Why Me!??

[Side note:  This WAS going to be posted last night but blogger was DOWN.  I tried for an hour.  It's back up now, so I'm going to backdate it :)]

"Why me!?" is a hilarious saying my friend Craig and I use.  We usually saying it in whiny voices.  We just think weird things happen to us.

As a preface, I want to say that it takes A LOT for me to get mad at a waitress, store person, etc.  A lot lot lot. 

On Wednesdays, my mom comes out to babysit Will.  Ideally, she would watch him while I edited photos without a one-year old clinging to my leg.  However, she wants me to leave when she's here.  HAHA.  In some ways, I don't blame her because I think she's like, "Why would I drive all the way out here on Wednesdays to watch Will when you are also here watching him."  For a few weeks, I was packing up my laptop, hard drives, mouse pad, mouse, etc and hoofing it to the library.  By the time I restarted from Photoshop freezing up because Lightroom was trying to import a billion files when I reconnected the hard drive, let's just say it wasn't worth it.  Finally, I have come to the realization that I should use Wednesdays to do photography-related things that I can't normally do.  For example, shop for props, fabrics, lighting, etc.  I love to go to Borders and look at their photography books section.  Yesterday, they had emailed me a 33% off coupon so I figured it would be a good day to buy a new book and look around while I was banished from my house.  So, I did.  It was good.  I stood there reading and looking for about two hours, put some books on my "should buy soon" list.  Picked out the book  pictured above.  Bueno.  That's when it all went downhill...

I'm waiting in line to checkout and this annoying lady is trying VERY HARD to sell the guy in front of me their paying book club.  Barnes & Noble had it right - they have always charged like $25.  I know because I'm in it.  Borders effed up because they've had a free one FOREVER and now decided they wanted to charge $20 and pretend it's an  "even better" club than the free club.  But hello sister, I am in the free club and I get wayyyy more 40% off coupons than I could ever use.  And I am buying two other books for Belle at full-price and totally FREAKIN' fine with it.  I just want to leave asap.

So it's my turn.  She is relentless on the book club.  I am like no, I already have a 33% coupon (meaning, I don't want to pay $20 to get the 40% coupon).  I have to justify to her like 14 other times why I don't need to sign pu for the club TODAY.  And again, I like to buy books on photography but seriously I only buy what I really want because WHERE WOULD I PUT THEM ALL? 

So she's like, "fine."  Then she goes, "We also have a coupon book, it expires Jan 15th..." and starts detailing it.  I am assuming this is one of those little booklets that Gap, Bath & Body Works, etc just throw in your bag for free.  BUT WHY WOULD I CARE WHEN I GET A 33% OR 40% OFF COUPON EMAILED TO ME LIKE EVERY SINGLE DAY FROM THEM.  She's like, "a free BEVERAGE from the coffee shop," while flipping the book and holding it up like I'm a three-year old.  I go, "Mmmm...nice."  She goes, "oh good, so have I convinced you yet?"  I say, "Convined me of what?"  "To join the club.  You need to join the club to get the coupon book." 

O.M.G.

I'm like, "NO."

So I am already annoyed.  Not to mention there is a HUGE LINE of customers listening to this b.s. and every single person declines the club. 

So, she rings me up.  She scans my coupon and asks for my Borders card number because she needs to "verify the coupon."  She looks it up and confirms it really is me.  OK.  It's $25.83 for my book (with the 33% off) and Belle's two books.  WHO CARES.  I waste more money than this in gas, just driving into town.  Give her my credit card, she runs it through, prints receipt.  THEN, she's like, "Ooooh.  This isn't signed.  Do you have another form of i.d.?"  I tell her I don't have my driver's license but I have about a billion other forms of i.d.  I have my huge wallet open by this time with my name on EVERYTHING.  I ask her, "How about a checkbook?" and show her my checkbook with my name on it.  She's like, "Hmmmm no..."

So she calls the store manager, "Customer doesn't have an i.d."  OMFG.  This is $25.83.  I would have an easier time using my card to buy a diamond at Tiffany's!  I'm like, "Okay, sister, I am going to just run to my car and get my i.d. (in wristlet) and be right back in.  So, I do.  It takes like 3 seconds.  I come back in and she is JUST STARTING THE SCHPIEL about the book club with ANOTHER CUSTOMER.  WT#!!!!!!!!!!

OMG, I almost DIED.

