Pre-packing

I just spent the morning pre-packing for my trip. Oh! I didn't tell you already? Well, at the end of the week, Audra and I are making our second annual pilgrimage to the sun to start off the winter right!

Here's what I'm planning on packing, all nicely organized and laid out, without making a mess and taking up room in my little flat. I got the idea of doing this from Pinterest and it's a stroke of genius. By just doing simple little sketches (I'm no artist, believe me!) I could clearly see what was missing, what color shoes needed to be included and I have a handy little checklist for when it's time to put it all in the suitcase.

Here's the whole week's worth of stuff mapped out on two pieces of notebook paper. (The scale is so out of whack, it makes me laugh. The big caftans are smaller than my capri pants and the bras look like they'd fit on Monkey – who himself is proportionately gigantic!)

Next is a close up of the shirt section. Right after this illustration is a picture of some of the actual clothing pieces I pulled from storage buckets this morning so you can see that you don't have to be able to draw to do this. Just getting the essence of an item is enough.

 (Yeah, yeah… I know I need to iron. They've been packed away for a couple months!)

I have two maillot suits (one navy, one black) plus some coordinating tops and bottoms for tankinis. That'll cover me for a week in the sun for sure!

I actually said to myself as I was doing this "If I have to narrow it down to only five pairs of Bonannos, it's going to be impossible!" But once I colored in all the other clothes, I saw that these five (along with two pairs of flip flops and plain black ballet flats) will cover me off with everything I have. (What? 8 pairs of shoes is a perfectly reasonable amount for a week's trip!)

And of course, I can't forget my most important travel accessory… the Mayan Riviera will be another brand new destination for my world traveller!