I've never been a "purse girl." Every handbag I've ever used has either been given to me or something I've found lying around the house. I never understood the fascination with purses. (Or shoes for that matter.) They all looked the same to me: flashy or frumpy. When we moved to NYC, I'd see women carrying enormous leather bags with big buckles and clasps and all sorts of bling and I'd wonder what on earth they needed such a big bag for and why they were all so ugly. (Now I know why the big bag—city girls on the go carry everything from their high heels to their gym clothes and a book or magazine to read on the subway and everything in between.) So I continued on my merry way, slowly but surely wearing out every satchel, tote, and diaper bag I came across.
But I was always endlessly digging, digging, digging. Where is that stupid binky? Where are those blasted keys?! Where, oh where, is that @#$%! PHONE!?!?! Thursday night, I'd had enough. I'd fished for my phone only to miss the call for the last time. It was time to grow up and get a real woman's purse.
So on Friday, Adam and I made a trip to Burlington where I figured the prices would be low enough and the selection relatively small enough that I wouldn't feel completely overwhelmed. We searched and searched, Adam occasionally showing me one he liked ("Ugh! So ugly!") while I would look wistfully at the messenger bags with embroidered flowers ("That's SO junior high.") When I was about to give up and go back to the hideous diaper bags, I saw a purse that was semi-attractive and didn't look like its owner rode a motor cycle or had airbrushed acrylic nails. But it was purple. A beautiful, subtle purple, but still, I don't ever wear purple. We took it halfway to the register, but then my heart plunged so we turned back, hoping we could find one like it in a neutral color. Adam gets all the credit here. He found the exact same purse in a lovely silver-gray. And it spoke to my soul. It has so many POCKETS!! A pocket for my phone. A pocket for the binky. A pocket for diaper stuff and another for my planner. A veritable plethora of pockets. And it was cute.
I know this might be a strange thing to blog about, but I felt that it was a small turning-point in my life. I now have an honest-to-goodness adult lady's purse.
Gaaaaaaaa! What's next? Wrinkle cream?
P.S. Adam reminded me that it's gray and I usually wear brown so it will hardly ever match my shoes. One thing at a time, I say.
8 comments:
Two things:
1. Gray and brown totally go.
2. Purses become addicting. I used to have one small tan corduroy purse that I took everywhere, and then I got on the purse bandwagon, and I've found there's no getting off. I mean, it's easy to not buy a purse, but my goodness I want many...I'm still on the lookout for the perfect red purse.
After the new shoes, might I suggest a pocket pooch too?
Welcome to adulthood! How many more years until PTA and Suzuki Method lessons for Littlebit?
Someday I'd like to join that same club. Enjoy your membership in it!
Congratulations and welcome to the club. Cute purse! Just you wait, now you will always stop or at least try really hard to resist the urge to stop anywhere they sell purses out of mere curiosity just to see if your gray handbag was your best choice.
And while we are on the subject of purses.....
While it's true that buying purses is addicting, you soon find that what you are doing is gathering some sort of collection of purses you hardly use but once in a while. You really end up using just one purse because (1) the one you really want to use you can't find in your compact NYC closet or (2) you are too busy or tired to transfer all of the contents to another purse. And then you use that purse until it wears out completely. It unknowingly becomes your "favorite". Then, comes the mourning period over that one purse and you are so sure you will NEVER be able to find another one as comfortable. That, my friend, is the sad, but true story of my world of handbags.
Oh.. and I still lug around the black diaper bag and Liam is two and a half!
I love your purse! I should take the plunge and get a nice purse. hmm...
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