Things I want.....

I hate to do this to myself, in case things don't work out but.....these are a couple of things I'd like to buy for my trip.

• An awesome pair of water-proof boots, mid-calf, good for lots of walking. I remember one particularly frigid day in Leuven; I spent the night out bar-hopping in my Converse and by the time I got home, my toes where actually a light purple hue.
  

• A good backpack. The one I took to Leuven the first time around was perfect, but it was stolen in Mexico City. Something with more than 1 main compartment helps organize things better during daytrips, and side-compression straps are REALLY useful when your bag is filled with layers of clothes and you're moving in crowded places.  This Jansport "Merit" backpack looks like a perfect upgrade. The front pockets are great for smaller items that would otherwise accumulate in a mess at the bottom of larger compartments. This also helps distribute weight and volume.
  

• GoToob set for traveling. I LOVE this set, but frankly, it is way too expensive. I keep checking the site (reuseit.com) to see if it goes on sale but so far no luck. (-4% isn't much)

• DSLR camera....oh wait! I got that for Christmas! I got the Nikon D5000, and I highly recommend it. To avoid stressing myself out by reading the included manual, I bought Nikon D5000 for Dummies as well. Very accessible for beginners. I have a Canon Digital Elph SD790 IS, and I can't say this enough: Canon point-and-shoot cameras have an excellent range of colors and saturation, and great definition. Before visiting any museums or attending concerts, I always check online to make sure you can a) enter with a camera, b) take pictures, and c) enter with a backpack. If any of these points are a "no", I make sure the place I'm going has a bag check service that will accept valuables (camera, wallet, passport, iPod). Sometimes they don't, which is why it is a good idea to always travel with something roomy that will still pass as a purse. This takes me to my next point:
  

• I've always wanted a leather bag. This Fossil bag looks good enough to hold my wallet, camera, iPod, etc. And leather is forever! 
  

• As I mentioned in a previous post, surviving Leuven is all about layers. While I haven't found great thermal shirts yet, this past month at Charlotte Russe I finally found the perfect leggings. Seems they're all the rage this season. Basically they are footless, low-cut tights. Someone finally got it: low-cut jeans and regular tights are not nice. And at 2 for $12, they're an excellent buy.  As for shirts, I'll probably be ordering them from Chemisette, a Mexican company that specializes in microfiber thermal wear. I've never ordered clothes from a catalog but since this is stretchy material, I'm guessing ordering a Small will be just fine.