Travel experiment 2013 - part 4

Ok you guys.  I did it.  I travelled in pajamas and I hated it.  Hated it so much.  I was no more comfortable than my regular travelling clothes.  Here is my assessment based on the scale I created previously.


On a scale of 1 to 10, how comfortable is this traveling outfit? 1 being a corset, hoop skirt and those Alexander McQueen Armidillo shoes and 10 being a fluffy terry cloth bathrobe and fuzzy slippers after a massage surrounded by kittens.

This was very very close to not wearing anything at all.  I give it a 8.  The leggings themselves kept slipping down, giving me an excessive crotch, so I wasn't comfortable having to continually adjust the part so the world wouldn't see me as indecent.  

On a scale of 1 to 10, how do you feel about yourself? 1 being I just want to stay in bed, eat ice cream and watch Beaches and cry all day and 10 being I want to look the the mirror at my sheer beauty all day long, then go skipping down the street spreading my sunshine, with a parade of kittens following behind.


Hmmm.  5?  I just didn't want to get on the plane.  Maybe that's because I love my LA friends so much.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how are people responding to you? 1 being people are pointing, laughing at you, life is moving in slow motion, and 10 being people are asking for your picture and autograph.

5. No one spoke to me or made eye contact with me.  So, that's good right?

On a scale of 1 to 10, how warm are you? 1 being standing on the street waiting for a bus in NYC on an 11 degree day or the time in college when Chapel Choir had to sing at an outdoor nativity scene, in January, in Quebec and 10 being sitting in front of a fireplace under an electric blanket, sipping hot chocolate with a kitten on your lap.

8.  My feet were too hot in the fur lined slippers.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how do your feet feel? 1 being stuck in this aforementioned Armidillo shoes with no end in site and 10 being barefoot, sand  under your feet, gentle lapping of waves  kissing your toes.

9.  My feet were unencumbered with the slippers, just too warm.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how do you smell? 1 being the homeless car on the NYC subway (for those who don't know of that, it often happens that you see a empty car go by on an otherwise packed train and you think SCORE! I get a seat at rush hour. Then you enter the car and are faced with a smell like no other. You immediately realize why the car is empty) and 10 being, running through a field of lilacs on a warm summer afternoon with swirling ocean breezes.

5.  I did not smell good...unshowered with airplane on me.  Not into it at all.

In conclusion, I prefer to take the extra 10 minutes to shower, put on a full face and slip on my equally comfortable travel clothes.

Travel experiment 2013 part 3

Ok, I'm on my way to the airport back to NYC from LA. Today's ultra comfortable traveling clothes are sweatshirt from uniqlo, tee shirt from the gap, fuzzy fleece leggings from uniqlo and fur lined moccasins from target. Unshowered, no makeup, didn't even bother to comb my hair. Taking one for the team and not at all happy about it.

Travel experiment 2013 part 2 - the scale & outfit 1

Here is the scale and my assessment of my first outfit:

On a scale of 1 to 10, how comfortable is this traveling outfit? 1 being a corset, hoop skirt and those Alexander McQueen Armidillo shoes and 10 being a fluffy terry cloth bathrobe and fuzzy slippers after a massage surrounded by kittens.

I give this outfit a 9 for comfort.  I felt like I could move around as needed and certainly didn't have the dreaded tight pant crease line around my waist.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how do you feel about yourself? 1 being I just want to stay in bed, eat ice cream and watch Beaches and cry all day and 10 being I want to look the the mirror at my sheer beauty all day long, then go skipping down the street spreading my sunshine, with a parade of kittens following behind.
I felt like an 8. I felt happy and ready to travel

On a scale of 1 to 10, how are people responding to you? 1 being people are pointing, laughing at you, life is moving in slow motion, and 10 being people are asking for your picture and autograph.

9. People were fully making unsolicited conversations with me. Now, we all know I hate that, but people saw me. I was not invisible.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how warm are you? 1 being standing on the street waiting for a bus in NYC on an 11 degree day or the time in college when Chapel Choir had to sing at an outdoor nativity scene, in January, in Quebec and 10 being sitting in front of a fireplace under an electric blanket, sipping hot chocolate with a kitten on your lap.

10. I was the perfect temp the entire trip.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how do your feet feel? 1 being stuck in this aforementioned Armidillo shoes with no end in site and 10 being barefoot, sand  under your feet, gentle lapping of waves  kissing your toes.

