Yikes, my comment spam is out of control! I'm looking for ways to streamline the back end management for this site since right now I just don't have the time to deal with all the technical issues...I just want to talk about bags! Right now I drowning in comment/email spam and need to make a million technical improvements, but don't have the time or interest to do all the trouble shooting. I have a million bag related posts I want to make but as soon as I open up Moveable Type and see all the spam and my buggy HTML my brain just goes BLAAAHHH and I surf on to another site.

Wordpress looks interesting, but after aprox 8 years as an Moveable Type user I just don't think I can teach myself a whole new blogging system. I'm thinking of migrating The Bag Blog over to Typepad which yes you have to pay for, but I really like the idea of having someone else take care of all the technical issues and deal with all the comment spam prevention etc

I've always been really proud of the fact that I handled both the technical and creative side of all my web sites, but at this point I give up and need some help! Any other bloggers about there that have found a good solution to this issue? Let me know: saralovering AT gmail DOT com

This morning I headed into work early to mail my taxes at the Rockefeller Center post office, only to find out at 8:55 there was a line of about 50 people and they were not opening early to let everyone in. Instead of sticking around, I decided to just mail my taxes at lunch and spend the next 5 min running across the street to the Gap at 48th and 6th to check out the Gap Design Edition white shirts.

I should probably point out first that I am NOT a white shirt person. Too wrinkly, to stiff, and too likely to have something spilled on them. I generally live in C&C type shirt that are strechy, colorful and fitted. But I was curious to see the Gap shirts in person. I passed with the last set because they did not seem very practical, but this time there were some interesting designs.

The Gap was pretty empty at 9am, and I only spotted one other girl grabbing at the white shirts, and there were actually S and XS shirts available. I snapped up the one I liked the most online, the Bell sleeve shirt by Phillip Lim and another that looked even better in person, the Western Shirt by Michael Bastian.

I loved the Phillip Lim shirt. The bell sleeves, ruching by the back of the neck, and the covered buttons were such pretty details that turned it into a sweet and pretty top. The Michael Bastian was a little too billowy for me, and budget-wise I was limited to one shirt.

Lucky for me I discovered a 15% off coupon on my way up to the register that slightly allowed me to justify my now one and only Phillip Lim item in my wardrobe!

More reviews:
Racked
Cheryl Shops
Fashion Herald

I love anything Marimekko and I love H&M...so I was quite excited when I first heard they would be doing a collaboration. I had this day noted in my daily planner for months and ran over to the 50th & 5th H&M as soon as the clock in my cubicle hit 12:00pm. And I am quite happy to say the collection does not disappoint.

First off, although the store was slightly more crowded than normal I was still able to peacefully browse and there were plenty of small sizes left. I ended up buying the full skirt in the orange/green print and I plan to wear it to a friend's wedding with black peep toe pumps, a black tank top...and a spray tan! I also purchased the flowy black and white blouse that I wore today and I love, love, love it! It looked great with my skinny jeans from Uniqlo and red ballet flats. I stopped by another H&M today on 5th by Union Square but ended up just getting a non-Marimekko pair of jeans. I wil probably try to swing by another flagship later next week. I'm still interested in a large scarf, the funky body suit thing, and I was swooning over the bulky travel bag but wasn't sure if I wanted to drop $69 on it.

More Marimekko H&M coverage:
Racked (great comment)
Fashion Herald
NY Mag
Who What Wear Daily

34th Street, NYC

A few mornings ago it was the same old story, I was crammed onto an over packed 7 train trying to hang on to the handrail, read the New Yorker, and hold my overly heavy handbag in the crook of my elbow. Of course my arm was falling asleep and I could feel a shooting pain in my back that was stooped over from the bag's weight. Finally I decided enough is enough and I need to get a comfy backpack to even out the weight that I have to carry.

As luck would have it I was poking around the sale room at the Rockefeller Center Anthropologie the next day and spotted the Malinka Backpack by Hayden-Harnett sitting in the back of a high shelf. The best part was that it was on sale so of course I took it home with me.

I love the funky geometric print with the red, purple and tan color combination. The bag also has nice touches like "hh" stamped on some of the hardware.

My only complain is the sometimes the straps slide out of the buckle and they fall off my shoulder, but I can probably find a way to fix this. I'm looking forward to less back pain and more comfortable NYC subway rides!

So money! From Payless, of course.

The fist lightweight bag that came to mind was the Longchamp Le Pliage that everyone and their mom carrys around. I actually purchased a smaller one in a lovely eggplant purple this past summer, but ended up returning it since it was too small. A larger size would be a great option for a lightweight bag since what is easier and more durable to carry around besides a nylon bag? I am afraid I will get sick of it quickly since they are so common in NYC and everywhere for that matter.

