in residence: travel

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21 July 2022

wearing lately: summer work trip packing list

Okay, admittedly I was not that excited to return to work travel - had my first in-person conference since summer 2019, and first time in an airport since November 2019, and much as I do like to visit interesting places and people, I think I didn't miss it? Especially right now, with a baby at home, and with not getting to pick the date (4th of July) and the location (Miami...in July...so sticky), I didn't have the best attitude ever about going. HOWEVER. Something I did miss? Putting together suitcase packing posts!

And actually thank goodness for my old habit of making mix & match suitcase posts like this, because after this long it turns out I pretty much forgot what to wear and how to pack it, when it comes to work conferences. Took me a while to get around to actually posting this, but making the collage and trying on the outfits below really helped me manage to get myself out the door for this trip.

I dug up an old jumpsuit, blazer, and heels that came to Copenhagen in 2019 (had to replace the ankle pants from that trip... post-partum bod), and for the rest, wow, do I really not have work clothes in my wardrobe at this point. Some of my summer acquisitions were able to work double-time here though, thankfully. Haven't bought a cute little skirt in forever, but I'm (back to) loving a simple skirt + white tee summer outfit, and when you throw on a blazer it's totally a work outfit!

Also, this might seem like a lot of long sleeves + pants for a summer trip to Miami, but one thing I didn't forget about is the excessive air conditioning of hotels and conference meeting rooms. This was all necessary! On the plane too.

So here's just some of the outfit possibilities from the above:

dinner/reception look | board meeting look

editor meeting look | travel look

another meeting look | actually having a chance to set foot outdoors on a break look

dinner/reception look | travel look

No other major travel plans on the horizon except for a family road trip to visit our old Cincinnati stomping grounds... but Peter and I are determined to finally get that postponed Hawaii anniversary trip, so hopefully in the next year I'll have another reason for a good suitcase post - and that will be gooood.

28 July 2021

going lately: a woodsy getaway

I have always adored tiny houses - I mean, the sleek, minimalist designs, the compact and clever arrangements where everything has its perfect place? Makes my type-A, organizational self happy. So when I saw Rachel post about staying in a Getaway cabin rental, essentially a tiny house in the woods where you go to totally unplug, I wanted in!

This company - Getaway - has their "outposts" set up within 2 hours of major cities, to give big city dwellers easy car access to nature, and easy access to what we would probably term glamping - the locations and activities you might do there feel like camping, and you're encouraged to unplug with no wifi or TV, but everything is provided (actual dishes/silverware, toilet paper, etc.), there is full-on plumbing, a real mattress with nice linens, and even heat and a/c. These little cabins are 100% Instagrammable and cute, and I was super jealous to learn about Rachel's stay, because I don't live in a big city, so how could I ever get to do this myself? But then I remembered: I live within about 3 hours of Chicago... and it turns out there is a Chicago outpost, which is actually in Michigan, 40 minutes from home!

Enter the perfect babymoon/birthday/anniversary/we haven't had a babysitter in months overnighter for Peter and me, once we were all vaccinated and could have Hendrik stay with grandparents. (Also a great place for staying Covid-safe in general, when we were planning in the spring and not sure what the situation would be by summer, because you're pretty isolated and can do pretty much all outdoorsy things.) We had such a delightful stay, enjoying some hikes in the area, which included lovely Lake Michigan views in South Haven; a bonfire happy hour using the provided fire pit; a cozy evening inside with our dinner and books when the rain came in; and a lazy morning in bed enjoying the sunlight and view from the giant window. Super relaxing, and THE way to do camping for a person who refuses to go camping.

If you can find a Getaway outpost in your vicinity, we'd definitely recommend! There are 2-bed ones with lofts as well, if you have a kid or two to bring - wishing we had had a chance to take Hendrik on another trip (because, again, I'm not actually taking him camping...).

And if you do want to go (check out the list of nearby major cities here), or just want to know more, click through for some amenities we enjoyed and some ideas for what to bring and do.

05 November 2019

wearing lately: Phoenix family getaway mini capsule

Last week Hendrik had Friday off from school, so we used it as an opportunity to make a quick visit to my brother and his wife in Phoenix - which was great because they're fun to hang out with but also because weather in the 40-degree and lower range has solidly arrived in Michigan. Wahh. For such a quick trip, I knew I was going to have to be strategic about packing light, not least because we were flying on a direct airline of the variety that nickels and dimes you for every little thing... facing a fee for any baggage, even carry-on, we went as a family of 3 in one checked suitcase for 4 days. Here's what was in my portion:

And actually I should point out that not all of this was actually in the suitcase - good way to get some extra stuff there is to be strategic about your plane outfit and wear some of the things that take up the most space. By having the jumpsuit, denim jacket, sneakers, and scarf on my person, I didn't have all that much to actually pack (though I did add in some workout wear).

