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!

$16 from TOKYObay

I’m more into the classic LL Bean tote myself, but the ultra-cool Shana Faust came by the Hey Brooklyn studio last week carrying this camo tote with her initials embroidered on it in pink. As my grandma would say, it was very sharp!

from LLBean.com

Storymatic, $30

It’s hard for me to describe this, so I cut and pasted from the website:

The Storymatic consists of 250 gold cards and 250 white cards. Each gold card contains a character trait or occupation. Each white card contains a situation or object. Wild Cards contain instructions about where and when your story takes place, and how it must be told.

The basics of The Storymatic could not be easier. First, draw two gold cards. Then combine the information on these two cards to create your main character. For example, if you draw “surgeon” and “amateur boxer,” your character is a surgeon who is also a boxer.

Next, draw one or two white cards. Let the information on the cards lead you into a story. If, for example, your cards say “box of teeth” and “pair of pants that don’t fit right,” then perhaps after a night in the ring Dr. Boxer always scans the floor of the ring for the teeth of his opponents, but maybe Dr. Boxer has put on some extra weight due to his long days at the hospital, causing him to slow down in the ring, and then…

And that’s all there is to it.

There are, however, two laws that must always be followed:

The Two Laws of The Storymatic

1. Your main character must change from the beginning of the story to the end of the story.

2. You cannot kill your main character.

There are literally trillions of stories in The Storymatic. That’s a lot of stories, but there’s one thing missing–a person like you to tell them.

from theStorymatic.com

Threadless Tees, $10*
*currently on sale this week

For guys and gals. (Warning, these tees run way small for the ladies. A 2x is like a medium.)

from Threadless.com