Packing

I�m off to Bris-Vegas in the morning for an action packed 27 hours of lunch, party and lunch. And I�m having a packing crisis.

I am usually an extremely light packer. I have only had to check-in luggage on a domestic flight once in the last ten odd years. And that was only because I was going somewhere for two weeks and needed to take holiday, work and formal event clothes as well as my computer. Going overseas I wouldn�t need to check my bag on the way over if it didn�t have to be big enough to carry back all my shopping.

This weekend I�m having a bit more trouble though. Not that I�ve actually started packing yet. Haven�t even got out a bag. My flight�s not until mid-morning, so I�ve got plenty of time to do the actual packing, it�s the virtual packing in my head that�s taking the time and causing the trouble.

The main purpose of my trip is to attend my cousin�s engagement party on Saturday night. Originally I was just going to wear something I already owned for this event, but last weekend I found a really cool dress that will be perfect. (Side note: yes, another dress. That�s two in about two months to bring my grand total to three. And yes, it�s in exactly the same kind of fifties style cut as the one purchased for next weekend�s wedding because that�s the only cut of dress that remotely suits me.) Now this dress is the start of the packing problems. And the problem is shoes. It�s not wrong to take five or six pairs of shoes for a 27 hour trip, is it?

Its not that I plan to wear that many pairs, its just that I can�t decide which ones will be appropriate at the time. See Bris-Vegas is hot and humid, and currently its pissing down with rain there. This makes swollen feet pretty likely. Which means that the shoes that go best with the dress � cream round toe Marc Jacobs sandals with a 3� inch stacked wooden heal � may not be the best option. But if the weather�s a bit cooler and I�m not doing too much running around in the afternoon they�ll be perfect. So I need to take both them and my green leather flip flops just in case.

I�ll probably wear sneakers on the plane, but for lunch with the family on Saturday and/or lunch with my friends on Sunday I have my multi-coloured wedge sandals which are really cool but also fairly new and not properly stretched out yet, so again a problem with the swollen feet. If we�re just going car-restaurant-car it won�t be a problem, but if there�s walking involved or its still pissing down with rain my slip-ons are probably a better idea.

So that�s five pairs already. Ridiculous, I know, but I just don�t see any way around it.

At least I won�t we taking that many clothes for such a short trip so it should all still fit in my carry-on bag.

It has to fit in my carry-on. It will fit in my carry-on.

At least I was able to arrange the engagement present with a friend up there and have it delivered so I don�t have to carry that as well.

Currently looking at: the beautiful flowers my client brought me this afternoon for wrapping up their project.

Grumbling at: the fact that The West Wing DVDs recently released in the States include tons of extras whereas the Region 2 and 4 releases, which I have, have none even if they were released tons earlier.