This all came together very quickly and easily for me, since I've found a bit of a groove in recent travels with the color palette that mixes olive and light pink with my base neutrals, with incorporating a jumpsuit for an easy travel piece, and with the trusty white sneakers + a jacket from my collection to top it off. Which saved me some time for figuring out what to pack for the other travelers...

You can see similar vibes from my trips to Florida, California, Copenhagen, and Florida earlier this year - and some sample outfits below!

And as usual it makes wayyyyy more outfits than I would actually need for a long weekend, but with mornings starting out in the 50s and afternoons closer to 80 degrees, I almost see it as a 2-outfit-a-day kind of plan - which I can easily cover here!

Now on to the unpacking. And packing away of my sandals and swimsuit till next year, sad to say.

Sharing on Style Six, Style on the Daily.

21 August 2019

around the world: Boston for book lovers

Last week I had a mini trip to Boston for work, which left me with some mini pockets of time between meetings. So after noticing that there were a couple of bookstores very near my hotel, I decided not to try to rush through any museums but instead take a little tour of the area befitting a book lover...

Cambridge

My hotel was very near Harvard Square, so I hit up those nearby bookstores first - and even took a peep at the big Harvard library on my walk through the campus.

Harvard Bookstore

Right next to Harvard's campus, but it's not a college bookstore - it's a great Indie bookstore that's been around since the 1930s, with a large selection that includes all the current books you'd want but also plenty of discounted and used titles. Looks like they do a lot of great author events too.
Highlights: opens early (9am), which was a delight to happen upon during my morning walk; has a huge section of "remainders" (new books that are priced low due to their "leftover" status) which I always think are sooo fun to look through, to find treasures at bargain prices.

The Coop

A cooperative founded by Harvard and MIT students in the 1880s, it's the place to get all your collegiate gear and also texbooks, but also in the Harvard Square Book Building portion there is a huge bookstore with trade books - like Barnes & Noble size selection, with several floors of floor-to-ceiling shelves.
Highlights: has a cafe in it, huge selection, big shelf at the front highlighting Harvard professor authors, such as Atul Gawande and Jill Lepore; also opens bright and early.

Boston

Since I had some meetings over across the river, I took one of the handy ride share Blue Bikes on the great dedicated path along the Charles River over to the Back Bay area and happened upon some more book delights...

Trident Booksellers and Cafe

Located right in a pretty good shopping area on Newbury Street (practically across the street from the Madewell I had my sights set on), another independent bookstore with a wide selection and plenty of "remainder" titles to browse - I purchased Min Jin Lee's Free Food for Millionaires, thinking it's worth a try based on how much I liked her Pachinko... especially at $6.
Highlights: good looking cafe (full restaurant menu), which has a bar near the entry but also tables throughout the store so you're really eating among the books; nice kids' section; fun giftables and also "blind date with a book" shelf.

Boston Public Library

The Central Library building of the Boston Public Library is located very near Trident and is worth a stop. A lovely building - and if you have more time, it even has tours of the building's architecture and also its art (including some famous artists - it's a museum freebie, basically!)
Highlights: gorgeous atrium, Newsfeed Cafe where you can even sit and watch a local NPR station show being produced/broadcast!

I'm sure there are tons more great stores and stops for books in Boston, not to mention tours of famous literary landmarks/author homes/etc., but if you have just a bit of time and you love books, these are a great start for Boston!

13 August 2019

wearing lately: Boston mini trip

Time for my final work trip of the year. This is quite a mini one, but it's fun to have an excuse to see a city I haven't been to as an adult: Boston. Okay, and mostly fun to have an excuse to make a little mix & match suitcase post, because it's kind of one of my favorite hobbies...

I was really feeling the black, white & tan when I started packing for this, inspired by my sweater blazer and how cute it looks with white jeans and with black dresses. Perfect layer for the plane and chilly meeting rooms, and turns clothes that are appropriate for the heat of August into outfits that are also appropriate for work stuff. Perfect when you're going to be traveling for only a couple of days with a very small carry-on suitcase and need clothes that can go from work to wandering a city.

