Road Trip, part 2 - accessories are your friends

My mom is 91 and she's still the most stylish gal out there whenever we go out to eat. She taught me early that the key to pulling an outfit together is the judicious application of accessories. She always has a colorful, but tasteful, necklace and  matching earrings for every ensemble.

She would be the first to tell you that she wasn't terribly successful at shaping my political and personal views and my tastes in food are a big mystery to her but I'm totally subscribed to the idea that accessories are the essential finishing touch for every outfit. Even a plain t-shirt (V-necks only, you wouldn't catch me wearing a crew neck) and jeans dress up quite nicely with an awesome necklace or a kicky belt.

So, needless to say, I'm not going to spend 4 days being judged by visiting with the in-laws without taking a boatload of accessories.

We've got 3 pair of shoes (the hot red ones are for the family portrait...no shrinking violet here), a fleet of necklaces, a couple of belts and way more earrings than I can count. In addition I have to have a bunch of those little travel toiletries for taking off my makeup every night, washing my face, moisturizing everything plus all the makeup I'll need to get through the next day. Plus I have to have shampoo and special conditioner because undoubtedly I'll have to wash and style my hair after days of swimming. And that leads to my flat iron and curling iron (and hair dryer) which I haven't even pictured here.

Let's not forget hats. As if I ever would. I adore hats (look for a blog post all about hats in the future) and I'm really lovin' the whole fedora look lately. These are that hats that I would like to take with me but hats don't pack so well. In the past ladies had a special suitcase just for hats but we're taking one of those budget airlines that charges for each piece of carry-on luggage so I imagine I'll have to narrow this down to just one hat which I'll be wearing on the plane.

And last but never, ever least - shades! I figure Las Vegas is a pretty sunny place so a girl can never have too many pairs of sunglasses...and I'm pretty happy with the way I blinged them out so I want to share that with the world.

The little doll is Amelia, my travel doll. She usually sits on my desk at work but she gets to fly when I do.

So now we're off to the neon paradise...I hope I have enough clothes and stuff.