Holy Grail: Bags

This is the third in a series of HG ("Holy Grail" posts). For all HG posts, click here.

I have a weakness for leather bags. I love smelling and fondling them. Yes, it's disgusting, but I can't help it.

My first bag-related memory is circa 1989 -- a Dooney and Bourke mental snapshot. The stiff, duck-emblazoned, forest green number my mother had. I distinctly remember thinking WHY. My, how times have changed.

My HG for bags is.. you guessed it, Dooney & Bourke. I visted the Factory store in New York last year, and holy god, I was in my own personal hell of unquenchable desire. I purchased the Dillen Tear Drop Hobo in T-moro/Tan and the Florentine Vachetta Leather Satchel in Natural. No, I didn't need two, but I fell victim to the BUYNOWMORE holiday frenzy. The Classic Calf's Leather Satchel in Saddle (or Coral) is featured heavily in my dreams, as well as the newest Florentine Vachetta Satchel in Natural, and anything from the Alto line. I bought a "vintage" small Black/Brown Dooney Satchel off ebay last year, and...wow, I don't need anymore bags.

My crunchier choice is Roots. As a sensible female, I LOVE cross-body bags, and Roots has the mother of all sensible cross-body bags: the flat leather Village bag. The design basically speaks for itself, but what it is is a small, flat bag to be worn across the body. And now that they've released an orange bag with gold-tone hardware, HOLD ME BACK.

Look at those front pockets. Phone. I-pod. Keys. Chapstick. A turnlock?? What the what? Amazing. They tried to expand this line with a slightly larger satchel, but I find that the larger size is cumbersome and sort of defeats the whole purpose of this light, efficient bag.

The runners up are Cole Haan and Coach. Love many of the Cole Haan designs, but there's always something lacking for me. Coach is very sturdy, but I don't know... Dooney for president.

Weekend Wear

This is the second in a series of HG ("Holy Grail" posts). To see the first, click here.

My HG of weekend wear is Lands End. I like my weekend clothes to be comfortable, slightly less refined than work wear, cheap, and able to withstand frequent washing. Enter the regular original shaped (having challenges naming your fits, much?) 1x1 rib top. Crew neck, v-neck, short sleeved, long sleeved -- I have them all in many colors.

And when I'm feeling sporty, the pima polo:



It's less bag-like in person. Last year it had a little strip of polka-dotted grosgrain ribbon around the interior of the collar, but not this year. What the hell, LE?

Both of these styles have held up great for the past year, despite frequent beatings. They're fitted enough so that it's obvious I'm a woman, but not so fitted as to give away the texture of my bra.

For fun summer polos (...as opposed to serious?), my favorite is Lilly Pulitzer.

For pants, I like Land's End the cords in winter. I'm also a huge fan of the 7" old-lady shorts for summer. Last year they had some with 4 buttons down each side -- an embellishment that deludes me into thinking they look age-appropriate on a 26 year old. The higher rise makes your shirts lay flatter across the front AND prevents them from sagging. And in case you were worried about looking even a little sexy, don't worry, these have the added benefit of a little strip of elastic in back to ensure maximum Mom Jean effect.

But seriously, I freaking love those shorts. Just make sure your shirt is long enough to cover half of your butt, and you're golden.

Shoes. I'm sort of crazy about shoes. Not that I love them, just that I have incredibly high expectations, and that leads me to being UBER selective in what I'll even consider wearing. Since my main mode of transportation is my feet, I can't deal with anything remotely irritating or painful. L.L. Bean's Camden Driving Mocs are tight like a glove out of the box, but stretch to your foot within a couple hours.

They don't have the best shelf-life, but to be fair, I do wear them everywhere. I also like Etienne Aigner loafers, but they haven't proven themselves just yet for long-distance walking. In the winter I wear my Sudini boots mentioned in my work wear post.
Next up, handbags.

It's a new year, and...

I've continued to live off the wagon.

