Guest Post from Zoe: What’s In my Bag

As part of the Philofaxy All Stars Blog Tour, today’s post is brought to you by the fabulous Zoe of Zeitgeist of Zoe.  If you have never visited her blog, do it.  Now.  (Well, maybe after you’ve read this post.)  I promise, you won’t be disappointed.

What’s in my bag?  Glad you asked.

Fair warning…this post is going to leave a lot to be desired after Kanalt’s glorious bag post on my blog last week (especially because I only have, like, one measly bag to write about)! But here goes nothin’…

For Autumn, I’m using a Coach bag that I scored last year at the outlet for way cheap. I think it was something like $89, which I know doesn’t technically count as cheap, but it is for Coach, so bear with me.

This bag is light grey signature fabric with large black C’s scattered all over it. The trim is black patent leather. The lining is simply black fabric. What I liked about the bag was its messenger-esque quality; I thought it would carry a lot while still looking stylish. The adjustable strap also caught my eye because this bag can go over the shoulder OR cross-body. For lugging all my work stuff around, I love me some cross-body action!

Here you can see the general size, shape and strap length of it:

Here is a bit of a closer shot of the bag itself.

Finally, here it is open. You can sort of get a peek at the contents. That planner is a Franklin Covey “compact” (their equivalent to a Filofax Personal, only a bit wider) in silver that I wrote about in this post on my blog recently. You can also see my bright orange pencil case that I acquired and which j’adore from JetPens. More on that later ; )

The construction is rather floppy, so I can get a lot in there. Here, believe it or not, are the contents:

I know, right?! And before you go and comment about it, I am well aware that I need a little cosmetic bag. I’m on it, honest…I just need to find the right one.  Hopefully something orange-y.

To break down what I carry on a daily basis, here are the essentials:

From left to right, the top left of the photo is the aforementioned Franklin Covey compact planner in silver. Next to that (the large orange thing) is my iPad in an awesome case (more on that later too in the “things that are orange” section), underneath the FC planner is my new pencil case and under the iPad is the little Coach wallet that matches the bag.  

‘Cause shit gotta match or the OCD screams inside my head. And nobody wants that, trust me.

Anyway, it is sort of a purse/wristlet combo (meaning it has a wrist strap), so that if I want to grab it out of my bag to, say, go out to a girl’s luncheon, I can do so and look like I’m carrying it deliberately, rather than being too lazy to lug my big bag around.

Next comes the bag flotsam and jetsam for which I really, seriously, do need a cosmetic bag:

From left to right you’ve got the earbuds for my phone (not pictured because I was using it to take the photos, but it is a white Samsung Galaxy SIII and it is freaking awesome, thank you very much), a thing of pepper spray (left over from the days of online dating. And yes, I did have to use it once), Extra Dessert Delights gum in mint chocolate chip ice cream (nummy!), some dental floss and a hair elastic, an oh-so-GLORIOUS Hello Kitty bling compact mirror graciously gifted to me by the illustrious Snarling, orange ear plugs for when the BF takes me shooting (yes folks, all this and she’s learning to shoot a gun. Surely the end is nigh), my all-time favorite lip gloss in the whole wide world, Bare Escentuals Buxom Lip Gloss in “Sugar”. Go buy some. Right now. Trust me on this.

Ok, then there is some Gold Bond healing aloe hand cream, Boscia blotting papers, tweezers (you 40-something women out there know about the suddenly appearing goat hairs on the chinny-chin-chin, amirite?), a cute little orange ball of lip balm from EOS in (appropriately enough) “tangerine” flavor, and a couple packets each of eyeglass cleaner (the glasses aren’t in the picture because they were lost at the time. On my head. I’m not kidding) and hand sanitizer (because after all is said and done, I’m a germophobe too. And we wonder why I’ve been single all these years…). Also missing from the picture are my keys, which my OCD makes me hang on a little hook by the front door.

Missing as well are my fur lined handcuffs and iVibe Pocket Rocket (Google that one yourself kids).

Just kidding. I wanted to see if you guys were paying attention.

Seriously…I really was kidding.

Those things stay at home (BAhahahahaha!)

Ahem.  Now on to the “things that are orange” section that you all have so patiently awaited.

