Last spring, Theo and I made a five day trip to San Francisco. It was a really intense trip for a college friend's memorial service and to meet a childhood friend's newborn baby. We were all over the Bay Area, from the hot sun to fog, plus I had to bring my laptop so I could work every morning. It's never been my forte, but I totally nailed packing light! All the essentials - and what to leave at home - straight ahead.


I took four pieces. My Longchamp travel bag, my purse, our Fjällräven backpack and our Maclaren stroller. Instead of packing a blanket, I let a cardigan or scarf double as a blanket during the trip. While we were in motion, I hooked the Longchamp bag over the handles of the stroller and stood the backpack in the carry basket underneath. The carry basket is only designed to carry 5 pounds, but if the backpack stands vertically on the frame beneath the basket, it's very secure. My purse went over my shoulder. After doing that over some of San Francisco's famous hills, I felt very fit!

Here is what I packed in each bag:

In the backpack, I had our laptop and battery cords. I also had a ziploc with some of Theo's favorite baby food and snacks, two bibs, Wet Ones for wiping off tray tables, restaurant tables and highchairs, a couple feeding spoons, our favorite head to toe baby wipes and a few teething toys. Naturally, there were also diapers, the world's best spill proof sippy cup for Mr. T and my beloved bkr bottle for myself. Finally, I always bring along an expandable reusable bag in case we run out of space due to shopping. ;) At a sidewalk sale in Zurich, I got a really chic Oilily one that I absolutely love. It zips into a flat square, but has leather handles and feels like a real tote bag. During travel, we kept this backpack accessible along with my purse underneath the seat in front of us and put the Longchamp in the overhead bin.


In my purse, I brought a book to read while Theo slept on me, sunglasses, my zippered pouch with lip glosses, hand lotions, eye drops, and Epi-Pen (very important!), my wallet, more Wet Ones, a pack of travel wipes and my phone. Whenever traveling, I always take a purse that has a hook to clip my keys onto. Keys are so easy to lose when you're not actually using them!


Finally, in the Longchamp, we had to cram five days' worth of clothing for two people in two very different climates. Driving into San Francisco from the East Bay is always a shocker. "Welcome to winter!," the fog seems to call out. I brought one pair of jeans, one pair of chinos, a dress, a couple cardigans and scarves (which doubled as baby blankets when they weren't being worn) and tops for each day. Obviously a baby isn't going to wear clothes more than once, but luckily his clothes folded up nicely and didn't hog much room. It's kind of dorky, but I always plan out my outfits on the back of an envelope or other scratch paper. That way, I pack enough, but don't overpack. It's foolproof!


It all worked out great. Every morning, Theo and I got up and hiked our way toward my friend Kate's neighborhood. Here we are going up...


And down the other side! Thankfully, a friend of Kate and her husband Ryan allowed us to house sit. It was the most beautiful Victorian and we had it all to ourselves. Embarrassingly, I was super afraid to be there alone at night. I found myself wishing we could just crash on my friend's couch instead! Silly.


I found a cozy little cafe to work from and Theo slept outside. The seemingly unattended stroller caused many an alarmed head jerk.


I adore San Francisco! After working for the morning, Theo and I would head up to Kate's house and we'd hang out for a while and then all go out to lunch together.


Getting out of the house with two babies and two strollers was ridiculous! City living. Sheesh!


One day, we had lunch at Tacolicious. Have you been? It was so fantastic. So delicious and pretty and dreamy! Theo napped under my scarf for the beginning of the meal.


Then he joined right in on the action and had some beans and rice and pulled pork for himself. As you can see, he also sampled the table. Good thing for those Wet Ones wipes!


With a baby Theo's age (8 1/2 months here) it's just so much easier to let them eat off of the table. But I do feel good knowing I've disinfected it first!


He slept most of the plane ride back to Minnesota all snuggled up with my sweatshirt and scarf. It helps babies sleep when they have something that smells like their mama to cuddle up with.


When he woke up, the flight attendant stole him and took him on tour. Theo absolutely loved it! Really, he was smiling and laughing at everyone - and trying to grab their hats off their heads!


The only thing I forgot, that I will definitely remember on our trip to Zurich, was the Ergo baby carrier. It makes collapsing the stroller and putting it in a gate check bag so much easier when you don't have a crawling baby to chase after. Other than that, it was a really easy trip and I wasn't overburdened by a bunch of stuff to haul around. That's always the worst and ruins a trip for me! I'll always pack light from now on.

How do you pack for travel? Have you learned to pack light? Or do you bring it all?

A few weeks ago, J and I were so tired, Theo was still sleeping and Coco got up and made herself a toaster waffle and fed herself breakfast - all while we slept! All went well, except that she used about half a bottle of maple syrup. So, a few days later, when she was asking for toast at the breakfast table, I started to get up to go make it and then realized, wait a minute! She can do this herself.
We put a little IKEA stool in front of the toaster. Coco knows there can't be anything on top of the toaster or touching the toaster. She gets the bread from the refrigerator and a paper towel to pinch it with when it pops up. And there's that Trader Joe's boxed wine. Don't knock it till you try it!
I fill a small bowl with butter and give her a plate and knife as well. When it comes to children's flatware, finding well-weighted pieces that are heavy enough, yet balance on a child's hand, is tricky. Coco received this WMF set from some friends in Zurich for her second birthday and it's amazing. Another set we like is this one.
Coco used her knife to spread the butter on her toast all by herself. She also took a few breaks to just eat the butter off of the knife!
When she was all finished, she was so proud. Not only did she do most of it herself, aside from my getting the butter, but it kept her really busy and quiet so J and I could actually have a conversation over the breakfast table. Win, win!

How do you help your children achieve independence in food prep? Or do you? I constantly have to remind myself that she's capable of so much more than we realize!