Yes, it's simultaneously delicious and painful to dig into my hard-earned cash to pay for my ... garbage habit. But as I sit here browsing Talbots.com, free-shipping coupon in (e-)hand, I've realized I've learned enough about value as it relates to ladies' goods to share some of my hard-bought knowledge.

What follows is the first in a series of HG (holy grail) posts. Sure, my HGs will only apply to a small group of sensibly-dressed, sturdy women, 25-45, but I worked hard to find my HGs, so I intend to share.

Before we get started, I should mention that my modus operandi is to search relentlessly for THE PERFECT THING, and then buy 21 of that thing and only that thing. The thing in question then comprises my entire collection of that type of thing. So I'm sort of an expert. Make sense?

First up, we have WORK WEAR:

As I alluded to above, Talbots really won me over last year. It's not your mother's Talbots anymore, but it's not your daughter's either. Talbots is what happened when J.Crew got her period. It's like if J.Crew had a baby -- as in, if J.Crew got knocked up and had to hold down two jobs to pay for organic baby food and yarn to knit outfits for her cockapoo -- you get the picture: Talbots is J.Crew grown up.

...Anyway, my work HGs include various incarnations of the pima tee -- long-sleeve, short-sleeve, balletneck, or turtleneck -- which are slim, but not tight, and come in 5,000 colors. Though Talbots is trying, J.Crew still wins for the most forward-thinking color palette (if I can use that term to describe color). Talbots wins for quality and cut, though.

On the bottom half, my HG is a pair of heritage-fit twill pants. The heritage cut is supposed to be the "granny" cut, but I find it to be the most modern. Again, they're slim, but not tight, and the higher cut is very flattering (it's important to note that they don't have the dreaded saddlebag/jodhpurs void on the sides). I've given the lower, signature-fit a chance, but they don't they don't hold a candle to the heritage-fit. Can any woman honestly say low-cut pants are more flattering? Unless you're slimmest at the hips (...eh?), I think not.

A variation of this outfit would involve a Charming cardigan set, by far my HG of cardigan sets. The Charming cardigan is basically Talbots' answer to the J.Crew Jackie cardigan. The Talbots version is more flattering and feminine, with a slightly lower cut and a teensy bit more length.

And if I need to dress it up, I'll throw on a Grace-fit jacket (I have a few), and voila, I'm only slightly under-dressed.

Simple, yes. Boring, maybe. But I'd rather put on my "uniform" than stand shivering in the nude, reinventing the wheel.

(And Talbots, if you mess with my formula, I will crush you.)

My HG footwear is similarly easy: Sudini Ashland or Storm shooties. I can't figure out the difference between the Ashland and the Storm, but I own both in various colors: chocolate leather, chocolate suede, black suede, and another chocolate leather as a backup. They're perfect. I love the aesthetic: classic almond toe, small buckle, and with a 1 3/4" heel, I can walk miles in them. I can't generally wear heels -- they hurt, and they usually make me look like a lumbering gorilla -- but these work. The black leather still eludes me. It's my white whale.

Next post, WEEKEND WEAR.

(stay-tuned, and by all means, comment with your work favorites.)

More Remorse

Sorry, dudes, for my complete and thorough neglect. This is the first time that I've failed to post my monthly net worth since I started this in March of 2008 - and for 2 months, no less.

As you can probably guess, I fell off the wagon pretty hard. According to the laws of nature, an inverse relationship exists between my weight loss and my savings account balance. Since I've been relatively successful at the weight loss bit recently, my savings has taken a nose dive. New fall clothes and personal blues compounded the problem, and now I'm left with a "final sale" receipt-littered trail of regrets.

And now that I'm back from a week vacation, I'm up 8 pounds, and therefore ready for a budget overhaul.

Omigod, shoes.

I recently threw away a pair of flat black leather-upper rubber-soled calf-length boots after a particularly harsh winter. I had the boots for about 8 years, but wore them almost daily for the last 2. Their last few months were pretty sad (soggy, really) - the outer sole was so worn that fissures were forming and allowing water in. The place where the leather met the rubber sole was becoming unsealed, and water seeped through there, too. I thought about having them resoled, but I got a few puzzled looks from people when I asked about having rubber-soled shoes resoled. Plus, the toe was really dated (very square), too flat, and frankly, people had been poking fun at me about it. So I tossed them. Now what?

