Don’t forget to visit My Mishion to purchase a great bag for yourself.

I own three My Mishion bags.  That’s how much I love Mishelle’s purses.  I was introduced to her at my son’s fundraiser.  I actually wore one of her bags all over the fundraiser deciding whether to buy it or not.  I opted not to.  Big mistake.  I never stopped thinking about that bag.

I had to go on my trip to New York for the BlogHer conference last month, and realized I needed a chic bag to carry everything while at the conference.  I looked high and low.  Every bag I found just wasn’t it.  Then I remembered the bag that haunts my thoughts.  I went to Mishelle’s site My Mishion and began perusing the vast amount of choices in purses.  Once I realized she had more pictures on Shutterfly I ventured over there only to be even more confused as to which bag to get.

I settled on the Sienna Bag in Mustard.  When it arrived to my house I quickly realized it was too small for my needs, but beautiful nonetheless.  I didn’t want to break up with the bag.  I quickly e-mailed Mishelle, she was so kind and told me how she was at a nearby Artist Market every Saturday.  I  made plans with my mom and we went over there.  She mentioned in her e-mail back to me that the mustard bag I got was the LAST one she had.  Ugh I had to keep it now.  My co-worker offered to buy it from me the next day, but I couldn’t let my new baby go.

When I arrived at the Artist Market I lovingly sifted through her wonderful bags.  She had even brought some I had seen on the site so that I could decide on which one would work best for my trip.  Then my mom found my bag at the end of the rack.  We both saw it and knew it was the one.

inside of the bag

After I settled on My Mishion bag number two I spotted the Layered Bag in Kelly Green.  I had to have that one too.  You see the disease had began.  My obsession with Mishelle’s bags was fierce, and I couldn’t be stopped.

inside the bag

She was so wonderful to work with and so patient with me.  She even took PayPal while I was standing there.  I got on my Droid phone and went to the PayPal site and sent her money while standing next to her.  I mean can it get any better then that?  Then to add more to her fabulousness she told me that she had read my blog and thought I was a fantastic writer.  So she has gorgeous bags and is super sweet.

Now for some unbelievable details…All of the My Mishion bags are made with man made materials.  Mishelle is committed to keeping her bags eco-friendly.

Lastly, and most important: Most of her bags are $50 and under.  No I am not missing any zeros.  I cannot believe the quality of these bags for such a wonderful affordable price.

Now it’s time for you to buy your back to school bag for your new schedule.  It can’t be easy taking those kids to school with an old bag.

You can keep up with all of the latest from My Mishion bags by “like”ing the My Mishion Facebook page.

Want to win the beautiful My Mishion bag seen below?  Well you can by entering this giveaway.

To enter simply leave a comment to this post telling me about your favorite purse on the My Mishion site.

You can get additional entries for doing one or all of the following.  Just be sure to leave a comment for each one you do.

-Follow Fashionably Organized on Twitter

-Follow My Mishion on Twitter

-subscribe to the Fashionably Organized RSS Feed by clicking on the icon in the sidebar on the right

-Follow Fashionably Organized through Google Friend Connect in the sidebar on the right

-Tweet about this giveaway by hitting the retweet button on the upper right hand corner of this post (you may do this as many times as you would like).

Baer Home Design is doing a week of getting organized posts.  Oh how I love this.  Tackling that Pile of Paperwork, Bills and Just Plain Stuff written by Lisa could not have come a better time for me.  If you look at yesterday’s post about the room I need to organize the most you’ll understand why I love this post.  These tips have gotten me thinking about actually tackling something I’ve ignored for WAY too long.  I hope you get some great tips from it too.

What kid wants a regular old binder pouch for their pens and pencils when the could have Binder Pouch like the one in Sew, Mama Sew?  Anna from Noodlehead did a tutorial for Sew Mama Sew that is easy to follow and gets your child ready to organized all of those little items needed for everyday at school in a unique and chic way.

Fresh Crush has a DIY Purse Organizer! that is after my own heart.  I am forever looking for new ways to organize my purse, and quite frankly this tutorial is absolutely genius.  I am not only impressed by this design, but I’m now adding it to my never ending list of things to make that I don’t have time to get to.  I’m really excited about this one you should definitely check it out.

Image via Wikipedia

Today and tomorrow I am gathering all of the little things I seem to forget and then kick myself for when I arrive at my destination.  Yes of course I have a list for things to do and bring before I leave.  I warned you I was “that” kind of organized.

