If you move around the country a lot, like we do, have you ever noticed that when you live in a “cool” place, people come to visit?

When we lived on Siesta Key, FL, we had a little beach house. It was little, but truly fun to live in and to have friends over to enjoy our little space. We even had friends and family visit that we hadn’t seen in a while.

I wanted to record our visitors in our little beach house but thought the guest book idea was boring. As an obsessed shell collector I got an idea that I put to the test.
After assessing my shells and the ones that were readily available on my beach (in case I needed more), I picked several light-weight but sturdy shells to be my guest book.  This variety included the Southern Surfclam, Buttercup Lucine, and a few Cockles and Prickly Cockles.  I placed a handful of these shells in a low-sitting, wide-mouthed glass bowl along with a mini black sharpie pen (so it wouldn’t show too much among the shells).

Each time a friend, family member, or guest of any kind came to the house, I had them sign a seashell and date it. Some would just put their names, others wrote a message. I specifically chose a shell large enough so that it could fit a message.  My guests loved signing shells.

We moved away in 2009, but because of our guest shells, we have some wonderful memories.