I think most of us ladies out there can agree that carrying a purse around can be a huge hassel. Even if you carry one on the small side it’s still a pain to carry it around and it’s very easy to set your purse or bag down and forget about it.

Well, I think I’ve found a pretty awesome and stylish replacement for the typical purse. Meet the Happy Cow Belt Bag. If you’re a fan of “Burn Notice” you might recognize this bag as something very similiar to what Fiona uses on the show. I went ahead and ordered one and it’s beyond nice. The leather is very soft and there are plenty of pockets to hold what you need. There are two “larger” pockets to be used for a camera and/or cellphone plus a few zipper areas for cash and cards.

The main reason I ordered the bag was because I didn’t want to carry around a purse while at Comic Con. I didn’t want to have to dig around in a bag for my phone or camera but I still wanted something fun and cute, not just your typical “fanny pack.” I wanted everything to be within reach since you never know what you might see or who you might run into. I don’t want to carry anything that I don’t need to carry since I’ll have enough to lug around with all the free bags and what not that you receive at an event like this. Using a hip bag will keep my hands free and I’ll always know where my bag is, around my waist!

I haven’t actually used the bag yet but I plan on making use of it when I go to Chicago next week. I really am looking forward to using it and I’ll be sure to type up a follow up post afterwards.

Foursquare is one of the newest social networking websites. It lets you share your location with your friends and via Twitter. It can seem a bit stalkerish but it’s fun and not really creepy. It’s pretty easy to use as you just “check in” using your mobile device while you’re out and about.

Foursquare is such “the rage” now that some companies and even cities are awarding special badges for checking out various locations. What’s a badge? It’s just another fun aspect of Foursquare. You can earn all sorts of badges for doing a variety of things like checking in while on a boat or for visiting 25 new places. There are a large number of badges that you can earn. You can find a list of all of the Foursquare badges here. It’s updated on a pretty regular basis and even has inactive or closed badges.

Anyway, back to the title of this post! If you live in or visit Chicago you can earn some special badges via Explore Chicago. You do need to follow them on Foursquare in order to earn the badges, keep that in mind. At the moment you can earn three different Chicago related badges. They are: Chicago Blues, Celery Salt & On Location.

Chicago Blues centers on the blues music scene if that wasn’t obvious enough from the name of the badge. In order to earn the badge you must check in at five of the approved locations. Don’t worry; there are 17 different locations to choose from including the Historic Site of the IL Central Depot: The Black Ellis Island, Roosevelt & Indiana and Rosa’s Lounge.

Celery Salt is all about the Chicago Style hotdog. I can already taste them! As with the previous badge you must check in at five different locations. Again you have a decent list to choose from which includes 12 different locations ranging from Wrigley Field to Portillo’s.

The last badge you can earn centers around films that have been filmed in and around Chicago and gives you a few choices. Your choices are “The Blues Brothers,” “Dark Knight,” Chick Flicks in Chicago, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “High Fidelity.” In order to earn this badge you must pick ONE movie-themed experience and again check in at five different locations that are on the list. A few of the locations are Daley Plaza, The Auditorium Theatre, The University of Chicago, Navy Pier, The Art Institute of Chicago and Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse.

I think I might try and earn the Celery Salt badge on my next trip out to Chicago. I think featuring something like this for a city makes it a little more fun and make it feel like a scavenger hunt. Plus it’s an easy way to get people to visit parts of the city they might not even think about checking out otherwise!

Even though I’ve only had my Southwest Visa for a few months I’m only a few credits away from my 2nd free flight. Yes, my 2nd. I earned my first free flight pretty much instantly thanks to the bonus offers that they had going on. I believe right now I’m only 5.5 away from my next free flight and I have until 2012 to earn the rest of the credits. I’ll earn 2 credits in May when I go to Chicago plus I’m pretty close to getting a credit for spending X amount on my Visa. I know I’ll have no problem earning that next free flight.

I’m already thinking about where to go. I’ve never been to Vegas and my Aunt has a timeshare out there I could use. I figure if it’s free a might as well fly somewhere I wouldn’t be able to afford normally. I was thinking maybe San Fran. I’ve always wanted to visit there as well. Alcatraz is on my “Must Visit” list. You know me, always a flare for the oddball stuff. Plus it just looks really nice from the pictures I’ve seen. I could save it and use it go to Spring Training one year too. That’s another thing I’ve always wanted to do and while it wouldn’t cost much to just pay to fly down there, any savings is good! It would probably allow me to stay an extra day or so.

Ah, so many places to go and only one free flight coming up.