What Am I Forgetting?

Like so many other people, I have this unsettling paranoia that I am going to forget something when I pack. Granted, we're traveling to Arizona, not Siberia, and I imagine that there are stores that could provide any of the things I could possibly forget.

But nonetheless, I'm sitting on the floor in m

y living room (well, in my ONLY room... I live in a studio apartment) while my cat makes a nest in my suitcase and I try to peer around the mountain of clothes that I've pulled from the closet and tossed into my "maybe I'd wear this" pile (sid

enote: why is EVERYTHING in my

maybe pile?). My cat, Daisy, is looking at my like, "You cannot possibly be considering leaving me here..."

I'm sure we've all received the same emails, regarding dress, what to bring, all that jazz... But I like to feel prepared (and I also like to overthink things), so I thought I'd throw a post up and see if anyone else is struggling with a packing debacle. Or if anyone has thought of novel things to bring that have sl

ipped my mind completely.

I know we've been told "business casual" is the nicest we'll need to dress, but that we can also wear what we'd wear to

class. I don't know

about anyone else, but my classroo

m is a pretty casual environm

ent. I often get mistaken for a student (this could also be because I'm only 5 years out of high school myself). But for me, jeans, sandals (it is San Diego, after all) and tshirts are pretty standard. The tower of clothes next to

me, though, looks like a lot more than jeans and tshirts.

Technologically speaking, I've got my laptop... point and shoot digital (I was going to borrow a nice digital SLR from school, but it decided to crap out on me last

week), headphones (because my iphone is rather useless

without them), and all the necessary cords for uploading and charging. I was tempted to bring my handheld CatchPhrase game, because I'm slightly obsessed with it (and it's great for those 5 minutes left right before the bell in class), but I'm not sure we'll have lots of time

for game-playing.

I was excited to see that the hotel has a fitness center... Although from glancing over our agenda, I'm not sure how much time (or energy) I'll have to actually take advantage of it. But I'm still bringing my running shoes and some gym clothes. Does anyone else like yoga? Working out is a great form of stress relief for me, but I also get unmotivated pretty easily. If anyone wants a workout buddy, sign me up. :)

I've also got bottles of sunscreen (I happen to be pretty much the whitest person alive, despite living in San Diego) and aloe (because regardless of w

hat I do, I will burn). I've got a book or too (also a relaxation escape for me... I am an English teacher, after all). I also crochet, but I'm not so sure 100+ degree weather is going to ma

ke me want to carry around fuzzy balls of yarn to make scarves out of.

But aside from the obvious basics, I'm at a loss. I feel like there are things that I SHOULD be packing and throwing into my pile... But I'm at a loss. I'm starting to feel a little frazzled,

because (just like all of you) I leave tomorrow m

orning. I also don't want to end up packing 5 bags for two weeks (I'm trying to keep myself to one... but with shoes alone, I've got a problem...). So before my head explodes.... any suggestions?