Category: Travel

Packing Light: CM Summit

I’m sorry for the silence yesterday, I’m in New York for the CM Summit and wifi has been tough to come by. But! Travel means Packing Light, and this time I thought I’d show you what I brought while I’m still here.

This is what I wore for the first day of the conference:

The dress was a steal at H&M, as were the safety-first neon tights. The librarian shoes are thrifted, and the bracelet is from a little boutique in Seattle. I look embarrassed in this photo because I’m about to start leaping around in the middle of the street.

See? I’d just come from champagne at The Algonquin with Laura and Liz, and I was feeling exuberant. Liz has me all caught up on The Real Housewives of New York City, so this trip is already paying dividends.

Packing Light: Dopp Kit

A lot of you have asked me how I fit everything in one tiny carry on. One of my big tricks was a tip from Gwen, who suggested putting liquids in a see-through bag with a clip, like this one. It hooks on to the zipper of your suitcase, and it has changed my life. Life altering! You just pop it off at security, pop it back on once you’re through, and BAM! You have room for an extra pair of shoes in your bag. Bwahahaha.

Once I’m at the hotel, I empty that bag into the dopp inside my suitcase that has all my “dry” stuff in it. My dopp kit is easier to get into, and I prefer to have that on the counter.

I love to share hotel rooms with friends so I can see the little luxuries they take with them on the road. Lots of you ask for photos of my bag when I pack, so I thought I’d start by showing you my dopp kit. Here are some lists of what’s inside. If you see awesome stuff I’m missing, let me know.

Hair bands and bobby pins. As you can see, I like to contain things in sandwich bags. Makes it easier to find stuff and to restock.
A mini-container of John Frieda Secret Weapon Flawless Finishing Creme for dry hair
A mini-container of Curls Rock Curl Amplifier for wet hair
Tweezerman mini tweezers, which are so tiny and precise, and less apt to get nabbed by security, though they are potentially very stabby indeed.
Baby oil to remove my long-last lipstick
Fashion tape— this is skin-friendly double-sided sticky tape, to tape clothes in place over cleavage or keep bra straps hidden. Toupé tape works too.
Benadryl, because I have food allergy issues.
Vitamins
Advil
A wide-tooth comb for combing wet curly hair.
Marvis travel toothpaste, I can’t believe how long this teeny tiny tube has lasted.
A toothbrush
A lint roller
Gilette Spa Breeze razor — have you used this? It has little soap bumpers on it so you don’t need to soap up before you shave. Killer.
Natural hand sanitizer
A travel candle and matches
Panty liner to buy me a few minutes while I run to the drugstore for supplies if necessary.
Single-use eye drops — Love these. They save space in little purses when you’re going out, and I sometimes tuck them into my bra if I don’t want to carry a purse.
Q-tips
Safety pins
Contacts
Handy-wipe — For washing my hands if I decide to go thrift store shopping.
Deodorant
Dental floss
Cuticle scissors, which I mostly use as real scissors.
Nail clipper
Nose hair trimmer (ahem)
Jewelry I keep in the exterior zip pockets.
Face cleansing towelettes — I didn’t get a photo of these, but I travel with two kinds: pre-soaped ones that you wet to wash your face, and then the damp ones you can use to wipe off your makeup. I keep those in the night stand in case I realize I forgot to wash my face after I’ve already climbed in bed. I do that a lot.

Revlon Creme shadow in Pink Petal
The Naked Bee sunblock stick This was a Mighty Goods submission, so I’m testing it out and I like it so far. Makes it easier to get sunscreen onto Hank.
Burt’s Bees Peppermint Lip Balm, so tingly. This is the only lipbalm I use, and I have sticks of it everywhere. I even have one specially marked to soothe my nose and upper lip when I have a cold. There’s also a version with sunscreen.
Cover Girl blushes in Classic Pink and Natural Rose
A full palette of Maybellene Superstay Lipcolor, which never, ever comes off. I just made a lunch date with a friend for the specific purpose of teaching her how to apply it, and I don’t even care if that sounds nuts.
A lipstick I picked up at the airport and now hate. It’s that bright orangey red that’s so hip right now, but I can’t find a brand that doesn’t bleed, which makes me look like a pack-a-day circus clown.
A brush for blush and powder
Eyelash curler, which I never, ever use. Why do I pack this?
Eyebrow pencil, which I also never use. I have Yeti eyebrows.
Eyeliner
Shadow brushes
Nosehair trimmer and tweezers, which I apparently photographed twice.
Perfume — the type varies because I like to associate trips with particular scents.
Clinique tinted sunblock, which I use as foundation.
Concealer with sunblock
Liquid eyeliner
Face powder
Mini-container of DDF Daily Protective Moisturizer
Atopalm moisturizer
Philosophy Help moisturizer. I use that so infrequently that I think I’ve had this tube for years. Which is… gross.
Neutrogena sunblock/moisturizer — I just use this as sunblock, because I have dry skin and like the extra moisture.
White eyeliner — I use it to put that little dot on the inside corner of my eye that’s supposed to make your eyes sparkle. Is that still a thing?

