Overeducated & Unemployable

When your significant other half suddenly feels the urge to go shopping, you don't say no. He even made a fuss about not wanting to rush the experience. So off we went to a nearby outlet village. Even though there's a similar village in Belgium, I've never been there. I don't drive 2 hours to go shopping when Brussels has its very own chain of outlet shops.
When confronted with the little houses, tidy streets and shopping Brits, I know why I don't usually go to these kind of places: It's the shopper's Disneyland. The whole entourage is fake and probably dead at night. But the clothes are real, as are the discounts.
So I gawked at everything, tried on several pairs of jeans, to find none that fit*, and went home with a lovely Puma track jacket. I've been lusting after this kind of jacket for ages, never buying it because they're too expensive. I looked so wonderful in it that I feel less bad about turning thirty in two days. P. found himself a pair of jeans that fit, but of course were too long for Mr. Short-Legs. Little Bit was the luckiest. We bought everything we liked at Petit Bateau: two pairs of trousers and a shirt. I love the clothes by Petit Bateau, but they're quite expensive, so finding them at a discount price was wonderful.

Not all Oxford days are this full. Yesterday was spent indoors because of the rain. I took Little Bit for a walk in the sling. She kind of hangs out of it for most of the time, and cuddles right up to me when she starts getting tired. Her eyes catch everything that passes. Yesterday she discovered a new-found love for skateboards: they make great noise and interesting movement.
Last weekend was also filled with big adventures. We went down to London for long_roadtoruin's big party, where I didn't know one living soul except the lovely hostess. Little Bit simply sat and loved all the attention she got. Her big brown eyes got her a lot of compliments. Babies are a very welcome conversation starter.

*My hips have gone up one size since having Little Bit, but the rest kind of stayed the same. Now I can't seem to find any jeans that fit this new body without being to wide in the waist, or too narrow around the hips.

Actually I need two bags. Not because the other ones are completely worn out, but simply because a girl never has enough bags, hasn't she?

Wait, that's wrong. Both bags have been carried around for years, and show the inevitable proof of being used. The messenger bag I take with me to music class comes undone at the seems. My school bag has one zipper that sometimes opens on its own. And now I want new stuff. I want perfect bags in which I fit everything, but not too much, that have compartments for my mobile phone, keys, purse... and that don't have me carrying an extra bag around to put my money in.

Maybe I should be more specific.

Bag number one is my music class bag, but sometimes doubles as an oversized handbag when I go shopping or go to the library. It has to carry several score books. Most of those are A4-sized (or a bit smaller). Eastpack carries several messenger bags, but none of those close well enough to secure your purse, keys and mobile phone in there. I always travel by public transport, during rush hour. Eastpack bags leave too much possibilities for the pick-pockets of Brussels. Now I've been looking at smallish laptop bags from Belkin (cheaper at Amazon), but maybe those scream too much "I've got a laptop inside me. Pick me! Pick me!" And really I don't want to loose my score books to some stupid thieving wanker...

On to bag number two: my every day school bag. Right now it's big and always filled to the brim with books, my binder with lesson plans, lunch, iPod, speakers... You name it, I've got it in my bag and more (I believe I've got a couple of dice in there as well). When I teach I'm some sort of Mary Poppins. But Mary Poppins never showed the load she was carrying. Miss Frances on the other hand, sometimes stoops from all the weight on her back. And on days she doesn't carry her lunch around her bag is only half filled. What do I need? A rucksack that has space for a binder and several books, is easy to carry, and again not easy on the pickpockets. I am considering buying a smaller model than I have now, and carry my lunch around in a different bag, just so I don't have the half filled thing on half filled days. By the way, my current school bag is responsible for my love for laptop bags. It's a Samsonite laptop rucksack. One of the first laptop travel bags from back in the days. It easily carries a 17" laptop. And weighs a ton to drag all the way to school when I take P.'s old 12" Powerbook with me.

So what do you recommend? Or what do you like to carry around?

Because I was getting annoyed with the too large plastic drinking bottle I've been carrying to school the last couple of years, I finaly invested in something stylish and smaller:


(Click on the picture for the SIGG website)

This one's only 0.6l, but that's enough when you've got plenty of options to refill it with tap water. It's oval shaped and fits in my handbag (and looks a bit like those pocket brandy bottles). And most of all, it won't get as smelly as the plastic bottle, because I can rinse it with boiling hot water.