Yesterday while shopping for odds and ends on my trip I truly struggled with purchasing a carry on. Seriously, it shouldn't be that difficult. It really shouldn't. By nature, I'm not a shopper. Unless it's on a clearance rack or in the grocery section of Meijer. I've never been one to have the material or name brand things. I'm not even big on knock off name brand items either.
I may own 12 pair of shoes - really only two that I wear on a regular basis - the basics: black and brown boots. Whatelse would I need? Sticking with the shoe issue - I did buy a pair of shoes for my trip...a pair of z-coil sandals. If I were computer/blogger savvy - here I would input a link to check them out - which I am not so you can go to http://www.zcoil.com/ and that works too :) I bought my first pair of z-coil shoes last spring/summer when training for the Breast Cancer 3-day 60 mile walk. Plantar fasciitis, heel spur and my aunt led me to zcoils. As obnoxious looking as they are - they were miraculous on my feet. I am actually wearing the tennis shoes now. They are great for the knees and back and literally add an extra (besides the spring coil) spring to your step. They make me feel like dancing - and that's a scary thought! I'm not a every day tennis shoe person unless I'm doing some form of exercise/aerobic activity, so the thought of wearing tennis shoes or my zcoil tennis shoes around Europe wasn't sounding very appealing. So I broke down and bought the sandals. They look great on others - of course they are 100#'s, petite, wear size 6 shoe and have all their toenails. Ok, probably too much information - but I'm still in the process of losing my big toenail from the training/walk and my 9.5 size boats are anything but cute! But I figure they are definitely great for walking, hiking and I don't have to feel like I'm dressing down/slumming in tennis shoes. And the physical benefits far outweigh the cost. Did I mention that I have had two knee surgeries too? ;)
So back to the carry on. Much like my shoe issue, everything seems to look good on everyone else. Is that always the case? Case, yes that is what I need for my carry on! Oh, tangent again. So I purchased a handbag because honestly what do I REALLY need in my carry on. I figure if the plane goes down I won't need it anyway. If my luggage is lost, it isn't like my carry on is going to have backup clothes for my trip. Essentials baby, essentials. I bought a purse/hand bag yesterday. I must have been in some shopping coma or trance since I looked at the bag today - and I wonder if my journal, camera and passport will even fit in it!
Then I bought this hat. You know, this trip is about rediscovering myself. Yep, that's what I keep telling myself. So why not create myself since no one knows me anyway! I bought this hat - it looked cute on the rack. It probably even looks cute on people. But on me???? Hmm....does it really matter? It fits my large head and can cover up a bad hair day. I've even considered putting my hair in braids and putting the hat on. The hat looks like an upside down flower pot. Yep, sounds hot, eh? I can flip the brim all over and it goes with my gothic/I mean black theme since it's all about essentials and packing bare minimums. I actually like the hat. Like my feet - I have a large head. Something has to hold my ramblings...my son ah so much like myself and my mother tells me tonight when I proudly show it to him, "Wow, that's a big hat. You don't have a big head mom, you have big hair!" I have to tell you, my mom still to this day tells me I have big hair. I grew up in the 80's. I wasn't (big) into the AquaNet hairspray and the wall, but well I had a little one. And there is nothing better than having a bad hair day (all hair days) confirmed by your mother pushing your hair out of the way saying, "You have big hair". I walked by my back door and saw the reflection of myself with my new hat on - yep, all I could think of was the nanny from Sound of Music. Sigh...good thing I'll be in foreign countries with my crazy hat and zcoil shoes. I even looked at sun glasses - but those to look better on others - and well I don't want to freak out too many people! Ah, it's probably too late for that anyway.
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