Yes, another bag

I have a friend whom I’ve “known” for nearly a decade—we’ve never met face to face but we have known and gamed with each other for a long time. Even after I stopped playing WoW, we stayed in contact through Facebook and the occasional email.

Turned out she was also playing Rift, the game we play now, so we hooked up in game and have a grand time of it. She had also made some things for us as housewarming gifts when we moved to our current home (you can read about it here).

So I’d been wanting to make her something. I think of my friend in these colors; she’s very upbeat and looks for the positive in everything. What’s more positive than the bright yellow I lined the bag with? But that might be a bit much for the outside, so I used a lovely pink tweed that has some yellow in it.

While I was still working on the bag, she had lost her dear old cat. She wasn't sure how quickly she would find another cat but as it turned out, she ended up finding a rescue kitty pretty quickly. You might remember that another friend had made us amazing catnip mice for our kitties so I asked that friend if she’d whip up a few mice I could include in with the bag for my friend and her new cat.

And the package arrived today! My friend likes her bag, the new kitty likes the mice and I’m a happy camper.

What's in your bag?

Today some friends were posting on Facebook about what kind of bags they like. Then the conversation turned to what they carried in their bags and then the conversation became the start of a blog meme.

Before I moved to Boston, I carried only small bags. I mean they were tiny. I had room for my wallet, lipstick, a phone, sunglasses and my keys. I reasoned that if I needed to bring more things with me, I could always toss them in the car.

That all changed in Boston—we walked everywhere and with few exceptions, we needed to be able to carry whatever we bought. So I got this bag in New York the week after Fashion Week in 2008. I’m not sure you can tell the color very well—it’s actually a dark slate blue and has been a great neutral color for me.  

Bonus picture of my gloves on the left

What I’ve loved about this bag is that it has just a single strap (double straps annoy me to pieces because one is always falling off my shoulder), the strap isn’t long so the opening is hard for a thief to get into, and the opening has a strong magnet that keeps it closed. Plus the two pockets on the inside are up fairly high and hold my phone and sunglasses perfectly.

And here’s what’s in the bag:

• The larger pink zipper bag in the back has my phone charger (my work building is apparently made of lead because no one gets a good cell signal in there and all our batteries get sucked dry) plus my Zune (MP3) charger. I don’t usually bring the Zune into work, it’s in my car, but it’s nice to have the charger in case I’ve run the battery down.
• The small pink zipper bag has a couple of different shades of lipstick plus a nail file and cuticle scissors, a couple of hair elastics and I think two aspirin.
• The glasses case holds my reading glasses, and I’ve also got my sunglasses.
• My wallet is the small blue thing you see; I got it at a Coach outlet store in Colorado in 2003 and love it to pieces.
• My phone is above the wallet.
• I have my fast-acting inhaler (which is pretty much empty and I need to get a refill), a packet of tissues and some kind of pain reliever we picked up in Rome when my head was killing me.
• And my keys. 

Slightly obsessed with bags

Not handbags, nope, those don’t really interest me in the least. Oh I have a few but I don’t really much care about them and when we flooded (holy cow almost a year ago), I guarantee you I didn’t give them a passing thought. They all survived as it turned out, despite being under water.

Laptop bags are a different story. I am irresistibly drawn to the laptop bag section of any store that carries them. I look at them online, in magazines and catalogs and I’m always positive that this bag, ah this bag will be The One That Solves My Laptop Storage Issues. I have plenty of bags I've tried and discarded (usually to Goodwill or to someone who wants it). Here are the ones that are still in the house:

I have a Franklin Covey pseudo-messenger bag that looks like an oversized purse (got it at Costco so at least it wasn’t pricy). I like the interior but the bag has two handles and one is always falling off my shoulders. Plus I've realized as much as I like the look of a messenger bag, I find them very awkward to carry through airports when I'm usually walking fast or outright running. So it sits in a closet waiting for us to take a picture of it so we can sell it on Craig’s List.

I have a Targus backpack laptop bag that is pretty close to perfect (you can't tell by the pictures but this bag has annoying yellow pulls and the logo is yellow, too). I can shove everything in there, all cords and mice and extension cords plus my toiletry bag and my Kindle and still have room for a water bottle and my wallet. I’ve used it for almost four years and love almost everything about it. The flaws are few but they are fatal. First, when it's full, it doesn't really fit under the seat in front of me because it's too wide. Plus it looks like it belongs on campus.

I found another very strong contender at Levenger (the Higher Ground Laptrap) and managed to get it on sale for a ridiculously low price. Again, I love most things about this bag including the way it looks. However, it's a messenger bag (note to self, never ever buy another messenger bag), and I can’t fit everything in well because the pockets don’t expand at all; there’s no way to stuff anything in there. It's a great bag if I need to haul a laptop between home and office but it's fairly useless on my trips.

But I think this time I really have found the perfect bag. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Booq Squeeze Bag. Even though it’s a backpack, it looks clean and tidy with not a hint in the world of college backpack to it. And the interior slots and spaces are amazing. Even if you aren't obsessed with laptop bags the way I am, click through to the link and check out the pictures of the interior.

I’ll be field testing this bad boy on Wednesday when I fly to Hawaii. Stay tuned for an update after I get back.

Wally loves bags

And also here's the best ice cream ever:

Another bag

I made this bag for my friend, Fiona, as a thank you for her hospitality over the last year. The Bible study I've been going to on Wednesday nights has met at her house all this time--we would eat dinner and then dig into the Bible. In addition to being just an all-around cool woman, Fiona also tries very hard to live with less waste and she has a real hatred for plastic shopping bags. So I made this bag for her. I included my hand in the picture so you can see exactly how big the bag is, because honestly it is huge.