My New Year's Resolution Is In The Bag

Happy New Year everybody!  Make any resolutions you’ve broken already?  I’m never very good with the usual pledges (eat better, get more exercise, wake up earlier, etc.) but this year I did make myself one ‘fashion resolution.’  Whether I can maintain it should be interesting.

I’ve promised my long-suffering husband and my perpetually-worried mother that I will stop being a pack mule.  I’ve always loved large handbags.  (Like this Big Buddha on the left.  It took ALL my self control not to splurge on it when I saw it in a store last year.)  The problem is that I tend to fill large bags up to the point that they are painful to carry.  After I finish loading them, they’re much more like saddlebags than ‘purses.’  It doesn’t matter how many times I empty the bag, it still seems to attract more stuff.  I just spent half an hour on the floor cleaning out my current pocketbook, trying to put away things I don’t need every day, and while I succeeded in changing the big bag out for a much smaller one, even that one seems over-weighted to me.  Though I’m pretty sure that my shoulder issues are caused by bone spurs and scar tissue (not by bags) I would still like to reduce the weight and strain on my shoulders, especially in light of knowing that I’m going to have to have surgery in a few weeks.  I sure don’t want to make things worse.

 

I always find choosing a new bag to be a very challenging project.  Pocketbooks are so varied, so beautiful, and can make even louder ‘statements’ than clothes.  Like shoes, they need to stay in good shape.  Nothing spoils a lovely outfit faster than a mismatched or battered bag.  I know I’m guilty of not changing mine out as often as I should, and have found myself with a knockabout bag paired with dress clothes. Oops.  While I don’t think being as ‘matchy-matchy’ as women were in the 1950s is a requirement for today's rushed and harried working woman, I do think when the bag on a lady's arm, shoulder, or in her hand shows thought and flair, she will get attention for a chic overall look.  

To make matters even more difficult, I’m always on the prowl for my dream bag, which is a perfect shade of red that I can see in my mind, but can’t describe in words.  I had that hue once---and oh, how I loved that bag---but I carried it until the bottom split open and I have never found the same shade since.  (My other favorite pocketbook had a mermaid on it—I dragged it around until the mermaid grew legs and married her prince.)

So---any suggestions for a small handbags (not clutches), preferably affordable ones?!  For as much as I drool over Kate Spade, Coach and other designer bags, I know I won’t be carrying one anytime soon.