This is my nail kit, and it’s mostly for touch ups. The cork bag was a Mighty Goods submission. I didn’t love it when I got it, and now I realize I was dreadfully wrong. Do you know who makes it? Let me know and I’ll update.

Orange stick
La Occitane Pure Shea Butter — I think I got this as a hotel amenity, but it’s great cuticle cream.
Cotton balls
Revlon Strawberry Electric nail polish — I usually only paint my toenails and I think toenails look best in comparatiely garish colors.
Seche Vitte fast-drying top coat — You put this on while your polish is still wet. It gives an at-home pedicure the professional sheen. Also good for stopping runs in your tights.

That’s it! Typing all that makes me want to take a trip. Or head to a Sephora. What about you? What are you willing to squeeze into a mini tube so you can take it on the road?

Hello Sailor, Vintage Photos

Meet “Hopeless” Eddy, Mickey Van London, and “Glamour” Gallemore. I found them inside a dusty box in a curio shop when Melissa and I were visiting Puerto Rico.

I could spend hours looking through photos in antique shops, especially near old military bases. Sailors take great candids.

Some of my favorite photos are the ones we’d just delete without thinking from our digital cameras.

This photo says Galveston, Texas on the back. Is your grandfather in here somewhere?

Mom 2.0 Recap: Let’s all move to the same city

First, I regret that I can’t offer Mad Men hair tutorials, because I had nothing to do with it. Diana from the Sax Fifth Avenue Salon was responsible for all the ratting and twisting and pinning. It involved no extra hairpieces, but she did use three pounds of bobby pins:

My neck could barely support my giant lolling head, but would you believe the whole session only took about fifteen minutes? Having an updo done in Texas is like having your tires changed by a pit crew at the Indy 500.

During the party, Jenny snuck back to her room for her bottle of Strawberry Hill — presumably because she was looking to get some teenage girls drunk. When she returned, she mentioned that someone had asked her if she was “working.” We laughed, because she was wearing a giant blonde wig and a black petticoat. The next day some guy at a helicopter conference mistook me for a prostitute too, only I was in my regular clothes. So who’s the pretty one now, Jenny?

Karen took some photos of me for her upcoming book The Beauty of Different. She taught me Andrea’s trick for making people laugh in photos, which is to ask them to turn away and then spin around really fast with a fierce face. Like so:

I demonstrated later for the very brave Jon from Daddy Scratches, who was among the few men at the conference. He took the photo I’ll use when I’m asked to speak at Davos:

Karen also started on her Mighty Life List at the conference! Boo-yah.

She just published it, and she’s already gotten started with a project to photograph 1,000 faces. Also, she offered to show me around Trinidad for Carnival on the condition that I wear a sequined bikini with her. So I apologize for the Flickr stream in advance.

Rebecca was my roomie, which meant lots of laughing after lights out and many startling, pseudo-sexual assgrabs at the bar.

I’m pretty sure we’re engaged now, Rebecca. Please apologize to Hal for me. Rebecca also did my eye makeup for the keynote panel. Her eye makeup tutorial is legend, so now my eyes are totally Internet famous.


(Photo by Mainline Mom who has lots of great photos of the conference.)

The keynote panel with Heather, Gabby, and Stephanie was a lot of fun because it felt like a real conversation — albeit a conversation with 300 people, many of whom were wielding cameras and live blogging. Good eye makeup does wonders for your chutzpah.

The last day, I walked Heather up to her room to keep her company while she packed. She reached into the minibar and said, “Do you realize how long it’s been since we’ve had a cocktail date?” Between pregnancies and breast feeding over the last few years, there’s been entirely too much napping and not nearly enough Madonna karaoke at our recent reunions. She twisted the tops off two miniature whiskeys, and we clinked airplane bottle necks.

Then she tried to make me promise not to tell Jon that she wore 8-inch stripper heels all weekend, despite her fractured tailbone. Honey, Jon has met you.

This is Laura doing her impeccable Laura imitation at the Mom 2.0: Defining a Movement exhibit. The next day, Laura and I toasted her awesome conference in the hot tub. I met so many smart, kind women this year, I came home feeling overwhelmed by all the possibilities unfolding for our community.

Well done, girl. You know how to throw a party.

Mom 2.Oh!

This is me all dressed up for the Mad Men party at Mom 2.0. I’m wearing my hair like this from now on.

I’ve been a little silent because I came home with a nasty cold, but I’ll have photos up soon and a collection of a few of my favorite moments from the weekend.

