Souvenirs - Lili on the Loose

13 06, 2015

Souvenir Saturday: Eiffel Tower

By Lili|June 13th, 2015|Categories: Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: 2002, Champs de Elysee, Eiffel Tower, Europe, first trip abroad 2002, France, kitchy, Paris|0 Comments

A trip to Paris isn't complete without a visit to the Eiffel Tower. I remember taking an elevator up to the main section. Back then it had a little shop and post office. I bought postcards there, and took photos on old film cameras, and climbed a bit higher. The Eiffel Tower is also an amazing sight from the ground. I remember walking around the wide boulevards and taking a cruise down the river Seine while looking up at it. One thing I didn't do right away was buy a kitchy Eiffel Tower. They were sold everywhere but seemed a bit

30 05, 2015

Souvenir Saturday: Totoro!

By Lili|May 30th, 2015|Categories: Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: 2004, Anime, Asia, Chino, film, Hayao Miyazaki, Japan, Keychain, My Neighbor Totoro, Nagano, Sister Cities, Sister Cities Japan 2004, Tonari no Totoro, Totoro|0 Comments

Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro) is one of my favorite Hayao Miyazaki film. So when I was out shopping in Chino, Japan and saw this delightfully detailed Totoro keychain I had to get him! Totoro! Souvenir Saturday is an every-other week series on the items that represent travel memories.

16 05, 2015

Souvenir Saturday: Mustache Shot Glass

By Lili|May 16th, 2015|Categories: Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: 2011, collection, Girl’s Weekend, gondolier, Las Vegas, Nevada, North America, shot glass, The Venetian, USA, Venice|0 Comments

I have a wide collection of shot glasses, but most of mine are functional. This is one of my only kitchy shot glass, from The Venetian hotel in Las Vegas. It is in the shape of a Gondolier, the people who guide the small boats in venice. I picked this up after riding the gondola in the hotel. Souvenir Saturday is an every-other week series on the items that represent travel memories.

2 05, 2015

Souvenir Saturday: A Weapon for a More Civilized Age

By Lili|May 2nd, 2015|Categories: Geek, Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: 2010, All Work and Some Play, Anaheim, business trip, California, Disney, Disneyland, lightsaber, Movie, North America, Star Wars, USA, work trip|0 Comments

I've written before about my dash through Disneyland, but wanted to show you the awesome lightsaber I built! This is the lightsaber when its "retracted". There is a button that activates the sound and light, and you kind of just throw it upwards to make the lightsaber come fully out. I picked purple as its my favorite color! After you select the base hilt (and if you wanted a double bladed lightsaber) you then select the color, and then select the various hilt customizers. One cool feature not many know about these custom lightsabers is that

18 04, 2015

Souvenir Saturday: Chocolate Frogs

By Lili|April 18th, 2015|Categories: Geek, Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: 2012, 2016, Book, Cards, chocolate, Chocolate Frog, Disney, Florida, Harry Potter, Hogsmeade, Hogwarts, Honeydukes, Islands of Adventure, Keychain, Movie, North America, Orlando, Orlando Adventure 2012, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Universal Studios, USA, Walt Disney World, Witches, Wizarding World, Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Wizards|0 Comments

Which Card Will You Get? Chocolate Frogs are an iconic snack from the Harry Potter books. They also are a great souvenir from the Wizard World of Harry Potter in Orlando, FL. I was a little worried as I had two issues when purchasing these. Firstly, it was August, and hot, and I worried that the chocolate would melt. The other issue is that you don't know what card you are going to get. At the time there were just 4 cards, one for each founder. The first few boxes I got were for Salazar Slytherin. I

4 04, 2015

Souvenir Saturday: Bagpipe Practice Chanter

By Lili|April 4th, 2015|Categories: Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: 2002, Backpacking it in England and Scotland, Bagpipe, Bagpipe Practice Chanter, castle, Chanter, clarinet, drums, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Europe, guitar, instrument, music, piano, Practice Chanter, Scotland, UK|0 Comments

I grew up learning to play many instruments from piano, drums, guitar, and the clarinet. Which is probably why this Practice Chanter to help learn how to play Bagpipes caught my eye in Scotland. Scottish Bagpipe Practice Chanter I bought it right after seeing Edinburgh Military Tattoo right outside Edinburgh Castle. It is a double reed instrument that feels like a cross between a clarinet and a recorder. But the sound is much closer to a Bagpipe/recorder hybrid. This particular Chanter...is very cheap. It is hard to play the notes, and the reed isn't the best quality. But

21 03, 2015

Souvenir Saturday: Irish Peat Turf Incense Burner

By Lili|March 21st, 2015|Categories: Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: 2009, at the heart of it Ireland 2009, Europe, Incense, Ireland, peat, turf|0 Comments

A quirky souvenir to bring back from Ireland is a Peat (or as its often called Turf) incense burner as its said there is no other smell that will certainly bring back memories like a Turf fire! Peat is the most common fuel that the Irish burn due to the countries many bogs which produce it. It comes from the accumulation of decaying plant and organic matter over thousands of years in natural wet/acidic bogs and mires. To harvest the peat by hand it is cut out of the earth with sharp hoes, then compressed, and then dried out as

21 02, 2015

Souvenir Saturday: Bismuth

By Lili|February 21st, 2015|Categories: Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: 2013, Bismuth, collection, DC, fossil, mineral, Museum Madness, North America, rock, USA, Washington DC|0 Comments

When I was little I had a rock and fossil collection. I was obsessed with dinosaurs that my mother would hide rocks, small fossils, and minerals in the dirt and then allow me to dig and find them. At some point I lost the collection in a move. So when I went to the National Museum of Natural History I decided to add to that lost collection. It took me ages to decide what type of rock or fossil was I going to get in the gift shop. I had seen photos of Bismuth on reddit and found its geometric

7 02, 2015

Souvenir Saturday: Sukiyaki

By Lili|February 7th, 2015|Categories: Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: 2004, Asia, Japan, music, music box, Sister Cities Japan 2004, song, souvenir, sukiyaki, Tokyo|0 Comments

Sometimes the best part of the souvenir is the memory about buying it. In high school I was studying Japanese and our teacher assigned us a project to go to a local university's Asian culture week. I was obsessed with all things Japan, and so had a great time. One of the panel sessions that I went to was on the history of the song Sukiyaki. In 1963 this song reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US and is the only Japanese language song to do so. It is also one of the best selling singles

24 01, 2015

Souvenir Saturday: Guatemalan Jade

By Lili|January 24th, 2015|Categories: Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: 2013, Antigua, Aztec, buying guide, Central America, Guatemala, Jade, jadeite, Mayan, Mayan Encounter 2013, necklace, nephrite, Olmec, shopping|0 Comments

When traveling to Guatemala, I knew I wanted to get a piece of Jade jewelry. There are two stones that are considered “Jade”: nephrite and jadeite. Nephrite is more common and is often used for carvings, while jadeite is harder and denser and so is often used for jewelry. Guatemalan jade is of the jadeite variety and comes in a variety of green colors as well as more unique finds like lavender or black. Jade was precious to the ancient Mayan, Olmec, and Aztec civilizations as it was a status symbol of wealth, power, and life itself. Thus, jade makes