There are women who covet accessories. They spend oodles of money on handbags and other gear. They coordinate said accessories with outfits. They ooh and aah over Chanel and Louis Vuitton. Heck, some of them even buy matching collars for their annoying little rat dogs. If they can afford the big names they will buy them. If they cannot, they buy the knockoffs.
And then there are women like me. Women who view a purse as a practical, utilitarian item; something to throw a wallet, cellphone, lipstick or in my case Blistex, and various little bits of paper that for some reason must be on your person at all times. Women who own only one or two handbags; one for everyday and maybe one inexpensive bag for dressy occasions. I envy men. They somehow manage to stuff everything into their pockets. A purse is the last thing on earth I want to think about. I want to just throw my stuff in my bag and head out the door. I want to carry as little as possible in my bag. I don't like the thought of spending a large sum of money on a handbag either. On the other hand I reached my wits end and was getting rather fed up with having to waste my precious time and energy shopping for and spending my money on a new handbag once a year. The thought of shopping for a handbag gives me a headache. It's a nasty chore. Please, hand me a toothbrush and I'll scrub the shower instead, thank you very much.
So about 7 years ago-before I even thought about having a child-I decided to buy an investment piece. I felt it was worth it to spend more money if I could find a purse that was well made with top notch materials and would last an incredibly long time. The longer I can avoid thinking about purses, the better. I wanted something that featured clean, simple lines that would not go out of style. I also didn't want a bag that would have the designer or manufacturer's name all over it. I despise Louis Vuitton and Dooney and Bourke. I figure if I'm going to advertise for anyone they should be paying me, not the other way around.
The answer to my dilemma? I bought a Coach bag in simple black leather. (I removed the hangtag though, which I find tacky.) Coach has since retired my bag. They've gone the route of LV and now plaster the letter "C" all over the majority of their bags these days. Ick. (I can hardly wait until they eventually switch back to classic Coach design.) The leather on my bag is a bit softer than it was when I bought it, but it's worn well, the patina looks great and the bag serves me well. That was money very well spent.
I like simple wallets too. For about 5 years I've been using a men's wallet. It's a money clip attached to a leather sleeve which holds, in a neat little stack, all of my various bank cards and other important pieces of plastic (like my library card and the Starbucks card one of my clients tipped me with a while back). But a few weeks ago disaster struck. I'm distraught! My money clip broke. I've been on a quest for a new wallet ever since. I'm not having much luck either.
Wallet shopping is far worse than handbag shopping. 7 years ago I walked into Macy's and marched over to the the Coach counter. I saw my bag and knew it was the one for me. It was that simple. Yet I've looked at a gazillion wallets. I've looked at men's and women's wallets.
Why do women's wallets need to be large enough to fit the entire state of California? Who on earth needs to carry around their checkbook when check cards exist?! Why is it that all the women's wallets that would comfortably hold all of my little pieces of paper and plastic are almost as big as a full fledged briefcase? (Particularly, no especially, when my last wallet could easily hold all of my stuff and fit into my pocket!)
Why is it that men's wallets are designed by morons? Is there a reason that each card needs it's own sleeve? HELLO, if there is a layer of leather dividing each card it adds significant bulk to the wallet. If the cards are touching each other they won't melt! Nor will the magnetic strip demagnetize.
Grrrrr. I'm confident though. Eventually I will find a kick ass wallet....and when I do I will purchase 3 of them.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
the life of a college student
The term started a month ago. I'm taking a prerequisite for my major and Spanish. Just 2 classes. Thank goodness I only took 2 classes. Running a business, taking care of a child and life in general won't allow me to take much more of a work load right now. My first Spanish exam was a few days ago. I didn't have much confidence going in to the exam. I was hoping for at least a C. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I earned a B!
My prerequisite is being taught by someone who seems to lack confidence. He stands in front of the class with a stack of cue cards. He knows the material, but I suspect he's just not comfortable standing in front of a group and actually teaching. The text book is as bland and boring as is possible. Why oh why must professors make us struggle with boring crap?! There is plenty of interesting material on this topic. As a result the class is dull. Hopefully it will get more interesting as the semester moves onward.
