girls gone...icy!

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I grew up in a family of girls- just my mom and two sisters for the most part.  Since then, we've expanded the family unit several times over to include husbands and manfriends and other mommas and kids and such.  We've since started a tradition of taking a trip together, just us girls, every few years.  This year there was some random chatter around Christmas-time about going somewhere...off the beaten track.  Something different.  And so I discovered a few weeks ago that this May will mean a trip together to the dark and beautiful sublimity of Iceland!
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I'm trying to pack in as much research as I can in short bursts in the evenings- we'll spend a few days in Reykjavik and then rent a car and see some magnificent landscapes, from waterfalls and glaciers to geysers and volcanic beaches.  But I feel totally overwhelmed and there isn't much time to prepare.
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Now, you know me, my first thought is "but what will I wear?" I mean, I don't really own 'sensible' clothing, and I despise the idea of dressing in bland touristy hiking gear (which I don't own). I'm also leery of leaping headlong into some kind of icelandic-sweater-bohemian stereotype, because you know I will! 
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 I keep going through phases of planning where I will focus exclusively on warm layered combinations (countryside will be cold and wet), which drifts into colour stories and fun outfit combinations in cool springlike temps for the city, which jumps sidelong into realizing I kinda need to fulfill several very different types of clothing: 

-comfortable stylish knits for the LONG flights

-'me' clothes for wandering the city and hitting up whatever cool vintage and flea market spaces I can find

 -sorta clubwear for trying to keep up with my baby sister (in hard-partying Reykjavik and a wild overnight in Oslo!) (What do the kids wear these days?)

-warm layers for light hiking (I CAN do this in skirts!)

-footwear that actually works with all these elements...including the all-important stricture of wearing slip-on shoes while flying for easy passage through security (thanks Ryan Bingham!)

- oh, and a bathing suit for the hot baths!
I wish...
While undoubtedly an inveterate clotheshorse  (I even wore my horsedress this week...), I consider myself a light packer when traveling so this is gonna be tough.  I have a lot of work ahead of me (how fun!) but here's a polyvore as I plan on a few elements.  My colours always start with a green/olive base, but the scheme I'm going with is roughly: purple, olive, and chartreuse, with a touch of rust!  And I can't live without some print for excitement, both in simple tops and the absolutely necessary touch of several scarf options!  Never leave home without them!

The challenge is also not to end up wearing all olive at once (which has happened!) so I'm looking for a warmer spring jacket in another colour tomorrow (I have some thrifting to do!)

Building blocks for...Iceland!




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