OMfreakin'God.  If I had gone to the trouble of stealing someone's ENTIRE WALLET and checkbook, HACKING INTO THEIR BLACKBERRY for a measley (spell?) 33% off Borders coupon...  A) I wouldn't even bother with Borders.  I'm a book nerd but not that bad.  You can look for me at Chanel or Bliss Spa, honey.  B) If I DID use the stolen booty to go to Borders, do you think I'd buy a $25 Time Photographs book and two "Captain Underpants" paperbacks!?!?!?  HELL.NO.  I would literally take a cart from Michael's next door and just toss the entire photography SECTION into it.  Duh!  And I'd probably grab the Rhianna cd on the way to register because that "WANT YOU TO MAKE ME FEEL, LIKE I'M THE ONLY GIRL IN THE WORLD," song has been in my head for like 3 weeks.  AND, to tell you the truth...I probably would join the $20 club at that point.

I am seriously thinking of complaining to Borders but I don't want to get her in trouble.

Wow, that was a long story!  Hope your day was filled with easy shopping experiences!  Do tell!

xo!
Ann

O to the kay

Hola! Today, I have been working on my over-hyped make up blog, http://anns-blog-of-beauty.blogspot.com/

I'm unbelievably loving it and the fact I can rave & rant about products without killing the spirit of my random blog. Seriously! My MAC makeover was such a success I just couldn't wait to post some details on there :) It was such a success I can't go to the mall for a LONG time ;)

As many know I am moving, so I was also inspired to decorate the new casa by walking through Crate & Barrel and past Pottery Barn (at Oakbrook Mall). = Double Love. Housewares shopping is something I need to do solo because I usually adore everything and can't make a decision on that stuff for AWHILE.

Did everyone have a good Easter weekend? I hope so! We sure did... Friday I played trivia with some friends and hello, we won first place! Yay, team! Then we all met up with some more friends for karyoke in the West End. Good times!!!

Saturday I survived the yoga princess training. I cannot BELIEVE how much I learned from this 2.5 hour session. She is awesome and inspiring. Hopefully we all took away a lot from the class. I'm not limping and bitching as much as I have in the past but my back muscles are definitely sore. It could be from that cute little backbend/ustrasana (sp?) combo.

The Easter bun-bun visited like 8 times for Belle. I cannot believe she doesn't question it. He apparently knew to leave baskets here at home AND at four grandparents/great-grandparents' houses. Crazy! She of course loves everything and cannot wait to paint the paintable tea set we bought her.

Unfortunately, tomorrow is back to work!! Too bad we didn't have Friday and Monday off. :)

Namaste!!!
Ann

R.I.P. Dr. Martens Collection!!!

DISCLAIMER: I graduated in '96. Whenever I say that, it reminds me of our (alleged) class "saying," which was as follows: "Party hardy, rock n' roll, drink a keg, smoke a bowl, beer is legal, sex is kicks, we're the class of '96." WTH. This disturbs me on all levels considering my friend's older sister taught us this saying when we were in sixth grade...and she was in ninth (class of 1993). I now wonder if she just made it up and we were like, "OK, cool!" We had no idea what a keg was (we didn't learn what that was until 7th grade, duh) or what a bowl was but trust me, we wrote it in yearbooks for years to come. [As a parent, I will be reading the yearbooks. Belle gets away with NOTHING!] Also, hello we listened to rap anyway. Snoop Dogg, Too $hort, Friday soundtrack (You ain't nothin' but a Hoochie Mama), "C'mon baby, KICK THEM DAZZY'S", etc. Not much rock n' roll but we did also listen to a TON of country. Only Iowa kids switch from Sir Mix A Lot's "My Posse's on Broadway" to Alan Jackson's "Chattahoochie" like it's totally normal.

Anyway, back to the mid-1990's trip fashion memory lane. Wow, what a fashionistic era. *Raises eyebrow*

Omigosh so my yoga queen friend, Jen, got me thinking of my BELOVED Doc collection of late... R.I.P. *heavy sigh followed by wistful, heart-wrenching gaze to Heaven*

Jen mentioned in a Facebook survey she had oxblood Doc's. I wrote back and told her, I too, owned those precious gems!! She also had the silvers and square toes. I had the square toes but not the silvers...I loved the silvers though!! I later remembered my friend, Kasi, and I traded the oxbloods for her black & white wingtips...we each liked the other better so the trade became permanent.

