A few weeks ago Maggie invited me to a cocktail party sponsored by Federated Media. Maile, founder of Epiphanie Bags and one of the nicest people I’ve met in a long time, gave all of us attendees one of her camera bags as a party favor. There are three models in four colors; this one is mine.

The bags are, to quote my grandmother, “really something”. They’re camera bags, but they read like nice big purses so 1. you’re not lugging around an ugly camera bag to a party and 2. you’re not walking around, riding the subway, announcing to the world, “Yo! I have an expensive DSLR on me!”

For me, especially with my recent upgrade to a professional camera, it’s been a total game changer with the way I shoot. I don’t leave my camera home all the time because “it’s too heavy”. (The worst photo is the one you don’t take.)

Now, 90% of the time you see me, I’ve got my camera, big old flash and “a change of lenses” in my bag. It also fits all the other stuff I like to haul around: my wallet, gum, hand sanitizer, mini makeup kit, umbrella, pen, notebook, datebook, iPhone, headphones, bottle opener, business cards, wet wipes, bottle of water, bottle of ibuprofen, a light cardigan, a magazine and an extra pair of shoes… just in case. I don’t like to be unprepared, OK?! And yes, it all really fits in there.

I freakin’ love this bag. If you want to take a swing at winning the red Lola model, go over to Maggie’s blog and enter.

It gets better, too! Included in the bags was a Fuji Instax Mini camera and a pack of film, courtesy of Photojojo, and if you win, yours will ALSO have an Instax and some film inside.

Good luck, and have a wonderful weekend.

Yael had “Visit Stonehenge” on her Life List and did it! (I meant to post this ages ago!)

The photos are so dreamy. Congrats, Yael, on this awesome List item accomplishment!

Happy weekend you guys.

Did you know there is free* kayaking on the East River? I didn’t! It’s courtesy of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Boathouse. We stumbled across it on Sunday. I didn’t go – I’m not into unexpectedly getting my rear end sopping wet – but I’ll be back in a swimsuit. Matt, Nicole, Tracy, Jackie and Rob tried it out, though.

Even more fun, we came at the tail end when the volunteers were packing up for the day and they needed help paddling all the gear back to storage, so everyone got extra long rides.

And extra especially fun, we ran into Sarah Cooley who was one of the volunteers.

Go check it out! (They’re in the Brooklyn Bridge Park on Sundays, but Saturdays they’re over at Pier 1 in the new Brooklyn Bridge Park extension).

*They accept donations

This boring tee shirt rocked my world.

1. My haircut is amazing. I called Rob walking home from the salon and lamented about dropping a good piece of change on a haircut, only to come out looking like a poodle. Once I styled it my way, though, it rocked my world.

Wahoo for my hair.

2. My necklace is also amazing. It is my new favorite thing.  (I was shooting my self-pic into a mirror – I know what way the globe goes!)

3. I went to buy new tee shirts, nothing unusual, and could not figure out what the heck was wrong with them. They fit before, and now they were… baggy and lumpy and odd. It turns out nothing is wrong with the tee shirts, and nothing is wrong with me. I’m just a size smaller.  Do you know how rad it is to buy smaller sized shirts?!

Holy cow.

Luggage shopping!

We have a few of those gigantic, everything-but-the-sink bags for taking on vacation, mostly from Rob who came with them when we got together, and Rob’s parents who gave us a really nice couple of bags when we got married. We also have a few wheeled bags suitable for carry on, but they’re old, wobbly, and go completely upside down while being rolled at a quick pace (which they usually are because I always manage to cut things close when it comes to plane travel).

What I need is one good carry-on that will stay upright when I’m running and will hold everything I need so that I don’t (ugh! guh! ack!) have to check a bag (pthoey!) when I fly. Easy, but then I need it to have a little, separate bag that goes under the seat, that matches. And they have to slide together. And they have to be cute.  This has been the hard part in my few-months long search.

These fit the bill, but they’re just a little too saccharine for my taste.

Design*Sponge has a great round-up of luggage (it’s where I saw the polka dotted luggage above), but only a very few have the little backpack for under the seat bit, too.

Do you have a set you love?  Help!

*Update* It cannot be black!

p.s. How to pack for 10 days in a carry on.

“… unique interior of deep milk chocolate, crunchy butter toffee and a touch of pink Himalayan salt. A custom blend of milk chocolate, punctuated with just a touch of dark to deepen the flavor profile encapsulates crumbles of our popular Caramel Toffee.”

The website says “consume within 4 months of purchase” to which I say, NO PROBLEM.

$12, from Vosges

I’ve wanted a new makeup bag forever – my old one was really ugly, but it was a only a dollar on super “this is really ugly” clearance, so I stuck with it for years and gave up finding another one.  Then a few weeks ago I found Sugar Sweet Beet, an Etsy store run by a 28 year old mom of three in Michigan.  Forking over my cash to Target for a makeup bag didn’t appeal to me, but supporting a woman-run business is right up my alley, so I got one.  I also ordered a business card holder for my Hey Brooklyn cards.  When they arrived I was thrilled with the quality and left her a glowing comment on the feedback page.

“Now,” I said, “you need to start making Moo card holders!”  (I made Moo cards for my blog even though my Hey Brooklyn cards are full-size.)

She wrote me back saying she’d make her first Moo card holder for me, on the house, and here it is.

Both card holders fit a whole big pinch of cards from the box.  I’m used to holders that only hold twenty or so.  These would be perfect for fancy people who print their business cards on thick stock.  I like the coordinating fabric on the inside, too.

The makeup bag comes in four sizes; the biggest three stand on their own.  This is the medium, and is just right for holding my every day things (my old ugly bag is now hidden under the bathroom sink and holds my special occasion makeup.)

You can select your own fabric or choose from the pre-made things she has, and for $1 more you can have a name embroidered on the inside, too!

The prices are really reasonable.  This makeup bag was $10 and the business card holder was $4.50.

Go forth and support small business!

I very much like this Twill Cargo Zip Jacket from Old Navy.  It comes in a few khaki-ish colors, a pale yellow and a navy blue, too.  $40

It’s an LBD with sleeves. Horray!

$188, from JCrew.com

Have you ever lost something and known way deep down that it’s long gone? There are times when I’m looking for something and get a whisper of an impression that it’s missing and will stay that way.  Idon’t understand how this works but I know what I know, and what I know right now, unfortunately, is that I’m never going to see my wedding ring again.

It wasn’t expensive, and I’m not devastated – it is, after all, just a circle of metal.  I’ve been wearing my first engagement ring in it’s place. It’s an eleven dollar silver band from a mall kiosk that we picked out the day we got engaged. I wore it until I got my real engagement ring a few weeks later with my grandma’s diamond in it. (That one isn’t lost.) But silver doesn’t hold up well, and I’m looking for a replacement before it goes all to pieces. Or replacements. I don’t think there’s a rule that says you only can have one ring to say the world, “Taken!”.

Two rings I’ve been considering for a while: this one from Rare Device. You can get it in rose, white, or yellow gold.

And this one, from artist David Finch.

I’ve researched every wooden ring company on the internet, and Touch Wood is my favorite. David and his wife live on a farm in British Columbia with a sweet, eco friendly life style… and they have sheep! Most of the wood comes from their property.

The unblemished, straight-forward grainy looking ones are my favorite.

I can totally dig having a wardrobe of inexpensive and luxurious wedding rings!