When it comes to travel, to say that Emil and I are spontaneous, is to say nothing at all! It's not that we dislike making plans in general, but with our schedule being as unpredictable as it is, it's hard to anticipate what tomorrow will bring, let alone plan something weeks in advance. So in our house, the trip planning process sounds a lot like this: "Hey babe, how would you feel about going to Santa Barbara tomorrow?" Well, babe feel really good about going to Santa Barbara on any day, which is what I would say right before I start frantically packing, trying to fit way too many shoes in what seems to be a tiny little carryall!
I'll be the first to admit that my packing for the weekend getaway game was not strong! I think that one of the biggest mistakes I've made in the past is bringing way more than I actually need ( 5 pairs of shoes for one weekend is going a little overboard, don't you think? ) and also not thinking enough about what we'll be doing ( like going our for dinner, biking, hiking or simply exploring ) so that I could pack appropriate outfits for every occasion.
But I must say that I've become much more of an efficient packer lately, and the answer was so simple, I honestly can't believe I didn't think of it before! Rather than bringing different pieces for every occasion, now, I opt to wear things I can restyle for day or night. Take last weekend for example, a few of our friends were heading to Santa Barbara and we decided to come along! Knowing full well, we'll be walking around, hitting the beach and dining out, I packed a cute
off-the-shoulder denim number from
Express, which I paired with cute flats,
floppy hat and a
cross body for day and dressed up for a girl's night out with some tasseled
heels and a structured box
bag. Since short and form-fitting is what I prefer for night-time outfits, I added a rope belt to give this outfit a more body-cosncious shape! Finishing touch, a few
beaded bracelets which I wore for day and night! For day, I opted to wear
bracelets on both arms, going for that cute, casual look, but for night, I really wanted to make them more of a statement pieces, so I simply layered them on one arm for a really rich, dramatic effect!
