Napa Packing List

I mentioned several days ago that we found time to go on a little family vacation. We actually took a long weekend and snuck off to Napa Valley.

When we travel, we rarely check bags. In college, we were both fortunate enough to study abroad and backpacking our way through Europe taught us how little we really need while traveling. For instance, the three of us were able to fit 5 days worth of clothes in a small roller suitcase and duffle bag for our trip to Napa.

I wanted to share how I plan my outfits while packing in order to travel with less.

I apologize in advance for the terrible pictures, my camera and I must have taken an awkward pill. Thanks for being patient as I am still new to blogging.

Here are the clothes I brought and how I like to lay them out when packing:

You'll notice that my clothes are all pretty neutral with the same accent color- turquoise. The best advice I have heard for packing light is to bring clothes that are all along the same color scheme. That way, you don't need a lot of extra accessories to coordinate outfits.

I also like laying my clothes out by outfit to ensure that each item I bring will coordinate with other items to make an outfit. Too many times I have just packed random tops and bottoms and ended up at my destination with a bunch of pieces that did't work together.

Another reason that I like my whole suitcase to match color wise is so that I have the option of mixing and matching pieces depending on my mood and the weather. It also allows me to just pack one bottom to coordinate with multiple tops.

For example:

See how both tops work with the one pair of white shorts?

Actually, all of my tops would  work with any of the bottoms.

I also brought a black maxi dress.

Simple, comfy- why would I not? The necklace in the picture above is one of my new favorite things. They are called Chewbeads and are made for babies and moms. My teething infant loves them and it was so great to have something accessible for him to chew on the plane.

Several things to note- It was pretty warm while we were in Napa this May. However, when we've been before in March it was cold and rainy. For that trip I packed several warmer items. Also, our experience is that Napa is pretty laid back. I usually wear to dinner what I wear during the day and we have yet to go somewhere where something nicer than jeans and a cute top was required.

Happy traveling!