My Cape Cod Souvenirs

My favorite souvenir of all time: seashells. Free, pretty, numerous and look great in containers. I find beachcombing to be extremely relaxing too. A beautiful walk along the water’s edge with pretty things I can pick up and keep? Yes please! I can’t wait to figure out how to display these - wouldn’t the mother of pearl shells look stunning all together in some sort of tall cylinder?

My other favorite souvenir is old maps. There’s something very special and rewarding to me about gazing at a beautiful map and finding the location of our hotel/house/resort where we stayed. The places we visited along the way. While roaming the streets of downtown Providence, I saw this map in the window of an antique shop for $10. SOLD. I marched right in and bought it, I was so excited I forgot to even bother haggling. The frame is horrible cheap plastic, but it kept the map safe for our journey home and is easily replaced.

Then there were just a few things I couldn't resist from the downtown Chatham gift shops. I am new to the Sloane Ranger bandwagon, but am now a huge fan. I love the simple yet fun patterns on the designs. I’ve needed a new clutch for a while, something I could throw into my purse or diaper bag or take alone (essential for working moms that have to juggle multiple bags). I had a hard time choosing from so many adorable patterns, but I decided to go with the nautical anchors as a nice reminder of our trip.

I also love this Sloane Ranger canvas wrap bracelet, the stripes are so summery and nautical and it reminds me of sails and sailboats. It pairs really well with two inexpensive sailor bracelets. I’m late to the friendship-bracelets-are-back trend, but who cares?

Lastly is the scarf. Oh I love this scarf. It reminds me of Cape Cod so much - the silvery green blue is like the color of the fog over the sea in the morning, and the bright red dots scream cranberry bogs to me. Maybe it’s all in my head, but I love it. Best of all, it was really inexpensive. Scarves (in NJ at least) are typically pricey (like$40-50ish depending on brand and materials), but this baby was $14. I should have bought more. My sister bought a really pretty bird scarf that was the same price, then we found the exact same scarf in a shop across the street for $40! What? So maybe it was just this totally awesome little shop?

So there you have it. I really tried to reign it in on my souvenirs, I didn't want to spend a lot of money on things we don’t need that will just take up more room in our very small house with very little storage. But these things will bring back lots of good memories.