And now the packing

I solved my luggage dilemma by dropping by Winners and discovering that they hadn't yet sold the 2 pieces Jenn and I had seen a couple of weeks ago. I bought the two pieces, though I will try to only take one, so as to have less to wrangle with at the airport. Winners had the large and small pieces, but not the medium, so I have two of the three.

It's quite a neat set, actually. The front that you see here is nylon and expandable, but the rest is hard-shell polypropylene, so it's hybrid luggage. Protection and expandability, and still lighter than my old luggage. The handles are molded plastic and fold down, as opposed to faux-leather stitched handles that hurt your hands after virtually any carrying.

It is pretty girly looking, but since I'm a girl, that works out pretty well. I also looked at a set of luggage in Walsh Luggage that was purple, which is what I wanted, but internet research told me that it weighed more than what I bought. The nylon in the purple set wasn't as tight a weave. It was slightly larger though, and my fave color. In the end I think I made the right choice, based on the fact that it's lighter than what I have, it's definitely distinctive, I really like the hybrid, and the two pieces together were cheaper than a single piece at Walsh. I don't mind paying more for good quality, I just happened to luck out in finding it at Winners. I'm leery of the light color, but with 3/4 of it being polypropylene, perhaps it will still pick up less dirt than all nylon. It's going to get dirty, there's no stopping it, so I'll just have to live with it.

Luggage is a tough purchase because you really don't know what it will truly be like until you've used it and it's too late to return it, after multiple uses to get a full opinion. I have a subscription to Consumer Reports' website, but even they didn't have a whole lot to say specifically about lightweight luggage. They had sections on inexpensive luggage and how to choose luggage, but no real recommendations or comments on lightweight luggage. In any event, I did the best I could with the info I had, so here's hoping I made a good investment.

Now that I have new luggage, I have to get packing! That's tonight's project, along with getting my pedicure out of the way, if I have time.


Friday

Friday afternoon I had a conference call with John and an immigration lawyer to get some answers on his ability to move. The bottom line came down to it being a lot easier if we were married, but neither of us wants to jump the gun there, so we have to get some other things organized in order to prove we are indeed "together" before I could sponsor him as "family". I personally find it a bit insulting to have to prove to anyone that I have a real relationship, but thanks to those who try to abuse the system, my word isn't enough. We have to start getting some things jointly in our names, so we'll work towards that. We're also investigating the work option for sponsorship, we'll see how that pans out. The good news is that health care doesn't appear to be an issue, and Caly the cat will have the easiest move of all - just a rabies shot and she can come on over. So the cat can basically move in with me anytime, but John can't. Figures. :P

Friday night I was on call for work. They finally called around 11pm and said they wouldn't be ready for me until sometime on Saturday, but they didn't know when. Joy.

After speaking on the phone with the lawyer earlier in the day, John and I abandoned the typing that night in favor of the telephone. It's funny how typing so much makes you start to forget what the other person sounds like. I will be glad not to have that problem anymore.


Saturday

Saturday was damn busy. I had postponed my hair appointment last weekend due to my brother's visit, so I headed there in the morning. She worked me in between other customers, so it took a bit longer than usual, but I had planned enough time in between. After hair was done, I zipped down to Winners and bought the luggage. Also ran into Wal-Mart, against my better judgement, for a couple of things I could only get there. Then I headed uptown for a salon appointment. Saw my Dad, who offered to drive me to the airport on Wednesday morning. Dropped in to Walsh Luggage to make sure there wasn't something better than what I bought.

Palm Sunday was this weekend, so church ran longer than usual due to the reading of the Passion.

After church I headed to Suwanna with Jenn and Stew for dinner, in recompense for having to miss it last weekend with everyone else. Very yummy Suwanna chicken, as usual.

Saturday night was going to see Moonchildren, which was a great show and the cast all did a wonderful job. Very entertaining. Post-show we headed over to the Ale House for drinks & dessert, then off to the cast party. I had a good time, though I hadn't intended on staying out as late as I did. By the time I dropped off Jenn & Stew and crawled into bed, it was 4am. Good practice for the time zone change I'll be going through, but having to work today & tomorrow means I won't really be able to take advantage of that.


Sunday

Slept in to recover from the very late night. Did some cleaning in prep for having people over for JCS. Started some laundry so I'd have everything ready to choose from for packing. Ordered John's birthday presents online so they'll be there when I arrive. I have to leave a week before his birthday, so we'll celebrate while I'm there.

The JCS viewing was pretty quiet, just me, Jenn, Stew and Brian. With the cast party recovery and the Crucible read-through, most people weren't able to make it, but that was expected. I wish I would have been able to choose another night with fewer conflicts. Hopefully next year I can move it back to Good Friday. In any event, the 4 of us watched the show and had a good time. Jenn and I sang along, but no kickline :)


Time to get packing. Only 2 more sleeps!