Summer Travel -- Packing Light

Last week I bombarded my Instagram with my week-long whirlwind adventure on the East Coast.

Fun times! 

I did not want to pay for inflight checked luggage, was traveling by various modes of transportation (plane, ferry, bus, subway, train), and needed to keep my load streamlined. I required a range of garments to take me from the city (Providence and Manhattan) to casual 4th of July activities (and inactivity) at my Mom's. Not to mention a Smithereens concert in the Hamptons. 

All packed and ready to go, with a Züca roll-aboard and Fabletics tote.
This is before I realized that I could use the tote's yoga mat straps to anchor my pillow.

For packing, I've been using an ever-changing Excel doc for years.

Both a hand-written list and my Excel chart. 

The Monday before I left, I came up with a perfect travel outfit:

I added black modal lounge pants and clogs and wore this on three (maybe four) days of my trip, including my day in Manhattan with Ally (see Ally's writeup here). Perfect fabrications for summer in the East (cotton, rayon modal) and the knits gave comfortable stretch.

The Züca roll-aboard comes with a set of six zippered pouches, which helps compartmentalize one's packing.
Here are the socks that I packed:

I only wore the two pairs in the foreground. The weather was too hot.

Another item that I didn't wear was what I call my "Paris" tunic,
so called because the print reminds me of a 50's French illustration style:

I just wasn't feeling it.

To be more efficient, I now save my packing charts and notate which garments did not get worn. This can save me from packing them again. With the above tunic, I remember thinking "If only this were 4" longer." I have more of the fabric, so it has been sent to the Sewing Mountain for rehab.

Linking up with My Refined Style
and
Patti's Visible Monday

Do you ever pack the same thing over and over and never wear it?

52 Pick-me-up: Pink / Discovery / Journey

•••  

OK. There is some deep synchronicity happening. As this gets published, I'll be en route to just home in LA from Newark, NJ. Hello Journey, I hope you are you were a smooth one! (You know I'd rather drive, right?)

Severo had a gig at the Suffolk Theater in Riverhead, NY and very kindly offered to bring me along. It's not often that I get to play groupie these days and I jumped at the opportunity.

We arrived in Manhattan a couple of days early and were able to explore some museums (along with eat prodigious amounts of food). Thursday night, we went the the New Whitney, now located at 99 Gansevoort St, at the foot of the High Line. It's an exciting space, and makes it possible for the museum to exhibit more of its vast collection. They're open unusually late until 10pm [still closed Tuesdays], and it's scenic to walk the High Line at sunset, then explore the museum as it gets dark.

Pink was on my mind as we viewed the current exhibit, America Is Hard To See (runs until 9/27).

Philip Guston, Dial, Oil on linen, 1956

I started noticing lots of pink ladies:

Reginald Marsh, Ten Cents a Dance, Tempera on composition board, 1933

Paul Cadmus, Sailors and Floosies, Oil and tempera on linen, painted wood frame, 1938

Thomas Hart Benton, Poker Night (from A Streetcar Named Desire), Tempera and oil on linen, 1948

George Tooker, The Subway, Tempura on composition board, 1950

Willem de Kooning, Woman and Bicycle, Oil, enamel, charcoal on linen, 1952-53

And families:

Allan D'Arcangelo, Madonna and Child, Acrylic and gesso on canvas, 1963

Robert Bechtle, '61 Pontiac, Oil on canvas, 1968-69

Marisol, Women and Dog, Wood, plaster, acrylic, taxidermic dog head, found objects 

Hey! I know that guy photobombing the art!
It's my resident rock star!

The Smithereens from the wings, Suffolk Theater, Riverhead, NY, August 15, 2015

And partner in gluttony:

Pink and Whites from William Greenberg

And general silliness:

In the Egyptian wing of The Met

Did I wear any pink this trip? Yes, indeed!

The trusty 60's shift and new 99¢ socks from Jack's

[Added] Linking up with Beverly's Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound

Been any place new lately? What did you discover?
Pink / Discovery / Journey -- link and tell:

52 Pick-me-up: International Women's Day, Week

LINKS/ PURCHASED/ PURLOINED/ GIFTED/  

So what could be a better way to celebrate International Women's Day (today, March 8) than booking my room in Vancouver, BC for a blogger meet-up this summer?

Our hostess Suzanne Carillo is putting together a meet-up of INTERNATIONAL SUPERSTARS!
I will finally meet some of my muses (Melanie, Sue, Trina, Tami, Sheila, Pat, Ally, Charlotte -- I'm looking at you) and reconvene with Patti, Bella, Val, and Natalia. (Bella and Val -- would it help you decide if you had a ride up there? I might just drive it! I promise to refrain from taking photos while driving if you are passengers).

