Thirty-One Organizing Utility Tote Review

My friend Dana recently became a consultant for the popular company Thirty-One. Thirty-One was started by one woman who wanted to help other women make a difference for their families by having their own home business and the name is inspired by Proverbs 31. The company has really grown over the past few years and provides top quality purses, totes, bags, and other items.

I received the Organizing Utility Tote from Dana to provide a review on. I'd drooled over the catalog before so I knew already that I wanted the cute Circle Spirals pattern. I was planning to just use it to keep all my school books and things organized at home, but when I got it I found out it was the perfect size to fit my laptop (plus books, notebooks, etc) and decided to actually use it as my school book bag since my previous bag was too narrow for my laptop. Plus I figured it would be a good test of the tote's durability to be hauling around my laptop, 2 thick textbooks, notebook, and pencil case. And it's soooo much cuter than my old bag!

The bag has held up so well. There has been no loose seams, pulled stitches, or parts falling apart after so much use. The fabric is very sturdy and strong, and the straps are strong as well. It has 5 fabric pockets on the outside as well as a mesh pocket on each end, which provide plenty of areas to put my keys, phone, water bottle, etc. The only downside to using it as a bookbag is that it doesn't close at the top, and there were a few days I had to put my coat over it to keep the snow out. But other than that I am completely in love with it!

Be sure to check out Dana's Thirty-One page to see all of the amazing, cute items they have!

*Disclaimer: I received one Organizing Utility Tote for free to review. All opinions are my own.

Ready for sunlight

One thing (out of many) that I hate about Winter is how pale I get. Last Summer I was nice and tan because of the UVB treatments I was doing for my psoriasis. I haven't done those for a few months though so I'm back to pasty. Of course if I really wanted to be tan I could go to a tanning bed or a spray tan machine. Mostly I just want to be able to go out in the nice warm sun again. The kids are itching to be outside more as well. Silly Utah weather likes to go back and forth from cold to warm for a few months in the Spring before it decides to go straight into hot Summer. We had a pretty nice week in the 60's but will probably have snow tomorrow.

Leprechaun Traps

My boys love St. Patrick's Day. Every year on the night before it I help them build leprechaun traps to try to catch a leprechaun. We put shiny things and coins in them to lure the leprechauns to the trap. Unfortunately the tricky leprechauns can never be caught but they always leave treats for the boys. I tried to buy gold coins like those chocolate ones, but I couldn't find them. All I could find was Easter candy, so I grabbed a couple bags of Easter candy and picked out all the green and gold wrapped ones to put in the traps. Which left plenty of the candy for me lol. This morning I gave them green milk, then dyed their ramen noodles green for lunch and made green pancakes for dinner. It was a fun day. :)

Overflow

Having 7 people in the family has made our coat racks overflow. We have one by our front door with 5 hooks. That obviously isn't big enough because we have 7 people who have thicker winter coats plus jackets plus backpacks for the school kids, and then some hats and things. We have another 5 hook rack by the back door but don't use it as much because we always go out the front door, so it holds less used jackets and hats. Our coat closet has 4 hooks on the inside of the door and I've started putting the boys backpacks in there. There's a bunch of other coats and jackets hanging in there. Either we need to get a new coat rack from CoatRacks.com or maybe it's time to purge some of our outerwear lol.

Upgrading phones

Hubby and I are thinking about getting iPhones in a few months when we are eligible for upgrades. I'm excited to try out stuff that they have on them that we don't get on our phones. There's just a lot more apps and stuff for iPhones. They even have card reader things, like a mobile Retail POS System, that just snap in and can read credit cards. Not that I need something like that lol, but it's pretty cool. Plus they have better quality camera and bigger screen than my current phone. My only worry is that everyone I know with an iPhone has the screen break at some point. With how much my phone gets dropped and mauled by children, I worry about it getting broken really quick. I will definitely get some kind of protective cover.