A Few Tips:

Print out all of the e-mail confirmations: I know this may seem superfluous, but it really is very helpful.  Also it is an extra security blanket just in case your name isn’t on some list somewhere.

If you intend to use the public transit system, map out your routes now.  I am actually writing down each train to take and stops onto the confirmation I printed (see above).  Of course taxis are always an option, but I don’t want to leave anything to chance.  I really want to not have to think about anything once I arrive in New York.

Exchange phone numbers with someone that will be there.  Maybe, a friend you know or a friend from on-line.  This will be nice for a quick meet-up or a “where are you?”

If you have an iPhone, Smart Phone, Droid, Blackberry or the comparable item put all of the addresses of everywhere you will be in there.  If you forget the above confirmations you will still be able to get to where you need to be.

Make your get-off-of-the-plane/train-and-get-to-the-hotel (or place you are staying) arrangements now.  There are many options.  At least know exactly your plan if you don’t have to make reservations.  You don’t want to get there and wonder what next.

Leave your flight information with someone (I sent mine via e-mail to my mother and husband).

Charge all of your camera batteries.  This way you know it’s done the minute you get there.

Label as much as you can.  Whether with a label maker or a Sharpie, you want it to have a better chance of coming back to you.

If you are in charge of the finances make sure bills are set to pay or are already paid.  Since BlogHer is at the first of the month you don’t want to come home to a catastrophe because you forgot to set a payment to go out.

Do you have kids and are leaving them with someone other then their father (or mother)?  Make sure to leave their insurance cards.  I also highly recommend if you are leaving the kids with someone other then the other parent you should leave some sort of letter authorizing them to make decisions for your child while you are away.  Date it properly.

Back up your computer.  If you’re bringing it and something happens like it falls in a small fish pond you want to know that everything that was on it is safely at home.

Don’t forget to pack:

Your razor – how many times have you gone on a trip and  realized you forgot your razor?  If you’re anything like me it would be almost every time.  This time I won’t have my husbands razor to use as a back up.

Your meds and vitamins – I highly recommend you get a pill sorter and just lay out everything you need each day and take that.  It’s more compact and again leaves little to think of.

Chargers – I don’t think I have to explain the importance of this (these) item(s).

Hair rubberbands – It is going to be hot.  OK that’s an understatement.  You are going to want to pull back your hair at some point.  Keep them handy.

Hand sanitizer – I know this sounds funny.  However, you are going to be in out of places, shaking hands with tons of people.  I know everyone will be clean, but you will be running around running yourself ragged.  Keep the germs at bay the best you can.

A Couple Of Pens – How many times have you needed a pen and cursed yourself for not having one in your bag?  Need I say more?

Your PJ’s – I say this because I’ve been known to be so concerned with the day/evening wear I totally forget something to sleep in.  All of those times I had my husband’s t-shirts to rely, but since he won’t be there, I can’t forget this one.

I know you aren’t leaving for a month long trek across the Amazon River. Like I said before I have this insane need to have it all together when traveling.  I HATE when I get somewhere and am not prepared.

Do you have any you would like to add?  Is there something you do every time you pack that may help others?  Let me know below.

I’m in the mids of getting my stuff together to pack for the BlogHer conference.  Although I had it all planned out as far as clothing was concerned I really needed to get it all written down.

Stop thinking “are you kidding me?”

Love me for my overactive need to get it all right.  I’m sorry, but it’s just who I am.

I thought for some reason you’d like to get a chuckle out of the spreadsheet, yes I said spreadsheet, I created laying out every outift, make-up and accessory I am going to wear.

Have you stopped shaking your head and rolling your eyes yet?

I know many people just pack whatever they open their drawers and find.  That’s very admirable, but my absolute fear of forgetting something this time for some reason, has driven me to the edges of organized sanity.

Feel free to continue to wonder what kind of person is this obsessed.

As I’ve been posting for the past week you know that I have been hand embroidering like a mad woman.  I’ve stayed up late etc., just to get these teacher’s gifts done by Friday.

Last night I got so fed up with embroidery floss everywhere I got out ziploc bags and separated by color.  Then I thought where will I put these bags?  I put them in a big freezer bag and still have no idea what to do.  I have the cardboard spools and need to make more, but what do I do once I have them all done?

Please tell me what you store your embroidery floss in.  I am stumped and feel incomplete until I get organized when it comes to this craft.

I got super ambitious when I decided to start this project.  On a side note: this is my MO.  I think of fantastic projects I have no time for, and no business doing.  Luckily this time around I enlisted my besties to help me out.  We are doing a Sex and the City marathon while embroidering.

