My darling husband got me the iPad2 as an anniversary gift. I’d been lusting at it for a while, but it wasn’t love at first sight. I’m the proud owner of a MacBook. I’ve taken it with me all over the world, right in that special compartment in my backpack.

So, when the iPad first came out I said I would never get one as long as I still had my laptop. I mean, really, why would I need one? Being that I’m not a TV watcher, I wasn’t enticed by all the commercials.

However, passing through a few airports here and there I started seeing more and more travelers carrying iPads. Of course, curiosity always gets the best of me…just enough to do some research about the pros and cons of the iPad.

Then, this past March, I went to a Montessori conference in Chicago. This is when I became infatuated with the iPad. I had brought my laptop with me to the conference, but opted for leaving it at the hotel because I didn’t want to have to ‘lug’ it around when we went to lunch. At one of the seminars, while I was ‘chicken scratching’ all my notes on one of those little freebie note pads, the teacher in front of me was taking all her notes on her iPad. She was also following all the notes the presenter had posted online.

This was the decisive moment, I was sold.

Getting the iPad2 is my attempt to traveling lighter. Seeing as how John is always trying to convince me to travel lighter, it was pretty easy to convince him what a wonderful gift this would be. Actually, he’d like me to be able to pack for the entire summer in just one backpack.

Well, instead of doing away with the suitcase, I’m doing away with the backpack. I have this great cross body handbag I bought in Italy a few years ago in which my iPad fits perfectly.

Baby, thank you so much for my anniversary gift. Thanks to you, I’ll be traveling lighter.