Packing Light...and dark

A fortnight ago I nipped home to Ireland for the weekend.  It was only a quick Friday to Monday flit for an old (and very dear) friend's baby shower.  

It was the first time I have had to pack a cabin sized bag since The Challenge began.   As we discovered back in April, I am not great at packing (not economically anyway), mostly because I don't like to plan what I am going to wear.  

I rarely plan my outfits (or much else for that matter) in advance.  I always put them together in the morning, when I have a clear idea of how I feel AND how I want my clothes to MAKE me feel.

“When a woman says, ‘I have nothing to wear!’, what she really means is, ‘There’s nothing here for who I’m supposed to be today.” ― Caitlin Moran, How to Be a Woman

Caitlin hit the nail on the head.  There is little that throws me off guard as much as wearing something I don't feel comfortable or like 'me' in, something that doesn't represent the me I WANT to BE that particular day.

So, I knew I needed to be organised and pick a selection of items that would give me options to suit every mood and potential unplanned rendezvous.

I opted for:

A couple of pairs of Primark Ultra Soft Skinny Jeans (I have lots of pairs of these and you can now buy them online(!) on ASOS)
- as I was on my holidays, I wanted to be very comfortable (a day or two off work is a rarity for me!) and I knew they could work as a base for any outfit, be it casual or dressy

A couple of pairs of Office ballerina bumps (1 nude and 1 black) 

One great pair of heels 

A series of dresses/smocks that could be worn over the jeans.  


          I found myself choosing from 2 very different palettes one of pale pastels and the other blackest black, that way I had both girlie and formidable moods covered. 

Here's how I got on: 

Fri 31st May - Outfit No 72 - The Minty Traveller
Mint Sweater - Primark
Mint Oversized Vest Dress - Dorothy Perkins
Blazer - Northern Quarter, Manchester
Brooch  & Necklace - Vintage (Charity Shop Finds)

Saturday 1st June - Baby Shower
Dress - H&M
Bag - La Lola, Portstewart

Outfit No 74 - Saturday Night Cocktails - Accessories Love Snakeskin 
Black Lace Smock Top/Dress - Never Fully Dressed 
Snakeskin Slingbacks - Sacha 
Snakeskin Clutch - Fiorelli
(Outfit blogged about here)

Outfit No 75 - Sunday 2nd JuneSmock Dress - Kate Moss for Topshop (eBay) 

Outfit No 76 - Monday 3rd June - Back to London
Dress - Picked up for a fiver in a thrift store...

I don't think I did too badly at all!?  Although I'd be lying if I said it was straight forward.  It took me ages to decide what to bring with me and the packing process itself was quite very stressful (I got about 3 hours sleep as a result of leaving it to the last minute.  Of course, the fact that I have yet to properly sort out the wardrobe had something to do with that... lots of staring blankly into the fabric abyss went on that night...). 

But it did feel pretty great to have such a light load (and a relief to get a break from the bursting-at-the-seams wardrobe situation) and surprisingly it did still feel like I had an element of choice.  In fact, I HAD packed another lace black dress which I ended up not wearing but, had I been feeling differently one day, I might have appreciated it.  

However, those wonderful wardrobe-detox-y feelings were rather short lived, thanks to my mum pointing out the LITERAL cracks creeping across the ceiling of her bedroom, and blaming the bags, upon boxes, upon piles of my stuff that is living in their attic...  

My father drove me to the airport on the Monday morning and gave me a big hug goodbye.  

His parting words were, 'Sort out that wardrobe, Maeve..."

I will, dad. I will... 

Over & out

M x