The syndrome of the empty suitcase

I consider myself a person who is well-organized, but as our departure date to Europe approaches I feel afflicted by the syndrome of the empty suitcase. I blame it on the fact that, in spite of our big move, we will not do a "simple" family trip with one destination and one climate zone. We have indeed decided not to leave right away for Milan, where we will be based during our sabbatical leave. Rather we will move out of our house on July 1 and then go for a week on a car trip to Cape Cod (in occasion of a friend's wedding) and Rhode Island (to visit other friends) before taking the plane to Milan. Once in Italy, we will spend there only a couple of weeks, first in the city, then at the countryside, and then leave on a car trip to Belgium to visit my in-laws. I have thus been desperately looking for packing advice.

Last week, I read a terrific article in Vogue about the "luggage secrets of world's best packer Jemma Kidd." Her strategy is to plan a few key outfits and then mix-and-match. At that point, I was still trying to sort through my closet and decide what to take for our one-year move to Italy as well as our summer holidays in Cape Cod, the Italian countryside, and Belgium. That's when the syndrome begun.

My husband was traveling for work most of this month, so between our trip to Ottawa and the packing of everything else, I have had really little time to think about shopping for the season. Indeed I have come to terms to the fact that more stuff will not fit in our luggage and that, if I really need something, I better buy it on the road. So, even though I have been making lists about what to take for months, I found myself still with empty suitcases on Monday night, the day before we had to move the bulk of our stuff in storage. The stress eventually took over and I packed most of my stuff away, ending up with "only" four suitcases.

But my mistake was that, even though part of my philosophy was right (do not bring anything you do not LOVE and that mom would not approve of) I had not planned well what I was going to wear on our summer trips, especially the most imminent one to Cape Cod.

I hoped my other favorite, Lucky magazine, could help me, since its June issue featured an "how-to" guide to packing for one-week trips in one carry on. But I could have not been more mistaken because their suggestions were too far from my personal style and from being age-appropriate for me. I took away only the following rule of thumb for a beach trip: 2 bras and seven panties; 1 bikini; and what I would call the "2" rule for everything else (two tops, two bottoms, two dresses, two cover-ups, two pair of shoes).

I am looking now at my closet and I realized two things:
1) we are going to the beach and I have no shorts;
2) my closet completely lacks color, which is the "new black" this season.
A trip to Winners, Zellers and Holt Renfrew provided me with a quick fix to both issues. I got a black pair of tailored cotton shorts by Pure by Alfred Sung at Zellers and a mustard yellow pair of cotton shorts by Theory at Holt Renfrew. To go with them, I got two burnout cotton t-shirts by Calvin Klein at Zellers. Voilà, we are ready to go!

A day in Ottawa with a preschooler

This weekend we all drove to Ottawa because of my husband's business. Since my husband was busy the whole day, I did a bit of research to find something fun to do with my son on Friday. He is four years old, so "classic" attractions like the Parliament were going to be too boring for him. Yet my choices were unfortunately a bit limited because the summer has not yet began and I was looking for activities on a weekday. In addition, I was looking for something outdoor, because the forecasts announced sunshine on Friday, but not on Saturday, so I figured we could go to a museum on Saturday morning. I found a great website with a lot of good tips (www.101kidstravel.com). I was really intrigued by the Hull Wakefield Steam trail, Saunders Farm and Pirates Adventures, but none of them was open on Friday. Yet I found Valleyview Little Animal Farm, which turned out to be great. Not only there were animals but a fantastic playground with originally wooden-built constructions, including a pirate ship that my son adored.


Afterwards we still had a bit of time so I took him to the Museum of Civilization. We did not get to see much of the totems because there was a graduation party, but there was a fabulous Children Museum that I just wished we had more time to see. The museum had different areas (a theater, Japan, Egypt, etc.) where the kids could impersonate different characters (with appropriate costumes); plus the kids had to stamp their passport for each area they visited. I will definitely go back there next time we are in town!


P.S. We stayed at the Marriott Hotel Downtown. The hotel was nice and conveniently located (right across from Holt Renfrew!), although parking was expensive.

Rite of passage

As of today, I'm officially on sabbatical leave. I have to admit, professionally it is a kind of uneventful transition, since I have already finished teaching few weeks ago. On a personal level, though, I have begun to be quite stressed out, since the countdown to our big move to Europe has now started. My husband and I will spend our sabbatical leave in Milan--according to my mother the most fashionable place in the world--, where I am originally from and where my parents still leave. We will benefit of their kindness, as they are letting us stay in one of their apartments and have promised plenty of baby-sitting services.

Moving back to Italy after ten years of absence (if one excludes the summer holidays) makes me quite nervous on a number of levels. Fashion and style are certainly two important ones, which are inevitably interlaced with my relationship with my mother and how many times I will be able to handle the "what are you wearing" line on a daily basis. The fact that my two my best friends, with whom I grew up, are among the most fashionable people I know does not help either.

The thing is that I am Italian, and abroad I am considered to have style just because of my birthplace. It is not something is even questioned. I just AM stylish, even though most of the times I do not feel like that -- as many impulse buys of the past few years can certainly prove. As Victoria Beckam said (although about something completely different), abroad I am a big fish in a small pond. But back in Italy, I am just a small fish in a big pond, and it stresses me out to be looked upon as the "American cousin" who does not know how to dress anymore because she spent too much time abroad.

I have thus started combing through my closet since last September, thrown out few things, sold many others at my local consignment store, but I know I still will not be able to (and most definitely should not) bring back to Italy everything that's left. For the final selection, I thus decided to start fresh with clothing for the new spring/summer season. In previous years this is also the part of my closet that I have always neglected, since we pretty much have no spring in Canada, and I spend only a brief time in Italy in the summer, mostly at the beach where I can get away with bikinis and cover-ups. This year I have no excuses though, but I want to play it smart and do not burn my budget before actually arriving in Italy, where I will obviously do some shopping :-)