Four Weeks of Bags

[G42]

I recall how the most excellent Cristina did a nifty Bag A Day Challenge ... and thought it would be fun to try something similar - feel free to play along!

For this next four weeks, I'm going to note what TB products I use each day on my normal cadence, except I'll deliberately switch the work bag each Monday.
When I'm not traveling, I go into the office Monday - Wednesday and work from my apartment Thursday & Friday. If I end up with a work trip in the next four weeks, I'll just go with whatever bag(s) makes sense on those days.


There are various TB things in use around my apartment, so I'll start with a Small Travel Tray in Zest 200 Halcyon on my bathroom counter, holding brush, comb, eye glass cleaner & cloths, and a few other small random oddities.




The one thing I carry EVERY day is my Nik's Minimalist Wallet Number Five in Dawn 210 Ballistic. It has my license; 10 cards; a quarter folded 'emergency' $20 bill; and a couple folded pieces of paper - divided amongst the three pockets. I then have cash (usually around 8-15 bills) folded in half, held inside by the elastic. I don't wear clothes that don't have pockets, so it's always in my pocket if I'm dressed to leave the apartment, which is why I have a Number Five and didn't need the loop on the Number Four (though I get why people love that feature).





For this job, at various points I've carried: Paragon, S19, Paramour, SN22, Cambiata, ADX26, and possibly others...generally backpacks though.

To change things up, this week I loaded up a Night Walk 400 Halcyon/Moab 200 Halcyon Maker's Bag. This is a design I've poked at a bit before (in Ballistic), but I'm generally not a fan of open top/flapped bags or cross body bags that are this large. But - NIGHT WALK - so there you go, I'm giving it a try.

The bag is obviously even more flexible in Halcyon than Ballistic, but since I carry a laptop (in a neoprene sleeve) that provides a lot of structure. In addition, I'm having to cart around a bunch of paper right now, so it's all in a large plastic flexible file thing that also provides a ton of structure.





The rest of the stuff:

-Solaris 200 Halcyon Vertical Packing Cubelet with sanitizer, wipes, snacks, tissues, earplugs, etc.
-Logic 630 Recycled A5 Ghost Whale with two notebooks and the TB 4 colour pen
-Black Ballistic/NWSky Zipper Small Ghost Whale with pens, pencils, box opener, highlighter, Sharpie, etc.
-Work iPhone in case
-Fjord 200 Halcyon Passport Pouch holding a couple KN95 masks
-Little green pouch (not TB but basically a light green halcyon material) with hair ties and bluetooth earbuds
-Microlite water bottle
-Island 210 Ballistic E/T Cubelet holding my 'mobile office' stuff such as a small notebook, checkbooks, stamps, weird bits of paper, etc.
-5 Moleskin Cahier soft notebooks
-the aforementioned Dell Laptop in neoprene sleeve and the flexible file folder thingy





To make it easier to carry the weight and keep the bag where I want it, I'm using the OP TECH SOS Mini Strap.

Oh, and most of those pouches were clipped into the MB with various key straps

[Cristina]

Oooh I love this! What a great way to highlight so many wonderful accessories! You may inspire me to switch up what I am using on a daily basis.

[G42]

Day 2 of the Night Walk/Moab MB and I figured out that I can push the flap aside and pull out my Microlite water bottle from the built-in side stretchy pocket without unbuckling the flap. It both highlights some of the convenience of the flap and some of the (to me) drawbacks of a non-zippered bag.
For my car/walk commute at my current job however, I have no need of any sort of 'security' with my bag so it's fine. Also, my stuff is a series of rectangles and fits in well, without a lot of sloppy extra space, so it's not going to quickly spill out if the bag falls over.






I tend to relocate quite frequently (on average every two years it seems) either across town or across the country. Over the years I've come to prioritize furniture, storage, and various THINGS that are smaller scale and easy to reconfigure/repurpose, since the size and layout of my housing arrangements change so often.

So this is how I'm using some of the TB Travel Trays and Tray Biens in my apartment entryway. They're on a very small metal baker's rack (that has fairly open slats for shelves) to corral randomness that I may need for work and/or on trips. There's also a bunch of different OPs that hold masks, quarters, my keys, and other bits & bobs.

A Taiga/Taiga Bummer hangs off the side for when I go out for longer weekend walks and want to carry water & a snack.







