Carryall bag. What does this mean? Well, besides the obvi ... CARRY IT ALL BAG. Why is it such a big deal? What do I stand for? Why do I have one? What is the meaning of life? Scratch the last one question. But for the others, everyday carryall bags are a representation of who you are and how you go about your busy life; we are talking about what goes in the carryall bag and how/where you use it. It's a free for all, you carry whatever you want in your carryall and much like analyzing someone's bookshelf at a dinner party, yes you know what I'm talking about dear readers, you can "read" a person by the contents of their bag. What items do they have? Messy or neat? Practical or quirky? Pet owners? Kid owners? What are the possessions that a person needs to get through the day and typically, this may be a busy day which is why the whole day's activities and needs are found in that carryall bag. Besides the usual contents one expects to find in an everyday purse, such as a wallet, makeup bag, pens, gum, headphones, keys, phone, what else do you need in that big bag? Most carryall bags are quite sizeable because we lug around so many things everyday, things that define us, some fun things (aside from the said necessities) you might find in a carryall bag are:
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Books, magazine or crossword/suduko, etc. - For the long train/bus rides or waiting for your kids at carpool. It's always fun to see what people are reading these days.
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Random kids toys - To keep them entertained at the restaurant or random times when they have to patiently wait around. My kids are a bit older now and I still have cards and small toys permanently in my bag for these occasions.
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Receipts and trash - Receipts eventually become trash after some point, so I'm clumping them together.
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Hot sauce - I love this one. I know plenty of people that carry hot sauce around with them, it's usually the Tabasco brand people ( probably because they make those cute itsy bitsy travel size bottles).
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Eating utensils - Guilty, I usually have a spork with me. You never know when you have an eating emergency and with a spork you can work it either end.
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Pepto or whatever antacid of choice - This one is pretty self explanatory and likely the same person that carts around the hot sauce.
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First aid kit - I have a small one that lives in my bag with allergy medicine, bandaids, painkiller and an outdated epi-pen. With three kids, you never know when a boo boo will happen.
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Extra underwear or socks or deodorant - For the smelly / hygienic person.
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Current crafting project - Knitting, crocheting, needle point, etc.
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The thing that you have to return to that person the next time you see that person. The sky's the limit here.
#MOMLIFE
You get my point, I can go on and on about what goes in a bag and I also bet every one of you has a funny item in your everyday bag. Go on, take a look. Now, why do we have these? Because we are living life, getting things done and we need all our s#$t with us when we do it. This is the essence behind the Notebooks & Honey tote bag, it is a large everyday carryall tote bag that you can carry everything in all throughout the day. It's the perfect balance of durable yet stylish, so you can take it with you from playdate to date night without changing out bags. I've written several blog posts about how versatile the this waxed canvas bag is, ranging from diaper bag to laptop bag to travel bag to even knitting bag and basically how I think this is just the best tote bag for everyday use. Wheh! In this post, I want to show you what a typical day looks like with the Notebooks & Honey carryall tote bag.
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9AM - The kids are safe at school and I have finished my hour of straightening the house, quiet coffee meditation and exercise so I can now properly start the day. I head to a coffeeshop to work because I'm too distracted by chores at home and I love the coffeeshop culture anyway, so I pack up my laptop in my carryall tote bag and spend a good couple of hours there working on this blog post, running analytics, catching up on emails and reading the news.
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Loving my time at coffeeshops.
11:30AM - I meet a friend out for an early lunch where we do a quick catch up on life and mom's being moms; we are so efficient that we have done a month's worth of catching up in one hour. Back to the next thing before the other next things.
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12:30PM - Dropping by the office for a couple of hours to pack up shipments and finish my time of "concentrated work", fully aware that the kid pick up clock is counting down at this point. Picking up kids in 2.5 hours. Anytime to get work done after pick up is considered "borrowed time".
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2:30PM - Running last minutes errands, including quick grocery shopping for dinner, before picking up the kids from school. Thank goodness I always have a french market bag safely tucked in my carryall tote.
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3:05PM - I'm the carpool line that doesn't really move, so I boldly pull out my book from my tote bag and this keeps me busy until I actually get to scoop up the kids.
Playground hopping throughout ATL.
3:30PM - At the playground now and I have magically pulled snacks from my tote bag carryall, as mom's do, to satisfy the kids' birth right of demanding snacks after school. The Notebooks & Honey tote bag is sturdy enough for playground antics and maybe I even try to pull out my laptop there one last time. I don't really need to watch the kids play, I can still hear them if someone starts screaming or crying.
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4:30PM - Heading to piano lessons now where I pull out the laptop / book from the tote bag again while dutifully wait my half hour sentence.
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5:30PM - Finally made it home. Breath. Kinda (see below).
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7PM - Yay, it's date night! Hubs and I meet friends out for a weeknight dinner and drinks. After rushing home from piano, making a quick dinner for the kids, making sure they do homework, reminding them to shower, greeting and giving instructions to the babysitter, well who has time to get ready? I do manage to change clothes really quickly, but thank goodness, I can just take my everyday (and night) carryall bag out to dinner. It's so sleek and stylish, I don't feel like I need to change out bags.
Date night with Notebooks & Honey
9PM - We may or may not be heading to a bar for one more drink before the night is over, again, thankful for my Notebooks & Honey ultimate modern tote bag.
There you go, a day in the life of an everyday carryall tote bag! Until the next (May) post! ~ Cheryl