A few of the possible outfit combos I came up with before the trip (I always try on my stuff before I put it in the suitcase, to confirm it actually looks on my body like what it does in my head!):

plane travel | meetings

dinner out | meetings

museum-going after meeting | meandering around

bit of shopping time | travel home

Part of my meetings are right by Harvard, so I'm looking forward to seeing some pretty campus sights on my way there. Other than that, we'll see if I actually have much of any sightseeing stuff to post a review of since it's such a short trip. I've been dying to get this Madewell purse monogrammed and saw that they have a store in Boston that has the on-site personalization, and that store happens to be right by some other enticing options that I never get to visit in person like Uniqlo and Crate & Barrel... so other than hopefully seeing an art museum, a bit of shopping time is my main priority for my bit of solo time in the city!

Sharing on Style on the Daily.

31 July 2019

around the world: coastal Copenhagen

Charming as Copenhagen is, and much as there is to do there, if you're visiting in a warm season, we'd highly recommend getting out of the city at checking out the coastline just north of it. There's still plenty to see and do, but it adds such a nice bit of relaxation to the trip. Think lovely Scandinavian style with a cottagey/beachy/cute fishing town twist.

You don't have to go far at all, and getting to this area from Copenhagen is super easy: trains leave every 20 minutes from the central station, it takes 30-40 minutes on the train, and the tickets don't cost much - even better, if you've got the Copenhagen Card that gets you into all of the museums and sites, your train tickets are free!

Stay

There are a bunch of little towns along the coast in the region of Helsingor, and you can pretty much stay anywhere in this region as it's easy to get to by train from Copenhagen and then easy to travel up and down the coast by bus (or bike, if you can get your hands on one). Walking from town to town would be a bit far, but in general walking here is great as there is a nice sidewalk, all with beach views.

We were in an adorable AirBnB guest house (next to a gorgeous, larger beachfront house) in Snekkersten. Had a bus stop right outside our door and public beach access and groceries within 5 minutes' walk. Perfect base for exploring the area, and for relaxing - though you should note that the bus comes by only once an hour so you have to pay attention a bit (pro tip: if you map it on Google Maps and get the public transit directions, it'll tell you when the bus is scheduled to arrive at that stop).

Do/See

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art: this was just a few kilometers down the coast from our AirBnB and is a great modern art museum on an even better waterfront property. The grounds are just gorgeous, with plenty of places to roam and/or to have a meal on the terrace with a view. Highly recommend.
Kronborg Castle: also known as the castle featured in Shakespeare's Hamlet, this castle is an interesting look at Renaissance-era castles and history in Denmark. The "live" Hamlet production going on around the grounds was a little cheesy, but otherwise we really liked the history part and also the view from the tower.
Walk around Helsingor: lovely water views, plenty of pedestrian shopping areas, and a great town square to sit outside and have a beer. (Note: the English name of the town is Elsinore, so don't get confused if you see both.)
Go to the beach! We had such gorgeous weather while we were there, so we joined all of the Danish families in their Saturday beach time, and it was lovely. Sitting on a nice sandy shore, with a view of Sweden and the most adorable little ice cream hut - what more could you want for a relaxing interlude in your tour of the Copenhagen region?
Bike: sadly the bike rental shop right by our AirBnB was shuttered, otherwise we would have absolutely loved biking on the dedicated path that runs all along the coast. We did get to leave from Copenhagen to do a ride with a colleague who lives in the area as our guide, including through the lovely woodland Deer Park and some time along the coast. It's pretty flat and easy biking thanks to all of the dedicated bike lanes.
More Copenhagen Card things in the region that we didn't get to but would have liked: Fredriksborg Castle (more inland but easy to get to by train from where we were staying; the grounds look gorgeous in photos), Frederiksborg Ferry (water views of the lovely castle).

Eat

Elsinore Street Food: perfect stop when you are visiting Kronborg Castle, this is a converted shipyard with whimsical decor and a whole bunch of street food options from around the world, plus beer! Over the course of 2 meals we tried 4 of the vendors, so we can vouch for the tastiness of Gastrotrucken (get the kimchi burger), Suki Ramen, and Gastro Grillen for the Danish twist on BBQ (yum).
Louisiana Museum Cafe: we didn't eat here, but the food looked good, and it's an amazing spot to sit for the view.

Combined with Copenhagen, this really should be your next vacation destination... it's so great! And if you do go, here's what to pack for the winter or for the summer.

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