It's been awhile

It's been a while since I had a purse that was worthy of a "most perfect purse awesomeness" blog post.

That day has now come, people.

I've had a couple other purses since the last one that I blogged about, but for one reason or another they just didn't measure up to my well-established criteria and therefore I had to break up with them.  As we girls know, having the right purse (much like the right man) is essential to daily happiness and sanity...it just makes life go better.  We carry them around everywhere so it has to be functional and comfortable and when it's not, it can be frustrating and make us kinda crabby.

No one wants that.

Especially husbands.

So finding the just right purse is something for all to celebrate.

Here is my current winner.  I love it so much...it might even be worthy of being the "most perfectest"  of them all so far,  but we'll have to see.  That's a high honor and I haven't used it long enough yet to be absolutely sure, but it's definitely looking promising.

Let's review the criteria again and see how this one measures up:

1)  It has to be real leather.  Or a fake material that I happen to think is real leather.  This purse definitely meets this criteria.  It's not leather, but according to Amazon it's "synthetic vegan leather".  What the heck is that?  Vegan leather?  Is it made out of soybeans?  Who knows, but it looks and feels like real leather and that's good enough for me.  It's soft and I love the muted brown color.

2)  It has to have a short handle.  Check.  This one is perfect.  The handle is thick and sturdy which I like since that tends to be the first thing that wears out on my purses.  

3)  It has to have separate pockets for my cell phone and lip stuff on the outside of the purse.  Check twice!  This one has TWO pockets on the outside!  One that is big enough for my new phone (I have now joined the iPhone fan club) and the other one works for storing my lip stuff.  Both zip shut...yesssss.

4)  It absolutely cannot have any sequins or tassels or unnecessary gaudy embellishments.  Check.  I like the bronze buckles and buttons.  Cute, a little rustic, not overdone at all.

5)  It has to be able to zip shut.  This has become really important to me.  I've had a couple purses that don't zip shut and whenever I'm shopping I'm always paranoid that someone might reach in and grab my wallet or my phone.  Or (God forbid)...MY PLANNER!!!  NOOOOO!!!!!

6) It has to have at least two big separate sections - one for my wallet, note pad and planner, and the other for all my crap important stuff that I don't leave home without. This I am crossing off my list.  I don't need two separate sections, in fact I have found that I like to just be able to throw everything in without worrying about where it goes.  But this next one is absolutely critical...

7) It has to be big enough to hold all of said crap important stuff, but not look like a suitcase.  This purse definitely meets that criteria - probably better than all my previous ones.  It is really wide, but doesn't look big or bulky.

And for the first time, I am adding a new criteria to my list:

8)  It has to have buckles on the handle that I can clip my keys to.  I have been clipping my keys on the outside of my purse since the boys were little.  It's so convenient not to have to dig through my purse to find them, especially when my hands are full.  And clipping them on the outside keeps them visible, which has helped me countless times to not lock myself out of the house because I assumed my keys were in my purse.  Could I clip them on the handle without requiring a buckle?  Of course, but then they slide up and down the handle, they bang into things when I'm chucking my purse around, and I just can't deal with that kind of chaos.

So here I go....blissfully navigating about my days with "most perfect purse awesomeness" on my arm, on the chair at home, and the seat beside me in my car.  And it occurs to me.  What will I do when this one wears out in a year or two?  What if they don't sell it anymore and I can't find anything this awesome?  What will I do?  WHAT????

So I'm doing something I have considered but have never actually done before...I'm buying another one just like it.  It's in my Amazon cart right now.  Exactly the same but in a darker brown.  It will feel like a whole new purse (oh the joy) and will be exactly what I want and need.  My worries have now been laid to rest, all is right in the universe and all my dreams have come true.

Our North Shore anniversary vacation ~ day 1

We are on vacation!  I kept saying that, probably a dozen or more times since yesterday when I got home from work.  I'm still trying to let it sink in...that we are really, really, for real on vacation!  We are celebrating our 10 year anniversary this week and have been planning this getaway for a few months now.  I think we were both a little nervous that something would happen and crap on our plans and we wouldn't be able to actually go...but as we pulled out of the driveway this morning with our car packed and hit the road, it became a reality...WE ARE ON VACATION!!

