Baring it all

When I talked about what was in my handbag (and how it was tragically disorganised and cripplingly heavy) the last thing I expected was for someone to hear my pain.

But the interwebs were listening! Imagine my glee when a box arrived with a challenge to make over my handbag from Borne Naked!

As I have mentioned before, I have been on the hunt for a new handbag for ages. I couldnt bear to put such a pretty shiny new bag liner like the Borne Naked one into my heffer of a work handbag – so I thought it was time to go out & get a new one. (This realisation was also coupled with the fact that the strap on my $300 Saben bag snapped on Saturday night – leaving me trying to rock a hugely heavy* & oversized clutch while out at my first tweetup).

I couldn’t afford the Kelly Moore that I have been lusting after, so instead picked up this cheapie from Equip. I wanted it to still be big enough to fit a drink bottle (or bottle of wine!) and a couple of books. I was tossing up a gorgeous dove grey bag – but in the end the practical side of me won out, and black it was.

So – here are all the bits & pieces I normally carry to & from work (and remember – this is already DOWNSIZED from what I used to carry!):

Yeah. I know what you are thinking. What a freakin mess. Between the iPod earphone tangle, the sunglasses and pens and lipbalms, and the towel and sports headband – there is A LOT going on here. To find my phone it’s like digging to get to China.

In comes the new Borne Naked liner. I decided I wanted to keep my essentials easy to grab – so the wallet, makeup case and phone were left out. Check this out for organisation:

And then insert into the handbag, add the essentials I kept out and VOILA:

Check it out – my handbag even CLOSES. A new achievement!

I am definitely going to be getting a few more of these – especially for my gym bags (yeah, I alternate between two gym bags – don’t even ask why!). I also think they would be a great baby shower gift (for those of us who don’t yet have kids) – something totally different to the normal gifts given, and yet so practical!

Check Borne Naked liners out here to see where you can get yours. I know you want one. Jealous of mine yet? 😉

* possibly why the strap may have snapped

The search for the perfect handbag

It feels like I am in a constant search for the perfect handbag. I am always buying bags – and then barely using them, because something just isn’t right. It’s not that I spend hundreds on my handbags – but I still haven’t quite found the right one.

When I left my last job, I was given a beautiful Olga Berg handbag. It was so gorgeous I wanted to stroke it. Unfortunately our relationship ended in tears. One of the screws that kept the handle on was missing a cap and it shredded many of my beautiful tops before I noticed that the handbag was the culprit. The leather cracked and split and despite minimal use – it lasted only 6 months as a “going out” handbag. Sorry Olga Berg – that wasn’t worth the $200.

So I moved on to a practical handbag – a large laptop handbag from Nood. Sure it houses my laptop comfortably in a padded section in the middle – but its just a bit awkward and clunky. I can’t quite get it over my shoulder, and if my laptop is in there it is too heavy to do that too. Most of the time I end up carrying my laptop seperately anyway…

Now I am on the search for a new handbag. One that stands up to the pressures of carrying my weekday items (iPhone, makeup, iPod, hairbrush, digi camera, lunch, notebook, sunnies, keys, medications…and various other goodies that seem to lose themselves in there). I would also like something that allows me to carry my dSLR camera around with me – because I love snapping pics when I can and I want to do it more.

I started browing photographers handbags – and came across a few to choose from!

Enter…uber bag lust…

1) b-hobo bag in heather grey by Kelly Moore

2) Kelly Moore Classic in Rich Fuschia (ok, anything from Kelly Moore would be divine!)

3) the Lola in black by Epiphanie

How cool are those? You can fit your camera, lenses, flashes all in padded cells – all while carrying a super stylish handbag (which I am sure would fit the rest of my bits & bobs in). Now I just need to hint REALLY bad, or save REALLY hard. Somehow I think it’s going to be the latter!

Ahh, bag lust.