Saturday, August 02, 2008

There's just something about a fun pen...

I've mentioned before on this blog that shopping is not my favorite thing to do. While in Europe I had to be flexible about this because souvenirs needed to be purchased. And apparantly kids think they need something *anything* from every single place you go to. As a rule, I'm usually the one outside the shop holding the bags. However, there is one exception to that rule. I love a fun pen.

So while the kids were scanning the shelves for things too large for our suitcase, I'd walk to the front of the store and glance at the jar of pens that would inevitably be for sale next to the cash register. Mostly the selection was disappointing but I did find the above pictured syringe pen at the Sherlock Holmes museum in London. I also found a darling pen in London where the clicker is the head of a London guard. Very cute!

Pens hold endless possibilities. Hidden inside their tiny pools of liquid ink are love letters, lists and murder plots. To hide all that inside something fun, weird, or fanciful just makes me giggle.

So how about you? Are you a suvenir shopper? Do you fill your suitcase with collector spoons, thimbles and t-shirts, or do you prefer all your memories on kodak paper?

4 comments:

Dru said...

I'm a souvenir-shopper. I like to at least get one items from every place I go whether it's a t-shirt or a referigerator magnet.

Anonymous said...

I used to always want those funky brown glass mugs. No clue why. Then I wisely switched to postcards. They take up a lot less space. :)

Anonymous said...

I use to be a souvenir shopper until scrap booking became popular now I take trillions of photos, purchase postcards and save napkins and the like for our vacations, then when I get home I spend hours cutting and pasting making a lasting memory of our vacation. Although my teenagers still love to purchase t-shirts from places we have been too. One of my friends has taken her children's old t-shirts and made a quilt depicting all their travels.

B.E. Sanderson said...

Love the pen, Wendy. What a hoot. I like to buy souvenirs on occasion, but it has to be something that catches my eye. Oh, and they're usually things I buy for someone else. My mom has t-shirts from all over the place now, and my daughter has quite a collection of goodies. Me? The only souvenirs I have are ones someone else bought for me. =o)