Here is the list so far (lifted from Suzanne's page):

Melanie – Bag and a Beret 
Sue – A Colourful Canvas
Patti – Not Dead Yet
Sylvia – 40+Style
Bella – The Citizen Rosebud (t)
Greetje – No Fear of Fashion
Trina – Tea Time With Trina
Dawn – Fashion Should Be Fun
Tami – Thrift Shop Commando
Sheila – Ephemera
Pat – Project Minima 
Natalia – In The Writer’s Closet
Val – Muse Fondue (t)
Ally – Shybiker
Lana – Two Teens and Their Mama
Jennifer – A Well Styled Life
Charlotte – Sublime Mercies
Mrs. C – Mrs. Jack of all Trades (t)
Louisa – Damselfly’s Delights
Gaylen – G Marie
Anne – Spy Girl
Shawna – The Director Of Awesome
Tiina -Elegance Revisited
Jodi – Day 2 Day Wear

Oh the fun we shall have!

In lieu of lots of gifts (but how can we resist???) we will be doing a clothing swap.
Since I'm half-heartedly culling my closet, I've already pulled some potential gems:

[Late add]
The meeting of SpyGirl and Citizen Rosebud, May 20, 2014:

We got the Pattern Max memo

It's a Visible Monday week chez Patti, you'll see me there!

Have anything special in mind for celebrating Int'l Women's Day/ Week/ Month?

Link and tell!

Island Fever on Top, Business Chic on Bottom

CREATED/ PURCHASED/ PRESS SAMPLE*/ LINKS/

And a book in my hands!

*sunglasses frames c/o *DITTO

Yes, it's T3 (Thoughtful Third Thursday) time. I know, it's Saturday today. Call it T4: Tardy Thoughtful Third Thursday.

What came first, the outfit or the reading material? OK, I'll confess, I put together the outfit first. A weird mix of neutrals, if you remove the Hawaiian shirt. I found the deep purple tights in the bottom of my drawer which I thought went well with the red-cast navy in the shirt. I became very fond of the color over the course of the day. Alas, the elastic was fried, so it was their swan song. The shell necklaces are Hawaiian luau souvenirs from a fabulous trip to the Big Island in 2005.

"What's the book?" you ask?

Unsuitable for Ladies, by Jane Robinson
That's Osa Johnson on the cover in 1921. Isn't she the bee's knees?

The quote:
"This is not a proper travel book... it is an account of my best horror journeys, chosen from a wide range, recollected with tenderness now that they are past. All amateur travellers have experienced horror journeys, long or short, sooner or later, one way or another. As a student of disaster, I note that we react alike to our tribulations: frayed and bitter at the time, proud afterwards. Nothing is better for self-esteem than survival. ...We're not heroic like the great travellers but all the same we amateurs are a pretty tough breed. No matter how horrendous the last journey we never give up hope for the next one, God knows why." Martha Gelhorn, Travels with Myself and Another

It was a complicated process, but I'll just say this quote found me. Both this book and Martha's have been added to my mobile road trip library. I depart next Thursday! Keep current with the trip here. Pitch in some financial aid here -- every dollar much appreciated!

Linking up with T3 today,
and Patti's Visible Monday tomorrow.

Lurex Lights Me Up

Severo and I made a quick overnight trip up to San Francisco so he could retain his Platinum status on American.
This is what I wore:

I wear this skirt often, it's very comfortable.
I had no idea that the sparkly lurex in some of the stripes would become an issue at airport security!

Did you know that lurex is metallic? I didn't even consider it.

This is what my screening looked like:

I modified this image by Joe Raedle, Getty Images.
The yellow boxes indicate metal objects.

I was all lit up like a Christmas tree!
That's the last time I'll wear THAT skirt flying!

Linking up with Patti's Visible Monday

My Dream Suitcase

When you read this, I will be far far away from home and on vacation. Woohoo!

As I prepared for my trip, I envisioned my dream suitcase:

• It had those modern roll-in-all-directions wheels.

• It had a telescoping handle that operated as smooth as silk.

• It was hard, and exactly the shape and size of my mom's fifties train case from her honeymoon suitcase set that I took on sleepovers with my cousin. (It was ideal for storing the Barbies).

Source

How about taking said case and frankensteining on the other two parts? THAT is my dream suitcase: small enough to fit under the plane seat and sturdy enough to rest my feet on.

These daydreams transpired because last January, during a harried "Amazing Race" type sprint between gates, I gave myself bursitis in my left shoulder from carrying an overloaded tote and clutching my laptop with a death grip. My right side isn't allowed to carry anything (thanks lymphedema). In March, I experimented with using a small rollaboard for the electronics. It worked OK, but I had my boyfriend along to do the heavy lifting, and the handle does not retract well.

So I daydreamed... and in passing, mentioned my pipe dream to my co-worker. She said "There's a rolling suitcase the skater girls use that they can sit on to put on their skates." (Her son plays hockey). OMG! How genius! A roll-aboard that can be sat on during all that standing around and waiting. THIS I had to track down!

Meet the Züca!

Source

Here is a video of the Züca in action:

I tried to get 18 days of outfits into mine, but was thwarted by the beach towel and, well, a few other things.

Style Report: Going Greyhound

Is it possible to travel by Greyhound bus and still look chic?
These girls illustrate how:

closeup of back of dress

Not chic but still cute