How not to travel light....

In the interest of posting more...and the fact that I've been at this work thing since 6am...and the lawn dudes are making an enormous racket outside my window...and it's time for lunch...

Here I am.

Thought I'd fill you in on what part of the Chaos I took with me to England. Thankfully, there are no photos.

One look inside my suitcase and you'd think...wow, this chick is organized. I had just the right amount of clothes...taking into account the fact that The Honey has laundry facilities, I packed light. And it was all packed - just so. Can't keep my apartment clear of clutter, but I sure as hell can pack!!!

If I was just taking over my clothes, I could have gotten away with one of those rolling carry-on thingies. Instead, I had a pretty big suitcase - which ended up weighing in at just 3lbs. under the allowable weight. What else did I bring?

Glad you asked...

Packed inside the suitcase were some goodies to spoil my Honey:

1. Five shirts I'd found at all the sales that Spencer and I had been hitting over the Holidays. (blue and gray of course, to set off his blue eyes - sappy, I know...)
2. One pound of Honey's fav coffee beans.
3. One 3lb container of just-add-water pancake mix.
4. Four small bottles of Vitamin Water in Honey's fav flavors. Originally had more, but those suckers really added to the weight factor, so had to leave half of them here.

Also packed inside were some things to give to my friend:

1. Chili Spices Kit (she's from Texas...loves her Chili)
2. Spanish rice mix
3. Taco seasoning packet
4. Sloppy Joe's seasoning packet
5. And a few more seasoning packets I can't really remember

The Honey just cracked up when I started unpacking - pulling out item after item after item... "Did you actually bring any clothes?"

And the last bit of stuff in the suitcase was my extra duffle bag (in case extra packing room was needed on the way home, for umm - YARN?), toiletry overflow (anything larger than 3oz), my small messenger bag (great for doing the touristy thing), and stuff for the return flights.

In the backpack (yes, it's pretty big):

1. Small baggie of toiletries (nothing over 3oz of course)
2. Change of undies, shirt, and socks.
3. Camera
4. Various and sundry chargers and converters
5. Cell Phone
6. Wallet, passport, tix, and all that sort of stuff
7. 3 word search puzzle magazines
8. Notebook and pens
9. Yarn, needles and pattern for fingerless mitts
10. Yarn, needles and book about socks
11. 1 very thick novel
12. 1 small stained glass cable car hanging thing for the Honey's parents
13. 2 small boxes of See's Assorted Candies (bought at the SF Airport - just couldn't pass them by and knew my friend and my Honey would enjoy them - OK OK...I WANTED them! Happy now?!?)
14. 1 bottle of water that would need to be consumed before going thru security (no problem, drank it on the way to the airport)
15. 1 adventurous Sock Monkey
16. 1 shy and frightened Ms. Cow
17. 1 light purple Pashmina shawl (wrap yourself in one of these suckers on the plane...mmmm...much better than those crap blankets they give you)

For the trip back and packed in my suitcase:

1. The first 3 Terry Pratchett Discworld Novels
2. 3 more word search puzzle magazines
3. Various and sundry British gossip magazines and tabloids (these were bought while I was there, obviously, so ignore them for now)
4. Plus most of everything else from before, minus the knitting of course (not allowed on flights leaving the UK)

What did I actually do on the way there? I did, after all, have two long flights and a layover...

1. Did one word search puzzle in the SF airport.
2. Roamed around the SF airport (yes, I was nervous and restless).
3. Took a few photos on the flight to Chicago. Couldn't really move, so couldn't really do anything. (Good thing I'm not claustrophobic.)
4. Roamed around the Chicago airport playing with the toilets and watching it snow and watching people (at this point I was VERY nervous and restless).
5. Cast on for the fingerless mitts before getting on the flight to England.
6. Knit, slept, screwed up knitting, slept some more...didn't watch the movies.
7. Carried around a big ass backpack that weighed a freakin' ton!!!!
8. Thought how ridiculous I felt carrying around a big ass backpack full of stuff I wasn't using.
9. Thought that with all the stuff I wasn't doing, I could have packed what I needed in my Trader Joe's reusable grocery bag...sigh...

I'll fill you in later about the trip home...