Saturday, August 28, 2010

In Praise of the Fanny Pack

I think I've mentioned before that one of my favorite Austin-centric blogs is Hipstercrite. All of my voyeuristic hipster voyeuring side, I really do love her writing.

One of the themes she's returned of multiple times is that of her love of the fanny pack. At first, I thought this was just cute hispter retro-love everything-old-and-ugly-is-instantly-hip posturing. I mean, fanny packs? Those of us who encountered them the first time around have spent the rest of our lives running away from that decidedly dorky trend. (yes I had a fanny pack! My GranScottie gave it to me! And hell yes I wore it! But I was 7! Too young to know better)

Anyway, now American Apparel carries them in sparkly colors, and they are cool once more. At least so says Hipstercrite. Me? I never planned on revisiting the fanny pack. Ever. I already lived that chapter of my life.

But touring will turn your existence upside down.

On this tour it became apparent that our baby bag had gotten out of control. It's now so packed with diapers and wipes and snacks and toys and crayons and headphone and balls and...well it's a behemoth! The mere thought of having to lug it a quarter mile to the nearest playground was enough to make us find excuses to stay in the hotel room with Lisel (let's color here instead!) Plus the fact that now that she's super mobile, negotiating a shoulder bag while trying to make sure she doesn't run willy nilly across a crowded parking lot is less doable.

Then, in Skokie I had a eureka moment! What if we bought an adjunct baby bag? A fanny pack perhaps (I had Hipstercrite on the brain) that could fit a small packet of wipes, a couple of dipes, a water bottle, a phone and a hotel key? Then whoever was watching Lisel could do unencumbered, two handed, yet totally prepared adventuring.

There just happened to be a Land's End store at the mall near out hotel. So Dave and I went and picked out an orange and black "hip back" (read fanny pack for hikers). At the time, I was bummed that it was such a utilitarian looking jobby. I wanted something shiny and girly...like Hispercrite's! But after four weeks in use, I see the benefit of having an adjunct baby bag that Dave doesn't mind wearing.






Speaking of wearing, for the first three and a half weeks of adjunct baby bag use, we wore it kind of high, like around our waists, and though it totally changed our baby bag life, it looked super dorky. Observe.





Then the other day I actually put it around my hips. And suddenly, I felt much cooler.





Cooler, right? What? Still dorky? Whatevs! I feel cooler, and that has made all the difference.

We keep the adjunct baby bag hooked to the behemoth baby bag, so as not to lose it.

And that is how our family rediscovered the fanny pack.


-- Post From My iPhone

4 comments:

MAYBELLINE said...

Wear that pack with pride. You're a mama now and have earned the right to wear a fanny.

EMQ said...

For serious!

EMQ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Abi Tapia said...

Love it! I have been looking for my perfect fanny pack belt purse thing for a while. I've seen my dream on other people, just not in a store.... Ack!