First stop (of course, duh) was Cabin Coffee...sugar-free turtle frappes were our go-juice of choice.  We decided to take the Rochester/Twin Cities route since it was mostly interstate and I much prefer that over two lane hwy driving. We hit downtown St. Paul around 1pm and decided to go to one of our favorite lunchy places in the cities...Cosettas Eatery and Italian Pizzaria because IT'S THE BOMB!

I got the same thing I got last time we were here...the meatball sub, which happens to be the size of a small baby and I only ate like 1/3 of it.

It was so nice not to be in a hurry.  Our day to day lives can be so rushed that I forget to slow down sometimes and enjoy the things we experience. There are so many opportunities in each day, no matter where we are, to slow down and savor the moments.

Vince got us a cute little plate of cookies from the bakery to have in our room because he's just sweet that way. 

We had our first glimpse of Lake Superior as we passed through Duluth, and we were quite excited!  We decided not to stop there because we really wanted to get to the resort, but we will check out some of it's amenities on our way back.  I'd like to see the bridge up close, and we know there is a lighthouse and at least one winery there.

Why does driving through tunnels feel so cool??

After an 8 hour drive (with several stops) we made it to Bluefin Bay ~ our home for the rest of the week!  We are on the 2nd floor, in the Grand Superior Suite.  

This little path down to the cove is not far from our door.  Vince went down there shortly after we arrived to check out the shoreline... 

...while I stayed back to get our room set up and take in the long anticipated view from our window. It was a bit overcast and there was fog forming above the lake.  But it cleared up nicely later and we were able to get some great pics. 

The sight of the water and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore is one of my favorite things in the entire world. 

Once we were settled and finished ooo-ing and aaaaah-ing about our room and the view,  we got ready and went out for dinner.

Vince likes to try local beers when we are out and about.  It's his thing.  He said this one was "not bad".  After we got seated and ordered our food, I went outside to get some pics of the beautiful scenery (and listen to the waves again).  It was still a little overcast and started to sprinkle a bit.

See the seagulls out on the end of the rock?  Mine!  Mine!  Mine!

As our first course arrived we looked out the window and were blessed with this FULL rainbow!  My camera couldn't get the whole thing in one shot, but I ran right back outside to capture it in the rain. 

We shared a delicious dinner of almond buttered lake trout (caught in Lake Superior of course), vegies and wild rice with blueberries....which was an interesting surprise and very tastey.

After our lovely dinner, it was back to our room to enjoy the evening together.  Mr. Wonderful built us a fire (oh how I've missed a fire!).  He kept it going late into the night and it was heavenly.

After dinner we found a few things at the gift shop at the restaurant...the second I spotted this little gem I HAD to have it (my litmus test regarding if I buy something or not is my immediate reaction of "I HAVE TO HAVE THAT!"  If I don't love it at that level, I usually walk away.)  This one meets or exceeds my criteria for "perfectpurseawesomeness" except for one detail...it's pretty small, however that is the purpose of this one so I can comfortably take it when we are out on excursions.  It has to be small, lightweight and have a long strap to go over my shoulder so I can be hands free while we are out and about for a day.

Seriously, I love everything single thing about it...red and brown leather, brushed brass accents, treble clef emblem (whah???), pockets inside and out, and lined with polkadot fabric!  HELLOOOOO SWEETNESS!!!!  It was made just for me.  

We also found this candle for our room.  It has three layers of scents which have smokey/fireplace scents and are different from the usual vanilla/baked goods scents that we use at home.  I wanted something new for our room so that we would have a new "scent memory" of our trip to take home with us. It has a wide wick that sounds like a crackling fire and looks so pretty, and even puts out a little warmth...four of the five senses ~ BOOM!

The sunset view out our window, wine, a new deck of cards, Michael Buble and this guy....what could be more wonderful?

Heroes, another edition of "perfect purse awesomeness", and being in a funk

Husbands who get up at 4am to kill spiders, with nary a complaint, score BIG POINTS with their wives!!!

