diving right in

I love purses, and like to change frequently, but am not a "my purse must match my shoes" kind of girl. I also do not really care about status brands and labels--I look more for quality and quirky style. This fall, I acquired two new patterned bags that compliment most of my clothes and add a little flair to my basic black wardrobe.

I especially like mid-sized structured bags with detail, pockets, and medium-length handles--purses that can be worn as shoulder bags under the arm or carried by the handles. But my current lifestyle demands a larger bag that can hold an assortment of legos, polly-pockets, slinkys, comic-books, crayons, raisins, goldfish crackers, day-planner, notebook, book or magazine for me, newspaper, knitting... Because I spend a significant amount of time waiting while children are in various after-school activities, I need to always have something in the bag to occupy a waiting child and something to exercise my own brain.

Torture Devices
None. (Because of space constraints, I purge purses and shoes regularly, sometimes to my detriment.)

Velveteen Rabbits
None.

Superstars
1. Dark red leather zip-top crescent-shaped purse with braided shoulder straps, topstitching and rivets and chain accents. Trendy without being in-your-face.
2. Red/Black op art patterned tote (fabric with red leather trim/handles).
3. Trendy red/orange/purple/black owl patterned tote (fabric with red leather trim/handles)--my little nod to the 70s and my mother's collection of owl figurines.
4. Black leather zip-top bolster-shaped purse with metalic leather trim and brass rivets.
5. Large teal suede saddlebag purse with long across-the-chest strap. Deceptively roomy...can hold an impressive amount of stuff. (Suede isn't so practical though with grubby, sticky kids.)
6. Chocolate zip-top leather bag that looks slightly western...cobuchon accents on strap, ruched on sides and front with drawstrings. Funkier than most of the purses I own, but the dark color works.

Stalwart Staples
1. Black zip-top crescent-shaped purse with silver buckle pocket.
2. Medium brown zip-top bucket bag.
3. 6 plain canvas tote bags that are used for grocery shopping and library visits.
4. 3 brand-new tote bags (based on the Craftster bag posted by zooza) I whipped them up last night and am very proud of myself.

Same Time, Next Year
1. Yellow Chinese-satin structured evening bag...gorgeous, but what do I have to wear it with? Could be worn with the totally impractical, elegant white-linen pantsuit that I don't currently own but have dreams of wearing. (I'll keep the bag for the dream it provides.)
2. Black velvet evening bag (shaped like a tiny boat and tote)...this is my absolute go-to bag for evening (not that I have many occasions to use it.)
3. Vintage gold evening bag...lovely but ostentatious....especially when worn with the matching gold shoes.
4. Teal straw bucket bag with plastic handles.
5. (Found one more hidden in the depths--it's my favorite summer purse, so how could I forget it?) Tall rectangular black canvas purse with tan leather handles, white top-stitched outside pockets, candy-striped lining.

In summary:
I think I am set with purses...nothing seems blatantly missing. I am sure I'll pick up an occasional purse or two on my weekly thrift-store visit if something jumps out at me, but I'm not actively looking for anything in particular.

I switch purses frequently and should probably buy or make a purse organizer insert to make swapping easier.

This was easy...if you noticed, I cheated and jumped right in with purses. Shoes tomorrow, and then I'll get to the hard stuff after that.