Wine Trip Chick

I’m here at the L’Orangerie at Schoenbrunn Pallace for the openning vendor’s Expo. Nothing like a wine tasting at 11am to start your day. Have enjoyed a few whites (no reds — too early). Domane Wachau Gruner Veltiner’s Federspiel-2009 Loibenberg and Smaragd-2009 Achleiten were both culled to perfection, light and crisp. It went quite well with the parmesian spinach balls! Oh yes, of course we have food to go along with the tasting we’re not a bunch of drunks!

The Schoenbrunn Pallace was the summer hone of the Austrian Royals. Luckily we are way apart from all the large groups of tourists. The conference has created a nice separate little world for us. The weather couldn’t be more beautiful — clear blue skies and crisp autumn temperatures.

Well, bag is pretty much packed.  I went with primarily black and grey theme with splash of purple, blue and red — all which will look excellent while holding a wine glass.  Two skirts, three pants (including one pair of jeans — my Dereons bien sur!), three sweaters (two are turtle necks), three tanks, two blazer-jackets, one hoodie, my black puffy-vest and four pairs of shoes (black hi-boots, black low boots, sneakers and pink flip-flops (which I use as slippers).  I’m going to travel in my workout pants, top and the hoodie — very comfy and saves more room.  Of course, I’ve packed three hats, two scarves, five pairs of tights, three head bands, one bra and plenty of brand new underwear!  Now, we just have wait and hope that our flight isn’t part of the 30% that get canceled tomorrow!  Mon dieu!

In less than two days, I’ll be heading to Vienna, Austria for this year’s International Wine Bloggers Conference.  Yes, I’m totally excited…, but it’s also extremely stressful trying to make sure I take along just what I need to fully enjoy my trip…and for me that means CLOTHES, SHOES and a wide arrange of ACCESSORIES (tights, belts, etc)!   I truly believe that when you look good, you feel good.  Add a great glass of wine to all of that — and you’ve got heaven on earth!    However, these days with all the extra airlines charges for baggage and weight/size limitations — it’s really a huge challenge.  I mean, I want to have the right outfit for every occaision and not having ever been to Vienna, I’m not quite sure what that means.  My goal — not to look like a tourist!  I already made the big decision yesterday to leave my flat iron behind (which also means one less hair product to pack and no hair brush will be necessary).  Why go au natural-curly this trip you ask?  Well, I found out that the converter I need to make sure I don’t fry my $100+ flat iron would cost me $45 plus tax.  So, actually it was a no-brainer (of course, there was no pause in pulling out my credit card at the same mall when I fell in love with a new pair of $200 boots!)  As far as the rest of my packing, well — I’m glad I took tomorrow off from work.  Packing will be priority #1!