"L'Art d'emballer ma valise pour France" (The Art of packing my suitcase for France)

Oh my goodness!! Where are the days when I could throw in a pair of  jeans, paintbrushes , passport and a French guide book  into a backpack with my beret and take off...

 Sure, oh yes that's my alter ego,The sensible traveler,

the devil-may-care Marti.

 The" I don't care what people think" Marti.

  RIIIGGGHT! 

NOT! I must admit  ( and this will come to no  surprise  to those of you who know me well)   I am a clothes horse, Love to put my LOOK together and dress to the nines.

I have packed 3 times now, putting in and taking out... and the suitcase is 

STILL TO HEAVY!

 I even convinced Brooke, my beautiful, sensible dresser ,talented packer and experienced traveling daughter,into helping me decide what to take and what to leave. 

" I refuse to carry around a heavy suitcase for 3 weeks ~ my back won't take it"

We spent an entire afternoon, her sitting on the bed and me modeling the various options. It was a lot of fun, and we made all the right decisions. Putting the combinations together just like a painting.

Our color palette will be, black, grey, eggplant and indigo as our base colors, with mustard, orange ,magenta and cream as accents. What! no chartreuse  green ,you may ask,  well yes one t-shirt in that amazing color.

Beautiful, sensible and doable.

Nice but not over the top,

We did an excellent job.   First and most important,  several old painting clothes for art school, things I can just throw away when done , then 4 site-seeing outfits ( interchangeable of course) and last, simple black evening clothes with pearls. Oh yes, and 10 pairs of sensible shoes. 

Just kidding, only 3 pairs, one for each category.

 I forgot to mention the 2 zinc plates, for the etching class that weight about  5 lbs each, the brushes, the paper, the extra art supplies and smock needed for the 2 weeks of class. Oh my, this will be a challenge.

anyway... I cannot lift the case, so I go back in (4th time) to cut more out... maybe just this pair of jeans and  the green t-shirt? Or maybe the velvet coat?

Ok, enough of this compulsive behavior...

  the  beautiful eggplant velvet coat must go. BOO HOO!

I will take my art school supplies and not the coat. And perhaps buy some new thing in France to quench my velvet desire. 

OK, I FEEL BETTER NOW.

au revoir mon ami 

(Bye my friends)

jusqu'à ce que nous rencontrons encore

( till we meet again)

Love

Marti