First off, the iPad case. It’s a behemoth, do love this thing. It’s by Rocketfish and it’s their “Waxed Spectator Case”. Sort of a waxed canvas material. You can pick one up at Best Buy for $49.99 and they come in fun colors like orange (mine), hot pink, aqua and (shiny) pewter…and also in some less fun colors like navy blue, black and grey.

Pricey, I know, but this case honestly does rock and here is why:

Not only could you (I’m convinced yet unwilling to test) run over this thing with a car and have the iPad be fine, but on the left inside cover you can see ridges where you can convert it into a nice, multi-angle stand. It also has a couple pockets for earbuds and business cards or whatever. I picked up a cute, matching cleaning cloth and tucked it in the upper pocket. You can see my earbuds in the lower pocket.

In the center there is a small elastic loop meant for a stylus. You could also put a pen in there if so inclined.

Then, the plastic tray thingie the iPad sits in also rotates so you can make it stand in portrait mode as well as landscape. It allegedly also snaps out for when you don’t need the extra bulk of the entire case, but to be honest, I haven’t figured out how to do so without breaking the thing, so I’ll take their word for it and leave it at that.

The case is awesome and I’m already trying to figure out what I can sell so I can go back for the hot pink one, but here’s the issue:

The case is so rugged and large that it won’t fit horizontally in the back pocket of my Coach bag. It has to sit upright like this. Fine, because the case is so protective, but it tweaks the ol’ perfectionistic neuroses nonetheless.

Here you can see that it fits just fine…without a case:

What, I ask you, is a girl to do? Go get a larger Coach bag at the outlets? Is that what I hear you all saying?! Hmmm? Yes??

I was actually thinking of just picking up a Smart Cover. Hardly any bulk there, but at least a little protection. For the iPad 2 I believe there used to be an orange one. But I’ll bet you can guess that there is no such color for the latest iteration of the iPad.

Yet another reason to hate Apple. But that’s a blog for another day ; )

On to the other orange thing in my bag, the Nomadic pencil case in mandarin orange from JetPens. Sadly, I don’t think it’s available in orange anymore, so I’m wicked glad I snagged it when I did.

 I love you JetPens.

The front has a little zip compartment for immediate access items. Really only 1 or 2 things can comfortably fit in it. I just have a highlighter for now. When I’m running low on my default planner pen (a Hi-tec C 0.4 in black) I’ll pop one in as a spare, but for now I’m good.

Squeeeee! Okay, here we have (left to right again) a gum eraser in the pocket, three Pilot Hi-tec C pens in light pink 0.3 (too fine/light for anything but doodling & fun things), apricot orange in 0.5 and apple green 0.4.  On the right hand side I have a hot pink fine point Sharpie, Hi-tec C 0.4 in my new favorite color, Camellia Pink, Kuru Toga 0.5 in lime green and a Pentel Graphgear 1000 0.5. This is my favorite mechanical pencil because it retracts.

Since I carry a Hi-tec C 0.4 in black in my planner, the contents of the pencil case stay pretty much as is. As I try out more Hi-tec C colors, I may or may not switch them out depending on what tickles my fancy on a given day. ‘Cause that’s how I roll yo.

Oh, and not to dwell, but since we’re talking about things that are orange, that iVibe does in fact come in orange. And they’re very quiet and you can order ‘em on Amazon.com. Just sayin’…

To further complicate matters, I went and pre-ordered one of the new HD Kindle Fire’s in the 7” size (because when it comes to handbags, planners and electronic gadgets, I have a bit of a problem I could quit any time.) Something like that would be far easier to slip into that back pocket of my bag. It should arrive in a week or so, and I will keep you posted, though I have no idea if its functionality could allow it to replace my iPad. But at least it has a case that comes in orange.  Heh.

Well, that’s all she (or, in this case, I) wrote. Hope you enjoyed snooping around my bag! I couldn’t help noticing that Kanalt and I seem to have very similar tastes in Coach patterns (go back and look at the photo of her wallet)…I guess great minds really do think alike : D

Thanks for the opportunity to guest post…it was a blast!

Thanks, Zoe for your great post!  Let me just say that those chinny chin hairs don't just happen after 40, not that I know from experience.  And we'll just keep the iVibe on the down low...