Monday, March 02, 2009

My Portable Life

Like most women, I carry a rather large chunk of my life in my purse. In addition to my own essentials, I am required to carry things that Hubby might need. Despite the fact that I am his favorite pack animal, Hubby derides my need to carry a purse everywhere. This past fall, I decided that I needed a newer, bigger purse so that I could carry my essentials without having to burst the seams on my lovely Tribe leather Roots purse.

Hubby says that I own a “ridiculous” number of purses and am a “purse whore.” As I prepared this post I realized the truth: I don’t have a purse issue – he does! The gorgeous red silk creation in the middle of the above photo was a gift from Vietnam. The small hand tooled, brown leather purse was a gift from Argentina. The traditional woven purse in the back was a gift from Kenya on the occasion of his first trip there. His kind gifts account for three of the seven purses I own.

I’ve already mentioned my big brown purse, and I honestly don’t remember where the little brown one came from. The small black purse is probably my favorite and certainly oldest. I bought it on the spur of the moment during a trip to Minneapolis when I was 16. Behind the soft leather is an entire wallet complete with mirror and credit card slots. It is barely big enough to hold my cell phone and keys but has been my go-to purse for special occasions for over a decade now.

No discussion about my purses would be complete, however, without a mention of my current Roots bag. Back in the fall, I blogged about how much I coveted this purse. Thanks to Hubby, fate, and the fiancé of a friend of mine, I owned this purse a few short weeks later.

So I own seven purses, does that make me a bad purse-on? (Sorry couldn’t resist the pun.) Hubby owns more flash drives than that (Hubby Edit: At last count I own only five of those!)! Purses are more than a fashion accessory -- they are a life necessity for carrying around all the scraps of essentials that Hubby and I need on a daily basis. Anyone else buy that? No, I didn’t think so…

29 comments:

AndreaLeigh said...

7 purses is nothing. seriously. I own about 50, I think. and that is after massive downsizing (giving away abotu 30 purses) during our last move.

Roxane said...

7 is a drop in the bag bucket! I must have about 20 or so and I only use 5 of them. Now if we were to talk about shoes, this would be a different story. I have a zillion pairs and i wear them all :)

Roxane said...
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Unknown said...

Hmm... 7 purses? Wow. U are too hard on yourself. Really. Now, I can never let my hubby read your blog! :P

But this proves guys can really not understand our love... passion... obsession... desire... need for bags. Lots of bags to suit every conceivable occasion and day! :) Hahaha!

Lydia said...

My husband used to do the same thing. I carried around a diaper bag with everything including a portable kitchen sink for our first 5 years of marriage. He would complain, ugh, you have another monster? Then when we were out and he needed a pair of fingernail clippers, another night a piece of floss, he realized the error of his ways. And now that I don't have any children in diapers, I can buy smaller & cuter!! ;)

theUngourmet said...

I am quite the purse whore myself. My husband never understands why I need another bag and I can't really explain it to him either. Men are from Mars...and all that jazz. I have a new bag that I adore and it is butter colored but my daughter calls it my "orange" purse just to get my goat. :)

illahee said...

since bags and shoes are about the only thing that fit me here in japan, i'm amazed i don't have more bags!

lovely bags!

N said...

I love purses...I always want to purchase one when I'm out shopping. I can't resist all these new styles on the market.

Unknown said...

For me it's all my hubby's fault.
He made me a shoe and handbag w**** ;)
And one thing: Your hubby has good taste :)

Anonymous said...

I love your bags. I don't know if I dare say this, but I don't have a single handbag... not a single one!

I carry my stuff around in a rucksack - a small one... but still much bigger than any purse, I guess.

United Studies said...

Your hubby is worried about 7 purses? He better never see my closet...I love purses and shoes.

Anonymous said...

Please Type0...let hubby know he is a lucky man. I personally have bought at least 3 in the last month and am eagerly awaiting my trip to China and Hong Kong next month to stock up on more!! Lovely lovely purses!! M

Veronica said...

I am currently "training" a new handbag ... it is such hard work; I am continually forgetting where my favourite things are ;-)

Kathy B! said...

I am acquainted with a few purse whores and you do not fall into that category by any stretch of the imagination. Tell DH the blogosphere has sided with you on this one. He must take you out stat to go shop for a back-up purse as a purse-on can never be too prepared : )

I LOVE puns. You're my new hero.

Heather said...
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Heather said...
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Heather said...

7 puses are nothing! I had this friend who had a box about the size of half a refrigerator box overflowing with purses. And then some. I think I own 7 purses, but never ever use any of them.

Caution/Lisa said...

IDK, it seems to me that 7 purses=1 purse for each day of the week. Perhaps you need to move toward a goal of 1 purse for each day of the month? That would certainly get you closer to purse-whore-hood.

Anonymous said...

Does a purse-on need to count all her knitting bags too?
Definitely too many--she even left one behind recently!
merthyrmum

Betty said...

If we had more choices available here, I would probably have more bags/purses as well. But I think 7 is just the right number. I LOVE the roots bag!

Brenda said...

I am definatly a "bag lady", I have bags for so many different activities, its just more fun that way!

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

Seven purses is nothing. I lost all of my purses except for the one I had with me when we evacuated for Katrina. I am slowly picking up the pace and I'm afraid I have more than 7 purses. That's all I'm saying ;-)

Debbie said...

I don't have many purses either. I've been thinking of doing a post about them.

Kathy B! said...

Hey! I just came back from my blog... what happened to Cairo Typ0?! Just checking to be sure you changed on purpose -- I've been known to do strange things wihtout intending...

Kathy B! said...

Ignore that comment. Sometimes... I swear... someone visited my blog and commented and I followed them back to check out their blog. I must have been going too fast. The person is following your blog. And I was like, "Hey! That's Cairo..."

Everybody together no on the count of three...one..two...three... DUH!

Sorry about that : (

MaricrisG said...

That's just funny! The pack mule. Your hubby should start carrying his own man-purse! LOL! Anyway, Thanks for the visit on my blog. Hasn't been able to do my visits lately. Kiddo being sick, getting ready for craftshows! No wonder I regressed to third person! :)

Connie said...

I destroy purses almost has horribly as I take out watches. I've learned that sturdy leather is the best way to go. I'll still kill it, but it will take longer. I'm a pocket person, unless I do not have pockets, then I use my hubby's. If I must carry a purse, and I do own a few, trembling back there in my closet, I generally have to dust it off and load it from scratch.

Unknown said...

Seven is really not that bad! Especially since he bought 3 of them!

Oh, and love the red one!

Winks & Smiles,
Wifey

Unknown said...

21! Ka-ching! And that's not counting backpacks or duffel bags or teeny bags for random things.
I definitely agree that guys have to make a choice: either carry your own stuff or stop complaining about my bags. Drives me nuts ....