I don't like spiders, but I can usually handle grabbing them with a kleenex and flushing them down the toilet. However, when they are big, black, gross baby tarantulas, then I'm out.  (That is not in my job description, and is one of the reasons I got married).  The intruder was in my bathroom sink and as creeped out as I was, I did not take my eyes off it while Mr. Wonderful was waking up and putting on his cape to come to my rescue, because if the thing would have scurried off somewhere and escaped I would have had to move out.

Mr. W took care of it without batting an eye (or even sighing at me) and went back to sleep.  As did I, however my torment continued in my dreams, where the spider's MOTHER, which was as big as my hand, was crawling around on our carpet and I was throwing all kinds of stuff at it to try and kill it.  Vince was not available in my dream, but my son Kyle was sitting in a chair calmly watching my antics as I freaked out about the mother spider.  (That's totally something he would do by the way - he obviously gets his calm demeanor from his dads.)  I don't know if I killed it tho, because all of a sudden my dream diverted to me trying to use our kitchen sink and discovering that the faucet had shot out through the roof of our house like a rocket and got stuck on top of some phone lines above our house. I'm not even going to try to analyze what that means, but it distracted me from the spiders so that's fine with me.

So.

I've been in sort of a funk lately.  I'm not sure why, nothing bad has happened, in fact some really good things have happened.

Like, I got a new purse.

I have been using it for exactly two days and already have decided it meets my standard for "perfect purse awesomeness".  It's been a while since I had one that met my stringent criteria   (you can see previous winners here and here and here), so I'm pretty stoked.  Here is how my new purse stacks up to the criteria:

1) It has to be real leather. Or a fake material that I happen to think is real leather.  This one might actually be real leather.  I mean I got it at Nordstroms so there's a chance.  It's soft and has that wrinkled leather look and feel that I love. Good 'nuff for me.

2) It has to have a short handle.  Check.  It's short enough to carry around like a grandma, yet long enough to fling over my elbow, and over my shoulder if I am in the mood to be annoyed by it falling off 8 times before I resorting to my other two carrying options.

3) It has to have separate pockets for my cell phone and lip stuff on the outside of the purse.  Check.  This has one large pocket on the outside of the purse, which is perfect for my phone and lip stuff.  Score!

4) It absolutely cannot have any sequins or tassels or unnecessary gaudy embellishments.  Check.  Not even a buckle on this baby.

5) It has to be able to zip shut. Well, here is where we deviate a bit from the criteria.  It doesn't zip.  It has one magnetic snap, tho.  We'll see how this goes.

6) It has to have at least two big separate sections - one for my wallet and notes, the other for all my crap important stuff that I don't leave home without - which now includes my planner, iPad, notebooks, and sometimes my lunch.  Another deviation:  this one has just one large compartment.  It's more of a bag than a purse, but that's ok. I have a bag obsession too so a purse-bag is a winner on all fronts.

Another good thing that happened this week is that Vince and I purchased our first vehicle together.  We have had the same two vehicles since the summer we first met, which was 2007...my dark grey Pontiac Grand Prix and his bright red Kia Sedona.  They have both been great vehicles, but the van is approaching 200k miles and after sinking a few thousand dollars into it this year already, when the "check engine" light came on last week and I was told  it would cost $94 JUST TO FIND OUT what was wrong (and me having a subsequent snit about it) we decided that it was time for "Suzanne the Van" to go buh-bye.  Hope named her that, by the way.  She really wanted us to let her have it as her first vehicle, and we considered it, but now we just want Suzanne to find a new home before she overstays her welcome (and we go broke).

Back to my funk.  I get into them from time to time, and every time I do it is usually because of one of two things...either something is bothering me that I am not aware of yet, or I have not been spending time with God. And sometimes both.  I can say in all honesty right now that the latter is true.

I have a prayer table at home that I have set up in our office.

It is an antique table that belonged to my Grandma, and has a matching chair and magazine rack which are on either side of it.  Mom told me that Grandma and Grampa bought this set early in their marriage, which would have been in the 1930's.  I love the idea of this being my prayer table.  I have no doubt that my Grandma prayed at this table, and most likely my Mom did too.  There is a legacy of faith in my family that I am so grateful for...there is power in generations of women who love the Lord.  Power in prayer.  And I can imagine the prayers and tears of the wives and mothers and grandmothers who sat at this table...moving Heaven to intercede for our husbands, children, grandchildren, and friends...for generations. The bible says that our prayers are like incense, rising up to Heaven, and God hears every one.

