I get ridiculed for how much I internet browser-window shop but the fact of the matter is, you never know what you’re gonna find or where you might find it. And if you don’t over-look, you won’t ever find.

Out of all the shop sites to scroll past, I wouldn’t have thought Restoration Hardware, a fancy faux-aged furniture retailer, would’ve offered up a viable contender for fall’s make or break accessory, the strapless leather case. But, it has.

Made of artisan, vegetable-dyed leather to evoke “the rich and rustic satchels used by 19th century bankers”, the $129 case is designed to carry a 15″ laptop but would look all the smarter stuffed with hand written letters and Japanese fashion mags instead.

See what you can find in places you “shouldn’t bother” looking?

The last half of July I willed myself not to buy anything for fall, no matter how desperately I wanted to. Whenever I was tempted to add anything to an online shopping cart I’d switch over from Safari to Photoshop and stare longingly at the layered document I’d compiled of all the pumpkin and pine-colored goods I was eyeing to buy myself for autumn. It seemed the smart way to approach the season, from both a financial and curatorial standpoint.

Monday, August 2nd had been sagely set as the official start of my fall fashion hunting season, and just now my prizes are starting to arrive!

The first: My very first foray into blog-branded goods via the ACL & Co. “collection”.

Short story long – For half of eternity I was that one guy everyone knows who’s so cool and non-cliché they don’t own a cell phone. But finally this June, last year’s white iPhone was saddled upon my once untethered existence until this year’s white iPhone finally figures itself out. So that really cool and non-cliché guy you all know, it’s someone else now. It’s not me.

For eighteen years, when leaving the house, all I’d need is my keys in my front left pocket, and my wallet in my front right. (I’ve tried parking my wallet in back, but it bugs me and my butt-pockets to no end.)

But now that I’m required to carry three belongings along with me instead of two, me and my front pockets keep forgetting either my wallet or my phone at home.

So I reasoned it was time to try a mini man-bag/mega zip-up wallet. I can cram everything inside it, saving myself from the now untrue assumption that everything I need is perched in my two front pockets.

I considered a few options but this orange interior-ed camo bag from ACL was cheap ($24.50 plus shipping) and as macho as a man-clutch could ever hope to be, so I went with it.

Time will tell if I can adapt from a hands-free lifestyle to that of a camo-ed clutcher. I’m honestly a little dubious.

But if not, camo appears again further down on my fall fashion hunting list. It was never a print or trend that really riled me up quite right, but this season it seems snappy and smart somehow.

Strap-free document cases seem to have struck a chord with readers earlier this week.

Everyone’s looking for something a little different and some commenters are even contemplating fashioning their own out of sweat, leather and sturdy sewing machines to avoid unsatisfying e-bay investigations or three hundred dollar price tags.

(I’m impressed!)

But if you’re broke and lazy and man enough for mass-market, these warm and woolly cases from O’Hanlon Mills make a strong case for zipping up your essentials come September. At thirteen inches wide, they’re the ideal form factor, and for twenty-four dollars they’re, if nothing else, price-perfect as a fill in ’til you sight or stitch yourself your dream case.

Best of all, their flannelly fabrication adds instant fall flare to your post-Labor Day outfits, when it’s (regrettably) still too hot to slip into S.N.S. Herning sweaters and thick, tweedy trousers.

I’ve been treasuring away for over a year now and I can’t believe I never posted about this book before. My sister gave it to me as a gift a few years back, and really I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t enjoy receiving a copy.

“First published in 1924 this delicious book is a peek at life in England between the wars, and is a useful mini-encyclopedia, filled with games, recipes, bird-spotting information, first-aid instructions, and random, often wacky trivia. Learn the proper way to kiss in the ocean, eat mice, play ‘Human Sacrifice’ and more.”

Flipping through my copy, I imagine getting holed up at some countryside cottage for months on end, my only source of amusement and information, my Week-End Book. Stocked with miscellaneous sonnets, tips on etiquette, maps of the stars, and retro tips for preparing tinned British foods, the days and weeks would ripple rapidly away.

It’s a true Swiss Army Knife of a book – there’s even a checkers ‘n chess board and a ruler printed on its inside cover.

My copy states that the publisher intended to update the book with all new content for 2006. Looking online, it doesn’t appear that that ever happened. But I did find its re-printed sister book, The Week-End Problems Book, which is set to arrive in the post tomorrow!

I’ve learned a little something.

If you’re lusting after something splurge-y on the internet for months and months on end – it can be helpful, instead of waiting and saving and debating and wondering endlessly, rather to just go ahead and order the particular item near the get go.

Once your potential treasure arrives, and you see it with your naked non-web-filtered eyes, you may find you don’t even want the object of your imagined affection any longer and can then focus your funds and your lust on something surer.

I’ve been wanting a Dark Tan Steamer Bag from BillyKirk since February. One finally FedEx-ed its way into my life last week and now, after seven months of anticipation, I’m not sure I’ll keep it.

I still get a kick out of its steel-framed, Doctor’s bag construction and it’s Packard Saw Mill style. But what looked actually Dark Tan AKA Khaki on-line, in person, is Darker than Dark, and Basically Brown.

For three hundred dollars I feel I need to love absolutely every aspect of my bag. And right now, I’m not sure that I do.

So I’m just not sure what I should do.

I offered y’all a little advice, so now send some my way, if you can.

Hmm. I feel like this unfolded quite quietly.

The Billykirk brothers have launched a spin-off line at Urban Outfitters called The Brothers Bray.

So far there is just one piece: a leather and cotton tote bag for eighty-n-eight dollars. Same über-American aesthetic you’d expect, all worky and rugged – but at a third of the cost of their BK bags.

I thought perhaps this out of nowhere newsflash might lessen my long-lingering desire for a $300 Billykirk steamer bag. But it’s just not.

I don’t care that spring is just getting started, and I don’t care if I’m not heading “Back to School” come September. I’m already prepping the pencils, sweater vests, campus ties, and textbook satchels I’ll need for autumn in order to fulfill my annual tradition of pretending I’m the sullen but stylish co-ed I wish I had truly been, back in the day.

Handmade in England, the leather bags from The Cambridge Satchel Company are playing a crucial role in my schoolboy ruse this year. I’m thinking a navy blue batchel (a satchel with a handle on top) embossed with “Wm” in gold lettering.

April was a brutal month ’round here and only the promise of a long weekend later in May was making life bearable.

As a Treasurer, daydreams of my trips revolve less around where I’ll be, and veer closer to what I’ll pack and in what I’ll pack it all. I’ve considered this trio of canvas pieces at Luggage.com:

- Clava overnight duffel

- Boyt Harness medium duffel

- Clava roll-up tote

All of them timeless, rugged yet refined, and half the price of other much blogged-about brands.

In the end, I might opt for something all-leather though just to watch it bruise and soften over the years. Maybe something like the Latico overnight bag.

Decisions, decisions.

(Note: The site’s briefcases section is just as major.)