I had one or two pairs of the original brown low tops in junior high. But my real obsession began circa 1992 (9th grade). For every Xmas and b-day throughout high school I asked my mom for a new pair of Doc's and some Lucky jeans. This worked out great for my mom, who then didn't have to make too much effort figuring out what to buy her high-school aged daughter (she HATES shopping, I swear we aren't really related). Here were the "highlights" of my "super cool" Doc collection (sandals not included)...

The "Originals" speak for themselves *salutes*












The Oxbloods (This is the color but I had the low-rise ones. Old school style)














The Wing Tips in Black & White (Possibly Kasi's, I think we traded, as mentioned above, and it became permanent)













The Brown Low Super-Chunkies (I LOVED them but they weighed like 10 lbs)








The Brown Ankle Super-Chunkies (Doubled LOVED them. I rocked them with my Lucky jeans all the time. And totally over-sized tucked in polos with tucked under and over braided belt) *shudder*










The Black Square Toe Boots = love *tear*








FLOWER POWER!!!! So, one day a few years ago I was thinking how e-bay truly has everything anyone could ever want or need. All of a sudden a painful memory blasted into my head. Circa 1995 Christmas. I was DYING for these flowered Doc Martens (this was PRE- everyone has the internet and can find virtually -no pun intended- anything they want). Von Maur tried and tried with no avail to order the flowered Docs for me. Considering this was the height of Doc prime, special orders took over six months and no guaranteed shipping date. Oy! The sorrow!!! The agony!!

So back to three years ago thinking about e-bay. I typed in: flowered doc martens, size 3. EUREKA!!! There was nothing, no one, no how going to stand between me and these boots I would never wear!!!!!! They were located in the U.K. but I didn't care. To my dismay, there were other bidders. Ayyy! I ended up securing them for like $60 Euro. Rock on!!!!!!! They are the only Docs I ABSOLUTELY REFUSE to part with. Donating is non-negotiable! To appease Jessica and Allison who were profusely made fun of me during this bidding drama (B's), I wore them to work the day after they arrived (yes, in the EOB). Maybe I will bust them out again... ??? Seriously.


Note the striking resemblance to the F&F Boutique purchase from this weekend. Hmmm...I think I still have issues with not being able to secure purchases of flowered boots?

If you still wear Doc's, especially if you are a girl, I don't hate, I congratulate. Guys have an easier time rockin' the doc's so actually guys don't count. BUT it takes a strong woman to keep it real and roll the air wair...especially the vintage looks (e.g. Oxblood). I wish I still had my entire collection. I'd "wair" a pair a day for a week (or two) just to do it. Amen!! Unfortunately, I only have the flower power boots of awesomeness. Kurt JUST took my black square toes to the Goodwill like LAST WEEK (I had been hanging on for sentimental purposes, ok...whatever....). Oh yes, I plan to break out these babies as an ode to the aforementioned collector editions. R.I.P.

Mucho love, Doc lovers!
Ann

P.S. OMG....ha. http://cgi.ebay.com/Doc-Dr-Martens-Floral-Flower-Boots-Shoes-UK-8-USA-10_W0QQitemZ250396604259QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Women_s_Shoes?hash=item250396604259&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

Howdy Y'all

Yo, y'all! I'm back with a vengence. Two things are happening right now...

**cues Amy Winehouse singing the lyrics, "No, no, no..."**
1) My system is in REEEE-to the-HAB from the St. Patrick's Day Parade 14-hour drinking binge, followed by Wednesday's Eagles concert, followed by three days in my favorite town in the world, NASHVILLE!!!

2) Living in seculsion from my credit card bill which is due on April 1. This means I will have to log in and see my current balance, presumably racked up in Music City. Oh well, IT WAS WORTH IT, PEOPLE! :) :)


St. Patty's Day
So, yah, ehh. The St. Patrick's Day parade in Davenport is pretty much the greatest day of the year. Most everyone is at home "sleeping" by 7:00 pm, as most everyone goes downtown by 10;00 am. This particular year, however, I had a concert to attend at the River Center at 7:30 pm (Zac Brown Band and Little Big Town). Wow.... I really think this pic looks pretty darn good for being out for 12 hours by this point. This is me and my friend, Kate :) Unfortunately, due to the concert, I couldn't go to Swanson's band's concert at the Dugout :(

Eagles
**cues Life in the Fast Lane**
Awesome show! I almost died when I couldn't justify paying $165 per ticket to go to this gig. Basically, it would have been a $400 night for Kurt and I (just for tickets and drinks), the day before we left for Nashville. So, I didn't get the tix :( :(

Then, MIRACULOUSLY, the day OF the show, Kurt somehow lands FREE TICKETS from one of his suppliers and we were in the 32nd row on the floor, pretty much center. This sounds far away but I can assure you it was NOT! I would ADORE these seats for every single concert. The Eagles were fan-freakin-tastic.


