Packing... again!

Why is it so hard for me to pack for any trip?? I'm trying to sort out stuff for my trip back to Ireland at the weekend. I have a bunch of clothes laid out on bed and I've no idea if what i've got is enough or right for the weather at home. The dress that I intend to wear to the wedding is not what you'd call Northern Hemisphere March weather but unless, between this evening and next Thurs when I fly to UK, my weight drops to what it was 6 months ago, I'm not going to be wearing the dress that I originally intended to. I've had no joy finding something else here so instead it looks like I'll be going with that rather nice summery dress I bought before Christmas! Oh well, at least I'll have my big brown puffy down jacket over it (I'm not joking! Sorry Va but I don't do cold very well... as I've discovered, and have had continually pointed out to me, very well) to keep me warm :)

And then there's the dilemna of the suitcase... I have two here with me; one hardshell and one soft case. They both have wheels but the soft case has long handle that pulls up so I don't have to twist and turn to pull. The hard shell would be a better one to use to protect the stuff that I have in the case but I can't do that twist/bending thing with back at the moment. I'm getting the lend of another hard shell which has pull up handle and so is easier to use. But... I think it's quite a bit smaller than either of my suit cases and well, not sure that will work either. I mean, I do plan to do a bit of shopping back in Dublin :)

And it gets worse.. there's the shoes issue! I'm somewhat limited in footwear at the moment. If it's flat I can wear it. If it's not I don't. Obviously, I intend to break that for the wedding... not sure my birkenstocks really go with the dress. Sure I can take the shoes off the minute I get to the reception. But for day to day stuff I don't really have much in the way of flat winter footwear. One pair actually. Oh well, I guess it makes a change from my previous packing dilemnas where I had too many shoes... but I so look forward to being able to to wear something other than my birkenstocks, the goldy coloured Clarks ballet style slipper or the cream shoes that I'm currently stuck with. I want to wear my funky, dead comfy (ordinarily) sandals I got in NY last March!!! Oh well, don't suppose I'd have been packing them right now even if I could wear them... suspect it's not quite that warm at home at the moment :)

Not to worry I'm sure it'll all work out in the end! And I have to admit I'm really looking forward to a good variety of tasty Irish, English and continental cheeses to tuck in to on my return. They just don't do as good a cheese over here ! Oh, and maybe some Valrhona chocolate too... yummy!!!