The Problem:

As of late, whenever I go overseas to play I don’t bring many nice outfits. I guess I’ve realized over the years that I was packing things to wear that I never wore. I already have way too many things to bring when packing for a 6 to 7 month road trip.

1. I’m packing hoop gear for practice, in the event that the team doesn’t provide enough to wear. This is crucial because Europe is known for not having dryers in the home, washers, yes, dryers, no. That’s a luxury item that most teams aren’t purchasing their players. Instead, get your clothespins out, because laundry is hung out to dry on the clothesline on the balcony or on a drying rack. Or on the radiators in the house if you’re in a hurry. A side note, I have a dryer this year. It’s an all-in-one washer/dryer. Very nice, except I shrunk everything because there’s no heat setting, only a timer. Trust me when I tell you Rock (my fiancé) wasn’t happy with that! Let’s just say he has a few more workout shirts than when we first arrived. LOL
2. I also have to pack a few sweat suits to travel to and from practice, in case showering at the gym daily isn’t a good option. Which usually it isn’t. So I call them my everyday sweats. I rotate between a couple of sweats so I can take turns washing and wearing them. It’s cool because I am cozy and I get to and from practice quickly, but baggy sweats has me looking like a boy. Trust me when I tell you that my steelo is very couture, nothing boyish about it at all (unless I’m hooping ).
3. I bring some regular “kick it” clothes so I’m not dressing like a boy everyday. Nothing spectacular, jeans and fitted T-shirts. Slightly cute, but not at all chic.
4. I also need all of the essentials, PJs, bras, underwear, socks, lounge around the house gear, you know.
5. As a sista, of course, I have to bring beauty supplies. I can’t rely on a European city to have a Sally’s Beauty Supply. I have to pack perm, setting cream, setting lotion, my special conditioner and all of the products my daughter needs for her hair and her hair accessories. That’s almost a whole piece of luggage in itself.
6. The last thing that causes me to have a lot of stuff for my international journey is my need for all the electronics that I pack . I’ve already stated in an earlier post that I’m an undercover nerd. I’m also a gadget girl, so I have a bunch of gadgets that I bring with me. Part entertainment, part business, the list is long. It ranges from gaming consoles to multiple computers, hard drives and the like.

OK, now that we’ve established what I  bring, you can understand why I don’t get a chance to just pack tight outfits and how I sometimes feel, when I still want to be a little stylish. Usually, I bring at least one item, or some boots or something. This year, however, I left on such short notice, and I was so concerned with the weight of my bags, I packed nothing nice at all.

The Solution:

I decided to go sweater shopping. I figured that if I could at least find a nice wrap sweater to wear over a long sleeve T-shirt, I could pretend to have some nice gear over here. I started the search online to get a feel for what my options were. I discovered some hot stuff online, but by the time I got to the store, they were all out of my size. I still ended up finding a couple of nice pieces, though, so I feel better.  The only catch is that I didn’t bring any nice shoes, so I have to rock them with some cute athletic shoes.

It’s cool, I’ll work it out. I wore one of the sweaters and I liked it. Felt better than just wearing my sporty jackets that I brought with me.

The internet is great! I found myself in sweater heaven. I figured I’d offer the list of sweaters I put together on This Next. It’s turning into one of my favorite websites because members find and tag items for other shoppers. It’s kind of a cool concept if you ask me. I’ve been recently recognized as an official trend spotter on their site, so I figured I’d give them some love by talking about them. Anyway, here’s my list “Sweater Heaven” from This Next.

Let me warn you though, this list has some seriously hot items…so if you don’t want to be wooed into buying some seriously couture sweaters, don’t look at the following widget.

In case you can’t view the following embedded flash, here’s a link to the list on This Next. http://www.thisnext.com/list/9134A923/Sweater-Heaven

I’d love to hear which ones are your favorites! I know I have a few.