I should say now that my main beef with street shoes is that the comfortable ones are few and far between, and when you find one, they're not "smart" (as your nana probably says), and all the cute or professional-looking shoes have heels that are ridiculous. I am not a small girl. I do not want to perch all [XXX] pounds of me on top of two tiny spindles. I need a sturdy mid-height heel. I know some of you reading this might see "mid-height" and think 2.5", but I'm talking 1.75" max. This type of shoe is almost impossible to find. Welcome to my search for the holy-grail shoe.

My most recent scouting was into oxford-shoe territory, but I couldn't find a nice women's oxford shoe with a mid-height heel. Once again, I was struck by the 1/4", 3" split. So In the interest of comfort and economy, I've been looking at... wait for it... dance shoes. Dance shoes are generally heeled shoes with leather soles made for movement (duh). Enter these Latin dance practice shoes:





I got them in khaki.

Hear me out. First of all, do these shoes not scream summer? That is perforated leather, my friends, for ventilation. The heel is just under 1 1/2 inches, which is just enough to add some polish and shape to the foot while still allowing maximum comfort while using your feet for the purpose they were intended. Plus, I know for a fact that leather-soled shoes can be resoled. As in, when I wear holes through the soles, I can take them to be replaced. I know they're not great for wet or icy weather, but I'm going to try these out for the summer, and if I like them, I'm going back for the non-perforated black variety for fall. And there are some 1 3/4" choir pumps calling my name, too.

What are some of your shoe solutions?

And because nobody says it better than Kelly, a brief video from ye olde days of 2006:

Itchy trigger finger

My favorite jewelry designer, Temple St. Clair, has written a book. I bought said book, read it, and am now insane (keep reading).



If I could distill my dreams, desires, and principles into a single, wearable object, it would look something like this, but with either (i) a round, faceted, vibrant blue-violet sapphire or tourmaline with bezel-set diamonds in place of the gold granulation, (ii) an east-west set oval cabochon - peridot or citrine, or (iii) a scrumtrulescent sugarloaf emerald (see book for example):




And yes, such beasts do exist.

If ever a time comes where it is appropriate for me to spend money in this fashion, I will forego all other jewelry except for my engagement ring and wear this treasure until it becomes a part of me, and some of me is part of it. (See what I mean?)

Until that time comes, a girl can dream...



and dream...



(btw, all pictures taken from the book and the TSC website - they're not mine, and I so don't have permission to use them.)

Confessional

I've done so well this past month, and it feels great. I'm being tested, however, as today is Klondike Gold Rush day on QVC, and they have new designs in 14k gold on sale. Luckily, most of it looks cheap or doesn't speak to me, but the fact that I keep checking back is not good.

Yesterday I was wrestling with whether or not to buy a refill of my favorite AHAVA hand cream. Winter will start nipping at my knuckles before I know it, so I want to be prepared (seriously, my hands get WRECKED during these New England winters. One day without gloves, and you're red and chapped for a week). BUT I do have an abundance of other, less expensive body lotions that will work almost as well, but somehow fall short. I decided to go in for a tube of my favorite stuff, and while I was there, I picked up some Serious Skin Care olive oil moisturizer. I used to use this stuff in college, and I liked it, so with a 30% off coupon, I decided to try it again. I dropped about $35 on stuff I could probably do without, but will probably use. All in all, I could've done worse.

In other news, a stranger complimented my jewelry today. Stay strong, self!

Spending update

Ok, we are half-way through the new credit card cycle, and so far so...fine.

I've made a couple purchases, including a closet organizer for about $40 (which I desperately needed), a plane ticket for $200, some groceries and miscellaneous items, a piece of jewelry from ebay for $18 (I had to use up the rest of my ebay bucks), and...here's the "fine" part....a ring from QVC for $99. And I was doing so well.