Hello, Salt Lake City

Sorry for the site weirdness over the last couple of days. We were changing servers, and it went less smoothly than I had hoped. Thanks for hanging in there with me. While my site was doing backflips, I was on my way to speak at Alt:

AltHeader3

The plane landed yesterday without crashing, which was heartening, and I finally got to meet Miss Marlo.

littlelo

Heather makes good babies.

Lift With Your Knees

crashplane

Over the years, I’ve developed an aversion to pilots who use the intercom in flight. You’re trying to sleep, and they point out scenery visible on the opposite side of the plane. Or they delay the in-flight movie to impose their own form of entertainment on a captive audience. Until last week, I thought “but seriously folks” was the most distasteful phase a pilot could utter. As it turns out, that honor belongs to the phrase “Emergency Landing.”

For example: “This plane, which is hurtling through space with hundreds of flammable people aboard, is going to have to make an emergency landing, folks.”

Or perhaps: “If any of you have developed a sudden allergic reaction to gravity, please inform your flight attendants, as we are preparing for an emergency landing.”

See what I mean? Distasteful.

The pilot on this particular flight tells us we will be making an emergency landing at a new airport, one with a longer runway. Apparently, there are concerns about the breaks — specifically whether we have any.

The girl in the center seat turns to me with moon-pie eyes. She’s in her early twenties, and it’s the first time we’ve looked at each other since we boarded. I almost reach for her hand, but instead we stare stupidly for a few seconds. “The nearest exit is five rows up,” I say. She nods. I lean forward. “Five rows up,” I say to the girl at the window. “In case you can’t see, and you have to count.” This girl looks at me like I’m an insane person. Fair enough.

I reach into my bag for my ID so emergency personnel will know who I am. I tie my hair back and find my scarf so I can breathe through it if there’s smoke. I text my husband that I’ve always loved him and Hank. I wait for the plane to burst into a fiery ball of flaming fire.

Meanwhile, the flight attendants rush the aisles checking belts. There’s a problem with the landing gear, it didn’t descend electronically, so they had to crank it down manually. I’m trying to gauge how serious this is, and the flight attendants are exchanging significant glances. Glances that say, “I have never done this before. You?” “No. No, I have not.” Apparently, the attendants are sure that we have landing gear, because no one tells us to brace for impact. This is a profound comfort.

I decide that I will drag my seat mates out of the plane if there’s a problem. With the gallon of adrenaline coursing through my system, I’m certain I can heft them both like potato sacks.

I am mentally rehearsing hefting them like potato sacks as we land. The landing is utterly, blessedly uneventful — just like any other. Except for the fire trucks racing to the wings. And the twenty-year-olds over my shoulders.

7 Ways to Keep Cozy in San Francisco

bbridge

San Francisco is a scarf and gloves town year round, especially at night, but in December the wind off the water will make you whimper. Fortunately, it’s the kind of chill that can be cured with a cup of cocoa — as opposed to, say, Chicago chill which can only be cured with something much stronger, like emergency resuscitation.

If you’re planning a visit soon, these are some of my favorite ways to keep toasty while you’re sightseeing:

1. Sip a cup of soup from scratch at the Crissy Field Center Cafe.

This place offers the same affordable organic food as Alice Water’s Warming Hut up the way, but it’s half as busy — so take your pick of tables with showstopper views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Watching the steam rise from my soup while the fog burns off over the bay always makes me feel grateful to live here.

2. Take tea at the Samovar Tea Lounge.

Watch the leaves tumble in your glass pot and warm your nose over the steam. Samovar offers a restorative selection of beautiful leaves and herbs. There are three locations now, but I’m still partial to the original, which lives in the Castro.

3. Escape the rain in City Lights Bookstore.

If you’re the kind of person who learns to love a city through its bookstores, duck in to City Lights and leave your umbrella by the door. This San Francisco institution is the city in miniature — smart, charming, and eclectic.

4. Have an all-souffle dinner at Cafe Jaqueline.

All the portions are made to share at this tiny, all-souffle restaurant, which makes it one of my favorites for dates or celebrating with a close girlfriend. Call ahead to see if you can secure a spot at one of the five or six tables. The restrooms are through the kitchen, where you’ll find a bottomless bowl of eggs resting on the counter.

5. Settle in at Bluebottle Coffee.

Worst possible neighborhood, best possible coffee. Bluebottle roasters are obsessive, so enjoy a perfect cup in one of the cutest cafes in the city. You see the people working on their computers? Remember what I said about the neighborhood? Yeah. I wouldn’t do that.

6. Watch the steam curl over your noodles at Suzu.

This small noodle place in the Japantown mall isn’t much to look at, but the fresh noodles and broth have a dedicated following. There will be a line, so parties of two or singles have better luck.

7. Stir hot chocolate brandies at Tosca.

The bar at Tosca is lined with glasses and teaspoons in anticipation of the demand for this signature cocktail. It is small and deceptively potent. Rise from your barstool to stretch every so often to make sure your sense of balance is still in working order.

Cheers. Welcome to San Francisco.