This means however that each year, at the end of our annual beach trip, I have a huge basket of seashells that I can't bring myself to leave behind. So I also pick up these old glass canisters from the local architectural salvage thinking I'll store all my shells like some awesome organized person.

And each year they sit in the garage of some awesome unorganized person.

So this year, damn it, I was going to get these things cleaned and put in their place.

First things first, I followed these steps to clean the shells. I had to do them in batches and they took forever to dry, but otherwise not hard at all.

I wanted to add a label to mark each year but I didn't want to stick or spray anything on the canisters. So I went to Michael's and picked up some labels Martha made some for me, and grabbed the twine from the garage. (which ironically was right next the the shells on the shelf)

I didn't want anything to precious or perfect but rather relaxed and easy - just like vacation. So I just wrote the year on each label and tied them around the top of the jar with the twine.

Voila.

Each year lined up and ready to go.

For now they are living on the bookshelves in the family room so I can look at them while I watch TV and remember good times. (the trips, not the tv show) Dynomite!

btw - I HATE taking pictures in the basement. Crap lighting.

What do you bring back from vacation? Does it end up in the closet? Have you found a special place for it?