What I nabbed from home

You know how when you travel, you bring things back with you? And how, when you move places, you pack everything you own into boxes and shlepp it along? A little known story is that when I moved to Europe two years ago, everything I brought fit into a single carry-on suitcase (my father managed to spectacularly screw over my luggage allowance; don't ask). So when I went home to California this Christmas (for the first time since moving here), I knew I'd be taking back with me everything that I needed and had to leave behind.

Here's a short list of what made it into my suitcase:

*42 books-novels, biographies, yoga manuals, picture books (for my job)
*8 pairs of shoes, including a pair of strappy gold evening shoes and a pair of extremely strappy leather tango heels
*6 bars of Dr. Bronner peppermint soap (love that stuff, can't get it here)
*2 pairs of my mother's bed sheets and pillowcases
*8 magazines, for writing, yoga, and cooking
*1 bottle organic vanilla, because the Germans do not cook with liquid vanilla
*3 posters: the above painting, a Met "Sonnambula" poster, and one other that I bought at the Met museum and never opened. I don't know what it is but I'm sure I'll like it.
*A blanket
*All the stuff I'd brought with me originally

All that fit into my trusted carry-on, my enormous suitcase (brought mostly empty for this very purpose) and my back pack. Alas, I was not able to fit my Japanese teapot and four matching teacups into any bag, but I'll get them this summer. My apartment now looks like a bomb went off, but I have my books, and my shoes, and I am happy.