Reorganizing (Back in Chicago)

This most recent West Coast excursion may have been the longest I’d ever been away from Chicago in my entire life so I’m sure you can imagine that returning home after nearly four months was particularly exciting. In addition to not having to worry about survival on a daily basis and being reunited with family, friends and my Girlpawn, I have the added perk of being able to unload my acquired goodies, pick up newly traded items (mailed to me from helpers across the country) and retire those items that no longer serve my immediate purpose.

As I carried everything I owned to the ticket counter in San Francisco, my shoulders made quite a point of reminding me just how overburdened I’d managed to become. Typically after a month or two on the road I manage to acquire an extra 10-20 pounds of random stuff…but this time I even needed to borrow and extra bag (to check) even after filling my carry-on(s) to the gills in order to avoid a $50 overweight bag fee. I was thrilled when I was reminded that I had the option of checking two bags for free and was lucky that my ride to the airport had stuck around just in case and just so happened to have a small backpack in the car.

Since leaving for Phoenix in December I’d managed to pick up around 40 lbs of stuff that I didn’t want to leave behind if I didn’t have to. These items included:

1 long sleeve shirt
1 hooded sweatshirt (souvenir of my trip to Alcatraz and a gift from Alcatraz Cruises)
1 pair of jeans
1 pair of shorts
2 polo shirts
3 new t-shirts (souvenirs from San Fran - seen below)

1 pair of awesome travel underwear from Exofficio and
1 new toiletry organizer (seen below - both bought and paid for with my Lombardi Sports Groupon in SF).

1 Nook Color eBook reader courtesy of Barnes & Noble (seen below)

3 real books
1 souvenir mug from the San Diego Zoo
1 bottle of cologne from The Body Shop in San Diego
1 portable harddrive for backing up my computer data
1 wallet (for business cards, IDs, receipts, etc…)  and
2 travel games including my new favorite, Bananagrams (seriously, if you like Scrabble or word games at all, you’ll love this one).

Once I got back, I was able to unload many of the unnecessary items (like books, business cards, menus and notes taken, items I hadn’t used in awhile, a few souvenirs/gifts, and retired 2 pairs of shorts, 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of sweatpants (used in the bitter cold back in December), 3 old shirts, a few pairs of underwear and socks, 1 Gap messenger bag (used as my laptop bag) and an old smaller messenger bag that I’d used for odds and ends since week one (including a 4 month stint as my first toiletry bag).

In addition, I picked up a new compression sack to keep my extra clothing at bay (see below)

I finally got my hands on the air mattress I’d traded for (seen below)

And I upgraded my laptop bag to the holy grail of bags…

I used my $100 Timbuk2 Groupon and traded two cooking class Groupons to cover the overage. What can I say, I love new toys. I can’t wait to get this baby loaded up and put it to the test and make sure I’m at a proper payload before hitting the road again.

I’d love to trade for a couple more pairs of those Exofficio underwear, so if anyone is interested, send me an email and let me know what cities you’d be interested in seeing my list of Groupons for - [email protected]

Thanks!

One Comment