Packing 101 For Beginners

Everyone keeps talking about October. Probably because it's October 1st. Didn't you know?! Yay for pumpkins. Yay for riding boots. Yay for being one month closer to Christmas.

But for the first time, October means MORE to me than candy and fall fashion. I KNOW RIGHT?? Shocker!

This month.... well actually this week.... I move to England!

And if I could go back in time and tell the 12 year old Taylor that this was really going to happen ten years later, I so would, just to see my reaction. This has been my dream for as long as I can remember.

So let's get to the important stuff.

I'm kinda sorta not done packing, but in all seriousness I've had my airplane outfit picked out for about a month. And THAT'S what's important, right?? Screw packing for the rest of my life, those 14+ traveling hours are more crucial! 

In my defense, this is 99% of the reason I can't pack. Because ask anyone with a cat, you can't just move them! It doesn't work like that...

After the airplane outfit, the second most important thing is stuffing my face with as much American food as possible. Yes, I'm excited to order a curry, get pub food, and go to Nando's. But right now I need to eat my body weight in frozen yogurt.

English junk food, you're a close second to the American variety. But you're not quite there yet.

And finally, I'd rather complain about how much stuff I own to anyone willing to listen. That is more important than the actual packing part. You really don't know all of the pointless things you've accumulated until you have to squeeze it into 2 suitcases. Needless to say my Disney pins and my entire bookcase aren't necessities. Damn.

What are your favorite things to do before a long trip, or in my case a long move? Do you pick out your airplane outfit and eat like crazy or do you actually get down to business?

Are You In Or Out?

My mind is so clustered that I literally just spent about 5 hours (read: 15 minutes) trying to figure out how to start this post. So forgive me for my lack of introduction right now; I'd rather just dive right in.

This whole summer, I've been doing constant purging. Yikes, 'purge' is such a scary verb..... Let me rephrase...

This whole summer, I've been doing constant throwing away slash donating slash taking mental inventory of my belongings. Mostly my clothes. Because those plaid Roxy Bermuda shorts I thought were cute at one point in my life will not do me any good in England. And they definitely are not cute now, nor were they ever.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a pic of said shorts. However, here is the result of a few hours in the depths of my closet.

But we are coming down to the wire on my leaving date, and it's getting harder and harder to figure out what stays and what goes. 

I have 4 categories:
Donate to either charity or my friends.
Throw away, never to be seen again.
Keep here in a box to either pick up later or forever clutter my parents garage/attic.
Take with and start my own British clutter.

The last two options are definitely making me more crazy than the other options. I've always been really good about donating and throwing away what I don't need/use/wear.

There comes a point where your brain goes "well... NO, I don't NEED this, but I'd like it with me for no good reason." And to tell you the truth, my brain has been saying that a lot lately.

It's more about my sentimental belongings and less about the materialistic ones. And I will give you a prime example of this, but WARNING: TOTAL DORK ALERT.

I've had these two stuffed animals since I was one year old.

I would show you a picture of them now, but they are a whole bunch of mangled. So this is them back in the day when they were in their prime, but I CLEARLY was not. And i think I'm sitting on Angelina the Ballerina's lap. Good times.

I used to take them everywhere with me and couldn't even go to sleep without them for the longest time. I've long grown out of that phase where I needed them for everything, but they're still in my room. I feel like they're an irreplaceable part of my life.

Do I need to bring them? No. Do I want to? Absolutely.

So this whole process is just an eyeopener for me. It's great because I feel 100 times lighter getting rid of a lot that I don't need. At the same time, it's making me think hard about all of this "stuff" that clearly isn't just "stuff" to me.

Tell me I'm not alone! Has anyone else felt like you didn't need something, but it was so close to your heart that you couldn't imagine not having it there? Maybe it's from your childhood, or maybe it's the last bit of your favorite cake! I don't care, share your story! Ten points if it's as lame as mine!

Thirsty For Untangled Necklaces??

This is how I spent the better half of my evening...........

Um.... There are no words....

I know at first glance it looks like a toddler started playing with the lunch bags in the kitchen... and at second glance it looks like I got drunk and threw around random stuff... and at third glance it still doesn't make any sense!

BUT... Interestingly enough, this is how I packed up my necklaces for that big, long, permanent trip of mine that I commonly refer to as "I'm moving to England." Have I mentioned that??

I got the idea from Pinterest, because yes, I am one of those people obsessed with Pinterest. Although, I'm not one of those craftaholics that makes their own shoe racks or Cookie Monster cupcakes. But if someone did want to make me the latter I would absolutely not get offended!

This trick is SO not complicated and it goes a little something like this.

Straw + Necklace = packing lifesaver! And yes, it's an owl necklace. 1 of about 500.