What are your weekend plans? I've been running all over town like a madwoman this morning prepping: It's our birthday weekend around here. Coco's birthday is Tuesday and mine is Sunday. We are having a Frozen themed party (her choice!) on our patio for Coco on Saturday afternoon and a BBQ party for the both of us with my family at my mom's house on Sunday. It's a true Indian summer here and we are enjoying our time outside. Sunday, we may even bust out the chiminea if it goes late enough that it starts cooling off!

Here are a few links for you:

Amazing satellite images of humans' impact on the earth.

Pasta shapes do matter!

Brain-twisting images.

Coco's Halloween costume. (And Theo's!)

Renting in another ten years.

Another reason you wish you were Norwegian.

Do you eat your veggies?

Outside the frame.

Empowering mothers.

Perfect fall booties.

I hope your weekend is amazing. See you back here Monday! xo

Photo via veryeatalian. 

Theo and I are going to Zurich next month. I cannot imagine what it's going to feel like to land at that familiar airport I've landed at so many times before. Will it still feel like home? Will it not? What will it feel like when I get on the little underground train at the airport and we begin zooming along toward customs and baggage claim and the flip book style movie of the Alphorn players and Heidi pops up on the walls of the tunnel, and the sound of the yodelers and cowbells fills my ears? Will I cry? Probably.

When Coco and I left Zurich to move to Minnesota, it was all so rushed. We really did leave without saying goodbye and it's been killing me ever since.

Somehow, we managed to get through last year, and then we made the move to Spokane, and slowly, the dust has been settling. Not too long ago, toward the end of the summer, I saw a friend post about the Zurich Writers Workshop on Facebook and I really wanted to go.

Of course, it's a terrible time to go! J and I are both still unemployed and looking for work, and despite the airline miles we had from our time in Zurich, I was worried that traveling would affect my unemployment. So I gave the Unemployment Office in Minnesota a call, and it turns out that traveling to attend a workshop and network with editors and publishers is completely allowed and won't affect my unemployment at all. Well, there you go. Nothing is holding me back.

Theo and I are going to Zurich. We're really going. I'll be attending the Zurich Writers Workshop and networking during our stay. I'll get to see my beloved friends, Theo is going to meet his baby friends whose mothers and I shared our pregnancies. I'm going to visit our old neighborhood, stroll through its streets as I once did with Coco, shop at our old grocery store, mail J and Coco a postcard or two from our old post office, walk by the lake, breathe it all in, arrange to visit our old apartment and give it a big hug. I'm going to do all this in the hopes of saying goodbye, of letting it go, of moving on.

One way or another, if we are to move forward in this life, I must do this. I hope that being there, I will realize that I am back where I belong being in Spokane. I hope that I will remember all of the reasons I believed Zurich was never a long-term possibility in the first place. Because I sure can't now. Is our life there all gone? Is it still there? Is there any hope of touching it or claiming it once again? There is only one way to know. Away we go.

Zurich Airport photo via Airviation. Tiefenbrunnen photo via Martin Strobach.

During our trip to Missoula last weekend, my sister and I had the best time. Ira Glass was very engaging, and I slept two full nights for the first time in nearly four years! Saturday, we skipped the hike and walked all over town and browsed so many cute shops. Because J's and my adventures in unemployment continue, I've been avoiding shopping all together lately. But then something surprising happened: I didn't really want to buy much of anything anyway! Ever since I adopted the Konmari Method and went (and continue to go) through so much work to get rid of the tons of stuff I don't need, I am very careful about what I bring into my life in the first place! I don't buy anything unless it sparks total joy and is exactly what I want. It is awesome.

Fall is here. Knowing it would make its entrance one night as we slept, we did our best to enjoy every last summer evening on our patio. The very last one, we had artichokes and my friend Stephanie's famous burgers. The full step by step after the jump.

Fall is an excellent time to visit Insel Ufenau in Lake Zurich. Boats depart regularly from Bürkliplatz and it takes a few hours to get to the island. Once you're there, a short walk will take you to the old Roman church and the restaurant. It's never a bad idea to call ahead and check the restaurant is open. However, there is always a sign visible from the boat telling you if it's open or closed before you alight.
While I was pregnant with Coco, we did a lovely trip to Ufenau and had food from the restaurant. It was so relaxing.
Then, when Coco was a toddler, we took her there. Instead of eating from the restaurant, we brought a picnic and got a full bottle of the wine made from grapes grown on the island! ;)
Coco loved running around and seeing the animals. Best of all were these lunching rabbits. Then we took a little tour of the island and made our way back to the dock where the boat pulled up perfectly on schedule to take us back to Zurich. It is a full-day trip from Zurich, but a very relaxing and enjoyable one, particularly if you enjoy sitting on (or following a toddler around) a boat.

Have you been to Insel Ufenau? What did you think?

What are you getting up to this weekend? I am going away for two nights with my sister to see Ira Glass in Missoula - with no kids! I'm super nervous about being away from Theo because I've never left him overnight before, but I'm looking forward to a girls' weekend. We are going on a hike on Saturday before Ira and out for breakfast on Sunday. Can't wait! If you have any tips on traveling (and pumping!) away from baby, I'm all ears.

And here are some fun links for your weekend:

A 9/11 rainbow.

Making these for Coco's lunch next week.

Celebrities with no makeup.

Tiny bathroom help.

This guy on the ukulele is just insane.

Have you tried overnight oats?

Cities by starlight.

We got held up taking Coco to school last week!

36 hours in Portland.

This cracked me up!

One double tour, please. I'm swooning!

10 podcasts to change your life.

Can you believe it's been 14 years since September 11? It feels like yesterday. I hope you have a wonderful weekend! See you back here Monday. xo