(Over)packing for Italy

Before starting with today's post, I just want to say that I have some issues with Blogger and I can't leave comments on many of my favorite blogs (in particular Rose and dinster), so please don't think that my lack of comments means that I am not reading or have nothing to say. It is actually very frustrating because sometimes I try anyway and I write my comment but Blogger keeps signing me out when I hit the "Submit" button.
This happens with the blogs where ou have to choose your identity to leave comments, so maybe you can change your settings (not that you need my comments but maybe there are other readers out there who try to comment and can't). Just saying...

In any case I am leaving tomorrow for a two-week vacation at my parents in Italy. It will be just my daughter and I as my husband doesn't consider a stay at my parents as "vacation". At the beginning I used to fight it and insist for him to come with us, but after the last disastrous experiences I have come to the conclusion that it is better like this (when you are with someone who is not happy and you try to please him/her all the time it can actually be a very stressful vacation and end up with fights and family dramas). I am up for some pampering from my parents and some babysitting so I can enjoy my old city (Milan) and spend some time with my old friends.

How come I haven't done a post on packing yet, you might ask? Well, it's because I have just started. The suitcase has been laying open in my bedroom for a week and every now and then I dropped a few things in it and my daughter's stuff but I have seriously started to create little piles of clothes around it only this morning. Do you do this? Create piles of clothes organized by category that you put inside the suitcase only when you are sure that you are not missing anything and you are not taking with you more stuff than you need? I must admit that as a last minute and very disorganized person I start doing this but I always end up throwing in whatever crosses my mind before leaving, in panic mode. OK, even I have a checking list of things that I must not forget (like IDs, my daughter's blanket etc), I am really talking about clothes here. The only exception would be packing for a one-week beach vacation, I have become pretty good at that.

I have been inspired by the "packing posts" by DaniBP. She's such an organized person and therefore, traveller. She starts thinking about what she is going to take on vacation with her months in advance and she meticulously builds her travel wardrobe so that packing is just a formality. One thing that never crossed my mind in 40+ years (I swear) and I learned from her posts is to count my clothes. I always tend to overpack bottoms (pants in particular) and underpack tops and last year I really had a problem, even if shopping can be a solution if you go somewhere like Milan (but you have to be in the right season when the stores are still carrying clothes that you can wear right away, like now).

You would thing that packing for this kind of vacation is an easy task, after all I am going home and not some places that I have never visited before. But it has a few challenges. First, each time that I go back it's like going to a high school reunion because my parents live in a residential suburban area where everyone knows everyone. Most of the people I went to school with live still there or have come back now that they have a family. Since I was quite the popular girl in college and high school I still feel the pressure of looking like that girl and I tend to pack my best clothes.
Second, my mom is the best tailor that I know, so I typically want to take advantage of free alterations and I pack stuff not to wear while I am there but to be fixed (in this case a bikini top and a pair of jeans but I am limiting myself).
Third, women in Italy in general and in Milan in particular tend to show a lot of bare skin in the summer, so I don't want to dress too conservatively (I think that none of my friends could be caught dead in a pencil skirt), but on the other side I have a wardrobe that is much more conservative than it used to be (and you know me, I am probably not the most conservative gal that you know), which can lead to packing panic. Last, trends come and go but the style in Milan is (and will always be) minimal-chic. You could go with a suitcase full of black and white clothes and be perfectly in synthony with the city. I have been living here for eight years now, so my style is more cosmopolitan, I would say, and when I go back I have always the feeling that everybody looks more sexy and more elegant than me.

So for this last reason not only I tend to overpack but a week or so before my departure date I start to have that feeling that I have nothing to wear. I can't wear madras, plaid or gingham without looking like a tourist (the other thing that a Milanese can't be caught dead in is madras, or plaid). So I feel compelled to buy something that will make me feel at home. I do this every single time, I can't help it. In this case the choice fell on the shimmerveil tee (that I always loved anyway but need like a bullet in my head. At least here in NYC). I think that this is a look that I can proudly sport in Milan:

Admittedly it will be a little bit hot for this during the day but I plan to wear it if I go out in the evening. The perfect companions to the shimmerveil tee are going to be the crushed glitter sandals, that I bought on sale with 30% off (I love the look of these but they are utterly uncomfortable to walk in, there is no cushioning at all and the foot tend to slip, not forward but backwords, if this makes sense, so that the toes recede on the footbed and get out the strap, so I wouldn't pay much more than $50):

The other piece that I am bringing and I find VERY suited for Milan is the Theory dress that you have seen (or not) in this post. It is a day dress perfect to stroll in the city all day and look perfectly polished and flirty.

So to go back to the counting matter, I put my clothes in piles by category like this (which is probably what every grown-up does, but I repeat myself here, this is the first time for me):

The categories and counts are:
- Long-sleeves tops: 2 (just in case. Normally I wouldn't have taken long sleeved tops but my mom told me that it is going to rain at the beginning of my stay. I know, I know.) I might add the Casbah perfect shirt.
- Tops (day): 4 (this is the category that I tend to underpack)
- Tops (evening): 2 (I don't plan to go out in the evening very often)
- Tees and tanks: 10 so far (this is the category that typically gets out of control)
- Dresses: 5 (2 totally casual, the Olivia dress from last year and the boathouse dress from this year, to walk around where my parents live, go to the playground and grocery shopping etc, and 3 dressier)
- Bottoms (pants): I have 6 in the pile including one pair for travel but I may skim to 5
- Bottoms (skirts and shorts): 6 (3 skirts and 3 shorts. This is probably too many shorts but they don't take much space)

Now I would like to know from the packing experts among you, is there a formula out there that you use and has proven successful (like, take the double numbers of tops than the number of bottoms or one top a day keeps the laundry away? Even if my parents have a top of the line laundry machine, so I am not worried about my ability to do laundry; I am more interested in finding the perfect balance between too few and too many). I made sure that everything sort of matches (a mistake I have learned from in the past) and that there isn't anything very high maintenance (ie, no silk), besides this dress that deserves to be worn, since I haven't worn it last year (I don't remember the name):

Oh yes, because another cause of overpacking is taking with me stuff that I never wear here and give it a last chance while I am away from my ordinary life. Do you do that? I almost did it with this pair of pants that I am clinging onto for some reasons:

I like the combination of washed denim and camel brown (it was one of the major runaway trends for spring) but I don't feel comfortable wearing these pants. The problem is that they would look really good with sky-rocket chunky heels and a very fitted sexy top. But I think I have passed the age for that, even in Milan. So they have been discarded and they are staying home (and probably will find another home soon).

The shoes is the last category and I have obviously a problem because I can count 7 pairs. I need to decide between the two pairs of platforms because these are heavy (especially the black ones with the wood wedge) and take a lot of suitcase space. And I have to share my suitcase with my daughter. In any case my beauty case will be minimal: besides the fact that I am not addict to any beauty product, I can always go to the local pharmacy and buy whatever I need.

If you think that I am late, don't worry: us last-minute persons are full of resources and I can stay up the entire night if needed (not to mention that I am leaving in the afternoon, which leaves a whole morning to wrap everything up).

If you have any packing advice, please share! I will be reading your comments but in case I have really to stay up the entire night, I tell you already: take care and see you in two weeks.