To pack or not to pack

As someone who travels often you would think packing would be a no brainer, well think again!!! It's one thing to pack for a week in Iowa or 10 days in Mexico but 280 days in Europe??? Maybe it wouldn't be so challenging if we weren't spending the first 30 days in Paris where fashion reigns. My fashion consists of Hanes and Adidas, so not a whole lot of fashion sense here. 

So the shopping madness has begun, I have bought 6 pairs of shoes, returned 3 pairs, bought the same pair of pants in multiple colors and returned them as I found a similar style at another store that does not require hemming. Bought a travel case, returned a travel case, bought kid sunscreen, returned the sunscreen...okay so there is a little bit of insanity going on here I admit it. 

I have landed on the shoes, I have a least 3 pair of pants picked out, a jacket, sweater, a few shirts and yes even a sundress but hey I still have a week to change my mind...right?

Outside my mental boundaries

So this blogging thing may be more difficult than I thought, it's my first page and already I have writers block. Well maybe I should make it easier on myself and start from the beginning, it is the very best place to start or so they say. 

Here I am, a successfully employed 47 year old woman in a committed relationship with Laura (which you will hear lots about) and a mother to an adorable yet tenacious two year old named Tatum (which you will see and hear lots about too) and we are about to embark on a life changing journey. After 25 plus years in the corporate world I woke up one day and said "I don't want to do this anymore", well actually I woke up many times and said that same statement but that day was different, I really meant it. I realized that I was enslaved to my paycheck, spending money on stuff that I wasn't even using, buying food I wasn't even eating and day after day just going through the motions. 

Laura and I had dreams of traveling, buying a bigger house, having a yard for Tatum and just enjoying life. Now don't get me wrong, I love life and I live it to the fullest but my boundaries for living were limited and god forbid I step outside those mental boundaries that I placed on myself.

So a decision was made, a life altering, savings draining, holy crap what am I doing decision and you know what....it's amazing.

Today it was made official, the boss sent the email that sealed the deal, no turning back now and its about to get real. People are counting on us, we are not only about to live our dream but apparently the dream of many others. May 6 is the day we say good-bye to the Pacific Northwest and trust that our flights are easy and smooth, the housing we booked in Paris on Airbnb.com is as perfect as it appears on-line and the Parisians will have mercy on the non-French speaking women with the adorable toddler.