My Purse

I think Michelle will appreciate this post. Every city I've lived in has shaped my personality, taste, cooking, habits, organizational skills and most importantly, my style. I started making money when I finally made it to New York. I was no longer the starving graphic designer I had been in LA. When I was in LA, my purchases generally consisted of LA things like cars and computers. To my chagrin, there weren't nearly as many fun, electronic toys back in those days. I never got the whole California style thing down. I remember my secretly gay, but engaged boss told me one day that I was such a lost soul in my black pants, maroon long sleeved crew neck and stockings, and that I absolutely did not belong in Pasadena. My relics from Indiana weren't going to cut it in West Hollywood or Culver City for that matter.

However, in New York, under the influnece of friends like Marie and after working in the fashion industry with people like Miki Thomas, who basically ran Dana Buchman for a hundred years, I started coordinating my belts, shoes and most of all bags. I bought high heeled boots and started having my hair professionally styled and colored (occasionally). For my 30th birthday, I made a return trip to LA where my good friend and aesthetician, Anne, "prescribed" a collection of all natural lotions, soaps and exfoliants to keep wrinkles at bay for another decade. I started getting my style together. I would say the pinnacle of all that was when I had two purses custom made for me in New York. I went from paying $30 for a simple bag, to $300 for the works. These are two of my favorites. My beloved Cole Haan evening bag and my Coach tote. Both have matching boots, heels and shoes to wear for walking to work when I wanted. And jackets. And gloves... with matching hats and scarves. Sandals, wraps. I loved it.

To most midwesterners, this is waay over the top. To most of my friends, I'm silly. I KNOW my Slovak family thinks I'm an idiot. My mother thinks I'm insane. I understand that, and I agree to a certain extent. All of these things are completely unnecessary for your happiness in this world, but I have to say that the satisfaction of getting all those little details of your wardrobe in place is almost as good as having a date on Friday night with a guy you really like.

I just wanted to share with you my most recent purse. It's my Slovak purse. It's practical, and it holds all the essentials, keys, water, mobile. It was perfect when we went to Dunajska streda to pick apricots. Milan's dad even made a special matching pouch to carry my pears.

Milan and I have been married one year now, and I've probably bought less than a hundred fifty dollars worth of clothes in the last year and 7 months, but we agree that we're happier now than we were on our wedding day and certainly happier than we were on our first date. I can definitely say that being happily married is a lot better than any Cole Haan purse (even if you have the matching wallet and the boots that are just simply so "Sex & the City").