Things
The Perfect School Bag At Last!
Every day I am inching closer and closer to an indescribably fabulous new life in London. STILL NOT SOON ENOUGH.
In the mean time I've been salivating over expensive, sleek-looking, super fancy London bags, and when I went to buy one during a big sale they were out of the color I wanted. I was intensely displeased. There followed several hours of bag tangrams, but nothing I had was big enough for all the stuff I'll need for school. In these situations I usually get upset and start over from scratch; I decided to do a 90's throwback and look at backpacks. I was rooting around in my closet and lo, I discover this beauty!
I. LOVE. This bag. My friend Nico gave it to me; she was also rooting around in her closet and didn't need it anymore. So it was free. And it has lots of pockets with multi-colored dots inside, so how could I possibly go wrong?
Sigh. Simple pleasures.
Anyway, because I am horribly vain, I've been worrying about how I'll look in London. Part of me is still not over my stupid fear of looking like a tourist, or really American, or a college student. But what's wrong with looking young and sporty and American? I already have an unmistakably American face/attitude (people tell me I smile too much, but am I gonna stop? NOPE!), so I might as well represent and look like a 20-something while I still can. There's plenty of time to look professional when I'm 30 and have a big girl job.
It's a really nice feeling to throw open your closet and find a once- and still-loved item that you thought you had to buy. I've been trying to only buy things that will last, because there's no reason to toss a perfectly good backpack for a really expensive travel bag. Not in my case, anyway. I'm only planning to move with three bags (a suitcase, a duffel bag and my Fox backpack) to avoid unnecessary fees and Heathrow stress, and the more money I save now the more I'll have to spend on drinks, theater tickets, Liberty of London handkerchiefs, and Curzon Soho memberships.
So now that I have abandoned my grand plans to spend a ton of money to look intimidating, I feel free to be myself. This means lots of skinny jeans, Onitsuka Tigers, and my new, also 90's Casio sports watch.
I am ready.
In the mean time I've been salivating over expensive, sleek-looking, super fancy London bags, and when I went to buy one during a big sale they were out of the color I wanted. I was intensely displeased. There followed several hours of bag tangrams, but nothing I had was big enough for all the stuff I'll need for school. In these situations I usually get upset and start over from scratch; I decided to do a 90's throwback and look at backpacks. I was rooting around in my closet and lo, I discover this beauty!
I. LOVE. This bag. My friend Nico gave it to me; she was also rooting around in her closet and didn't need it anymore. So it was free. And it has lots of pockets with multi-colored dots inside, so how could I possibly go wrong?
I can't believe I quit using it just because it had a rip in the seam (easily fixed). Not many bags can hold my computer, charger, and water bottle (without being unreasonably large). And this one has so many pockets! LOOK HOW ORGANIZED:
Anyway, because I am horribly vain, I've been worrying about how I'll look in London. Part of me is still not over my stupid fear of looking like a tourist, or really American, or a college student. But what's wrong with looking young and sporty and American? I already have an unmistakably American face/attitude (people tell me I smile too much, but am I gonna stop? NOPE!), so I might as well represent and look like a 20-something while I still can. There's plenty of time to look professional when I'm 30 and have a big girl job.
It's a really nice feeling to throw open your closet and find a once- and still-loved item that you thought you had to buy. I've been trying to only buy things that will last, because there's no reason to toss a perfectly good backpack for a really expensive travel bag. Not in my case, anyway. I'm only planning to move with three bags (a suitcase, a duffel bag and my Fox backpack) to avoid unnecessary fees and Heathrow stress, and the more money I save now the more I'll have to spend on drinks, theater tickets, Liberty of London handkerchiefs, and Curzon Soho memberships.
So now that I have abandoned my grand plans to spend a ton of money to look intimidating, I feel free to be myself. This means lots of skinny jeans, Onitsuka Tigers, and my new, also 90's Casio sports watch.
I am ready.
