My overpacking problem

If anyone hears me say out loud that "I pack light" when traveling, slap me across the face. Why? Because it's a big, fat lie. LIE!

I used to pack only the bare essentials, but then I got more "girly" and into make-up, fun clothes and accessories and suddenly the amount of stuff I bring along for a weekend at home has multiplied by like 100 percent.

Case in point: this weekend when I went home, I brought my "carry on" suitcase, which looked like it was going to explode at any given second. It was stuffed with laundry, shoes and make-up within an inch of the zipper's life. I nearly had to lay myself on it so that it would close. And with trips coming up for Thanksgiving and Christmas (when I'll be home for over a week), I absolutely must upgrade to the bigger suitcase.

Why? Options. I overpack because a girl has to have options.

Now, I try not to bring my entire apartment with me (anymore) when I travel, but somehow I end up bringing the following (keep in mind, I'm home for 48 hours):

• Three pairs of shoes
• Five necklaces and assorted bracelets
• Two jackets
• Two to three purses
• Almost my entire bathroom
• Two belts
• Four to five outfit choices (or at least two outfits per day)
  

I'm a horribly indecisive person on clothing so I overpack because I never know what mood I'll be in when it's time to get dressed each day. And, mentally I know if I take items out of the suitcase, I will want them when I go home and they won't be available.

So in prep for Thanksgiving and the Christmas holiday, dad and I had a heart-to-heart and I begged him to pick up a few things for me to store at the house - like toothbrush, contact solution and toothpaste - to make my packing simpler....and so I can fit another purse or sweater in the suitcase to replace what is staying here.

I'm sick, someone help me. Does this happen to anyone else?

Weekend key learnings and matchmaker fail

This weekend I went back to Wisconsin and it was exactly what I needed. I got to drive and enjoy some Wisconsin Badger football...in the freezing cold and snow. I love college football, but I have to admit, the November games are tough, especially when you're sandwiched in the stadium. But I wouldn't give up going.

Anyhow, on to the learnings!

Key Learnings:

• Even with four layers of clothes on, it's amazing how you fast you can get a chill

• Hearing a kid scream "we're all gonna die!" on the train home, is not comforting

• Try to be subtle when holding your breath in a cab that smells like onions

• A Bloody Mary and soft pretzel are great ways to start your Saturday

• Think before saying out loud, "I'm tired of taking my clothes off." People won't know that you mean you're tired of taking your clothes off to try on other clothes at the store

• If Goodwill breaks your donation while dropping it off, it's totally fine to jump in the car and speed off before they return to deny it

• Chanel and Louis Vuitton are not appropriate gameday accessories. My rule: don't wear anything you don't mind spilling beer on

• When your parents ask what liquor you want for the cooler, don't say just juice. They won't understand. Just say beer, even if you only want juice

• You know it's been a while since you've seen someone when they comment "wow your hair is brown now" and it's actually been brown for almost two years

• It's okay to break out into spontaneous dance to warm up your legs and body. But you might look silly

• Be an adult and own up to the fact that you look  like a d-bag in a mock turtleneck. They're not made for everyone

At the football game, my stepmom and her friend tried to play matchmaker for me, ending in a big FAIL. Both of my stepbrothers are in long-term relationships and with my brother married, that means it leaves little spinster me the last one solo. 

Before the game, my stepmom and her friend, who has stadium seats near us, were talking about kids, and her friend asked if I was single. When I said yes, she smiled and told me I had to meet her 38-year-old son, who is also single and has never been married. I laughed and said okay (I mean, why not?) and my stepmom was just beyond excited at the prospect of a love connection.

But the woman sharing a pre-game table with us interrupted this nice moment by saying, "oh my god he's 38 and unmarried? What's wrong with him? Why is he still single?" My stepmom threw this rude person her patented death rays, but the mood was killed. I agreed to go through with the "introduction" at half-time and sure enough, when this poor guy came over to the seats to see his mom, she pushed me forward and said, "Craig, meet Jessica, isn't she adorable?"

