Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Packing for Ireland


Let's be honest with each other. We all have our faults. Mine is procrastination...among a few others. I get excited about a big trip, research all about it: what I should bring, how I should pack, etc. Then the procrastination sets in and I just don't pack. I think about it. I fantasize about it. I just don't do it.

We packed the day before leaving for our trip to Ireland. This caused me quite a bit of stress but I just couldn't bring myself to do it before. I kept going back and forth about whether I should use one of the larger checked bags or just try to do a roll-a-board. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm not high maintenance by any stretch of the imagination but I do want to wear different clothes each day. I also don't have a lot of clothes that you can wash in sinks and line dry by the next day, so it's not like I could pack 2
t-shirts and a pair of pants for a 10 day trip.

I packed:
Clothes-
     9 undershirts/tanks
     8 t-shirts/tops
     1 dress
     1 jacket
     3 bras
     9 pairs of underwear
     2 sets of PJs
     8 pairs of socks
     1 colorful scarf
     2 pairs of shoes
Toiletries-
     Meds, including motion sickness Rx in case either of us didn't do well on the flight (we didn't need it)
     Castile soap (if we needed to sink-wash anything, for body wash, and face wash)
     Moisturizer & eye cream
     Eye drops
     Evian Mister to wake me up on the plane (this sounds just stupid but honestly, it was really, really nice to help me feel human again on the plane)
     Makeup (I wore this about half the time)
     2 pairs earrings
     Q tips
     Body loofah (I had read that many hotels in Europe don't have wash clothes because it's thought of as too personal. We encountered the same thing, only one of our hotels had them)
     Shampoo & conditioner

Packing lessons learned:
1) Make sure you don't leave anything hanging over the shower rail. This is how I ended up with only 1 pair of jeans (the one I wore to the airport).
2) Yes, your outfits deserve thought but if you're going somewhere where the weather necessitates wearing a jacket, make sure you like your jacket. I'm wearing my jacket in pretty much every picture.
3) If a beauty product doesn't work for you at home, it probably won't work for you on vacation. I always think those face wipes will be great (and I don't think they count as liquid) but they almost always break me out. I tried taking them to Ireland and guess what? They broke me out! I ended up using the castile soap and making sure I moisturized well.

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Sunday, May 12, 2013

Coastal Getaway


Sometimes life gets taken over by routines. By tasks. By things that have to get done. Even though I work 3 days a week and T works from home, we have still found ourselves needing to be purposeful about spending time together. I mean real time, not just sitting on the couch "watching TV" with each of us on our respective laptops.

How do you make time for each other? We've been talking about planning fun things as well as being more spontaneous. A recent Wednesday was just what we'd been looking for. We woke up, lazed around in bed a bit, and then I found myself saying, "Why don't we go somewhere today?" T had recently found some hotels/B&B type places that he had emailed me to check out, so I asked about them. Laying there in bed we picked a place and made a reservation for that night. All we had to do was pack a few things, put out more munchies for the cats and get gas. We were set!

We made our way to Manzanita, Oregon by way of Route 30. We stopped in Astoria for lunch at the Rogue Brewery where the Idaho buffalo chips were super yummy, the rest...not as much. I was really excited to try their own brew of root beer but it was terrible! For some reason it had a very iron aftertaste. Who wants to drink something that leaves you with the taste of blood in your mouth? We wound through other little towns until we made our way to our destination of Manzanita, a town of about 600 on the Oregon coast.

We stayed at Manzanita Costal Cabins with our own hot tub and sauna, hung out on the beach, and getting our paws sticky making smores by the fire pit. Loved our time together. There's just something nice about getting away, even if it's just for a night.







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