Windowlicker

When I was a child, my (impossibly glamorous) mother was a flight attendant and my (impossibly charming) father was a consultant to the aviation industry and one of my main forms of entertainment was tracking down the little notes and things they would leave in their absence, then waiting patiently for their hopefully gift-laden return. They had different styles; my mother would hide presents around the house (a tea set, a toy stethoscope with battery-operated heartbeat) for us to find once she left, while my father liked souvenirs. For years, he would often bring me back a charm from wherever he'd been, and I've had them loose in a sack at the bottom of the traincase I use as my jewelry box ever since. I've got France (a tiny Arc de Triomphe), Orlando (Donald Duck), San Antonio (The Alamo), Dulles International Airport, Seattle, Denver, LAX, Reno, New Orleans or San Francisco (a streetcar with driver whose head bobs as the wheels turn)... and since this is the year that I'm going to do everything I've always wanted to do (e.g. take an Isadora Duncan dance class, spend some time at an ashram, et al), I'm going to get that charm bracelet.

[Travel charm bracelet,  $495 at Tiffany & Co.]

Windowlicker - from the French for window shopping: faire du lèche-vitrine - appears on Tuesday and Thursdays at 10am EST-ish.