Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Motherhood: the Fashion Faux Pas Adventure

When I'm rushing kids to Vacation Bible School, Choir Practice, a soccer game, I don't feel glamorous. There's certainly nothing exciting about sitting in car pool. In fact, I hate car pool with a passion most people reserve for fire ants or taxes.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Indiana Jones and I actually have something in common.

I may not have to run from boulders, but I'm often in a hurry. I also usually need to keep my hands free, so what do I do? I sling my purse over one shoulder just like Indy does with his satchel.

Other mothers may wince at my lack of style, but sometimes pragmatism beats out fashion sense. I can't catch my three-year-old if I'm holding a Coach clutch. And I have no experience in the area, but I'm sure having your daughter stuff a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a Louis Vuitton would be enough to send you over the edge. But, hey, just try damaging a khaki mesh purse that you got for three dollar on clearance at Kohl's. That's the kind of purse you can't destroy as an excuse to get a new purse; it's the kind of purse that doesn't die just to spite you.

And, to tell you the truth, I wouldn't want my shoulder bag to fray or tear. After all, running after kids can sometimes be just as scary as running away from massive boulders. So tell me about your purse. Are you practical? fashion forward? Somewhere in-between? Do have any purse-meets-kids horror stories?

7 comments:

  1. I cheat. I buy Gucci and Guess purses from Goodwill on half-price Saturday. :) But lately I've taken to carrying the tote bag I got from Dollar Tree as my purse...and then I wonder why I can't find anything in the stupid thing. Or, if I'm being really lazy, I just stuff my wallet, keys, and misc. into Samuel's diaper bag and roll on out the door. How's that for fashion...lol.

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  2. Hi Sally,

    I don't have any purse-meets-kids horror stories and I don't go for the Designer bags like my sisters do. I'm a Target purse girl or whoever has it for $25 or less. But once I find one, I wear it in the ground. Like the one I have now, a cute two-tone straw weave with leather trim, handles and catch. It's a good three years old and this year I had to glue one side of a handle back on. Last night the other handle broke. Why must I stuff my handbags like they're luggage? *big sigh* SO, I'll be stopping by Kohl's on the way home. Hopefully I can find something on Clearance. :)

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  3. Jennifer, so did the diaper bag as purse when the kiddies were little. To make life more interesting, I usually had a backpack. Color me Dora the Explorer.

    Jeanette, we are kindred spirits in the realm of the purse! I usually have one that I just keep using over and over. I confess that hubby got me a Coach bag for Christmas a couple of years ago, but I'm afraid to take it with me for fear of what might happen to it.

    Good luck at Kohls! They're doing the 15%, 20% or 30% today and tomorrow I think! Oh, and they have a clone for my Indiana Jones purse at Target. : )

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  4. I'm more of a tote bag girl myself. I have one of those Kangaroo wallet things that I'll slip out of the bag to take into stores.
    I have some really cute purses too ... but that would take organization to be able to change from one to the other. I tend to stick with a bag for three months and then change with the season.

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  5. I do have a horror story though (of course). A year and a half ago I had a lovely leather black bag. It was so cute, big enough to hold everything but small enough that it didn't overpower my frame (I'm a bit petite).

    The family drove to SC for winter holiday and my son and I developed a cough while in the upstate. I purchased one of those small mist things for sore throats. I don't like cherry flavor but that's all they had. I put it in my purse.

    Somewhere along the road on the way home my son asked for the spray. I handed it to him and when he handed it back I did NOT check the top.

    Later on I kept smelling cherries. Which makes me gag. It finally clicked and I pulled out the now empty brand-spanking-new container of medicine and found liquid stickiness all over everything in the bag ... including my digital camera.

    Camera was saved but the autofocus didn't work for months. I finally threw away the purse.

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  6. Robin, that's horrible! Nothing like sticky on the inside of a purse. Even worse: sticky on the inside of your favorite purse, the one you can't replace!

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  7. Argh...that's bad! Something else that's bad is ketchup packets exploding (or getting smushed to death, more aptly) in the 4th of July purse I had. Even worse, the red of the ketchup didn't coordinate with the red in the purse. It looked as though something had bled to death in there.

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