7. A Frye boot is amazing; however, I just don't like being in shoes for a long time regardless of what shoe they are.  My feet wanted to be free about 5 hours into the journey, but I think that would happen with any shoe I choose.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how do you smell? 1 being the homeless car on the NYC subway (for those who don't know of that, it often happens that you see a empty car go by on an otherwise packed train and you think SCORE! I get a seat at rush hour. Then you enter the car and are faced with a smell like no other. You immediately realize why the car is empty) and 10 being, running through a field of lilacs on a warm summer afternoon with swirling ocean breezes.

8. I still detect a slight hint of my Bond 9 Nuit de Noho perfume. It is heavenly

The aforementioned Armadillo shoe

Travel experiment 2013 part 1

Hello my loyal friends and readers,

It is a chilling 10 degrees in NYC right now, but guess where I'm heading? LA!!!!!!! So while you guys are bundled in 3 pairs of socks and long johns, I will be premiering flip flips.

So I thought this little cross country trip deserved a little travel experiment. Many if you have said to me, " Liz, I'm not going to change. I will never change. I don't believe you. I want to wear my pajamas on the plane. They are the only thing that could possibly be comfortable. And I don't want to brush my hair or put on makeup or do anything but just sit on the plane in my comfort." I totally respect your feeling but I just have a hard time believing that my travel experience is so much worse than yours in what you deem as "full comfort".

So here's my experiment. I am traveling to LA today in an outfit that is, to me, a perfect travel outfit. I will travel back in essentially pajamas. I am creating various 1-10 scales to rate each outfit. That'll be my next blog post, so stay tuned.

Today's travel clothes: the black magic uniqlo pants, a hot pink tee from the gap, a gray cardigan type thing with leather sleeves, silver necklace, full face, frye boot (all pictured). Not pictured: an extra warm cardigan for outdoor purposes in NYC, a brown leather jacket, a chunky ice blue infinity scarf (later to be used a my pillow on the plane) a white hat and white gloves, and over all that, a royal blue large scarf (to be used as a blanket later if cold in the flight).

Stay tuned...and please forgive my terrible attempt at taking my own picture in the mirror.

Perfect traveling outfit.

Hello my dear readers,

I hope your holiday travel is as stress free as possible. So here's my suggestion for setting yourself up for success, making yourself comfortable whilst looking good. Here is today's traveling outfit. The magic pants from uniqlo (see previous blog) in black, one of those silk pajama inspired tops from Zara with little skulls on it, and a frye boot. I have a colorful and chunky infinity scarf to stick on top of this and I'm good to go. St. Louis here we come.

Oh and I welcome all holiday travel clothes submissions.

Reasons to reconsider just rolling out of bed and heading the the airport...

This girl. And this guy. They just ran into each other in the airport. They know each other. They are both attractive people and clearly are attracted to each other. She is in a lazy bunchy pajama pant, hoodie, top knot and fuzzy uggs.

Now, of course I am not saying that physical beauty or what you wear will make a guy love you. We all know that thought makes me supremely angry. I met my husband on an NYC bus, no makeup, hair in a pony (but not wearing pajamas). What I am saying is that you are not anonymous in the airport or anywhere you go. This is a small world. You will know some one in the airport, waking down the street, on the subway. Even if you don't know that person now, you will know him/her someday. We are all connected. I just want you to take care of yourself. To be the best you can be at all times. Stop telling the world that you are hiding, that you want to blend in, that you want to still be in bed, that you want to be anonymous. Dare to be noticed.

Magic cardigan

Hey you guys. I wrote this post back in December and somehow forgot to post it. I'm going to LA this week and have a grand travel experiment planned for you. Get excited! Here's a little post to tide you over...

So I'm heading back to NYC after a short, pre-Christmas trip home to NC. I vowed to try a little experiment on this trip. There was a period of time that I was constantly asked, or demanded actually, to remove my "sweater" to go through security. No matter what article of clothing I wore, I was always referred to as a sweater. This ranged from actual sweater, cardigan, to see through top with a camisole underneath. When asked to remove said see through top, I said, "you want me to take my shirt off?". The security guy responded "well ma'am, we just can't tell what you ladies have under your shirts". So there's that. Of course my husband made it through with a tee shirt, button down and sweater...but whatever.

So I made the conscious choice to leave this cardigan on both leaving LGA and leaving CLT. Shockingly, no one yelled. No one berated. No one accused me of being a sneaky lady hiding things in my unmentionables. If you have ever seen me in real life, you have seen me in this cardigan. I wear it way too often for my own good. You might recognize the pic below from when I was traveling back from LA in said cardigan, desperately searching for an outlet for phone charging.

Why was I allowed to keep it on? I think it was all about attitude. I said to myself., " I will not remove my cardigan". So we'll say that's the ticket.

I charge you to try this. Your mantra is...I will not remove my cardigan. Practice. Let me know if it works.