Lovin' Souvenir Shoppin'Hey, how are you today?? I hope your weekend is off to a great start!  Today began with an early drive out east to Remsenburg. The girls have horseback riding, to which they haven't been in about three weeks. So, needless to say, they are stoked! I promised myself I would bike ride and power walk while they are at the barn. Let's hope I follow through!!  Kelsey and Buddy Alrighty then!! Let's get to the real deal here - SHOPPING!! I love saturdays because next to eating, shopping is my next favorite thing to do! I've taught my daughters well too because they love to shop! So what is one thing everyone that travels purchases at least once? Souvenirs!! Whether it is for me or for someone back home, I always manage to nab a few purchases while I'm visiting new places. How about you? Do you know... What "souvenir" means? The word "souvenir" originates from the French meaning of the word of the same spelling, meaning memory. What are the most common types of souvenirs? Clothing such as t-shirts, hats, and scarves, as well as gift items such as mugs, tea towels, spoons and stationery. Why we usually buy souvenirs? The most common reason we as travelers buy souvenirs is for those special individuals that were not present with us on our voyage. In fact, in some cultures like Japanese, it is considered shameful if you do not return from a trip without gifts for those left behind!
One of my best souvenir shopping trips was Paris!! In March, 2013, I went to Paris with Gianna and Kelsey, my mom and Tedd. We bought souvenirs of every kind from beautiful table runners in Giverny, to hats, gloves and sweatshirts as we walked around feeling colder than expected, to beautiful books and hand-drawn sketches and mugs, scarves and aprons for the family back home! Now the real souvenir would have been if I was able to pack up all the delicious croissants, crepes and desserts!!! I guess that will just have to be a tasty memory! In honor of Tanya's upcoming trip to Iceland, I've listed the Top 11 Souvenirs to Buy in Iceland: 1- Lava Rock Jewelry 2- Icelandic Woolen Goods 3- T-shirts 4- 66 Percent North Gear 5- Icelandic Music 6- Books 7- Viking Beer Glasses 8- Blue Lagoon beauty products 9- Reyka Vodka 10 - Islandic Hot Dog Mustard 11- Islandic Design EXCITING NEWS - JUST IN!! Travelin' Cousins has just been listed and approved on the Top Mommy Blogs Website/Index!!!! Tanya and I are so excited about this! I'd like to draw your attention to the right sidebar ------>---------> Underneath where you can subscribe to get the Daily Scoop delivered directly to your email box (I hope that you are already subscribed...if not please do so TODAY), you'll notice the Top Mommy Blogs logo. In order for us to stay listed on this site, WE NEED VOTES - one click is all it takes! Thanks for your ongoing support!! Hope your day is as special as you are!! -E  | Stoked for SaturdayHi everyone! It's Saturday...Yay!!! Our day was suppose to start off with taking Dominic to his wrestling class, but they changed the schedule and now it starts a whole 2 hours EARLIER then it use to and this kid just did NOT want to wake up. Oh well... He still has another class to go to at 11:30a that he won't miss! And before heading over to his class we are going to Green Bliss Cafe - which has become our regular Saturday morning breakfast spot! Acai Bowls (for the grown ups) and Cinnamon Rolls for the youngins! Mmm :)   I'm totally stoked, this is afterall listed in our Foodie Friday Article as the 'World's BEST ACAI BOWL'! And it's soon gonna be in my belly!!! As for the yummy Cinnamon Rolls, they are freshly delivered to Green Bliss Cafe from my friend Robin over at Life is Sweet Bake Shoppe! Where I recently ordered Cosette's request of a Boston Cream Pie for her birthday cake! And it was DELISH!!! Click HERE to take a look...and drool! After our Saturday morning routine, I will be heading over to the salon for a much needed manicure - kinda thinking Halloween themed nails?! And then later tonight in celebration of my dear Cosette's birthday, she wanted to go to a Mystery Dinner! FUN! We will be heading up to Los Angeles and going to Keith & Margo's Murder Mystery Dinner, which has RAVE reviews and is listed as LA's BEST!!! I hope my little sleuth loves it! On another note completely and very excitedly; I'd like to draw your attention to the right sidebar ------>--------->-------->-------->---------->>>>>> It's right underneath where you can subscribe to get the Daily Scoop delivered directly to your email box (I hope that you are already subscribed...if not please do so TODAY), as you'll notice we are now listed and approved on the Top Mommy Blogs Website/Index!!! Yay Us! In order for us to stay listed on that site, we need your votes - one click is all it takes! :)  And now about Travel and how stupid I feel... Elisa and I spent a good amount of time yesterday getting excited and doing some serious looking at our calendars as to when we can fit in the Pacific Northwest Road Trip...which I am very excited about. Well, we decided that the end of April was going to work out best. Not until a couple of hours later did I look at the calendar again (working on Dave B's Birthday Road Trip to Moab & National Parks), when I remembered that my sweet little niece Chaplin's birthday is on April 30th and that there is no other way that I could fit the trip in our April calendar and of course there is no way that I would miss this little cutie's birthday!  Chaplin & Cosette, 2013 Sooooo, it seems like we are going to do a trip to Yellowstone instead, because it will be a shorter trip (which was originally on the calendar for spring 2016). Whew! Well, Dominic will be/is certainly happy, because he is the one who actually initiated a trip back to Yellowstone! We did a road trip there last Fall (click HERE for more on that trip and lots of PICTURES), and it obviously really made an impression on him! It even made it on his Favorites List!!! That's about it for now folks! Please be sure to check out Elisa's side for lots of fun info all about Souvenirs!! Which I am a huge sucker for!! And while I am a proud Italian, you might even think that I have some Japanese influence since I bring back Souvenirs from all my travels to the entire gang here in Cali!!! It's one of my favorite parts of travel! Hope to see you in the comments! -T  |