"May my prayer be set before You as incense, the raising of my hands as the evening offering." - Psalm142:1

I can imagine all the prayers that have been offered at that tear soaked table...my prayers...rising up as a fragrant offering to God. Carrying with them the echo of the prayers of my mother and grandmother.  He receives them, breathes them in, allowing them to mix with His wisdom and love and grace.  And in His timing, He breathes out His blessing...like a cloud of smoke that descends on me as I sit at the table. Desperate to believe and trust that His answers to my prayers will line up with His promises.

I have not been spending enough time at my prayer table lately.  When I go too long without being in the Word and in prayer, well, that is funk material right there.  Things in life start to bother me, I begin to feel "off" and am tempted to fill the void with all kinds of things to distract me (social media, news, shopping, and of course, food.)  I start sleeping less, get more tired during the day, and then want something to make me feel better...and the cycle continues until I find myself here, blogging in a coffee shop figuring it all out.

It's not a bad place to be, in fact it's good therapy for me and helps me clear my cluttered mind and get back to what's important in life.  Like purses and prayer.  And green tea lemonade.  With a splash of raspberry.

Not My Blog, More Most-Perfectest-Purse Awesomeness, and I GET A SNOWDAY!

I haven't been this excited since 1987. 

I have never worked somewhere that closed when the weather was bad.  Even during my highschool and college years working at Hardees and Country Kitchen, they stayed open through it all and I don't remember ever having a snow day from work...until today.  My place of employment is closed today and when I discovered this as the kids still slept soundly in their beds this am, I did a silent little happy dance from my couch.  Not that I don't want to go to work, I love my job, but who doesn't love a snowday?!  A crazy person, that's who.

The only thing that would make today even better is if my kids had the day off too, but our schools are only doing the two-hour delay, so I guess I will get most of the day all to myself. 

Wait a minute...

Visions of a quiet house void of incessantly bouncing balls,  numerous "KNOCK IT OFF!"s and "Mom... mom... mom... mom... mom...mom...mom...mom...mom..." (contrary to popular belief, this does not end when children leave toddlerhood, or even elementary school).  Doesn't sound too bad after all.  I'm sure I can find all kinds of lovely ways to fill my day including (but not limited to) CMT, HGTV, and a new edition of "The Most Perfectest Purse Ever".

Just in case you missed the excitement of editions one and two, and you happen to have absolutely nothing else of the slightest value whatsoever to do with your time, you can read all about my previous successes at finding the most perfect purse here and here.  Just know that you will not be able to get those eight minutes of your life back. 

I have been searching for months for a new purse that meets my criteria for awesomeness.  It's not easy to find.  The other ones were most certainly awesome and served their purposes for a season, until either I found an unpredictable flaw, or they became too small for my ever increasing need to carry more crap around have essential items available at all times.

So after months of searching and subsequent rejecting, I finally found my new baby:

Can you hear me singing Stevie Wonder "Isn't She Lovely"?  Well, I am.  And no one is rolling their eyes at me because they are at school and I GET A SNOWDAY!!! 

So now, can we talk about how awesome this purse is?  Seriously. Let's just count the ways that it fits and/or exceeds my stringent standards for awesomeness. 

1) It has to be real leather. Or a fake material that I happen to think is real leather.  Check.  And dare I say that I think this one actually may be real leather.  If not, they added some fake leather smell to it which is totally fine with me. 

2) It has to have a short handle.  Check.  Do I realize that it makes me look like my grandmother to carry my purse around by the handle and nearly dragging it on the ground?  Yes, yes I do.  And my grandmother was a very smart and practical woman. 

3) It has to have separate pockets for my cell phone and lip stuff on the outside of the purse.  This one has both, right in front, AND they have magnetic snaps.  More awesomeness.  The absence of this feature was my main complaint about edition two.  I had to put my cell phone and lip stuff in the same pocket, so when I went for one or the other while driving, it was less than efficient and that just cannot be.

