BAGS!

Camy here, gushing about something I’m unashamedly, illogically addicted to: bags!

I come by my addiction honestly. My mother looooooooves bags. She gets a new purse every year, not because the old one has worn out, but because she wants something new.

I am almost as bad. While I’ve had the same cutie pink Dooney and Bourke purse for two years now, I’m not averse to other types of bags making their way into my “collection.”

I have these awesome tote bags that I get free at conferences, and I use them for everything—my knitting, to hold books, to hold jackets, to carry packages I have to mail at the post office, to hold my stuff when I go to youth group at church, for my light and music when I have to lead worship, to carry a change of clothes, etc.

I also got these really cute Hawaiian print canvas tote bags at the Aloha Flea Market for like $5 each, and they’re lined, with two small zippered pockets in addition to the main compartment, and the top zips shut, too. I use those for my knitting projects. (Yes, plural, I have more than one thing I’m knitting at a time. Kind of like how some people are reading more than one book at a time.)

I also have three laptop bags, although I admit two of them were free. The problem is that I only have two laptops, and one is an old Dell klunker that I never use and wouldn’t care if I dropped, anyway.

And I love those little satin Asian jewelry purses you can get for a buck at the Aloha Flea Market. Not that I have that much jewelry, but they’re handy for ones I need to keep separate from the others.

My mom also gives me bags she’s tired of, or that she buys but decides she doesn’t like anymore (like a beautiful black and tan Dooney and Bourke tote bag that she bought for a trip to Japan but gave to me because it ended up being too heavy for her to use everyday).

And then, if that’s not enough, I really like knitting my own bags. I have a pattern for a mesh grocery/beach/anything bag that I’m going to knit as soon as I finish a few of my other projects. :) And then there was the Ugly Bag I just made, which is actually a lot uglier than the picture because I stretched it out a little to make it look nice before I took the shot.

Well, I’ve made my confession. How about you? Any addictions you care to share? It might even make it better to confess it. :) (Not that it has for me, I’m still going to acquire more bags, probably until I’m too old to carry one.)

Camy Tang lives in San Jose, California. She previously worked in biology research, and she is a staff worker for her church youth group. She runs the Story Sensei critique service, and her new Asian chick lit novel, Only Uni, just released this month. Join her newsletter YahooGroup for monthly Christian fiction giveaways!