Packing.... Unpacking.... Repacking.....

Sweet Girl was astounded when I told her on the phone yesterday that I was packing for a trip that isn't until next week. She ought to know by now, that's how I roll. In a reversal of my usual procedure, however, I haven't packed for Hubby yet. (Yes, I still do that, please don't crucify me. You can't ever go back, you can't ever go back, you can't ever go back.)

I would be a little better at packing for trips if I would give in to my OCD tendencies. If I would write out a plan for the week, schedule when I'm going to wear what, and pack accordingly, I could save myself a lot of trouble. Not to mention avoid having one of us get a hernia from trying to lift my suitcase. (It's the big one.) I was completely packed by dinner time last night. But the thought kept nagging me that I had overpacked (as usual), and I didn't need all that stuff. I tend to be a "what if" traveler.

What if I want to walk laps around the ship's walking track?
What if I spill something on an outfit?
What if I don't FEEL like wearing the green dress Sweet Girl talked me into buying?
What if I eat so much in the first two days that nothing fits?

After dinner, I had another "what if" moment:

WHAT IF I didn't take all those clothes?
WHAT IF I had to wear something twice?
WHAT IF I wanted to wear something and didn't have it with me?

No. Big. Deal.

We are going on a cruise, and I knew I would need two "formal" outfits (unless we decide to avoid the hoopla of the formal nights, which we have been known to do). I went shopping with the express purpose of buying some casual dresses (even though I'm not usually a dress kind of girl), short cotton things that I could wear to dinner, then wear into town the next day or wear around the ship on the days at sea when the most strenuous thing we do is typically go to trivia and hope to kick some arses.

When we go to dinner on the ship, we typically go back to our room, get back into casual clothes, and sit on the balcony and watch the water go by. OCCASIONALLY we go to a show (we saw a wonderful magician/hypnotist on one of our cruises, and RARELY I can talk Hubby into going to a song-and-dance show. Sometimes we wear our dinner clothes for a grand total of two hours, and that's only because they drag out the dinner process until Hubby develops a twitch somewhere.

Sorry, I didn't mean to get so long-winded. I didn't want to scandalize anyone who might find the idea of wearing something two days in a row repulsive. Please don't look in my living room window the rest of this week.

Here is my suitcase as it was last night. It's a little misleading, because it WAS possible to zip it closed at that time, even though it doesn't look like it. I still had my swimsuits to put in, though, so I left it open.

This is a picture of all the clothes I took out of the suitcase. You probably can't tell (and I didn't take individual photos), but I have THREE formal outfits, FOUR short dresses, ONE skirt/blouse outfit, TWO skort/blouse combinations, and FIVE shorts/blouse outfits. Good. Grief.

This is after I have removed the extraneous outfits. And I still have enough clothes to wear, with room for spillages and the occasional "I'm-not-feeling-that-outfit" spells. Yo will notice I did NOT remove any of the shoes. A girl has to have her standards. You may also note that I did not include my unmentionables in any of these photos. You're welcome.

This is the suitcase after everything is neatly packed back in it.

And it zipped with ease.

 Maybe this is the process I need to go through EVERY time I pack for a trip.

Except when we travel in the RV. Having a closet along instead of a suitcase is a definite advantage.