Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

I have been missing my metric for a blog a day, so rather than beat myself up I am changing my metric. It is now “a blog whenever my OCD is in full swing and enough ideas collect in my head to formulate a blog post”

Yesterday when I was soaking in the tub after spending an hour at the gym earning a caramel apple martini and a few pieces of Halloween candy , I glanced at all the chatzkies on my bathroom vanity shelf. A vintage crystal salt dish full of smashed pennies is a sweet little reminder of our travels. If you are not familiar with the smashed penny I have included a picture. Places like tourist destinations and museums often have a smashed penny machine. You insert two quarters and a penny, turn the crank and a 51 cent souvenir slips down the chute. The problem with smashed pennies is that they usually end up in a kitchen junk drawer or never make it out of your coin purse. Smashed pennies do not share with the world that you have been there.

Therefore, we are usually compelled to buy a t-shirt when we go on a vacation or attend a concert. I think the same factory in China makes all the souvenir t-shirts. My family has t-shirts from the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Nashville, Chicago, you name it- they all look alike. Some scheduling manager in China meets with his employees each morning and probably says in Chinese,” The Grand Canyon souvenir shop is getting low- we need to switch over the screen printing from San Francisco today.” Or something like that. We have never been to China, but we have many  t-shirts from China.

 I bought a t-shirt from Antique Archaeology in Nashville. It did strike up some conversations. One lady asked, “Is that the company where you work?” I couldn’t believe there were still people out there who didn’t know who Mike & Frank were.  I typically don’t wear t-shirts with writing on them. When I was younger, I always felt like writing across my over-sized chest was just an alibi for guys to be pretending to read. When I buy a souvenir t-shirt I usually cut off the sales tag, the sleeves and the suffocating crew neck and throw it over my yoga top. They make good work out shirts, and the sleeves good dust rags.

I recently saw a guy at the gym with an interesting t-shirt. It had California references listed on it like Diablo and Tahoe.

I said, “I LOVE Tahoe.”

He sounded surprised ,”You do?!”

I said,  "I grew up out west and spent a lot of time there as a kid.”

He said,”Well, this   t-shirt isn’t from California. These are names of marijuana dispensaries.”

"Oh," I said.

I guess I won't be going on that trip, or getting the t-shirt to prove it.