Tomorrow is the big day. . .

Friday, July 16, 2010 10:38p.m.
Trip car mileage: 0 miles

There's a lot to think about before you step out of your normal life for a whole month. I've done so much errand running over the past week you would think I was leaving for four years instead of four weeks.

I've survived the pre-trip responsibilities and tomorrow is the day when all my planning pays off. I've done laundry, packed, cleaned (I love coming home to a clean house), packed more, bought travel sized EVERYTHING and cleaned my car, (see picture proof below) well,the inside anyways. I saw little point in washing the outside since it would be covered in bug guts a few miles down the road.As for the packing, ugh. I hate trying to pack for so long. I'm definitely going to have to do laundry some along the way. (not that I don't have enough clothes to last a whole month, because trust me. . . I do, but I can't justify PACKING that much.) But here is the true dilema: I love SHOES! I can't help but have the perfect pair of shoes for every outfit, and I could fill a suitcase with just shoes. I constantly reminded myself that I needed to pack practically and that I wouldn't have the opportunity to sport a lot of shoes since I would be running around on photo assignments. So I narrowed it down to . . . eight pairs. . . plus the ones I'm traveling in. Yeah, I know, but in my defense I'm also packing for a wedding and pre-wedding festivities (Bethany I am so blaming this on you. . . thanks). So we'll see how this goes. All my clothes, shoes, and practicalities fit into one suitcase. Then I just needed my camera bag, a bag for my lighting equipment, and a laptop case which is also carrying a book and magazines for later and acting as my purse while traveling. I would have got out with one suitcase if I didn't have to pack technology. Speaking of which I need to get a proper case for my lighting equipment.

So, here I go. I'm hoping to be on the road by 8a.m. I promise to post better pictures than the one above in future posts and I also promise that I won't force anymore paragraphs devoted to my shoe obsession on anyone. I'll update tomorrow night at the hotel.

WISH ME LUCK!