Next up I spied two cute totes from my main man MJ:

The supply tote in green canvas looks durable and lightweight and it looks like it would be easy to carry around town. I'm not so sure about the giant lettering along the side though, seems a little loud. Plus a canvas tote might be a litle snoozeville in a couple months.

Most recently I've been crushing on the MJ Distinguished Dot Tote in red. I love the bright pop of red which would look great against all my dark winter jackets. The zipper across the top would help me to close up my bag and not worry about pick pocketers or anything falling out. Plus I don't have any red bags so it would look different from all my other bags. The bright red dotes manage to be both simple and unusual at the same time.

Any other suggestions? Has anyone out there already found a great lightweight bag that is also LARGE that they can suggest?

So if you are a reader of this blog you know I love to shop. I recently made the biggest purchase of my life when I bought my own apartment. It is a lovely 1 bedroom prewar co-op on the third floor in the prettiest neighborhood in Queens, NYC. I love the sunken living room, hardwood floors and the 15 min subway ride into Manhattan. Plus tree lined streets and Irish pubs on every corner.

So please excuse the slow down on the blog front these past few months. Instead of bag shopping I've been taking trips to Home Depot, and surfing around Bed & Bath and The Container Store.

Purchasing real estate in NYC is a painful drawn out tedious process that only works out in the end if you truly love the apartment. I was lucky to have the help of a wonder lawyer, real estate agent and mortgage broke.

Other good resources:
Curbed
Property Shark
Craigs List
Street Easy
NY Times Real Estate

I was able to fit in a few bag purchases that I'll be talking about here soon, so stay tuned.

First fashion item I recognized: shoes from Payless! Now I'm thinking of buying them....

Random entrance photo.

Hopefully better pics tomorrow. I spotted Brittany Snow standing behind me by the entrance but I felt stalker-like so I didn't take a pic.

I'm starting to research my fall shopping, and of course this includes bags. I am hoping to get more milage out of my beautiful Kooba bag, but I must admit I have a wandering eye when it comes to this sort of thing. And of late, my eye has landed on the Somerset vertical tote from Banana Republic.

I like that this bag looks very briefcase-ey, and although my interviews are few and far between this would be a good professional bag to be seen with and would hold all sorts of papers and folders etc. I think I'm also starting to tired of the slouchy hobo bag shape, and this one is boxy and structured.

I would wear this bag with a suit and heels, but i think it would also look great with some ripped jeans and a tank top.

My favorite store in Hayes Valley was Dish. I could have happily strolled around this well-edited store for hours. They had my dream Mike & Chris hoodie leather jacket which I didn't even allow myself to try on for fear that I would do something crazy.

Flight 001 was a cool, airplane themed compliment to the online site that I visit often.

Honey Ryder is where I would shop if I was living in SF and got invited to a fabulous party and needed a hot new outfit.

Ver Univa (sorry no pic) was a lovely little vintage store. They were having a big sale when I was there and I almost bought a leather jacket. I talked myself out of it though since I had a feeling it wouldn't fit in my suitcase home.

Sadly my sister and her boyfriend informed my that Don't Call It Frisco
Laundromat has closed. Had it still been opened it would have received my Best Named Laundromat EVER Award. And here I was thinking I had something with the House of Sudz.

I've got the lovely Rainy Day Woman (seen on fashionista.com) on my brain. So pretty, and such a cute kicky weather appropriate outfit. It has alson gotten my looking into Anna Corinna bags, so yummy. (Big SALE at ShopBop by the way, worth a look, esp the shoes.)

I keep telling people: The Gap is back! Now when will people start listening? I've already purchased these Pin striped wide leg pants and this fun black patent leather belt for Fall 2007.

MARC by Marc Jacobs Fall looks have been posted. Start researching when you want to buy for real, and what you want to wait on until all the mass marketed store knock it off. Some of these outfits look a bit too bare for fall in NYC, but I guess I could just throw on some wooly tights.

So somehow last week I screwed up my comments and possibly you noticed that it was impossible to comment at all. So in an effort to fix this today I upgraded to MT 3.35 and enabled TypeKey authentication in an effort to cut down on spam. Feel free to post a comment here or there to test out my new system!

Also, anyone know of a good layman's guide to setting up "Scheduled Posts" for MT? I really would like to post to the future but need a guide that explains scary words like "cron" or "shell access". I almost had this working last year, with the help of the program Terminal and many IMs with my brother, but I never got it exactly right.