Carry-on, can we really do it??  I know we've done it twice before and I'm constantly extolling it's virtues, but when you start to add up everything you need/want the pile seems much larger than the suitcase.  I'm falling victim to waiting until the last minute as well as feeling kind of lazy about packing - the two carry-on killers!  So far tonight I've walked past the large mess in the hallway multiple times hoping it would sort itself out, and as soon as this chicken souvlaki finishes digesting I'll get right to it.  Probably.  On the other hand I just purchased a delightful new laptop bag that will actually hold something other than my laptop which must count for something in the organizational department.

Chloe is jumping around with excitement for this trip - she keeps practicing the few Italian words she knows and has all of her things carefully put out.  Julia, on the other hand, is being very nonchalant about the whole thing.  She didn't even want to pick out the clothes to pack and pretty much let me have free reign over her wardrobe.  This is quite out of the ordinary as her clothing choices usually are very thoughtfully planned (even if it doesn't look that way to an outsider!).  Jeff is easy - he is pretty much taking exactly what he took last year to Spain as it worked out perfectly and why mess with perfection?

And just to whet my Italian palate my purse strap broke today and I now have a very justifiable reason to buy a new Italian leather purse as a souvenir!  Timing is everything; and not that I'm counting, but our plane leaves in 45 hours.