My favorite art history professor is not teaching this semester. I suspect that he was either canned (docile he is not) or retired but I can't be sure. I noticed he didn't have any classes listed this semester. Actually, the classes that he normally teaches are listed with a different professor. This morning I swung by his office and there was a pile of garbage outside the door, right on top of which, were left over blank exams from Modern Art. I miss his classes. He was fantastic at forcing us to think outside the box on a multitude of issues. He is a true intellectual of the counter culture. I hope nothing happened to him; I hope he's alright.
On a side note, I'm toying with the idea of doing a minor in Women's Studies. I would only need to take 3 classes to get it though because a few of my core courses for my major would apply toward the minor. I've got plenty of time to think about it though. I'll probably wait at least a year before I make a definitive decision on it.
My prerequisite is being taught by someone who seems to lack confidence. He stands in front of the class with a stack of cue cards. He knows the material, but I suspect he's just not comfortable standing in front of a group and actually teaching. The text book is as bland and boring as is possible. Why oh why must professors make us struggle with boring crap?! There is plenty of interesting material on this topic. As a result the class is dull. Hopefully it will get more interesting as the semester moves onward.
My favorite art history professor is not teaching this semester. I suspect that he was either canned (docile he is not) or retired but I can't be sure. I noticed he didn't have any classes listed this semester. Actually, the classes that he normally teaches are listed with a different professor. This morning I swung by his office and there was a pile of garbage outside the door, right on top of which, were left over blank exams from Modern Art. I miss his classes. He was fantastic at forcing us to think outside the box on a multitude of issues. He is a true intellectual of the counter culture. I hope nothing happened to him; I hope he's alright.
On a side note, I'm toying with the idea of doing a minor in Women's Studies. I would only need to take 3 classes to get it though because a few of my core courses for my major would apply toward the minor. I've got plenty of time to think about it though. I'll probably wait at least a year before I make a definitive decision on it.
Fabulous strikes again...
...or so Fabulous thinks. Fabulous has gotten into the habit of putting people up to calling me and booking gigs for the purpose of fishing for information. (I suspect that's the reasoning behind it but one can never be sure of the ulterior motive.) I end up reserving a date and time slot for a sham gig and run the risk of possibly not booking a legitimate one. At least I suppose that's the idea. Except I'm on to Fabulous. I can always tell when it's one of his/her peeps. They're not discreet either. I'm quite sure they're oblivious about just how conspicuous they truly are. It's actually funny. I can always tell.
Calling other companies or performers and digging for information is something that I don't do as a rule. It's dishonest; I'd rather just call someone up and ask them something point blank. Unfortunately sometimes people won't give accurate information under those circumstances. But I look at it this way, how badly do I really need information from another company or performer? If someone isn't honest with me I don't want to do business with them anyway. If a company is lying about me (and that has happened in the past-it's weird how cutthroat the birthday party business can be) it always comes back to bite them in the ass.
Calling other companies or performers and digging for information is something that I don't do as a rule. It's dishonest; I'd rather just call someone up and ask them something point blank. Unfortunately sometimes people won't give accurate information under those circumstances. But I look at it this way, how badly do I really need information from another company or performer? If someone isn't honest with me I don't want to do business with them anyway. If a company is lying about me (and that has happened in the past-it's weird how cutthroat the birthday party business can be) it always comes back to bite them in the ass.
Monday, September 17, 2007
A hybrid car with bling
This afternoon I saw something I never would have expected; a Honda Insight with spinning rims. Hybrid cars are usually associated with geek types. They're typically the thinking man's (or woman's) car. I always think of geeks as being entirely too practical to be bothered with auto bling. It looked ridiculous and completely out of place. I called up my husband laughing like a banshee. "I've seen everything! I'm at a red light and guess what I'm looking at? An Insight with Spinning Rims!!!" He in turn told one of his co-workers. She too laughed like a loon. It was apparently the highlight of her day.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
rhetoric and a wedding
I started class about 2 weeks ago. I'm taking Spanish I and a rhetoric class which is the main prerequisite for my major. I'm not enjoying Spanish; it's a chore. I don't like the format of the class either. I had the choice to do total immersion or a bilingual class at the local community college. I chose total immersion and now I'm paying the price. Somehow I'll make my way through the semester. But for Spanish II I'm heading to the community college.
The rhetoric class is very interesting, although ironically the professor is not a good public speaker. I suppose that's why he's never done work as a public speaker; he knows his strong points and his weak points. He has worked as a speech writer in the past. You can tell he knows his stuff, but he's clearly not terribly comfortable standing at the front of a room and speaking.
