Taxi-cab purses and Punch Brothers

I couldn't help it. I had to buy it in yellow, too.

My purse addiction shows no signs of stopping. I really like this Top Notch purse, which is my Barbie pink purse. It's a great style, so when I saw the bright yellow (in person, a taxi-cab yellow), I really wanted it. BOOM. It somehow made it's way to my house. Look how cheerful it is! How can I be depressed on a grey day when I can look at this brightness and cuteness? And the Barbie purse is wearing great (as in, not wearing at all), so this is definitely worth the $40. (Pro Tip: the Boston Common's handle is flaking, so I'll have to do something about that one in a while.)

Tonight, I'm going to a Punch Brothers concert with my dad. We both really enjoy Americana/progressive bluegrass type music. I'm not a enormous fan of the band, like I am of Gillian Welch, but they're playing at the college I work at, so the tickets are cheap. I loved Chris Thile in Nickel Creek (why did you have to split up into solo careers??), so I figure I should give Punch Brothers a decent try.

Top, Shoes, and Cords - Simply Be, Tank - Hanes,  Necklace - Forever 21

This is a gorgeous shirt with a problematic neckline. HOW MUCH SPACE am I supposed to have between my shoulders and my actual boobs? Because it's not this much. I'm petite, but I have an average to long torso, and this is ridiculous. Honestly, manufacturers. I love cleavage, but not in all my shirts and bras. And as I just realized, I want to keep my cleavage to v-neck shirts, not bizarrely low scoopnecks. I do love the color of this shirt and it's deliberately rumpled pockets, though. 

pursepursepursepursepurse

GORGEOUS. I love my new big purple purse. (I've got a free purple tote that's super cute as well) It's not just big, it's deep, so I can put tall things inside without straining the zipper. AND it has a shoulder strap, unlike my black ruffly bag. I am ticked, though, because I had ordered this bag along with 2 others from BagInc.com that I ended up not liking. The bags themselves are pretty, but I really need a shoulder strap and evidently I thought for some reason that they all had them. So I email their customer service about returning them (to China). Turns out since I got them on sale I can't return them. At all. So instead of 3 useable bags (and a free tote) for $103, I now have 1 bag and a tote for $103. And I don't have the money to blow that much on this purse, no matter how much I like it. I'll see if Jen wants to give me some cash for either, if not I think I'll put them up on eBay to try and recoup some of my money.

cranky face

Top - Avenue
Pants - JMS
Shoes - Mossimo

Purse Degradation (AKA Purses I Want)

So, you know how I won that purse?  Well, either the purse is shoddily made OR I have been cramming too much stuff into it.  It's made of "man made materials" and called a patent hobo bag.  It's starting to look like hobos have been at my bag, because bits of the faux patent leather are getting scratched off.  And yes, my sister makes purses, but what I want is not quite the kind of purse she makes.  She makes cute little-ish purses that WILL NOT HOLD ALL THE CRAP I CARRY AROUND.  Also, I need to have a bag I can sling over my shoulder.  This is the only problem with my mom's old bag, which I would otherwise carry forever.  Do you want to see what I mean?  I KNEW you did!!

If I wanted to be super cool and show off my indie web graphic novel...uh, coolness, I would have to get one of the FREAKANGELS fieldbags. (Warren Ellis is a weird and brilliant man.):

But it's $60, and I would want it filled with FREAKANGELS books.

What if I wanted to support other Etsy sellers?  This bag is awesome, and it has free shipping!

Still $55.

How about a little cheaper and a reference (in my head, anyway) to Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series?

Only $44

Or this one?

Only $25

But you know, I'm really cheap.  Like, super cheap.  So, if my local Target has these two, I might go for one of them.  $15 each, made of canvas (so they won't peel apart at least).

Here

Or the other is this one:

or here.

Lately, it seems like I have a thing for birds.  Not real birds of course.  HAHAHAHAHA.  Cute little stylized birds.  I have also begun to link EVERYTHING to EVERYTHING ELSE.  I am the connections the world runs on, mwahahahaha....um, never mind.

Purse Redux

I have no brain.  I forgot to tag people for the purse post!
Okay, I tag:
1. RMb of whats that?!
2. Chelsea of bright side dweller
3. my sister, Jen, of lalala...oooh! clothes!
and
4. Roisin from But it can't be from Dolly Clackett....

Also, a little factoid for you, my hair was getting inescapeably HUGE at the beach.  I don't know if it was the humidity, the salt water, or what.  I've got a lot of volume anyway, due to my "obese" hair (as my loving sister terms it), but this was getting ridiculous.  And yet sort of fun.  I know now what my hair would look like if I back-combed it.  Sadly, we have no pictures of the HUGE hair, only ones with moderate hair that I've posted.

What's in my purse?

Holly from Starlit Home tagged me in a purse post  and luckily enough I just got that new purse.  I took it to church, then completely filled it up for this coming work week.  The straps on this purse are actually big enough that I can carry it over my arm!
*Note: I just finished a book and I haven't put a replacement book into my purse yet.  Also missing are snacks for the day, like almonds and cranberries.*

Here is the purse! Buy it at maurices.com

 

 

Here is the purse full of things!

And now, as to what all those "things" are...

Stuff for my period and my phone.
(I thought I would start off glamourous.)

My wallet, with my etsy business card carefully obscuring my ID.  Go to BirnamGrove.com and buy things!

My iPod and headphones (that everyone but me hates with a burning passion).  And yes, my iPod has all 3 Glee cds on it!  But not the Madonna one or the Regionals one yet.

This bag holds stuff to make me smell and taste better.  Hence, gum and altoids, and also hand sanitizer and hand salve (for little ouchies).

This....is the random bag.  It has my keys, a pen, some hand moisturizer, and two pill-boxes.  Yes, one pill-box is very pretty and used to be my step-grandmother's.  The other is a mini-altoid tin that I keep a stash of aleve in.

I might have a lip-gloss problem.  I keep amassing lip glosses and colored chapsticks.  But 99% of the time, I use my Burts Bees one.

Makeup.   Put on hurriedly in the car as my mother and I car-pool to work.  Some eye makeup, some powder, some mascara and I'm good to go.









Okay, so I carry a WHOLE LOT more stuff than Holly.  And I often end up carrying another bag full of books to return, or with a lunch inside.  But.  You get the basic idea.  How about you?

What's in YOUR purse?

The purse that I use is a leather purse, passed down from my mom. It's this gorgeous reddish brown, and since it's old, it's got that nicely aged patina. The way I organize my purse is a fantastic way that I unabashedly stole from another Erin. Little bags inside the purse! All you do is separate out your stuff by category, then pop it in little bags, and stuff them into your purse.

First we have my lip bag over my makeup bag. I have tons of lip gloss, chapstick, and even a few lipsticks.


Next are my two grab bags. The top one has lotions, hand sanitizer, bandaids, and the like. The bottom one has "things that go in my mouth": mints, medicine, etcetera.


Next, my ipod and headphones bag, and my wallet. Pretty self explanatory.


And last, my time of the month bag and my keys.


I keep a lot more in there, like a book, juice, my cell phone (in an outside pocket), but this helps me find what I'm looking for much quicker than I used to! How do you organize your purse? Or do you not even try?