As if my cheeks weren't red enough already from the cold, my embarrassment was added on top of this. Fortunately, the matchmaking appeared to be nothing new to this guy, who rolled his eyes, shook my hand and then turned around and left. My stepmom and this woman were crushed and my dad told my stepmom in a pointed tone, "Jess is fine, don't force something on her. She's perfect on her own."

Thanks dad, I think you're right :) Back to the drawing board.

Sharing is not caring

I consider myself to be a giving person. Need me to spot you some money? Sure. Need someone to talk to? I'm here. For my most loyal friends, I'd even give them the clothes off my back if they needed it. Unfortunately, this giving nature doesn't translate to everything.

I'm not an only child, but I don't share well. And even though I have siblings, the rules are different when you're the only girl. Why? Because I didn't have to share anything. When we traveled, I had my own bed, bedroom and bathroom while the boys had to share. The girly toys were mine and I didn't have a sister to share my clothes and possessions with so there was no competition. And the mindframe of "that's mine" has carried into adulthood, where I am not the best sharer of my personal items.

For example, I love picking out outfits for friends. When shopping, I help pull together outfits and comment how great that would look with my Kate Spade purse or my Tory Burch flats. One friend asked once if she could borrow my purse and I was caught off-guard. I smiled and said, "yeah sure," but I made it clear that should anything happen to my lovely purse, that she would replace it for me, at retail value with interest. She never took me up on borrowing the purse.

One year, I had to babysit my stepmom's nieces and they helped me decorate my Christmas tree. My ornaments are very personal to me (I'll explain more later) and the kids were not known to be very gentle with other people's property. So, I told them that I would hand them ornaments and if something happened to Auntie Jess' stuff, that a finger would be broken for each item lost. Surprisingly, nothing was broken. Fear really works.

I've even found recently that lending out DVDs doesn't work well either for me. I end up lending them out and then upon return, sitting under a bright lamp to inspect it for scratches. That is so sad. 

I blame my recent no sharing policy on my stepmom, who borrowed an issue of Vanity Fair and then destroyed it at the beach, thanks to sunscreen sand and water. How irresponsible is that??

Re-reading this, I'm feeling a little crazy so I hope I'm not the only one who is a bad sharer of certain things. To be fair though, I'm like this only with things I really value...which is pretty much everything. Hey, in this economy, things have to last.

So this weekend, I'm headed back to Wisconsin to get a break from the city and to attend the Wisconsin Badgers/Minnesota Gophers game at Camp Randall. Time to bring out my beer-stained Wisconsin sweatshirt, which I will wash for this lovely occasion.

I was hoping to catch the new Bond movie, but sexy Daniel Craig will have to wait another week. Anyone else have big weekend plans?

The fall transition phase

I love fall and I've posted before what I love about it. In Chicago, the fall transition is full-on right now and with all the good, comes some fall drawbacks. 

I am between two phases right now in the fall transition: 1) Seasonal adjustment and 2) Working on my "second winter coat" for the upcoming snowy season.

Seasonal adjustment starts around daylight savings time when I love gaining an hour, but that means it's dark at 2 p.m. Sun becomes a myth and waking up to darkness and leaving in darkness are tough things to adjust to after a lovely summer season. 

This phase leads right into working on my "second winter coat," thanks to the availability of Halloween candy and holiday treats. Whoppers, M&Ms, caramels, oh my! Once the vendor gifts start rolling in our office, all bets are off. That's when I end up over-indulging in candy and have a hard time resisting any treats. I love the change in seasons but sometimes the adjustment takes some time.

Lately, thanks to these phases, I've been having a little issue keeping to my diet and exercise regimen. I can't help being a little generous in the soup portion or grabbing the largest baguette and hibernating from the cold wind and chill in the air. Getting to the gym lately has been a chore, not a source of relief. 