This class is the foundation for many of the other classes I will be taking. I love it because I can see how it relates to so many things in our society. I'm particularly glad I'm taking this class heading into an election year. The first day of class the professor mentioned a quote, I don't remember it exactly, but paraphrased it's something along the lines of, "If you don't understand rhetoric you can be had."
I'm the geek sitting at the front of class paying attention and involved in the entire class discussion. I do not enjoy the fact that it's at 8:00am though. It means that I have to drop Little Man off at his preschool at 7:00am on the days I have my rhetoric class. Which means I have to wake him up at 6:30am. Ever try to wake a 4 1/2 year old up at 6:30am when all he wants to do is sleep until the sun comes up? "Moooooooooom, let me sleep. It's still night time." 8:00am is just too early for me for a class. So I end up yawning my way through the class, even though I enjoy it.
On another note, we went to the Bahama's this past weekend (Labor Day weekend, the last hurrah before fall) for a friends wedding. This is the second wedding we've gone to in the past few years. Both were Jewish weddings. My guy and I both come from Jewish families but we're non-practicing and about as reformed as is possible. However, we did have a Jewish wedding. When we got married I didn't know what a Ketubah was and even if I had known, I'm not sure I would have cared about having one. This summer we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. I think that's significant for our generation. We have Little Man at a Jewish preschool and after attending 2 Jewish weddings I realize a Ketubah is something meaningful and I wish I would have had a better understanding of it when we got married.
Interestingly enough, when I went online and researched Ketubah's out of curiosity and to educate myself, I discovered most companies that sell them offer many different texts for them, one of which is from a Secular Humanist perspective. My guy and I got married in Las Vegas and we always loved what the rabbi said at our wedding service. It wasn't until I read the Secular Humanist Ketubah texts that I realized our rabbi took that approach for our wedding. I kind of regret not getting a Ketubah when we got married.
Cest la vie. I suppose we could always renew our wedding vows and have the rabbi sign it then.
The rhetoric class is very interesting, although ironically the professor is not a good public speaker. I suppose that's why he's never done work as a public speaker; he knows his strong points and his weak points. He has worked as a speech writer in the past. You can tell he knows his stuff, but he's clearly not terribly comfortable standing at the front of a room and speaking.
This class is the foundation for many of the other classes I will be taking. I love it because I can see how it relates to so many things in our society. I'm particularly glad I'm taking this class heading into an election year. The first day of class the professor mentioned a quote, I don't remember it exactly, but paraphrased it's something along the lines of, "If you don't understand rhetoric you can be had."
I'm the geek sitting at the front of class paying attention and involved in the entire class discussion. I do not enjoy the fact that it's at 8:00am though. It means that I have to drop Little Man off at his preschool at 7:00am on the days I have my rhetoric class. Which means I have to wake him up at 6:30am. Ever try to wake a 4 1/2 year old up at 6:30am when all he wants to do is sleep until the sun comes up? "Moooooooooom, let me sleep. It's still night time." 8:00am is just too early for me for a class. So I end up yawning my way through the class, even though I enjoy it.
On another note, we went to the Bahama's this past weekend (Labor Day weekend, the last hurrah before fall) for a friends wedding. This is the second wedding we've gone to in the past few years. Both were Jewish weddings. My guy and I both come from Jewish families but we're non-practicing and about as reformed as is possible. However, we did have a Jewish wedding. When we got married I didn't know what a Ketubah was and even if I had known, I'm not sure I would have cared about having one. This summer we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. I think that's significant for our generation. We have Little Man at a Jewish preschool and after attending 2 Jewish weddings I realize a Ketubah is something meaningful and I wish I would have had a better understanding of it when we got married.
Interestingly enough, when I went online and researched Ketubah's out of curiosity and to educate myself, I discovered most companies that sell them offer many different texts for them, one of which is from a Secular Humanist perspective. My guy and I got married in Las Vegas and we always loved what the rabbi said at our wedding service. It wasn't until I read the Secular Humanist Ketubah texts that I realized our rabbi took that approach for our wedding. I kind of regret not getting a Ketubah when we got married.
Cest la vie. I suppose we could always renew our wedding vows and have the rabbi sign it then.
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