Ultimate Mommy Handbag... who would have known???

Well, I mentioned on one of my recent videos doing a You Tube review on the best mommy handbags (which I've been a slacker and haven't gotten around to yet, sigh)... However, I did get around to starting to think about this one on a recent trip to go to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

I was sitting there that morning before we left staring at my accessories closet, and realizing that I didn't really have a "city friendly" and "mommy friendly" (read not to heavy & easily hands free) option for the trip! Toting my Tivoli GM around the suburbs is one thing, but getting to and from parking garages, walking around museums, and doing everything from lunch to diaper changes on the go with the kids necessitates a different kind of handbag, then a few hour trip to a mall in the suburbs does...

I stared at all of the LV in my accessories closet, too big, too heavy, too flashy for what I wanted for the day. (Will be considering a Bloomsbury PM for the future, I believe...) And then all of a sudden I realized what my ultimate Mommy bag for a day trip to museums was going to be - my Marc Jacobs large multi-pocket that had been relegated to a shelf for... well, a long time! It comfortably sits on my shoulder, wasn't too big, would hold all of the essentials, and wasn't too flashy.

I first became obsessed with the Marc Jacobs multipocket style bag back before I was even a mother... when I saw one of my favorite TV mothers carrying it on the Gilmore Girls! Lorelei Gilmore's (sigh, I miss that show - but that's a topic for a different day) go-to bag for the first four or five seasons was an understated small size Marc Jacobs multipocket purse.

Photo screenshot courtesy of the CW

I loved it so much that I tracked down the exact same bag she had on the show in the small size, I realized that the size wasn't quite big enough for me (plus, let's face it - I'm not as skinny as Lauren Graham either) - so I ended up with the large size multi-pocket hobo which was perfect! I also went through a brief "Marc Jacobs phase" during the Gilmore Girls years, and although it has been a while since I've purchased one - I will say that at least the ones from a few years ago were exceptionally well made handbags.

Then the Gilmore Girls show went off the air and Marc Jacobs just wasn't the same for me, over the years I went through my "Balenciaga phase", which led directly into my "Louis Vuitton phase"... and the poor lone Marc Jacobs handbag leftover from my Marc Jacobs days was left sitting on a shelf in my accessories cabinet.

I used it for our day trip to the Shedd Aquarium, and it worked perfectly! I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed carrying it again so much, and I think I will be digging it out of the closet just a little bit more often "just because", now that I've remembered what a great bag it is!