For the life of me, I can’t figure out how to pack light for a weekend trip.  Tell me that I’m moving to a foreign country for six months, and I can cram everything I need into two suitcases including sheets and towels and books and well, everything.  Tell me that I’m going a couple of hours away for four days, and I’m sunk.

I think the secret of packing light for a longer trip has to do with packing as few pairs of shoes as possible and making sure that everything goes with everything else.  Then you can get away with things like wearing the same pants more times than you care to admit.  You get the idea.

My packing tricks don’t work all the time though, especially not for this upcoming weekend.  Plans for the next few days (which make me super happy) include Thanksgiving dinner, hiking, running, meeting lots of new people, and plenty of other great things.  It’s obvious why one pair of shoes wouldn’t really work for all of those activities, right?  My hiking boots wouldn’t make a great statement under a festive dinner table, and my favorite heeled boots don’t do all that well on the trail.

What this all boils down to is that instead of being proud of myself for being low-maintenance and packing like a pro, I’m going to be lugging a giant suitcase down my front porch steps tomorrow.  It will include hiking boots and running shoes and layers for unpredictable weather and a bunch of other things.  Oh well.  You can’t win every time.  And carrying my suitcase might burn a few of the calories I plan to consume on Thursday.  It’ll all work out in the end.