I'm packing my bags...and everyone else's too!

I'm a girly girl that has a facial routine...I use a facial cleanser, toner and lotions and yes, I wear cosmetics too. Now comes the hard part, packing it all. What do you put into your carry on? What do you put into your checked baggage? For me anything like pressed powder eyeshadow and blush I put into my carry on baggage, I've put them into checked baggage before and lets just say that they turned into a fine powdery mess (good thing they were inside of a makeup bag, so at least it was a contained mess).

Now for the "other stuff" -there's body wash, body lotion, the anti-frizz hair cream, shampoo and condition and lets not forget the sunscreen (yes I do use those things every day). I bought the thicker "freezer" 1 gallon zip-lock bags for the things that get packed into checked baggage (all the stuff I just mentioned. Of course I have to go through the "guy stuff" and see what they need to have with them and what can be in checked baggage. Andrew and his contact lens stuff, since that stuff doesn't come in 3 ounce bottles it has to go into checked baggage.

Being that I'm really looking hard at what I'm taking, I'm amazed at it all. I keep looking at the shoes and thinking to myself...do I need to bring 5 pairs? My answer... Um, yes I do, LOL! This isn't like going to visit family, where you can pop on over to the grocery store and pick up things like shampoo and toothpaste- this is a cruise ship that will charge you $12 for a 4 ounce bottle of some no name shampoo, LOL! I remember paying $8 for a 2 ounce tube of sunscreen at the Zoo last summer (I never told my husband how much it was, or he would have had a COW right there on the spot) I can only imagine how much it will be on a cruise ship where there isn't any where else to shop but there. Talk about captive shoppers, LOL!

I refuse to even attempt doing laundry, I did this once and it's the stuff nightmares are made out of. So I'd rather bring a couple more outfits than I think I need...in case I spill on myself and that sort of thing, LOL! Come on, it's vacation time - who doesn't spill something on themselves? Heck I've got kids, I know that at least one of them will spill an entire drink on me (it happens on every vacation). So I think that I'm being smart in planning ahead, LOL!

Now to get with the program and have those suit cases well on their way of being packed.