Under the guidance of To Shop or Not to Shop and Your Money or Your Life, I spent weeks (WEEKS!) convincing myself that all extraneous purchases were bad and would only lead to more extraneous purchases. This, sadly, is completely true. Even the process of cleaning out my jewelry box and closet of things I don't absolutely love led to less want. However, I made this purchase under a loophole. I had been pining for this ring for months, and while it has not been reduced in price at all, it is now available again in my size. It was grandfathered in, basically.

Now, the question is, will this be my undoing? Will this ring tip the balance I had so tediously maintained for the past 2 weeks? This is difficult for me, because an all-out moratorium on all "fun" spending doesn't seem sustainable, but is this ring WORTH it for me to break my streak? Until now, the answer had always been "no", but now, no matter how many times I reconsider this purchase, I just can't say no.

I should say that, despite this purchase, I'm still doing much, MUCH better than I've done in a long time, and that's cause for a little pat on the back.

I Love Resale.

I tried my hand at furniture postings on Craigslist for a while, and while there were a good number of promising posts, it's just so inconvenient unless you own a car. Plus, it's always terrible when something looks good in a photo, but when you go to the person's house to see it, you realize it's a P.O.S., and you're left to awkwardly excuse yourself.

I finally found a place where you can get good quality resale furniture without the markup of a consignment or vintage shop (or the awkwardness of Craigslist). There's this place sort of nearby that's a non-profit, and all their proceeds go to AIDS services, education, and advocacy. What more could you ask for? We got a set of solid wood table and chairs for $100 this past weekend, and the weekend before, we got this awesome pair of wooden chairs with leather seats for $40! Whenever we want to make a trip there, we just rent a ZipCar for a few hours and go! Now, if we could only find some couches...

Sleep Accessories

I went mattress shopping this past weekend and felt overwhelmed by my ignorance. I realize that I have no idea what a good price looks like for a mattress. I found one that was comfortable enough, but it was $600.00 (just for the mattress!).

Could anyone fling any mattress-pricing-related advice in my direction?

Furniture shopping!

As I scour my Domino magazine back-issues, I realize how expensive furniture is. No one ever told me that a nice chair can cost a few hundred dollars.

($700.00 chair from IKEA!)

Anyway, I was looking at Victorian-era furniture at the antique market, and I found a few pieces with beautiful bones, but awful upholstery. I found a stained "couch" for $125, and a regal chair (with dark green velvet) for $150.00. I'm not really into velvet, but if I was a whiz at upholstery, I'd have swooped up those items in a heart beat.

Has anyone ever completed such an undertaking?

Decorating Dilemma

Has anyone been able to successfully reconcile the drive to beautify your new apartment with precious goods (like that $300.00 tufted ottoman) with the drive to beg, borrow, and steal (don't steal!) by taking the lime green table and chair that someone put out for the garbage collector, for instance? I'm so conflicted!

My parents are giving us some things, but we don't even have a couch. I'm going to try to rely heavily on craigslist, of course, but even refurbishing gets expensive (e.g. these examples in Sunset Magazine). This one really cuts deep, because nothing gets me going like mirrored side-tables (see before and after below).




I've been scouring decorating-porn for ideas, and frankly, I think it's becoming a problem.

Calculation Theme

I'm really into coupons.

As a 15-year-old cashier at Kroger, I didn't appreciate when old ladies would hand me fist-fulls of coupons that wouldn't scan. I wasn't such a hard-ass though. Instead of arguing, I manually entered expired coupons and coupons for different merchandise (what did I care, right? Also, was that seriously almost 10 years ago?).

Now I'm on the other side of it, and I feel like the cashier has a similarly low opinion of me. Using multiple coupons also sort of feels like stealing, which makes me incredibly nervous, but also a little excited. Sort of like that IKEA commercial where that woman is running out with all the new stuff she bought incredibly cheap, screaming at her husband to start the car, as if she had just pulled of a heist.

But seriously, does anyone else feel dirty, especially when combining coupons?