Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Our Travel Gallery Wall



Today’s post has been a long time coming… I’ve been wanting to share it pretty much ever since I started blogging and today is finally the day! 

B and I have always loved to travel and we used to travel a lot before we had our babies.  I knew very early on in our relationship that he was the one, and I thought that it would be awesome to collect frames from each of our trips to someday showcase in our house.  Therefore, from the very beginning we always made it a part of our travel itinerary to peruse the gift shops to find the tackiest cutest souvenir frames possible to save as mementos from our trips.  



We have done this for every single trip that we have ever been on together (excluding day trips to Atlanta and Athens and other cities that we frequent, because that would just be ridiculous) and we now have a collection of 36 frames.  Every single time we go on a trip, we still search for the perfect frame and we always have someone snap the perfect picture of us to showcase in said frame. 



A couple of years ago I was searching high and low for an easy way to display them, and I came across Ikea Ribba ledges… you guys, they are perfect!  We bought six of them and hung them on a wall in the kids’ playroom to house our collection.  Every time I walk by it makes me so happy because I feel that rush of so many wonderful memories from each trip!  Sometimes I find myself pausing by that wall just to reminisce about our last 13 years together.









A few things to mention about this lifelong project:

1.    The tackier the frame, the better.
2.    The name of the destination should be on the frame.  There were a few cities that we visited where I couldn’t find a frame with the destination on there, so I bought what I could find and I added it myself.
3.    Everyone who is on the trip from our family of four has to be in the picture for the frame.
4.    The picture for the frame has to be taken at the destination.
5.    We buy a frame from every trip, even if we’ve already been to that particular destination.  For example, we have been to Vegas eight times throughout the years and we bought a frame from each of our trips, which means we have eight tacky souvenir frames from Vegas alone.
6.    If we go to multiple major destinations in one trip, we buy a frame from each destination.  For example, in 2005 we flew to L.A. for a couple of days and then we drove to Vegas, so we bought one frame in L.A. and another one in Vegas.  Don’t ask me what we will do if we ever go touring around Europe… I’ll have to buy a new suitcase just to get all of my frames home.  Haha.
7.    Frames are displayed along the ledges in chronological order.
 
Some close-ups:

2003 - Las Vegas, 2004 - Snowshoe, WV, 2004 - Bahamas

2004 - Las Vegas, 2005 - Biloxi, 2005 - Biloxi

2005 - New York City, 2005 - Las Vegas, 2006 - Snowshoe, WV

2006 - Memphis, TN, 2006 - Las Vegas

2007 - Snowshoe, WV, 2007 - Los Angeles, 2007 - Vegas

2007 - Hilton Head, SC, 2007 - Maui, Hawaii, 2008 - New Orleans, LA

2008 - Snowshoe, WV, 2008 - New Orleans, LA, 2008 - Vegas

2008 - New York City, 2008 - Savannah, GA, 2008 - Orlando, FL, 2009 - Panama City, FL

2009 - Grand Canyon & Vegas, 2010 - Vegas, 2010 - Washington D.C.

2010 - Hayesville, NC, 2010 - Jacksonville, FL, 2012 - Panama City Beach, FL

2012 - New York City, 2013 - Panama City, FL, 2014 - Los Angeles, Malibu, & Ojai, CA

2014 - Myrtle Beach, SC, 2015 - Panama City Beach, FL, 2016 - Panama City Beach, FL (not pictured)


And here are a few of the types of pictures that we try to take for the frames…










Needless to say, this is a tradition that we will continue forever.  I’m hoping to one day be old and grey with a collection of over 100 frames!

Just don’t ask me how we’ll display them… we’re gonna need more ledges and a bigger wall!!

*Linking up with Our Pretty Little Girls for Tuesday Talk, and Stang & Co. and Crown Me in Glitter for Talk About It Tuesday.



19 comments:

  1. That's so fun! What a great way to capture and remember those great trips and memories. :)

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  2. This is such a great idea! I love that you buy the touristy frames and then have turned them into a gallery wall! Such a great idea!!
    Sarah at MeetTheShaneyfelts

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  3. This is such an awesome idea friend. Someday your whole family will LOVE looking at your collection.

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  4. What an awesome idea! And so so fun to do! They'd be great ways to reminisce, share with others, and bring a bit of bright happy and color! :)

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    1. Thank you, Kendall! We love it! It's always so much fun to find the tackiest frame possible, too!

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  5. I absolutely love this!! What an awesome tradition to have! I'm so jealous of how much you and Brian have traveled!!

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  6. What a fun way to keep your memories!

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  7. I love this so very much! I wish I could go back in time and create this with Jon. Hey, it's never too late, right?! So cute, Lindsay!

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  8. Oh my word! I love this. Like major LOVE this! So many memories and stories (and fun frames) all right there on one wall!

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  9. I love this Lindsay! Such a neat idea!

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  10. So going to do this! I already told Neal about this and how awesome of an idea it is! Now... we just need to travel! haha. that part is important.

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  11. I seriously LOVE this idea. It's such a fun idea and provides such a great way to display your trips!

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  12. Oh my! This just makes me smile! Love it and the memories they encompass!

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  13. This is seriously awesome! I love this way of capturing a moment from each vacation. I may need to steal this moving forward. I always buy an ornament in each place, but I like this so much more!

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  14. OH my goodness! This is so awesome! I love it. That is planning and I've been with my husband for 13 years too :) Married for 11.

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  15. I love this idea. I wish we had been doing it for a long time too. We have traveled to so many places together. Might as well start now. I love tacky frames too! Some amazing shots!

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