Nashville

**cues Honky Tonk Women by The Stones (seriously)**
OMG, where to start where to start where to start! We had such an awesome group go this year and had sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much fun! Gretchen, Molly and I drove down on Thursday a.m./afternoon and met Gretchen's friend, Cheryl, from high school. We all went out that night and tore up the town! Seriously, I have no idea when I last had that much fun!! Friday we all went shopping on 2nd Ave and Broadway.

Then, Friday late afternoon, Kurt, Allison and her husband, Brandon, arrived. We all went out on Friday and had a great time. Saturday, we took a tour of the Ryman and went to the Grand Ole Opry at night. Sooooo sad to leave. Soooo sad. My post-Nashville depression still looms....

You can see all of my pics here: http://www.kurtandannsteward.shutterfly.com/



Of course I had to buy some random loot in Nashville. I got some AWESOME boots that I love from my favorite boot store, Nashville Cowboy. =Love!! This is my second year to buy boots there and oh yes, I plan on a third purchase next year!! I also bought a belt, two buckles and two pearl snaps. Hey, you only live once...and THESE boots rock it and roll it!

Missin' y'all, especially my yoga peeps that I haven't seen during my extended hiatus!

Love,

Ann

Pre-Hiatus

Before I begin my January through March first-quarter shopping hiatus, I had to break down and buy some stuff. I normally don't shop between Jan 1 and my Nashville trip in March. Until Nashville, NOTHING from here on out! I gotta save some cashola for the honky tonks on Broadway. Holla. (And possibly a belt or boot purchase from Nashville Cowboy on 2nd Ave). So here is my final loot of the quarter:

A) I ordered the Swenson practice manual. I had to borrow Kathy's during the Mysore class on Thursday. Definitely couldn't have gotten through the class without it (that is, without being severly annoying and asking Evan, "What do I do now??" every single pose).

B) While I fell in total love with the green peace sign covered Gaiam yoga mat, I have decided to retire it. I hate that thing!! It's all slippery and weird. That's what she said. Ew!!!! No, seriously, I'm going with the "suspiciously boring" Black Mat. I am going to be SOOOO SCARY walking into a random class next time I go to Chicago. HAH! I mean, BAM!! lol, Z.

C) I ordered a scanner to upload some old school pics. Watch out, Facebook friends!!! Also, I need it to scan some old family pictures of my Grandma's.

Def. rocking the L&B after the Thurs/Fri yoga challenge. I couldn't go today but it's on tomorrow, people! :)

Namaste!!

Ann

Sweet Home Chicago + Why I Should Avoid Parking Ramps

::cues Sweet Home Chicago::

So on Monday, Keri and her new Chanel, Jessica and her new Burberry, and Me and Louis all stepped out to Chicago for a girls night and blissfully blissful spa retreat. OMG so the cameras were in hiding during out girls getaway for some reason. Why we didn't take a pic of ourselves and our new BFF's (Chanel, Burberry, Louis Vuitton) on Michigan Avenue, I'll never know.

We stayed at "The W" on Lake Shore (loving it), dined at The Melting Pot (double loving it) and spa whored it up at Bliss Spa in The W (triple loving it). I proposed to the girl who gave me the hot salt scrub and vichy shower but she declined due to her husband and three kids. Good thing b/c Kurt would probably be mad!! :) I did buy a bunch of Bliss body products though so I'll let everyone know if they, as expected, make it into my Ann's Favorite Things #3.

We then had lunch at Su Casa (yummo) and did some shopping on Michigan Ave. I ended up with a pair of Nine West heels, a bag of loot from Sephora (Stila lip stain, Stila Kitten lip gloss and a new Shu Umera eyelash curler), and a lil' shopping bag full of surprise American Girl gifts for Belle. I have to admit that I'm pretty stoked about the lip stain... And Belle was screaming about the American Girl stuff! Kurt gets nothing b/c he is sooooo picky about his clothing and normally hates anything anyone else buys for him. Poor him! :( He almost scored a dark reddish brown fleece from North Face but then I wasn't sure of the color (I mean, I loved it!!) and what he'd think of it (questionable).

