pins on a map

Ever since I was little, I have loved maps. Geography was one of my favorite subjects in school and I still remember getting 100% on my “Super Africa” test in 7th grade (thank you, Mrs. Sabatini!).

When I was 9, we lived in Warsaw, Poland for six months (my dad was on sabbatical from the National Institutes of Health and was a visiting doctor at the National Institute of Poland). I remember my parents talking about venturing “behind the Iron Curtain” and I used to think it was a real curtain stretched across the Eastern part of Europe. Imagine my disappointment when we flew over Germany and I didn’t see anything but mountains! I later learned about the Berlin Wall and the ideological dividing line between East and West.

My dad always traveled a lot when I was younger. One day we got a large map (can’t remember where) and everyone received a set of colored push-pins (I think mine was green). The idea was that you placed a pin on each city or country you visited. My dad, of course, had more pins than the rest of us combined!

Fast forward to this summer and I finally got off my duff and purchased maps for Dane and Tate. National Geographic has the most beautiful ones, in my opinion, and I was happy to support such a worthwhile organization. (FYI, a percentage of each sale goes to worthwhile philanthropic causes.) Since each boy had his own map, we decided upon a different twist with the push-pins. The round blue ones are for places they have been, the square orange ones are for places they want to visit (we definitely want to encourage their travel dreams!).

Both rooms are loosely decorated with a travel/vintage surf theme – it’s not House & Garden worthy but they’re really happy with how it all came out!

[Photo by Kathryn Besser]