"Tempo al Tempo" (All is good time)

The kitchen & terrace from the living room

“I'm not making any plans. I'm just 

going to let the universe surprise me.” 

~John Cusack

"It's time to start planning the packing," my good friend, Bob, mentioned to me today.
"I started that a few weeks ago," I replied. It probably shocked him as "Procrastination" is my middle name.

(Side note: I actually have a theory about that procrastination thing. My mother said I was due in late February, but I wasn't born until March 19. I've always figured that, a) I was holding out because I didn't want to be born in winter; and, b) The procrastination has been with me since before birth, so why start fighting it now? It makes sense to me...But I digress.)

While I probably won't start packing until the day I leave, I have decided that I have to start planning a bit because I hate over-packing as much as I hate under-packing. Since I have a lot to take with me in one carry-on and one personal item, I need to maximize space. Luckily, the apartment has a washer and dryer (which, if you've been to Europe, you know is simply a rack over which one hangs clothes to dry), so I can be a little skimpy on clothing.

"You can probably make it with two pairs of shorts, a pair of good slacks, and three tops," my dear husband said yesterday. I rolled my eyes (which hurt like anything since I'm still recovering from surgery).

"I packed more than that last year," I flipped back, "and it was winter. Think double that."  I think he rolled his eyes. Mike has this plan that we are someday going to travel somewhere with little or nothing in our suitcases and buy what we need when we get where we're going. He also has this plan to bring old clothes and throw them out before we come home. He hasn't convinced me to do either yet.

The bedroom

I do have to figure out how to take all my technology with me. The purpose of this trip is to write, so my laptop, iPad, camera and all the charging devices that go with them have to go somewhere. As small as the devices get these days, you'd think they'd figure out how to make the cables smaller, too. 


Oh, well.  I'll survive.

By the way,  I've included photos of the apartment kitchen and bedroom with this post.  Lovely little place, isn't it? Note that there's a Nespresso machine on the counter in the kitchen.  What more do I need? 

T-minus 22 days....