Traveling with jewelry is obnoxious sometimes; and they ALWAYS manage to get tangled! And although most of my necklaces are of the Forever 21 variety, it still sucks when they get tangled or break.

So thanks to Pinterest, my necklaces will remain in one piece. I just looped a straw through the chain and stuck it in a plastic bag. And PRESTO! It's an instant fix for traveling with endless amount of owl necklaces. Or not. This works for regular ones, too.

(Fun Fact: I have at least 11 owl necklaces. And that's just what I was able to count off the top of my head.)

And clearly I was so excited about this discovery, I thought I'd share it. Because it's amazing! And definitely helps with the whole "schlepping 22 years worth of belonging across the pond" thing.

Is it obvious that the top search on my Google is "how to pack to move to another country"?? 

What are some packing tips and tricks do you use that are insanely helpful?? Please share away, as I need all the help I can get!

Is "EveryWhelmed" a Word?

Right now, I'd say I'm both overwhelmed and underwhelmed. I'm every sort of whelmed if that's even possible!!

So as you know, I'm moving to England in the beginning of October. My days are currently being filled with tying those loose ends back here at my current home before making England my new home. I feel like my mind is going a mile a minute and I wish I just just call up the Genie from Aladdin and say "POOF!" and have it all just happen miraculously. I will fully admit how lazy I am about a majority of it. I feel like there's so  much to do in so little time....

....but at the same time.... There's only so much packing I can do that isn't ridiculously early.... Because I still live here! And I still have weeks left here! So there's also a lot of me sitting around, making packing lists, and wondering when the appropriate time is to fully commit to uproot my bedroom.

I am incredibly thankful that there really aren't that many of those loose ends for me to tie up here... I'm going to blame that on being young and fully ambitious about moving to England from the start. I avoided buying a decent car, applying for credit cards, throwing myself into a career, and getting a place of my own because I knew after college it was only a matter of time before I was going across the pond. And now, all of that struggling and saving is finally going to be worth it.

I really want to sit down and think about my expectations about living in England. That way, I can go back and look to see just how silly or spot on I was! It's one thing to have visited England 4 times, all for long periods of time. It's another thing to relocate completely and call it my home. Everything that is so novel for me about England will become my new normal, and everything so normal about America will be in the past. I can make list after list of all the differences I've noticed and had to acclimate myself to throughout the years. But I know even with my vast experience there's still going to be those WTF moments.

This doesn't even begin to explain why I am every sort of whelmed. Actually, this is quite the watered down version. But it got my mind away from sorting my belongings and crying over leaving my cat (I know, I'm totally that crazy cat lady and I'm only 22). I'll probably look back at this post in a couple of weeks and be like "Oh dear..... you were SO not every sort of whelmed like you thought you were...."

Have you ever had one of these contradictory moments like I'm having? Have you ever been so underwhelmed for something in the future that it overwhelmed you? What's something in your future that you're looking forward to so much that its constantly on your mind?

It's The Little Things...

Have you ever noticed that it's the little things that get you down? I'm 100% guilty of it.

The bigger picture is so much more exciting. I'm moving to England. That's the bigger picture.

But it's all those teeny tiny little details that make everything more stressful. Like selling my car. And buying a plane ticket. And cleaning out 22 years worth of belongings. And figuring out what's essential to bring. Are 15 pairs of shoes essential to bring?

This is me narrowing down my shoes. I use the phrase "narrowing down" quite loosely. 

Recently, however, it's the little things that have been keeping me sane.

My brain went on quite the tangent the other night and I'd like to share it with you.

(And don't get your hopes up... it's actually quite stupid... don't expect the secrets of life to come out of this)

First of all, anything pumpkin flavored always has my undivided attention over anything else typically. I think fall tastes so much better than any other season. I'm not lying when I said I was born in the wrong area of the globe. I like cold, and seasons, and PUMPKIN, and more cold.

So when I saw these bad boys.... "Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies"..... I knew it was going to be a good day.
It's the little things sometimes...

AND THEN!

I had this whole happy party in my head about pumpkin flavored things, which led me to thinking.... I'm moving to England! Where they put U's in words that American's don't! So in England, it's actually pumpkin flavoured things. And I don't know how I feel about that... It definitely weirds me out a bit.

And I KNOW I KNOW the rest of the world spells it like that and America just decides to be special. Just let me have my moment.

See, sometimes it's the little things that lift your spirits.

Another good thing that lifted my spirits was that I realized a couple of nights ago that running has gotten significantly easier for me.

When I got off the ship I worked on for five months, running in the south Florida heat really took a toll on me. I felt weak and got all dramatic about how I'm never going to run again. But after my run a couple nights ago, I thought about how easy that was. Sure it sucks that it's hot, and I should probably step up my game more... but it was the first time I felt strong in a long time.

Again, it's the little things!