A bag to hold that thing you type on...

I've decided to write about a common first world fashion dilemma facing many a young blogger. The problem of clothing your laptop.

Nothing makes you feel grown up and important like carrying a laptop about in public. I imagine, back in the late 80s, that was how people felt about shoulder pads, hairspray, briefcases and giant mobile phones, but thankfully, those days are gone.

However, a drawback to having a lovely, delicious laptop that you can use to check emails / blog / shop / Facebook-stalk people you fancy, is that if you don't have a suitable case for it, its nice, shiny surface will get hideously scratched in a matter of days. Sad face. So you are stuck in a shopping dilemma: locate a laptop case that doesn't say, in a monotone voice, 'This case came free with my laptop from PC World'.

This is where not on the high street.com comes in. They have a host of scrumptious laptop bags, the greatest of which is this, for the mere cost of £27.95:

How awesome is that? It has a typewriter tooled into the luscious leather! And the sheet of paper reads 'all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy'. Come now, if the delightfully kitsch typewriter tooling didn't get you, surely the reference to one of the most classic horror films of all time put you on automatic Caps Lock?

If there was a Mr. Nom in existence and I was feeling flush, I'd probably also treat him to this hand-crafted leather satchel, because obviously I wouldn't want him to have the same sleeve as me, in case people mistakenly thought that he had come up with the idea. Stealing my style thunder is not cool.

Each one of these bad boys is made in East London with 'only the finest Italian tan leather' and can be customised in different colours. But I'd have to be in a very generous mood, because it costs £175. Well, it is hand made. And the fictitious Mr. Nom is very well looked after.

This post also guest features on super-cool and awesome blog About Your Dress, owned by @riaface, who is a delight and a joy to know, so follow her on Twitter and DO take a look at the blog. It's jam packed full of scrumptious things you'll really want to own. 

2011 - a year of fulfilled resolutions (hopefully)

There were a few things I decided to change in 2011 and to help me remember those decisions, I'm writing them down. Here goes nothing:

1. I can never remember what books I've read, so I'm going to start keeping an online list. This could prove embarrassing, as I have a penchant for sci fi, fantasy and children's literature amongst other things.
2. Learn another language! Je suis désespérée!
3. Do more of my crafty bits and bobs. I started a patchwork quilt over Christmas. I've been meaning to start that project since I was 17 and I've collected various bits of material over the years so that it will be beautiful. I'm not going to lie, it's probably going to take another 9 years to complete, but I'm going to commit to working on it regularly so that at least I'm getting somewhere! I find that I'm happiest when I've got something creative on the go and since I moved to London I've hardly done anything, because I've been so busy trying to settle in. There's also a zine project I've been invited to collaborate on which I'm really excited to get started on. I worked on a zine called Footnotes at uni with a few people from the Sheffield University Arts Council and from my English Literature course. It was so exciting to be a part of creating something different and organic. Footnotes was a collection of odds and sods that didn't really belong anywhere and from what I can gather, this new one will be too, so I'm very excited and honoured to be asked to contribute!
   
4. Read more books. My brain is in serious need of some food.

I think four is enough, there are a few other things I want to work on, but I haven't made any firm decisions about them yet, so no point in writing them down until they have developed out of misty ideas into something more real...