Snake Charmers for all the cords when I travel. Usually they stay packed between trips, though I sometimes switch between Large & Small. And a Grab Bag for who knows what (they seem to multiply).





There's also an adjacent hallway bathroom door that I have an over-the-door double hook to hang an old Kiwi/Black Lux on. It holds some extra straps, a knit hat, etc., along with two baseball caps - one of which is the discontinued wool Tom Bihn hat that I LOVE, especially in autumn weather and camping.

[G42]

Work From Home day, so no hauling of laptop and paperwork.

The ubiquitous Nik's Wallet was with me for a quick grocery run along with the discontinued Moveable Feast in Navy 1050 Ballistic.


I've grown very fond of this bag and really would love to see an encore production run or pre-order.
The Truck family is probably overall more useful for different occasions, but I reach for this bag ahead of any other one, for groceries (unless I'm walking) and hardware store trips.

I forgot to photograph the contents, to show how much it fits... next time I'll hopefully remember!

[G42]

Today we were in between winter storms, so no rain in Los Angeles. I took advantage by having dinner & a nice read outside.

This Cobalt Cerylon PCSB is what finally got me into using a PCSB as a light weight cross body bag (now I have several). I carried an Açai VPC holding tissues, sanitizer, masks, etc; a magazine; an extra battery; and a really cool book all about rain (in honor of the atmospheric rivers and the winter rainy season).

[BeachMom]

Small TT.... one is temporarily holding key straps and the other was a gift bag for a small succulent (I cinched it before gifting to a student who just moved into their first apartment). I'll order a few more for future use as gift bags. I also think a self-contained potted plant would look cute sitting inside a TT.

[G42]

What a cute idea to use it as a pot holder!

ETA: I never thought to use one of these as a 'gift bag' but now I will!

[G42]

Yesterday we had another atmospheric river with a deluge of rain, so I went with the Addax 26 for my knitting class stuff (I walk a couple blocks from parking to the store). Normally I carry a Swift, but open top bags are Not Your Friend in a monsoon (colloquial, not literal - these are atmospheric river events, not monsoons), so I grabbed the Burnt Orange Ballistic/Moab 200 Halcyon ADX26 and off I went.

I had previously done a comparison of ADX26/Swift/Cambiata here so I knew everything would easily fit with room to spare (which was good because I ended up buying yarn).
A couple people commented on how good the bag looked and that it was great with all the rain!
It was also easy to do the thing where you turn the rolltop inside out and pull it down around the bag to create a big open space to work out of.




All the knitting stuff...not pictured is my Microlite water bottle which was in the side zip water bottle pocket.





The Medium Cafe Bag Freudian Slip in Grass 210 Ballistic holds some tools, a book, patterns, pen & pencil, etc. It fits loose in the main compartment or this time I put it into that internal secondary electronics/open top padded pocket.




A Dawn 210 Ballistic Cubelet (underpacked with notions) fit into one of the mesh open top pockets on the opposite side.





Later on, I met up for a belated holiday meal with some folks and used a Dawn 210 Ballistic Large Zip Top Shop Bag to hold a game and some cards & small stuff. Wingspan is a huge box, but it fit!

[G42]

I had Martin Luther King Jr. Day off from work yesterday, so two days in office this week - went with a Mars Red 525 Ballistic Pop Tote.

My laptop and paper files can fit vertically (with the top flaps unsnapped) or horizontally (which makes the side pockets unusable) - so vertical it is.





The small Ghost Whale of pens, etc. is leashed in a side pocket. Had a can of sparkling water in the other for a while too.




Same basic stuff I've been carrying... The big plastic flexible file thing also fits, but I left it at work so it didn't make the photo.




Even though it can get pretty heavy with all the paper I was hauling, the Poron handles are fantastic and I mostly carried it on my shoulder.

[G42]

Nothing too exciting today

Original Large Shop Bag in Wasabi 200 halcyon to carry a birthday gift to dinner

[G42]

Navy 1050 Ballistic Moveable Feast back in action for a Trader Joe's run. As usual, the TJs folks commented on how cool/useful the bag looks; it's a rare grocery trip that someone doesn't comment on this bag.




Since the TB Elves have granted so many wishes recently (Swift! Night Walk! NFTD! New fabrics! New colours!) - I'm keeping my hopes alive ( MikeV ) for an eventual encore/pre-order run of these beauties, in whatever 1050 Ballistic is around.