New Things I Love
Even if I weren't so absentminded about where I put things, I just love being organized. It's just a small, simple thing that makes me happy. I spend a lot of time lusting after weekender bags but they're usually just huge, gaping sacks that swallow up your lipsticks and car keys. That is unless you have--a bag organizer! *trumpets* *elephants* *trumpeters on elephants*
I have a tendency to leave really important things in other bags, behind my bed, under my computer table, etc. But no more! Ebay has a huge selection of organizers in every color for about $7 with shipping. I really love this thing. It's super soft so you can put cheap sunglasses in the side pockets, the snaps on the side let you expand or collapse it for different bags, and the zippered compartments are great for my rat nest of charger cables and my iPad mini. I can even get a book, my wallet, and my 3DS in the middle pocket. My cavernous Coach bag is no longer a black pit of despair!
I have a tendency to leave really important things in other bags, behind my bed, under my computer table, etc. But no more! Ebay has a huge selection of organizers in every color for about $7 with shipping. I really love this thing. It's super soft so you can put cheap sunglasses in the side pockets, the snaps on the side let you expand or collapse it for different bags, and the zippered compartments are great for my rat nest of charger cables and my iPad mini. I can even get a book, my wallet, and my 3DS in the middle pocket. My cavernous Coach bag is no longer a black pit of despair!
I Love Notebooks
I have an undying love affair with paper notebooks. I even have Moleskine-looking covers for my iPad and iPhone. Don't get me wrong, tablets are AMAZING. I adore my iPad; I use it to read books, Pocket articles, recipes on Evernote, and anytime my computer is just too bulky to deal with. It's an unbelievable invention, really. And I love the idea of being paperless, sharing, and never being without important files. But notebooks are just begging you to scribble all over them and draw elephants on the page corners. You can tape ticket stubs inside, use all your neon highlighters to make rainbow notes, and you don't have to take them out of your bags at airport security checkpoints. I find it's good to have a balance of fancy screen technology and good old paper things that you can throw at a wall without worrying about. Not that you should make that a habit. But sometimes you want to watch Kitchen Nightmares in bed with your nose nearly against the screen, and sometimes you need to test out your new neon Sharpies.
I have lusted after journals and diaries my whole life but would only ever write in a few pages. If I made one false move and scribbled in the wrong place, they were no longer the perfect manuscript I had envisioned and the book was dead to me (not wasteful at all). But recently I finally filled up an entire journal because I quit worrying about it! I just wrote in my lazy cursive and told myself to calm down. I have always been obsessed with aesthetics and wanted the things I made to be p-e-r-f-e-c-t and if they weren't I would give up. But once I threw up my hands and quit being so ridiculous, I actually accomplished something! Perfectionism (and snobbishness) has always gotten in my way before, but now I feel grown up enough to just get things done. If you wait until all the conditions are perfect, you will wait forever.
Anyway, Friday at work I noticed there was a 50% off sale table full of Moleskine and Moleskine-looking notebooks that looked awfully lonely. My coworker that runs the museum store must have seen me coming. I kept putting off my inevitable purchase (or otherwise missed my chance by not getting to the store before it closed) but after I watched last week's episode of Parks and Recreation and saw Leslie' little red friend-ranker notebook I could no longer help myself. I figured at the very least, a new journal would help me on my journey to becoming more Knope-like (next I need to make some idea binders).
I think Leslie's notebook is actually a Moleskine, but there was a red Leuchtturm (a German notebook company) at the museum store that looked similar and I GREATLY DESIRED IT. Turns out that no one was buying them because 1) Leuchtturm isn't as familiar as Moleskine and 2) Europeans love square grid notepaper and Americans are confused by it outside of math class. Anyway, I got a blue Leuchtturm and a Moleskine sketchbook; as you can see they're still in shrink wrap but I checked out the display copies and I am in love. I even got a pen holder that sticks onto the back cover of the Leuchtturm (Germans think of everything). I have a paper day planner as well, but these will be for my exciting new sparkly life across the sea. I feel like running around a museum requires a neat little book (and a pencil so you don't mark up exhibits by mistake) and I can see myself writing in a notebook on trains and in front of the National Gallery. It's just such a nice feeling to bring home a nice clean notebook and fill it with all kinds of things. And it really comes in handy when you are renting a flat in London for a week and the wifi goes out and the landlord's number is in an email saved on your iPad. Paper saves the day!
So if you are in the market for some nice writing things, and you LOVE NEON like I totally do, get thee to Leuchtturm!
P.S. I just like to spread the word about products cause I love them, I'm certainly not getting any money for this. But if any companies wanted to make me their spokesperson I have a list of favorite things :)
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