For the Love of Diaper Bags!

if you haven't noticed yet, i don't like capital letters. somewhere along the way, i got lazy...i spent a good portion of the last nine years keeping a livejournal and many of those years i was also persuing an undergraduate degree in psychology so i decided to save all my shift-key action for academic paper-writing purposes only. it worked out nicely and even though i received my second college degree over a year ago, well, i just don't see any point in regular capitalization. however, the title of this entry reads like a book title with all proper words in uppercase. i could have gone all out, capitalizing every single word:

For The Love Of Diaper Bags!

or better yet, every single letter:

FOR THE LOVE OF DIAPER BAGS!

because it's no secret. i'm serious about my diaper bags. and i've learned over the last year or so that many of us are. there are a certain, select group of women out there that will never buy a diaper bag at a large department store. never buy one with winnie-the-pooh or any other character or childish image emblazoned all over it. never buy one that looks like a diaper bag. i mean, it's not the kid that's wearing the thing, right?

right. now, being surrounded by boys, i have to play up my feminity whenever possible. this might mean carrying pink bags or carrying my kids around in floral carriers. but that's another topic.

actually, pink isn't my color, though it once was so it will always hold a dear place in my heart. brown is much more my thing, yet the two together are a combination i cannot resist. which is why i love this fleurville hana!



sure, this hobo is probably old news at this point and truth be told i've wanted one for at least two years. i'm not entirely sure what prevented me from getting one sooner, but i think it was because i saw a re-run messenger in person and didn't care for the fabric, i'll be honest. but in the hobo design, the re-run fabric works! had i got one of these sooner i probably would have been mostly satisfied and not tried so many others. no, really. even if my bag obsession sometimes verges on sick, i do tend to make good, long use of things when they serve their purpose well. this hana does just that, packing for diaper duty like a badass! and i see it definitely serving a purpose long after i'm diapering a bum.

how come? well...for starters, it doesn't look like a diaper bag. it's big and roomy and has great organization. it's large enough to hold everything i need for myself, my infant, and my toddler (my teen carries his own bag, er, manbag) without looking bulky. the strap length could be better because it makes cross-carrying a bit awkward (but it's doable) and there could be two sippy pockets on either side. i don't mind that the one sippy pocket isn't insulated so much because it keeps the bag light-weight and i don't feel like i have to use that pocket for a cup, i can use it for anything! also, the turn-lock pockets on the other side are actually pretty handy and if you carry the bag on your right shoulder, your cell phone is always in reach.

the hana is sporty yet cute and sassy. rugged yet charmingly classic. the front pockets are much deeper than they appear and even though there is no closure on them, i feel like anything i put in them will be secure. i had this for a hot minute in the fabulous ogo print but there was something about it that i just didn't love. the green lining? awesome! but the pink lining in the chocolate hana is also pretty awesome. this bag could have seriously ended my obsession with trying every single brand out there! i'm not even kidding.

(i totally altered mine by opening a seam in the lining, taking out the structured plastic bottom, removing the silver feet, and repairing the seam. it was rather simple but i don't recommend this unless you're sure that you'd prefer a less stuctured bag and don't mind voiding the warranty.)

now in the same week, i also received a babymel amanda AND the higher-end storksak emily, made by the same company. let me say this. for the price, the babymel amanda could improve on it's design only by screenprinting in the weave of the nylon outer, rather than on top of it. but everything else is superb! it really is lightweight. the two insulated bottle pockets are roomy. it looks like a cute, oversized purse and is another bag i might not be afraid to carry once my youngest is past the diaper stage. it comes in many styles but i went with pink and brown, again, and got the modern floral design.



this has an insanely long, adjustable strap that allows me to wear it cross-body and around my baby's bum when he's being worn in my calyx carrier. i love the easily wipeable surface and it'll be the bag i go to when i want to be just a little extra girly.

and finally. the storksak emily. i thought this would was the be-all and end-all but not for me. maybe for some, but not me. the celebrity hype might be what fuels this bag's popularity but it could be made a lot, and i mean A LOT, better to justify the price. i made the mistake of getting one used on ebay. mistake because by "used" i mean tore up from the floor up. it is naive of me to think that everyone will baby their bags like i do mine, but seeing this bag makes me really question the quality, in general. the bottom of the bag i received is not messed up at all, nor is the body, for that matter so i know it wasn't abused. but the strap and the FAUX-leather (don't let the few websites that mention "leather trim" fool you...this baby is not made with real leather!) trim is wrecked. i mean, cracked. torn. coming apart at the seams. it seems that the weight of the bag, when filled, really wears on the flimsy, vinyl strap and the adjustable buckle pulls so much that the strap openings split open. i haven't packed it up yet and maybe i'll be impressed when i do, but i'm not expecting a miracle. i'm horrified at the quality and craftsmanship. a bag that sells for $180 should not wear so poorly. (and really? $180 for nylon and vinyl?) granted, i have no idea what the previous owner did to the bag or how she treated it but like i said, the overall condition of the bag doesn't signal any abuse - it just seems the strap isn't adequate and wears out in a way that makes the entire bag appear cheap. it gets decent reviews but i'm hard pressed to believe that any of the reviewers feel the same way six months into their purchase.

i always save my reciepts!

for a little while, anyway. for important stuff, until the receipts expire and for not-so-important stuff, long enough to know if what i've purchased is going to work for me.

my partner, on the other hand, doesn't save his receipts at all. we can stop for a snack at costco after checking out and risk losing the proof that we've paid for the items in the cart because he's so quick to toss the receipt as soon as he can.

and this, a trip to costco, is what i am writing about today. tonight, whatever.

see, two weeks ago we needed toilet paper and i like to buy this sort of thing in bulk so i don't have to run out of it often and think about picking it up at target on a weekly basis. usually we buy it at sam's but we recently got a corporate account with costco and decided to go on a family outing just to get toilet paper. i like quilted northern so when i was comparing its price to another brand at costco, i figured it was the better deal, overall, because the other HUGE package contained individually wrapped rolls and i felt that wasn't quite eco-friendly enough for me.

so i grabbed the quilted northern, noticing that the package was purple instead of blue and that there were some words on the package like "new" and/or "improved" but it didn't concern me. it was the only type of quilted northern in the place and i figured northern couldn't mess up what it did best.

wrong!

the new "ultra plush" quilted northern is worse than charmin. and i'm sure some people really love their charmin with it's fun colors and weird scents. and without going into a ton of detail about what i prefer in a toilet paper experience, i'll just say that charmin is too lint-y. and well, "ultra plush" quilted northern is, too. it might even be moreso than charmin.

a few days after we brought home this insane amount of crappy (har har, that was maybe a pun) toilet paper, my partner informs me that he doesn't like it. i agree. he doesn't like it because the rolls are thicker and shorter than the standard roll or even the typical double roll so it fits on the holder awkwardly. i couldn't care less about that, but the lint this stuff produces is astronomical!

lesson learned, we won't be buying it again (i wonder if sam's club has the regular quilted northern.....). fast forward a few nights later, i'm watching late-night TV and notice a commerical for this stuff with a money-back offer if you're not completely satisfied. and i'm completely not, though i know the receipt is long, long gone.

why did i feel compelled to blog about this? because this toilet paper is gross and i'm out $17. i just want to spare someone the same horror. i mean, try it if you must. buy it if it's on sale. you might even like it.

but just in case you don't, save that receipt!