Magic hats and appendices: Let the packing commence!

On Labor Day here in the US, I began piling up what I want to bring on my Big European Adventure, commencing Friday.

“Want” is not an accidental adjective. Some of what I pile up is not going to make the cut. That said, I have put a fair bit of thought into what I’m taking (See Appendix I).

Among those is my new hat. Which, when I put on, declared “This is a magic hat!”

I was drawn to The Hen House by the fabulous hats in the window and the sign on the sidewalk. It quietly screamed that more than hats were happening inside.

It turned out to be kind of a hat version of Ollivander’s. The owner and her staff brazenly love hats and love hooking people up with the right one, so in short order I was walking out with my magic trip-to-Europe hat. It’s magic because it looks fabulous on me, folds up small enough to fit in my suitcase and looks and feels different depending on which part of the hat faces front when I put it on, and whether the brim is angled up or down.

Last night, I made my first attempt to start packing it, along with everything else. Everything else, that is, provided my sister doesn’t send anything else for me to schlep (See Appendix II).

I’ve pretty much chosen my wardrobe, but am having a slight shoe crisis, which I mentioned at work today. Jasmin & Brandie, my two main stylists, generously offered to help out. So, as soon as I am done writing this, I am going to unpack what I packed last night and shoot my clothes. With a camera. 

Then, I will shoot the shoe contenders. With a camera. 

Tomorrow, Brandie & Jasmin will examine and pronounce. I will go home and do a final pack. In the meantime, here is another picture from last night’s packing adventure.

Appendix I – The Packing List, organized by type (I’m a librarian, classification is kind of my thing):

• Clothing
  • Pants (2 pair – one jeans)
  • Dress (1)
  • T-shirts
  • Sweater
  • Shawl
  • Bathing suit
  • Exercise shorts
  • Dainty Unmentionables (some of which will not be coming back)
  • Hat

• Shoes
  • Hiking sandals (Chacos)
  • Tieks (gold/silver)
  • Supergas (black high tops)

• Books
  • Sardinia guidebook/Italy Guidebook
  • What fits after everything’s packed (I want to take way too many!)
  • Journal

• Amusements/Other
  • Knitting
  • Computer/ipad
  • Playing cards?
  • Travel Scrabble?
  • Electronics converter
  • Phone
  • Charging cords
  • Umbrella

• Food
  • Stroopwaffels
  • Turkey pepperoni snacks
  • Dried fruit?

• Health
  • Toothbrush/floss
  • Tums
  • Miralax
  • Ibuprophen

• Music
  • Ukulele
  • ipod

I’m going with a black/blue/gray palette with a few color pops, so any tops I bring have to play nicely with any bottoms and shoes I’m bringing. 

Appendix II – A book and a pair of shoes don’t sound like much, but context is everything and in this context, Debby may as well have sent me an elephant. (But hey, if it weren’t for her this wouldn’t be happening at all, and I only have to get it to Toronto and our rendezvous point at which point I hand it off, so things could be worse).