Personalized Gifts

Now, these, as my 8 year old princess tells me, are the bomb!

Heavyweight 600 denier polyester canvas tote bags, great colors, contrasting trim, front slit pocket — and embroidered with your child’s name. We even have little embroidery designs to add, if you’d like. We just got our stock in and can’t wait to start personalizing them!

We’re overstocked on our toddler backpacks, duffel bags and lunchbags — they need to go!

For a limited time, save over 30% on a personalized gift set for your todder; matching personalized backpack, duffel bag and lunch bag, all embroidered with your little boy’s name or initials.

What a great birthday gift!

I don’t know about you, but I just love it when I get something extra. Like Buy-One-Get-One-Free deals. And bags that come with goodies attached.

Like our latest toile diaper bags. Great style, strong fabric, cute details — and a matching changing pad and (I especially like this) a matching cosmetic bag.

Ooh — cute, cute cute! I just love those great paisley prints from a designer just about anyone knows. We’ve seen them everywhere; in the mall, in kiosks, in little boutiques, in totes and purses. We’ve been able to find that same designer inspired diaper bag in the most fantastic colors!

Bright, bold lime with shades of teal, pink and white. You (or some lucky mom!) will love them!

Not only are we talking scads of pockets in a myriad of shapes and sizes, but a matching changing pad, too.  And (naturally!) custom monogrammed!

We were so excited about finding laptop bags that we could monogram. And not just any old grey man-type bag, either. Pretty, bold colors; classic black and white, hot pink (I love that color!), great styling, and even large enough to tote around a 17″ laptop.

So when we found a vendor that wholesaled “laptop bags” that were less than half of what we usually spend, we jumped at the chance to stock up. Little did we know….

The bags came in yesterday, and it was like Christmas! We all gathered around the boxes, eager to be the one to unwrap the first gift. Hmm…I thought…this bag feels a bit light compared to the bags we normally stock. Hey, they feel a bit thin, too.

Small wonder. We’ve seen these cute bags all over the ‘net, some selling for more and some less than our own, and they look sooo cute monogrammed. They look great. Until you actually have one in your hands.

The reason they feel light is that they are. Light as in no padding. None at all. Nada. Zip. No special compartment for my computer. Or mouse. Or power source, CDs, DVDs, software, reports, paper and pens — zilch.

Now I don’t know about you, but I covet my laptop. I baby my laptop. My laptop goes everywhere I go. It was expensive. No one touches it but me. No one even picks it up but me. And never, never would I ever place my equipment in these bags.

They’re made of lightweight nylon, with 1 main compartment inside around 5″ deep. Flimsy shoulder strap, vinyl interior (not even a separate lining, but part of the main fabric), and no padding. I mean they’re just fine as a cute overnight bag, gym bag, beach bag, but a laptop bag?? No way.

Please don’t waste your money; especially if you order a bag from a company that won’t accept returns on personalized items (that’s reasonable when you’re getting exactly what you’ve ordered). If you’re looking for really cute little bags to sling around with you, fine. Just don’t put anything important in them.

Like your laptop.

On the east coast, we get hurricanes. We get big, big storms developing over the open Atlantic and they sweep across Tidewater. We get the occasional flood; we don’t get is tornadoes.

We drove less than 5 miles to get to dinner yesterday, through some torrential rains, high winds, and really ugly clouds. Bruce whispered to me that he saw tornado warnings just before we all jumped into the car, but I shrugged off his concerns — after all, we don’t get tornadoes. And this was no hurricane.

That’s what I was thinking during dinner yesterday as we watched the downpour out the window; until our waitress came to the table and told us we might want to watch the news on the television in the next room.

Our local network, Channel 3 News, was broadcasting some footage that I’d assumed was from somewhere out in the midwest. But it was right here in our own backyard.

There’s a quaint little itty-bitty town called Driver about 5 miles up the road from us. It doesn’t even have a stoplight. There are 2 little antique shops full of all sorts of ecclectic things, from old wagon wheels to Mayan reproductions hanging from the rafters. Every possible space is taken up with hanging glass doo-dads and old signs, and there’s not an inch of wall space left. When the weather is nice, we take the 7 minute trip into Driver and wander through those 2 little stores; then we walk across the street to get a few nice, cold Cokes out from the old time metal cooler on the front porch of the General Store.

What I saw on the news was the remnants of the wooden ceiling of 1 of the antique shops. I wouldn’t have even recognized it were it not for the antique car left out front, seemingly undamaged. Another shot was a building with the front 2-story wall still standing, along with the back wall and nothing inbetween.

That was the 2nd antique store.

Emergency road crews and the local powers company are working together to get trees and debris cleared, and make sure no one else gets hurt by downed power lines.

And we’ll never again say “Hey–tornadoes? We don’t get them…Not here…”

This year, why not get Mom a gift she can really use and enjoy? Instead of a box of candy and flowers (not that’s there’s anything wrong with those!), get Mom a pretty, insulated tote bag for carrying her snacks or lunch to work or play.

Feminine colors like baby blue, pink, black or springtime Continue reading ‘Mother’s Day is May 11!’ »

Ooohhh–now that’s cute! Classic black and white gingham meets polka dot ribbon and voila! Great luggage!

We’ve a rolling suitcase that fits neatly into the overhead compartment of airlines, and matching makeup bags, garment bags, duffel bags — just to name a few travel accessories Continue reading ‘Monogrammed Suitcase with Accessories’ »

I love my computer! (Who doesn’t!) What I hate is lugging it around in some old grey backpack that my husband likes — it’s this nondescript, sort of man-type bag with ugly dark grey borders and tattered edges. Now I actually like to carry my laptop around in one of our new computer bags! Continue reading ‘Please Read Our Post on These Bags 4-30-08’ »

OK, I promised an update on this little gadget, so here it is.

Worked great on a delmonico I put in the freezer almost a month ago. Doesn’t work great on the brown sugar I open several times a week. After 3 or 4 times, the seal stops holding the air out; I might as well just use a regular old ziploc bag.

So if you need to freeze, go ahead. If you need to use your airtight bag several times, don’t waste these expensive bags.