Oh and did I mention I’ve never hand embroidered before and have been dying to take it up?   I thought this would be a great way to begin.  Feel free to begin your eye roll now.

I was on the computer until 10 PM last night, I then picked up my latest project and worked on it until after midnight.  Not good for a lady who has to be up at 6 AM.

Instead of my usual post I thought I’d let you in on my current project.  I’m actually kind of excited to share with you the finished product.  So stay tuned for real live pictures.

For the one male after school teacher I got the Authentic Pigment Pigment-Dyed Raw-Edge Messenger Bag in Java.  He plays the guitar so I figured we’d embroider a guitar on the flap of the bag.

I then bought 5 Authentic Pigment Direct-Dyed Canvas Sling Bag for 5 women teachers.  I bought 2 in Chili, 2 in bluegrass and 1 in Cilantro.  I thought these would be fun summer bags for them.

I bought the Embroidery Pattern Happyscape Spring in .pdf by Polka Dot and Bloom.  I just loved the free hand drawing.  Carina has such beautiful designs I’ve been dying to do one.  I also thought the fact that these teachers are young they would like the whimsical nature of this pattern.

The .pdf not only comes with this pattern in each direction you may want to put it on your garment/accessory, it has each element separately to create your own look.  We can make each one just slightly different.  3 of the bags will have the above pattern done in different colored floss, and the other 2 will have a unique look made by different elements of the pattern.

Carina has a beautiful blog Carina’s Craftblog, that has inspired me to really take on hand embroidery full force.

I have 10 days to get these all done.  One of my friends who is helping doesn’t think we can do it, but I’m determined.

Envirosax are a bag that rolls up and have a strap that snaps around it.  They are great for when you want to have just a few bags that hold a lot.  They appeal to my fashionable side because they come in beautiful colors and patterns.  They hold the equivalent of 2.5 plastic grocery bags.  They are a super sturdy nylon bag.  I’ve put 3 bottles of wine and a 1/2 gallon of milk in one bag with no problem.  They even have some wonderful patterned kids sized ones.  I have one all rolled up for J in his backpack so that he can put his Karate uniform when he’s done with Karate.  When I take the Envirosax bag I get a lot of compliments from the checkers asking where I got them, which always makes me smile.  The one downfall I feel is that they are very hard to roll back up.  Even after having them for over 3 years I can’t seem to roll them up right.

Monde Ami makes a very inexpensive canvas bag called the Takoda.  I bought these originally for my husband to keep in his car.  He does all of the grocery shopping and these looked to me to be the same size as the brown bags he was getting before we started carrying our own bags.  It is made out of canvas and has a plastic bottom [insert] .  The bottom of the bag is the best feature because it makes it easier to get your items in the bag.  In the end these bags did not work for us because they were not as sturdy as the Envirosax.  They are also not as compact.  However, the price of $1.50 each makes them a very desireable choice.

I had bought the Chico Bags for gifts for the teachers one year, and they wound up not coming in time.  Over time I gifted them to several different people.  I kept one for myself.   I loved the idea of a bag that had it’s own pouch.  It’s great to have a really easy way to put them away.  Another inexpensive alternative made them extremely desirable.  The rope of the pouch has a caribiner which is nice if you want to hook them to the inside of your purse.  I have also connected one to the back of my stroller so I didn’t have to remember it was there.  I love reusable bags, but I’m not one to spend a lot of money on one.  The draw back is that the little pouch is not attached to the bag, so it makes it really easy to lose.  But the size of them in their pouch is unbeatable.

I was given the Flip & Tumble 24-7 Shopper Bag as a gift.  This bag actually rolls into itself.  Yes you read that correctly.  The pouch is connected on the inside and you just shove the bag in there and then flip the lid so to speak.  You know how you fold socks together?  That’s how you use the the Flip & Tumble.  The inside of the one shoulder strap has a little piece of felt so that the bag doesn’t slide off of your shoulder.  It is all around genius.  I have yet to find a fault with this bag and I’ve had it for some time.  This is the bag that is at the bottom of my purse.  It can be squished every which way and it comes out just fine.  I also have the shopper bag and it is somewhat like the Envirosax where you have to roll it up but the thing that keeps it rolled up is a piece of elastic.  This makes it easier to fold it up for some reason.  They come in beautiful colors and patterns.  All around a wonderful shopping bag.

In the end the organization of your groceries can be daunting at time.  All I can recommend is make it easy for you to use a bag such as the ones above.  The easier they are the more likely you are to use them.