We stopped at Cheesecake Factory for some cheesecake and carrot cake to go (yum!). Seriously, I will probably die before I ever eat carrot cake again. UGH!!!

This may sound like it was all relaxing & stuff but don't be totally fooled. Remember, Jessica and I are involved here. Jessica's $16 bomb pop martini's and my 312's led to me dropping all the fondue forks during dinner and her breaking the wine corker off into a $69.00 1/2 bottle of wine. Re: $69 bottle of wine: after dinner, we all went back to me & Jessica's room. I opted for the ten year old Corona (yuck!) and Keri opted for Ann's nemesis (9th grade at Mandy's house - ugh!!!) O.J. and vodka.. The $69.00 bottle of wine didn't work out due to the corker breakage (thank god) but Jessica was able to drink a mini-bottle of champagne that was pretty gross but better than my Corona! Ha!

Another highlight was at the end of the trip when we were going to get the car. As we had walked out of the parking garage earlier, Jessica had mentioned losing the parking ticket. When we went to get the car I was too busy staring at the parking-ticket-money-taker and thinking, "OMG what if she really lost the ticket?" to notice the arm was actually up and coming down as I walked under it. It bonked me on the head and scared the hell out of me! Ha - Jessica was behind me and saw it and said she was "frozen" so she couldn't say anything. LOL!! The B (j/k). I did find out those arms weigh virtually nothing and this particular ramp even had padding underneath the arm presumably so it wouldn't scratch someone's car. However, when it hits something, it sort of snaps in half so an attendant came out of nowhere to fix it. LOL! It was hilarious and worth the laugh. Just what we needed to finish the trip. She found the ticket, by the way!

However, I have decided, since the afore-mentioned incident, I should just avoid parking ramps in general since I can barely see over the hood ANYWAY, let alone on a 90% incline going through the ramp. Also, one time, Nicole and I got locked in a parking garage in Nashville and had to break out (hilarious story maybe for a different day).


Bliss website is http://www.blissworld.com/ - Highly recommend!!

Mucho love and hugs to y'all and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A.

So...how was YOUR practice this weekend!!??

Miss Belle had a play date at 11:00 so I hit The Gap, where I was on a mission to find this ADORABLE dark purple coat that I had been wanting but definitely do not need. Did I mention I realllly wanted it??? OKAY, so I was super happy to randomly find it on sale for $80! OMG! I threw that honey on the counter and tossed in a couple of sweaters to make up the difference between the sale price and what I was planning to spend on the purple passion. Yay…so that makes the sweaters totally free!! I thought about skipping yoga to hang out at Von Maur but decided against it since I hadn’t yoga’d since Wednesday due to T-giv and was feeling triple eww-ish.

I climbed the 555 stairs at DSY to find only ONE other chica waiting to downdog it up. I’d never seen her so if it’s just going to be me, her and Evan, maybe she’s never yoga’d before and I’ll look like I just hopped off the red-eye from Mysore. Then Evan will be too busy “helping her out” to notice I still can’t do the freakin’ Warrior III for no logical reason. Yay! (BTW – what the hell is the deal with my Warrior III?!?!)

I then noticed a mermaid tattoo on new chica’s shoulder, her suspiciously boring-looking yoga mat (true yogis don’t rock my green-patterned Gaiam) and that she was wearing some seriously adorable yoga clothes. Cuteness!! I was starting to consider the remote possibility that she had taken a yoga class or two before. So (very innocently) I’m like, “Where do you normally take yoga?” (I'm hoping for her to respond with the YMCA.) Her: “I’m a yoga teacher in Chicago!” OF COURSE SHE IS, PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!! HOWWW lovely… Just absolutely lovely! “F%%%” was the only word that came to mind, to be honest.

So YAH: me, Chicago Yoga Princess and Evan!!! Just the type of situation someone new-ish to yoga but trying to be “cute” and take on Vinyasa III wants to be in. NOTTTT!!! Lol. I was soooooo hoping Evan would hand me the list to read from the window sill while him & chica did the Vinyasa Challenge 2008. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen so it was a long 1.5 hours, lemme tell ya. However, Evan was super nice and helped me A LOT while “Kelly, Jr.” appeared to be practicing for the next Yoga Journal photo shoot. She was totally awesomely awesome. If you want to feel my pain (literally, okay people), scope her website http://www.abalancedpractice.com/. Anyhow, THIS IS HER (see pics below)!! Doesn’t she totally remind you of Kelly??

