Fashion vs Practicality

(What are you packin'? As a purse or wallet, that is. Our host for this week's Fun Monday is The Church Lady over at Living Life in Pa . Church Lady wants to see a photo of our purse/wallet and, if not too incriminating, wants a description of the contents. Well, I'm packin' practical,but longing for high fashion.)


The SAK Silverlake Leather Convertible Satchel in persimmon is what I'm longing for. First, I love this color and it would look great with my default wardrobe color choices of mostly black and brown. Like the way the bag conforms to your side when you wear it over the shoulder. The leather looks buttery soft. The braided handles and zipper pulls are nice touches. The straps make the bag look very sporty and about town. Very fashionable and fun accessory to have for everyday. It could be mine for around $100.

Chances are that I won't be getting this purse, though. Here's the thing. When you're retired, this kind of purse is just not practical--at least for my lifestyle. A good week for me is one where I don't have to leave the house except to do a few errands and take in a movie. For my week, a persimmon satchel would just be overkill. So, instead I use this common sense black microfiber Baggallini that is just large enough to hold what I need to leave home. I've had this purse for many years and liked carrying it to work because I could tuck it into a tote bag with all my take home work. If I went out for lunch, I could just take the purse. Here's what I carry in this handy 8 x 6 in. wallet on a string:

Starting in the lower right hand corner and going counter clockwise: 1. keys for my retirement car, a Toyota Scion xB, my little "breadbox on wheels"; 2. a plastic baggie for "sister fixing"--I take care of my older sister's business since she's housebound so, this bag contains cash, lists, receipts, meds prescriptions so I can get her situated when I go out; 3. reporter's notebook with a running grocery/errands list--remember the goal is to limit the number of times I have to pull the car out of the driveway per week; 4.cash and plastic; 5. Origins lip gloss in natural and raspberry, eyeglass cleaners, and Colgate wisps disposable toothbrushes; 6. watch--stopped wearing one every day since retiring; 7. cell phone and a love/hate relationship with it; 8. Altoid minis, checkbook, and ticket stub to latest movie-- "Easy Virtue",very stylish adaptation of Noel Coward play starring Colin Firth who does a mean tango :-).

Finally, the Baggalini is the only purse I carry for travel. The rule is that you only take two pieces of luggage, especially for international travel. First, there's a duffel bag with wheels that gets checked. Then all my in-flight supplies and "toys" go in a backpack so I can move about hands free to deal with security, take photos, etc. The Baggalini goes in my backpack and is large enough to hold passport, cash, maps, and camera if I want to travel lightly when going out in the evening. This particular pile of stuff was what I needed for a European trip last year. As you can see, I was ready for all contingencies!

Now be sure to get over to The Church Lady's place and check out other Fun Monday purses. "Isn't that special?"