And to make the "winter coat" phase worse, being squished on the bus with a puffer jacket, especially between two "festively plump" ladies with down coats, just makes me fussy and squirmy, like a child.

This is similar to how I feel during this fall transition time

Does anyone else go through this? It's definitely not a bad feeling in spring when the sun returns and the weather starts to warm, but it seems the fall transition is always the toughest, even if the cuter clothes begin to come out.

Reader Note: Thanks everyone for your feedback on the Kate Spade purse post yesterday. Dad just confirmed that the purse arrived from Nordstrom's today! I really liked Alexa's comment about splurging on two bags a year. I think that's a great policy. I'm 90 percent sure that I'll keep it, but I'll know for sure when I see her again. Pretty things like that should be worn and enjoyed :) And I'm an enabler too so people telling me to keep it is just what I wanted to hear.

Good/bad decision: the purse edition

I love purses, mostly because they always fit. My clothing size seems to increase/decrease depending on the day (water weight sucks) but purses don't care what size you are because they love you no matter what. 

Sometimes, I would rather buy a purse than a new shirt because a) it will last longer and b) it can make any outfit I already have pop.

So after I bought Speedy for my birthday, which was quite an investment, I decided to put myself on "purse buying notice" and wait six months before I buy another one. 

Really, I only buy purses when a) it's a good, even great, deal and b) when the "urge" has returned. My habit needs to be fed, but fortunately that doesn't come around on a regular basis.

Anyhow, Nordstrom's annual women's sale is going on, which usually means amazing deals on fall items. I found knit Uggs for $58, Cole Haan bag for $178 (down from $350) and my fave DKNY tights for 25 percent off. I love walking through the racks, flipping for the deals and trying on ridiculous sunglasses for laughs.

During the sale, I will traditionally not buy anything because I'm still in "saving mode" for Christmas and have self-control, that is until last week.

Now, let me show you a picture of this Kate Spade bag that I've been lusting over for three seasons. 

Behold the Tarrytown Quinn. Boarskin leather, classic shape and my favorite shade of deep red. More like Bucky Badger red. And because I get Nordstrom's "Level 2" benefits for the rest of the year, I can ship it to Wisconsin and not pay sales tax or shipping fees.

So......I bought it because it was such a good deal. But now I need some help convincing me if I should keep it or return it.

My pro/con list on this issue is below, please leave a comment and help me decide what to do!

Pro

• 40 percent off retail price (with option of price adjustment later)
  
• No sales tax or shipping (part of Level 2 benefit and no Nordstrom's in Wisconsin)
  
• It's pretty
  
• Have wanted it for three seasons but always missed it on sale
  
• I need a red bag
  
• Can fit all my stuff
  
• Get double Nordstrom's points
  

Con

• I don't need another purse right away
  
• Although on a great sale, still not as dirt cheap as I wanted
  
• I don't wear a lot of red
  

Also, the customer service person I bought this from had a little attitude, but that's a story for another day. But let's just say, she asked if I was still hungover from the night before and implied that I have credit card debt. Neither point is true.

So help a bloggy girl out, what should I do?

Key Learnings and a relaxing weekend

It's that magic time again. Come, join me by the fire to look back on the weekend and new lessons that I've learned.

After a crazy week (cough, cough, Obama rally, cough), I opted to have a very low-key weekend, which included being home by 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights. So I'm not sure how entertaining these key learnings will be, but nevertheless, some should be of interest.

Key Learnings:

• It's nice to have a "Hugh Hefner" moment at home, wrapped in a robe (sorry no Bunny moment)

• Having a security detail doesn't detract attention

• Heat lamps on public transportation platforms are very welcome in winter, but sharing them is not

• Fall is officially here, time to transition in the winter coats and find my hats

• When you fear food has gone bad (due to not cleaning out the fridge), just toss out the entire Tupperware container, don't open it, just toss it all away

• You should do at least one nice thing for someone else each day (I gave up my seat for an elderly person at Starbucks...or thought about it)

• Candy wrappers do not make a good earrings decorations

• Shouting into your cell phone on the bus is annoying to other passengers

• Saying that someone's comment is uneducated is inappropriate, especially when the person who said it is sitting right there (hi I can hear you!)

