I-Do-What-I-Want Wednesday

Warning : the following is a non-nail post. 

File Under:  The Handbag Obsession of Summer 2013

That's how it's gonna go down in my history.  Why?  Where'd this come from?  No clue really.  But it hit me like a train and suddenly I wanted --no, needed-- to own a chic handbag.  So I did what I always do... off to research I went.  

I started at the top, fell in love, got sticker shock, recovered, rationalized (TARDIS blue ♥)  started making long-range plans --I have a birthday in the fall... I have a Christmas Club Nest Egg...-- crafted a backup plan.....  Then I consulted my mother who resolved it all thus:  You have handbags for fall. What you need is a Summer bag.  Let's go shopping.

♥  I  Love  My  Mother  ♥

Yeah-- look what we found at the first store we went to! 

[ Coach Legacy Leather Mini Tanner -|- other colors ]

Right away I remembered seeing --and liking-- this style of bag on Ella Pretty's blog.  Then I walked away and I inspected virtually all the bags in the handbag department.  I didn't like most of them.  I liked Fossil bags --I'm not a brand fanatic, but I always like their designs-- but I wanted to step out of my usual.  Coach is not my usual.  A "frivolous color" is not my usual.  Dammit!  I wanted "not my usual"!  All the way! 

I have to say, I think it's the most perfect little handbag for Summer.  It's not too big, not too small --I don't have to switch wallets to use it!-- and it's bright, lemon-yellow color is cheerful yet chic.  (It's not neon-highlighter yellow.)  Plus it's super comfortable to carry, as a cross-body or by the handles.  See?

I kinda sometimes wanna be a fashion blogger. Don't judge me... please? ♥

[ dress : LOFT -|- shoes : Jessica Simpson (they match the bag perfectly!)]

The day I snapped this selfie I was going out to dinner... and maybe for a little shopping too... yet I bought nothing.  In fact, very little of what I saw appealed to me.  (Although if I had found Essie's In The Cab-Ana --OT: OMG that silly hyphenation, that's a total 50 Shades reference isn't it!?-- that probably would have happened.)  Aaahhhh yes.... relief.  The handbag-shaped hole in my heart was filled.  ♥  

Summer is a big deal for me.  This one in particular has been special, for a variety of reasons.  But mostly because I know that even when Summer ends I'm not going back to the "same old same old".  I'm going to a new campus in the fall, back to the grade level I truly love and it all feels so... refreshing.  I feel like I will be able to establish a new me there, so to speak.  Because 'that me' intends to reclaim the 'old me' which 'this me' has been missing.  Hello again, make-up.  Dress up to look cute, without fear of judgment?  Yes, thank you.  To be a better me... summer into fall... my seasons of regeneration and renewal.  

Regeneration... that reminds me... TARDIS blue ♥ I still want you... *le sigh*  =)

~*Ari