Charming charms

I have a disease called cute-itis. It makes you use cute things even if you're just a little too old for them already. Take bag and gadgets charms for example. My friends' charms have colored stones and beads and look elegant. Mine? Uh, cartoon animals?

My cellphone charm is half a heart and Minnie Mouse, and is one part of a pair. Guess who has the other half.

My alma mater's mascot is a blue eagle and I couldn't resist this charm when I saw it in the university bookstore. It's an eaglet on what's supposed to be a bracelet, but I hang him on my (current) everyday bag. Not very professional looking, I admit, but I think he's adorable! And he's only a centimeter high. Just between you and me though, I think he looks more like a blue penguin than a blue eagle.

This little mint green teddy bear is actually pretty big for a bag charm. But he's my birthday bear. The sole of one foot is stitched with the date of my birthday (sorry—I forgot to position the foot properly). My sister and three nieces each have one too. How can I not use it? I removed the key holder and attached him to the zipper of my work bag, along with mini train cards from Tokyo—mementos of a visit to my sister and her family when they were living there. One of them supposedly has the name of the station nearest my sister's home, but since I can't read Japanese characters, I just have to trust her on it.

Now, I have two questions for you:

1. Do you have cute-itis?
2. Do you use bag and gadget charms?

Almost, but not quite

Soon after I ranted about ladies' bags in Portable black hole, I bought myself a new bag from a friend of a friend who designs and makes bags. I got to choose the design I like and the leather to be used for it. This is it:


It has three large compartments—two with snaps and one zippered. The problem is, it still doesn't have as many pockets as I'd like it to have. In fact, it only has two small pockets, one in each of the compartments with snaps. So to keep my things organized, I still have to use several pouches of different sizes.

It does have one great thing going for it—it's huge! Note its size in relation to the chair. I can actually place a file folder in it and it won't be peeking out. The design comes in a smaller size, but I purposely chose the larger so I don't have to carry several bags. But then, as my friends say, I'm lucky because I can get away with it.

Because I meant to use the bag for everyday office use, I chose a dark brown braided leather so it can go with all of my clothes. It's not real braided leather, by the way—it's just stamped leather. But the stamping's so deep, you won't know it's not really braided unless you look at it very closely.

I'm satisfied with it for now. But the hunt still goes on for the perfect bag.

A bug for my bag

I've been looking for a bag hook like this for almost two decades—ever since I lost the very first one I had. Now, I've a much prettier one and I don't have to place my purse on my seat every time we eat out.

This little bug dropped into my lap last week, when the friend of a colleague visited at work and turned out to be selling bag hooks. There were other designs but I couldn't resist the lady bug for my ladies' bag. And she comes in her own little black velvet pouch with satin ribbon drawstrings so she won't get scratched when she's inside my purse.

Portable black hole

When I wrote about my husband's new backpack in February, I wasn't kidding about wishing that the company made feminine versions. Not backpacks or laptop bags. Just regular leather bags I can use everyday.

Handbags (or purses, depending on where in the world you are) have been a frustration for me. My girlfriends all got themselves beautiful leather bags from Fino (a Filipino company) over Christmas, and much as I loved them, I couldn't. Their bags—and most other bags for women, no matter the brand or the material—are all just one single compartment with handles. Most have a pocket or two inside, sometimes one or two outside too, but the rest of it's just one huge black hole.

And I do mean black hole. To find anything in bags like that, you have to stick your hand inside and feel around for it—sometimes for several minutes. That is, if you're lucky your hand can fit inside. If it can't, you end up removing every item in the bag when what you're looking for is at the very bottom.

And don't tell me that all I have to do is get one of those bag organizers—you know, that removable vinyl or fabric thing full of pockets where you're supposed to put all your things then place inside your bag. (It supposedly makes changing bags easier too, because you just move the organizer instead of every little thing you've got.) I've tried it. It only works when the bag is relatively shallow—just two inches taller than the organizer. If the bag is deep, no way. I couldn't see anything in there and I ended up taking out the whole organizer!

I still have lots of those single-compartment bags, but they're not for everyday use. Evening bags; embroidered cloth bags from India, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia; abaca and jute bags perfect for summer; casual bags for jeans weekends. They're fine for limited use. But someone please start making elegant leather bags with a gazillion compartments and pockets please!

Urban Pac

Last Sunday afternoon, my husband decided to go shopping for a new backpack to replace the one that got stolen the day before. I'm no shopaholic, but I do enjoy purposeful shopping, so I tagged along. Good thing I did, because when he got to the Sumdex store, he couldn't decide which of these two he wanted:



The one on the left is a sporty-looking jacquard and suede backpack and the one on the right is a water-repellent nylon twill bag you can carry three ways. Here's what they look like at the back:



I was iffy about the curved straps of the bag on the left. So I asked him to put it on. And sure enough, it just wasn't him. The curved straps made it look like he was going on a trek—all it lacked was the strap you buckle around your waist. Didn't quite fit his dapper English professor look. The straight straps of the bag on the right, and it's more urban shape and material, fit him better. Plus, it can be used as a tote, a messenger bag (notice the ring to the left of the zipper—that's for the shoulder strap it comes with), and a backpack (the backpack's straps tuck into that zippered compartment at the back when you're not using them).

But the clincher was this:



Look at all those pockets! It's an OC's dream bag. Three large compartments, one of which is padded with a securing strap for a laptop, and the other two each with a gazillion pockets. Every item in it's own place. Plus there's a zippered compartment in front and if you're using it as a backpack, there's that extra compartment at the back where the straps would have been.

Needless to say, my husband's very happy with his Urban Pac (the name of the bag). Now if Sumdex can just make a smaller, more feminine version for me…