• On a cold day, a nice warm bowl of soup tastes like heaven

• Finding a hair in the salsa at a restaurant is gross

• It's okay to be super pissed off when you receive your Entertainment Weekly issue with Twilight on the cover only to open it up and realize the first three pages of the article ARE MISSING. Come on!

I reserve my weekends to be super productive, primarily Saturdays. I do this because I save all the errands I don't get to during the week for this day (within reason). But as I mentioned, after Tuesday night in Grant Park, which took a few days to bounce back from, I opted to lay low. That meant a lot of quality time on the couch with "Eclipse" and the TV. So my end thoughts tonight are rather slim.

Oh yeah, the one errand I did do on Saturday (with Ryan) was to go to Fleet Feet in Lincoln Park to try on running shoes. While trying on shoes, Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich came in to shop, complete with his security detail. No lie, I wanted it to be president-elect Obama instead, but we still gawked a little bit.

Finally, here's a cool picture I found in my stash of remaining photos from Grant Park. I have zero idea how it turned out like this but it's trippy!

How was everyone else's weekend? Do anything fun or productive? I cannot believe Thanksgiving is coming up this quickly.

Update on my 15 things before 30 list

Shortly after my August birthday, I made a list of 15 things that I wanted to do in the next year, before I turned 30. I called it my "twentysomething bucket list."

It's been about two months since I posted the list, so let's check in with how I'm doing. I could use some help prioritizing things too so please weigh in with what I should focus on next.

(All items that I've completed or have updates on are in bold)

My list:

• Make some amends with my mom

• Wear a bikini in public

• Go out on at least two dates

• Make out with at least three guys

• Volunteer - Obama campaign

• Take at least 2 yoga and Pilates classes each

• Do something totally selfless

• Take a disco dancing class

• Give $100 to charity - see picture below

• Take cooking lessons

• Make a gourmet meal for my closest friends

• Run a 5k - training starts in December, planning to run in the "Race to Wrigley" in April 2009

• Go to at least 12 new restaurants (no duplicates) - 4 so far (Counter, Mity Nice, Vinci, Wakomono)

• Read 10 books - 3 completed so far (Nineteen Minutes, Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse -in progress)

• Go skinny dipping

Hmm so the updates for two months in aren't too bad. I do need to pick up my reading and of course the dating/making out items. Those are a continual work in progress, yet more difficult than I anticipated.

For my charitable donation, I picked a cause that is very close to my heart, breast cancer. My mom's mother passed away from breast cancer in the 60s so I always do what I can to support the Susan G. Komen Foundation and celebrate National Breast Cancer Awareness month.

This year, my colleague Leah was one of three staff members participating in the Breast Cancer 3-Day walk in Atlanta, where she walked an amazing 60 miles in three days. Her hard work and dedication prompted me to donate $100 to this worthy cause. Below is a picture of our "check

 presentation." Great job Leah!

Quick notes: volunteering for the Obama campaign was an amazing experience. I learned so much from it and met some amazing people. I went once, thinking I wouldn't go back and I did every week for over five weeks, plus two weekends. I highly recommend volunteering.

Plus, does anyone know where I can take disco lessons in Chicago? I've been looking online but I can't find any! I had no idea it would be this difficult.

Any tips or preferred things that I should focus on during the upcoming winter months?

And seriously, TGIF. I cannot wait for this week to be over and have a nice, relaxing weekend. Any big weekend plans for everyone? 

Next weekend, I'm in Madison for the Badger game, but given our season, we're there more to "have fun," if you know what I mean. 

Any movies you recommend that I should check out?