Hue-ing it Up

Deb: Over the last few years I have employed a packing concept that is working wonders for me. I am hue-ing it up. I am choosing two, maybe three colours and coordinating them for ease of packing and choice.

I used to be the gal who packed 9 pairs of shoes to go with 15 different colours to go with various pants styles, lengths cuts and on it goes.

So I started easy with NYC when the boy moved there. I chose black, grey and cream. If I am feeling sassy (always) I will throw in an accent colour, usually red.

For our holiday to Newfoundland I wanted to take it one step farther. I decided to embrace a theme. So I am going nautical, babies!  That’s right, Seaman First Class McGrath is going to rock it for all the sailor girls. What better place to go nautical than during a visit to The Rock?! My colours are blue (jeans included), white, and red.

I decided to take a page from INSTYLE magazine and pose my pre-suitcase clothes on the dining room table in various combos showing how I can mix and match.

Do I have too much time on my hands? No, actually, I don’t. Just got excited with this idea and decided to have some fun!!!

So the following are pictures of my clothes, and with the boy as official trip photographer I will post shots of me wearing these co-ordinated beauties on the trip.

I should tell you two things:

One: this was born of my attempts to stop buy buy buying every single thing I see, and love love love the clothes I already have. This has been pretty successful.

Two: Everything I took on the trip was 3 to 5 years old, except for five items, which for me is pretty darn good. I span the range from Alexander McQueen to Winners to my fab find in Vancouver—a little blue dress with navy stars that I snapped up for $19.

I have always been good about keeping pieces that to me are classic or that I simply adore.

So please enjoy this silly little exercise and please forgive the pictures. As I am only five feet tall, I could not get high enough to take great shots. Thought of using a ladder as I was drifting off to sleep.  Ahh well.

Barbara: Deb, this is frickin’ genius!! I am a terrible packer. First I hate it, and second, my habit is to throw everything in the bag like some capsized-ship victim who believes she can save her wardrobe as well as herself. It’s panic-packing, even when I have lots of time to prepare.

I love this concept of coordinating the clothes to mix and match. Of creating “outfits” that look good and feel comfortable. I am so going to try it next time I pack (which doesn’t include the latest trip to move my daughter to college—no, that was panic-packing at its most frenetic).

I want to see lots of pics, Missy, of your fashionable exploits rockin’ The Rock!

Girls' Weekend Out

Barbara: I know this is easy for some people and not-so-easy for others. As one of the latter group for most of my adult life, I want to take a moment to recommend it: take a couple of nights away with some good women. I know it’s hard to get the time off, especially if you have kids. But do whatever it takes. Offer your husband or sibling or another girlfriend a reciprocal weekend off. 

Find some place to go that fits your budget. Plan it so that you don’t have to cook all the meals: ie, you divide the duties, including wash-up, so some meals you get to laze while others toil—and vice versa, of course. Bring lots of guilty-pleasure food (in our case, chips, kettle corn, and chocolate) and wolf it guilt-free, washing it down with yummy cocktails. Bring a few really fine meals to savour with fine (or cheap) wine. 

Do not bring expectations or judgment or recrimination. Bring joy and honesty and open arms. If you’re enjoying your sojourn in nature, do as our Mohawk friend suggests and listen to the creatures you come across––because each one is there to tell you a story (and each of you may need to hear a different one). If you can’t get to the wilds, I’m sure every place has some kind of story to share, even some good ones. 

You will feel a million times better (and wiser) afterward. If someone had told me this even ten years ago, I would’ve argued that the work involved planning a weekend away without the family wasn’t worth the stress and trouble. My older self wants to tell my younger self she’s an idiot. My younger self would’ve argued I couldn’t afford it. My older self would say you don’t have to go anyplace exotic to have a good time––sleeping bags on floors will do for a weekend. My younger self would’ve asked which girlfriends would fit the bill, would fit together, would be fun. My older self would say that any good friends will do … as long as no one brings expectations or judgment or recrimination. They will fit together—maybe not perfectly or seamlessly, but willingly––because they need it as much as you. 

Deb: Barb does sing the praises of a beautiful thing. I love my gals getaways. I am sure Barb was inspired by the weekend we just had at a friend’s farm. It was glorious. Barb has recently joined the group of us and is now lured by the getaway siren-song of too much food, booze, laughter and food. Food. Had to say Food one more time because well ... Food! We are so excited to get up there and see each other, you would think we just got out of prison. And yes it is easy and sweet, we chitchat about nothing and sometimes we explore our innermost thoughts. The whole weekend feels like a big blanket of estrogen draped over our shoulders. But I’m thinking we better get busy and make a quilt because the estrogen is in short supply as the years wear on!