4) It absolutely cannot have any sequins or tassles or unnecessary gaudy embelishments.  Please.  Check.

5) It has to be able to zip shut.  Amen.  Those snaps in the middle?  Yea, they never keep stuff in when your purse falls over.  Or your kids throw it on the floor of your car.  Not that I would know anything about that.

6) It has to have at least two big separate sections - one for my wallet & notes, the other for all my crap important stuff that I don't leave home without (my mini hairspray, lotion, advil, altoids, nail file, camera, and the ocassional happy meal toy).  This all still applies, except the "happy meal toy" stage has been replaced by iPods, cell phones, DS's, and various other things that I take away from our kids when they cop an attitude with me or eachother, which I have found works far better than sending them to their rooms because that is where they want to go anyway.

7) And last but not least, it has to be big enough to hold all of said crap important stuff, but not look like a suitcase.  This criteria is getting harder and harder to meet as I get older, however this purse still squeaks by.  Even though it weighs 49 pounds.

There you have it.  Now that I have given a virtual tour of my purse, if someone steals it and also happens to read my blog they will know exactly where to find everything.  And if they are in desperate need of a nickel and about fourteen pennies, they'll be set.

Some great movies, new most perfectest purse awesomeness, and what I'm hoping to get for my birthday

I was just a little bit stressed last night.  I'm not going to go into it because I have adopted a new philosophy on my life which does not allow me to whine about it.  We'll see how long that lasts...Instead, I did what every respectable (and desperately hormonal) woman does when she is stressed...I shopped.  I hit Target hard, and didn't even once feel the urge to put something back on the shelf to avoid the inevitable buyers remorse that usually hits me somewhere between the candle aisle and the checkouts and causes me to walk all the way across the store and put something back that I spent 7-9 minutes pondering over and have now decided not to purchase. (Big breath).  Nope, not this time.  This time, I walked out of there proud with a new purse (which meets my high standards for the most perfectest purse ever, and may even be perfecter if that is possible).

Also got  three new t-shirts, and a little planner for my purse which is now large enough to hold one.  Now I can carry my life with me and there is a slightly higher chance that I will have a clue about what is going on each day.  Awesome!

I'm still trying to decide if I want a Kindle or not.  It would be a big change for me, and we all know how I handle change (I'm getting better - kind of).  I love books - holding them in my hands, underlining and writing in the margins - and I might miss that.  But on the flip side, it's really appealing to me because I could carry a Kindle with me (in my new purse even) and could read whenever and wherever I am...you know, because I spend tons of free time at coffee shops and sitting on beaches wishing I had brought something to read.  I'm usually reading 1-3 books at a time, and who wants to carry all those around?  Another cool thing about it is that books for it are really cheap (the devise is not, but the books are mostly under $10).  And the coolest part for me is that you can turn it to audio and it will read to you - which is the feature that really intrigued me because I spend so much time in my car for work.  And getting ready in the morning.  And waiting at the dentist office and such.  I'd have all my books with me, all the time...oh joy! 

Vince and I finally watched an awesome movie last night that we have been wanting to see for ages..."Shutter Island".  SO good!  If you can overlook some colorful comments and words and a few unpleasant scenes (I hide behind my fingers during potentially disturbing parts in movies) it really was an excellent movie with a great plot, and the cinematography was fantastic.  I am not one for scary or gory movies at all, but I do love psychological thrillers that keep you guessing, but (and this is the important part) make sense in the end.  I hate movies that are confusing all the way through, and still leave you confused in the end.  They anger me.  Just ask Mr. Wonderful about the time he made me watch "The Game".  I didn't talk to him for like 1/2 hour after that.

We took the kids to see "Toy Story 3" on Saturday and (singing) LOVED IT!  Yes, I am a huge Toy Story fan, and yes, I cried!

More most perfectest purse awesomeness

Last night Vince and I attended the first night of a homegroup, in which we will be going through the book "Sacred Marriage" with 5 other couples from our church. It's going to be awesome, by the way, but that's not what I'm writing about.

