Prepping for takeoff!

If you’ve ever packed for an international move, you know logistics can be somewhat hellish. I brought home tons of clothes, shoes, handbags, workout gear, etc. from San Francisco and sat at my dad’s house staring at the piles of clothing hoping my Jedi powers would compel the clothes to pack themselves.

No luck.

I sorted through the clothes and relegated cold weather clothing to the pile that would stay with my sister for ‘safe keeping’ until we return. Some of the clothes I’ll retrieve in April when we’re Stateside, but others needed a new home anyway.

I was thinking back on my move to London in 2009. In some senses I thought packing was easier then. I was moving into a furnished ‘apartment’ (a dorm room, essentially), with little storage space and no need for home accents. This time around, we’re moving into a legitimate home (furnished, mind you) with plenty of space and creative license with home decor. The upside with this move is that it’s a warm weather environment. Most of the clothes I’m packing are light — shorts, tanks, lightweight dresses and bathing suits instead of coats, scarves, and thick sweaters. I still need to actually pack, which should be a fun adventure.

In addition to packing and working (I’m working until the day that I leave!), we also have the small issue of wedding invites to handle. Fortunately, we’ve recruited my  family to come help put together our handmade invites, which we’ll be posting soon. Here’s a sneak peak into a few of the elements:

 For anyone thinking of making their invites — like we’re doing — I have a few bits of insight/advise. I personally love the idea of handmade invites because I think it adds a personal element. We’ve outsourced a few of the pieces but a number of the elements we created ourselves (with the help of some professionals). The process doesn’t suck — it’s actually kind of a fun bonding thing sometimes — but needing to get these done by Friday does suck. It’s quite a bit of work putting all of the elements together and time is something we’re a bit short on at the moment. Also, another gem for brides-to-be: making invites is not necessarily less expensive than buying them. Once you factor in all of the costs of each of the elements (plus the time that it takes), you may very well be spending just as much, if not more, than what it would cost to purchase them.

So, we now have three  days left until take off (!!!) and we have a few things left on our US to-do list:

- Piece together the invites, stamp & prep for mailing
- PACK for Anguilla (pretty critical)
- Figure out what needs to be shipped; box, weight items + arrange for shipping
- Change our phones/SIM cards to pre-paid plans for international use
- Help my family book their flights to Anguilla

Like I mentioned, I’m also working full time until Friday so we have a few crazy days ahead of us. Wish us luck!

xoxo,