what's in your (travel) bag?

I spent the better part of the night re-organizing my travel accoutrements. Seen pictured is my mid-size travel bag. I used to have three sizes of travel bag - the small had carry-on ability and could really only hold a toothbrush and some face wash. The mid-size bag had to be checked, but held a toothbrush, face soap, toner, moisturizer, deodorant, sunscreen, and conditioner. I also have a large size bag that holds all of the above, plus hotel slippers, a washcloth, some perfume, a razor, lip gloss, and a little bit of mattifying makeup.

Tonight, I decided to revamp, clean, update, and consolidate. I scaled down to just two bags the mid-size and the large. However, I tried to streamline the mid-size to *just* include absolutely necessary items (toothbrush, face wash, toner, moisturizer, sunscreen, deodorant) so it is lightweight and easily travel-able.



Next, I cleaned out the rarely used large bag, and emptied it of all the old travel size La Mer products (which have long lost their effectiveness, I'm sure). I put in new wash/toner/moisturizer, and then included all the possible extras I could think of - hotel slippers, a washcloth, perfume, floss, blister band-aids, lip balm, hair conditioner, hair elastics, cotton balls, q-tips, alcohol wipes...everything I could think of. And to think, it all fit in this bag!



Tell me, what do you pack in your travel bag(s)?

Philly, fluffy clouds, and french onion soup

Hello! I am back from my weekend in Philly. I went there primarily for a wedding and secondarily to indulge in cheesesteaks and other delicious foods. Both objectives were accomplished successfully!

As you can see, I wore what I said I would wear - the poofy red and black dress. I paired it with black patent leather no-name pointed-toe ankle-strap sandals, and no purse (because I didn't feel like packing one). The funny thing is that the wedding turned out to be a pretty traditional Hindu wedding, and the bride looked beautiful in bright oranges and reds, so it would have been perfectly appropriate for me to wear the light pink dress after all. Nonetheless, I think the red and black was the best choice!

We stayed at the Sofitel, which was located smack dab in the center of Philly, near all the good restaurants and shopping. Of course, since we were in Philly for less than 36 hours, we were not able to indulge in either fully, but it still remains one of my most favorite hotels...because of the feather bed, which, as I read on one review site "is like the bastard child of a fluffy cloud and a marshmallow". In fact, it was so cozy and comfortable that we slept for 12 hours the first night and close to 10 the second night. Hey, what are vacations for?

Gastronomie-wise, I also discovered that Philly as perfected the art of french onion soup (a delicious example at the bar in the Sofitel the first rainy night we were there). Not only that, but the next day for lunch at the Continental I discovered somthing called "french onion soup dumplings" which turned out to be reduced french onion soup, wrapped in chinese dumpling wrappers, placed in an escargot dish, and baked with melted gruyere on top. It was the most amazing dish - I ate all six of the dumplings with a huge grin on my face.

For our last meal there - Sunday lunch - we grabbed cheesesteaks at the Philly airport, which turned out to be pretty decent and mighty tasty. Steak, processed cheese, french fries, and an icy cold Pepsi - you can't beat that!

Because our visit was so short, we left determined that we could come back soon, and visit Philly properly (and maybe even see the Liberty Bell next time).

tropical drink melting in your hand...

aaah! (excuse my hobbit feet and the poor cel phone cam)

Oh, hello dear friend. You are seriously the mst beautiful beach I've ever seen! Fine white sand, warm crystal blue water... you are the stuff dreams are made of.

Lanikai, Oahu