As we arrived and sat down, Vince nudged me and pointed...and there it was. On the floor next to Mary's chair, a well worn loved version of my new most perfectest purse! I picked mine up off the coffee table, held it up in front of me and said, "Mary!" That's all I had to say. She smiled this 'I know what you know' kind of smile and said, "Isn't that the greatest purse EVER!?" I said "YES! I just bought mine yesterday and I LOVE it!"

And as we revelled in our mutual most perfectest purse awesomeness, she said this: "I know! I loved it so much that the day after I bought it I went out and bought another one because I knew I would want it when this one wore out.

I think I could hear the "Hallelujah Chorus" playing in the background.

The most perfectest purse ever, and making my husband's head hurt.

I found it! The perfect purse! It's the most perfectest purse ever! EVER, PEOPLE!! I'm a happy girl!

It's been a long search, months actually. My old purse used to be the perfect purse. I bought it over two years ago, and I should have bought two because I of course could not for the life of me find the same one a few months ago when the handle was wearing out beyond repair.

Ok, let me break for a moment and tell you that if you are a male you might want to just stop reading right now. I actually plan on writing an entire blog about my purse so it is very likely that nothing beyond this point (or up to it) will interest you in the least.

So, girls, I have been looking for a new purse for months now, and as we ALL know, getting the "just right purse" is essential to personal happiness and success in daily life. There are few things more annoying than a bad purse (except perhaps an entire blog about purses, if you are a guy).

The reason it has taken me so long to find one is that I have very specific requirements in a purse. And they are as follows:

1) It has to be real leather. Or a fake material that I happen to think is real leather. Not because only real leather is "good enough" for me....psha. I just don't like shiny, plastic like material because it tends to crack, it has to be a soft leather.

2) It has to have a short handle, I don't do over the shoulder straps because they always fall off my shoulder. Annoyance.

3) It has to have separate pockets for my cell phone and lip stuff on the outside of the purse. I like to be able to find these things while driving, which is not conducive to digging through a bunch of crap stuff. Notice that my new most perfectest purse has both! Cha!

4) It absolutely cannot have any sequins or tassles or unnecessary gaudy embelishments.

5) It has to be able to zip shut. I hate purses that don't close because when your purse tips over (as mine does often) then your stuff spills out. Uber annoyance.

6) It has to have at least two big separate sections - one for my wallet & notes, the other for all my crap important stuff that I don't leave home without (my mini hairspray, lotion, advil, altoids, nail file, camera, and the ocassional happy meal toy). I could totally win Let's Make A Deal.

7) And last but not least, it has to be big enough to hold all of said crap important stuff, but not look like a suitcase.

Like I said, it has taken me months and a significant amount of whining to find the just right purse. During that time, I looked at many different purses at many different stores and turned my nose up at all of them for one reason or another. I wasn't in too big of a hurry until recently, as the handle on my purse wore ever thinner and neared it's breaking point. That's when I got desperate.

Good decisions are rarely made while in a state of desperation, and in mine I ended up making the ultimate purse faux pas....I settled. I found one that I "liked" but didn't "love". (Kind of like the difference between DQ and Cold Stone). I did "like" it tho, and when I bought it and brought it home to show Vince, he was genuinely happy for me (or more likely he was just happy that the whining was over. Ah, silly man).

However, it was just not meant to be. Over the next several weeks, my new crush began showing it's true colors. I realized that #2 wasn't true enough, and #5 had happened far too many times, and it just wasn't working out. I was going to have to break up with my purse. No sugar coating it, I would just have to tell it the truth. "It's not me, it's you." So one day in the car I made the announcement to Vince...my wonderful husband who tries so hard to understand the workings of a woman's mind and decisions..."I don't like my purse".

He paused, looked straight ahead for several seconds with a dazed look on his face, and said "that hurts my head."

So imagine his excitement today when I announced to him that I had found the most perfectest purse ever! For real this time! It is a relief to both him and me. And the best part about my most perfectest purse....it was 50% off so I paid only $13 for it! Cha-ching! (What's that? It can't be real leather for that price? Sssssh! Lalalalalaaa...I didn't hear that.)

I should go out and buy another one just like it as soon as possible so that I don't write another blog exactly like this one in two years.