Yoga is weird because there aren’t mirrors so you aren’t exactly sure what YOU look like during the poses. I was looking at her during some of the poses knowing I sure as hell wasn’t looking like THAT, though. Lol.

Anyway, I finished my Saturday afternoon with a deep tissue massage from Yvonne at William Wesley. Thank God. LOVE THE WOMAN and trust me, sistas and brothas, I needed it majora after hanging out in side plank with Kelly, Jr for what seemed like hours on end. Oh yeah, abalancedpractice can do THIS (this isn't her though, lol):

Sunday a.m., I limped (not kidding) into the ever-famous Ashtanga to “stretch” as Kurt would say. Awesome as usual, awesome as usual. Unfortunately, there is no footage of this Sunday’s embryo roll but props to Pete and Pat for the awesome headstanding that I noticed while upside down.

Namaste to y’all, to Kelly's long-lost twin sister, to 4 day weekends AND to my HOT PURPLE COAT!! Holla!

A.

::cues marching band::

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY JOHN DEERE BONUS DAY TO ALL!!!!!!!!!!

If you're spending part of your bonus on something awesome (i.e. anything other than your 401k), please feel free to share! We all know I'm buying a handbag from posts of late....and I'm sure you're tired of hearing about so I will not rehash :)

"Here. Swear. Swear on Chanel." -Carrie Bradshaw (Sex in the City)

Here On Gilligan's ISLE!!

"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip,
That started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny Ship.
The mate was a mighty sailin' man, the Skipper brave and sure,
Five passengers set sail that day for a three hour tour.
A three hour tour."





Note the bag above but post below!

P.S. Ingore the "hot" pic of me, Craig and Crystal. This was like 4pm on St. Patrick's Day, okay! :)

My Dec 15th Handbag (aka Investment Strategy)

First of all, THANK YOU to you Keri G-M for directing me to the most awesomest site on the web: http://www.purseblog.com/. These B's have my dream job of analyzing designer handbags all day then blogging about them. What I can't figure out, though, is how they have the cash to buy so many of them since they don't appear to have "real" JOBS. I can't bear to think it's possible that Louis Vuitton, Hermes and YSL just GIVE their bags to the purse blog girls. Even the mere suggestion of this idea causes a pain so deep I can't even breathe. Ugh...the trauma....

Regarding realistically-priced handbags (i.e. not $3,000), I'm totally over Coach and cannot stand the sight of a Dooney. =Ew on both accounts. However, I have long-since committed myself to buying AT LEAST two semi-expensive handbags per year: one for Christmas and one for my b-day in March. In spite of these recent brand boycotting limitations, I have, thank God, found some pretty sweet handbag options at Von Maur.

Let me say that I have wanted to be a Kate Spade fan for years but just can't get into it. I refuse to give up and fortunately, they have some decent stuff this winter. For my b-day bag 2007, I tried to go nautical and bought a navy blue canvas Kate trimmed in white. It was adorable at first but then just got to be too Gilligan's Island. Plus, it was canvas and I truly just carry too much stuff for canvas as it was always all bumpy-looking. Ick. I break out this Kate every now and again if I'm feeling a little shipwrecked, but other than that it usually lies dormant in the purse tote.

With no further ado, here are the options:

Option #1 of 3:

At first I wanted this one in light grey but now I think I want this baby in BLUE (see below)!!!






Option #2 of 3:


So I really dig this hot lil' number (see below) in Eggplant with patent trim. It's just cute and tres, tres "holiday." I can see myself getting sick of it easily but I really dig it.






Option #3 of 3:

I really think I just might have to buy a Louis. I mean you only live once, right?

Thoughts anyone? Anyone? Bueller? ....Bue-ller? .............BUE-LLER??

Love,
Moi

P.S. MANY, MANY props to my muy bueno friend Josh Herting for splurging on the Marc Jacobs Stamm bag for his girlfriend's Christmas prize. Note: I did not say Marc by Marc Jacobs. Ew. He went for the one-eye- real-deal-steal-Teal-Hollifield (inside high school joke on that one but you get my point)! Any man that spends over $1K on a handbag prize is A+++ in my book.