It's been several weeks since I have written a blog post or posted much of my Summer Collection pieces on social media.
Excuse number 1: I had 3 little house guests in the form of 3 of my granddaughters for a week during their school holidays.
Excuse number 2: Then I went on a long awaited holiday for two weeks.
Excuse number 3: I came home one week out from hosting a women's event at my home which required most of my attention for that week.
Now I am trying to find my SuzziMaggs focus all over again. I definitely struggle with the whole balancing act when it comes to family and work and church and all the other 'stuff of life' that comes my way.
Note to self: Study time management!
It is becoming a rather gradual refocus, and it has taken me several sittings to write a blog, but I am determined to become a regular writer once again!
In this post I want to talk a bit about my travel wardrobe, how I planned and packed it, what worked, what I might not do next time and what I would do the same.
Our first destination was the North Island of New Zealand. In early October I knew that it would still be quite cold there, especially in the centre of the Island where we planned to stay right by a snowcapped mountain while we road tripped from Auckland to Wellington and back. Because of my work on my Wardrobe Revolution and my blogging I had plenty of ideas for outfits for this leg of our journey. I decided to go back to blog post 66. "Seventeen Things To Do With A Pair Of Black Pants!" and simply pack a few pairs of black pants with some of the tops, cardigans and pieces from my blog ideas. This made packing for this leg of the journey quite simple, as I bundled together each group of top clothing that I was going to wear with my black pants and stacked them into my suitcase. I took 3 pairs of black pants, two which quite casual and comfortable for long days driving and hopping into and out of a car to sight see along the way, and the third pair were also easy fit, in a velvet fabric which I could make look dressy if we decided to go somewhere a bit fancy for dinner. I think that I had 4 or 5 top situations to choose from, with pieces that I could also mix and match if I felt like it.
This was ample clothing for 6 days travel, I probably could have gotten by on 2 pants and 3 or 4 tops, but there is always that "what if" thought, like what if I spilled my morning coffee on my second pair of pants? #overthinker!
Along with these outfits I had swimmers (in hope of finding some hot springs) a warm coat, ankle boots and an outfit to wear to the World of Wearable Art show which included a pair of high wedged heel shoes which were a bulky waste of luggage space because there was no way I could walk the distance from our motel to the event and my boots were quite adequate for the occasion.
The second leg of our trip was to the Cook Islands where I planned to test drive my SuzziMaggs Summer 2023 Collection pieces. In the 6 days that we were there I think that I wore most of the pieces from the Poppy Pocket Pants with Saltwater Singlet in whale print and the Shimmer Joy Top, the Lily Pocket Skirt and the Seashore Ripple Blouse and the Pippie Dress. These all proved to be great clothing for a tropical holiday as they were light and cool with a comfortable fit.
I also had swimmers, sandals, thongs, a cap and a roll up wide brimmed hat. I could have taken less clothing as I didn't wear the Beachside Blazer, and I only wore my Dune Dress for a morning.
Something that proved to be quite useful on this particular trip were the two pashmina wraps that I packed. I used them wrapped around my neck in the cold, then wrapped wide around my shoulders to dress up an outfit and also as sun protection over my shoulders while on a reef snorkeling boat and as a wrap over my swimmers. Definitely a useful item that I will pack for future adventures.
In the bottom of my suitcase I also had my own snorkeling gear. We decided to take our own because we weren't sure where things would stand with the covid rules around that kind of thing and it was good because we had them on hand whenever we wanted to go for a snorkel.
My suitcase was almost at maximum heaviness with the thick winter items, the extra shoes and the snorkeling gear and so it was sometimes hard to maneuver. This was difficult to avoid due to the fact that I needed a winter and a summer wardrobe. If I need to pack like this again, I will probably cut back on one or two outfits, maybe take some simple flats or joggers in a cute or sparkly colour and take a coat that I am happy to leave behind at the end of the cold part of the journey.
I will, however pack more undies to avoid the need to hand wash and try to get them dry with a hair dryer on quick overnight stays.
It was a blessing to be able to travel again and meet people from different cultures, and although we might speak different languages and wear different clothes and live in different circumstances, we are all just people trying to get by the best way we know how. I feel extremely grateful that I have been able to meet such amazing friendly people as those I met in New Zealand and the Cook Islands. They have encouraged me to try to be more welcoming to everyone I meet each day.
Thank you for reading.
I will be at the Handmade in the Hunter Markets 26.11.22, 3.12.22 and 17.12.22 and as always, all my SuzziMaggs designs are available to order, made to measure on my website.
Love, Suzanne