Side Pocket: 3 large avocado; two bricks of tofu; and a ^{(partridge in a pear tree)} package of tomatoes

Center Compartment: package I picked up; bags of cabbage, mushrooms, frozen peas, cauliflower wrap/crust thingies; bottle of wine in the mesh holder; potato chips

Side Pocket: glass jar of Chili Crunch (this stuff is addicting); tins of smoked oysters & smoked salmon; more tomatoes

[G42]

Knitting class on a sunny day, so I went with the 16L Swift in Original 400d Halcyon/Ultraviolet 200d Halcyon, with various small notions in the built-in clear pockets




Fairly typical stuff

• Medium Yarn Stuff Sacks in UV, Solaris, Tidal 200d Halcyon
• Medium Double Organizer Pouch in Black 1050 Ballistic
• Medium OP in Aubergine 1050 Ballistic
• Mini OP in Zest 200d Halcyon
• Mini Clear OP in Original 400d Halcyon
• Knitting Tool Organizer Pouch Sizes 1 & 4 in Constellation Ballistic
• Small YSS in Taiga 200d Halcyon
• Medium Cafe Bag Freudian Slip in Grass 210 Ballistic
• Microlite water bottle
• various key straps

Besides loving all the Halcyon, I'll note that I prefer Halcyon and Ballistic accessories for knitting stuff because the Cordura feels (to me) like it catches on the yarn too easily.

[latchford]

Side Pocket: 3 large avocado; two bricks of tofu; and a ^{(partridge in a pear tree)} package of tomatoes

Center Compartment: package I picked up; bags of cabbage, mushrooms, frozen peas, cauliflower wrap/crust thingies; bottle of wine in the mesh holder; potato chips

Side Pocket: glass jar of Chili Crunch (this stuff is addicting); tins of smoked oysters & smoked salmon; more tomatoes

What are you making for breakfast/lunch/dinner?? 🍄🦪🥑🍅🐟🍷

Thanks for posting these! It’s so satisfying to see photos of the stuff that people carry.

[G42]

What are you making for breakfast/lunch/dinner?? 🍄🦪🥑🍅🐟🍷

Thanks for posting these! It’s so satisfying to see photos of the stuff that people carry.

This is typical TJs stuff for me and I use each item multiple ways. All the veg is generally for salads and any sort of sandwich wrap. I get spinach in a big container at a regular grocery store and use it as my main leafy green for all that, plus I saute it a lot (just call me Popeye, I love spinach)
Tofu is a convenient protein but it's bland, so it becomes a carrier for other flavors. I dice it up with salsa & avo and have it for breakfast a lot. Or heat it up with whatever veg for a dinner... Or use it as a sandwich filling with pesto, spices, any sauce really, or that chili crunch (which is also amazing on eggs).
The smoked seafood is usually when I'm craving a protein snack.
Those cauliflower egg flat things are marketed as low carb pizza flats or something, but I use them more like savory hot crepes or tortillas.
Unless I'm in the mood to cook a complicated meal, I tend to treat it all like Legos...I have a set of items that work multiple ways, are quick to prepare, and help me keep food waste low.

[G42]

It's a sunny winter day in SoCal so I went out for a bit of a wander.

Rambled around a flea market with my Taiga 400d Halcyon / NWSky 200d Halcyon Paramour and since it was chilly, the TB wool hat.




Then went to the upscale farmer's market to people watch... and get a good empanada. Picked up a couple things including a Thai curry paste, so between that and latchford getting me thinking about cooking, stopped by a grocery on the way home to get some coconut milk, spinach, and use a coupon for some salmon. Looks like it's salmon curry day!



The Navy 1050d Ballistic Moveable Feast holds the big bin of spinach in the main compartment with lots of room to spare - one of the reasons I love this bag. I can fit two in at once if I need to.





MF: salmon; can of coconut milk; large bin of spinach; shishito peppers (so good!); baby bok choy; and a box of trash bags that will last a couple years.

Paramour: inside the main compartment was a bit of bubblewrap in case I bought anything at the flea/vintage market (I didn't); the Açai 200d Halcyon Vertical Packing Cubelet with tissues, mask, sanitizer, etc., a book in the laptop sleeve. Then a small loaf of bread, Korean BBQ jerky, Thai curry paste, & container of gooseberries from the farmer's market. The empanadas I safely stored in my tummy.

Microlite water bottle & Zoji coffee in the front pocket.