Mapping it Out

Everyone’s on holiday, the temperature’s dropping (I had to scrape ice off the Scoop this morning—brrrrr!) and it’s time to get packing! Chris and I are headed south to Vietnam and Cambodia. I’ve got our visa letters, plane tickets, passports, cameras…and a sense of fashion. That means finding comfortable, walkable, fashionable, modest clothing appropriate for Southeast Asia. With more than 700 miles between out southern-most and northern-most city, we’ll need clothes for sunny weather topping out around 90 degrees in Ho Chi Minh and mid-60s rainy weather in Hanoi…and everything in between! I made this Indiana Jones-esque map of our scheduled itinerary: No problem, Mouse is here to help with the packing. Or…sleeping. Here are some worthless things I’m good at: I have good aim throwing small things across the room, like potholders or little balls of trash; I’m good at folding things in thirds; I can balance small objects. And I am good at packing. I pack enough but not too much. I use everything I pack (except thankfully the first aid kit sometimes). My trick is figuring out what I’ll probably be doing on a given day and planning an outfit for that activity. That way I know what to bring without getting flustered with, “But if we go mountain climbing I might need….” No. I am not going mountain climbing. Not this time. For Vietnam I chose outfits within two palettes: olive and cream; black and gray. Many items are interchangeable between the two. So if all goes well, we’ll spend New Year’s Eve in Ho Chi Minh City (black pencil skirt, silk Saigon blouse, black heels with the flower) and New Year’s Day in Angkor Wat and Siem Reap, Cambodia (black pencil skirt, olive tank, short sleeve cream collared shirt with embroidered flowers, woven black belt, satin leopard-print ballet flats). In case we don’t have blog access until we get back, Happy New Year (everyone!), Happy Anniversary (Simon and Katrina, Mama and Daddy!), and Happy Birthday (Hannah and Luke!).