Holiday Packing – Follow up

This past week, my blog feed has been filled with posts about about Thanksgiving, snow, Christmas and holiday decorating.

 

I interrupt these festivities to bring you an update about  what I packed for a trip to Hawaii.

 

The rainy weather comes fairly early here on the West Coast and with the Remembrance Day holiday in early November, many families take a holiday to a sun destination before the real cold and rain sets in.

A few weeks ago, I lamented about what to pack for this trip.  I do this for most trips and always pack just a few too many things.  So, to move this along so that you can get back to your blanket scarf and holiday decorating,  here is what I packed:

• 3 pairs of shorts (black, khaki, distressed denim)
• 2 black & cream short patterned dresses
• 1 long black & grey maxi dress
• 2 tank tops (orange & blue)
• 1 skirt (grey)
• 4 tees (white, black, graphic and purple)
• 1 pair of lululemon athletic pants (to wear on the plane)
• 1 cardigan (black)
• 1 sport jacket (black – to wear on the plane)
• 3 bathings suits
• 2 cover ups
• exercise clothes
• 1 pair of sandals, 1 pair of flip flops and Nike fun runners

 

Are you wondering how much of this I wore?  You might be surprised.

• 1 pair of shorts  – the black ones only. Realized that I don’t like the distressed denim ones and didn’t need the khaki ones.
• 1 short dress – made by Columbia with a built in bra in a forgiving pattern for wrinkles and spills.  The other dress was an impulse online order and never fit well or looked good.
• 1 long maxi dress – wore a couple times for dinner – love it!
• 1 tank top – the orange one added colour to my shorts and fit better than the blue one I dragged along
• 1 skirt – this grey t-shirt skirt goes everywhere with me and pretty much any top goes with it.  Super easy to pack and wear.
• 3 tees – I wore the white one the most, then the graphic one and lastly the purple one.  The black one stayed in my suitcase the whole time, which is surprising for me.
• 2 bathing suits were worn and both cover ups.
• All the shoes were worn regularly.

 

So, as you can see I slightly overpacked.  Not by a great amount but there were about 8 extra items that hooked a ride on my trip and weren’t needed.

These hot tropical type vacations really don’t require a lot of clothing.  You rarely see the same people twice, most condos have laundry facilities and with the exception of the odd dinner out, it is a pretty casual trip.  Bring along a few pieces of jewellery and voila your outfit has changed.

We now resume our regular programming.  Cue Christmas music, elf and holiday decorating.

 

linking up with: Pleated Poppy, Happiness at Mid-life, Fashion Should Be Fun, Curly Crafty Mom, Jo-Lynne Shane

 

Turkey

Well, another American Thanksgiving has come and gone.
I am lying in bed on Black Friday night, exhausted. Today I spent three hours at a college football game and another three hours in my car trying to get past the other 69,999 fans and the millions (ok, it seemed liked millions) of bargain shoppers. There is nothing I want or need badly enough for myself or anyone else to stand in line for hours on end.
But back to Thanksgiving! My future hubby and I cooked for our four daughters. Four daughters.
Last year we tried our hand at deep frying the turkey for the first time. We over-deep-fried it and watched as we all sawed through it and drowned it in gravy.
Determined to have a win this year, we gave it another go and…voila! Success! Better than success, actually. Future Hub fried that thing to perfection while I whipped up Paula Deen’s rub that I brushed on when it came out if the fryer. Hellloooo butter. Awesome. Highly recommend it.
The one holiday dish thing I can’t figure out is how to perfect my 18 year-old future stepdaughter’s favorite side dish. Don’t gag…Velveeta Broccoli Casserole. What IS Velveeta? It’s supposed to melt in the oven when you cook the whole thing together with the crushed Ritz crackers on top (more butter, right?) but it doesn’t melt. It’s like rubber or plastic or some other foreign matter and the girl loves this dish but I can’t get it right. At least I didn’t for the second time though she claimed to like it but maybe we’re just turning a corner and she’s being polite. Who knows? I’ll take a Christmas miracle when I can get one.
Anyways, deep fried turkey. If you haven’t tried it, you should. And beforehand you should watch deep fried turkey disasters on YouTube for what-not-to-dos. Funny stuff on there.

I love…

I haven’t posted in a long time and have just spent the past 30 minutes reading all the good stuff my sister in Canada has been blogging about.

It’s Veteran’s Day here in the U.S. and Thanksgiving is just two weeks away. I have yet to embrace that holiday with same fervent passion my American friends do (I really just love the extra long weekend) but I came across something the other day that made me smile and be thankful.

My youngest brought a journal home from school that they are allowed to just write in whenever they have extra time. Sometimes the teacher will give them a topic. It isn’t marked or recorded. Just for extra writing practice.

The first two made me love that kid even more. The 4th item is abbreviated. It stands for American Girl (the dolls, the store, the works). I love that she added family and some people that will soon be family. I love that she added music singers. She loves to sing and listen to music of all genres.

Most of all I love that she wrote this in her journal knowing that probably no one other than herself would read it. She didn’t know that I would browse through it and she certainly doesn’t know I’m behaving like one of those obnoxious FB moms who posts about how selfless and generous their kid is.

But I did and I am. Just not on FB.

linking up with The Jenny Evolution

Happy Thanksgiving

Here in Canada, today is Thanksgiving and because of the holiday, we get a long weekend!

Here are just a few photos showing how we spent our Thanksgiving weekend:

A simple dinner of baked ham and roasted veggies.  Sometimes the simplest meals taste the best.

My new collection of pumpkins.  I have been seeing the white pumpkins all over Pinterest and I am so glad I have some for myself!

We spent this morning at Kits Beach.  It was such a beautiful day!  The sun was shining and the leaves are all turning a gorgeous shade of yellow and orange.

This was our view for much of the morning.  We are so lucky to live near the beach.  The kids and dog actually went in the water! A little chilly for me, but they didn’t seem to mind one bit.

Back to routine tomorrow.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend, too!