How quickly reality can hit once returning from vacation!  Here are a few of my (and my friends’) favorite ways to bring home a little of that vacay feel:

MUSIC: We have a CD (The Drifters) we always put in when driving to the beach.  When listening to it at home, it has the power to take me back there – in my head that is. (If you’re like me, music has a way of taking you back to LOTS of places / times…)

Beach Sand in Candleholders

NATURE: Looking for shells* (there are 3 kinds I specifically look for) is my equivalent to an Easter egg hunt.  My favorites are in a glass container right here on my desk.

Also, I use sand from my favorite beach* at the base of my hurricane candleholders.  (The pic shows the hurricanes with the beach sand in bottoms. From Mother’s Day dinner: our kids love eating in the dining room – which we don’t do often – so they took charge of setting the table.  Except lighting of the candles + preparing the fabulous meal! My husband is an amazing cook – he actually LOVES to cook and thinks it’s a stress reliever!!?!! I think he should have his own cooking show!!!)

JOURNAL: After trips, we jot down our favorite memories … interesting to see what other family members says – it’s often not what you’d think but that’s why it’s so awesome to record!   (BTW, our Occasions album (in the works) will provide {easy/flexible/customizable} ways to remember your vacation, plan it – or both!)

OTHER IDEAS:

  • good book from locale (coffee table book, cookbook) noting inside the cover the vacation date & memorable details
  • postcards (keep in a favorite container such as a wooden bowl or decorative box)
  • wine corks (we keep all of ours – had to move collection to a bigger container – and about to have to do again!)
  • t-shirts (my kids and husband do this; these become their favorite go-to’s.  Heard about making a quilt out of old favorite t-shirts once kids outgrow them –  Goodwill would just toss our t-shirts in the dumpster if we tried to donate! – but don’t know when/if I’ll ever get around to it… possibly a neat business idea for someone who sews – mail all the t-shirts / receive a cool quilt in return??!)
  • photo book of favorite pics

* Can you tell we’re beach people?  Even though just two hours away, we’ve only done the theme parks (Disney, etc.) one time.  And it’ll probably be the last (wishful thinking… probably not the last).  I’ll never forget our day at Aquatica in the August heat where EVERYONE is barefoot & stripped down to a bathing suit. We spent 80% of the time waiting in lines, 2 % on the actual rides and 28% of the time squeezed into the few shelters waiting out a storm.  (Okay, actually 18% of that “too intimate shelter time” but it felt more like 28%.) 

{We did LOVE Sea World and were moved (to tears, literally) by the beautiful Shamu performance.  I have an incredible clip that I’ll have to share in a future post.}

BTW, I’m sure our beach vacations would probably bore some to tears.  We’re all different which is a wonderfully good thing!