random things numbering only two, so not really an entry per se

[mrissa]

They are totally going to take away my femme card, but I figured out how to give my mom instructions for buying me a purse (for which I was to reimburse her, but it's a lot easier for her to wander through stores than it is for me right now). She kept asking my questions about my purse preferences, and I kept making the inarticulate Noises Of Shrugging, and finally I said, "Look, Ma. Pretend that you're buying a purse for Dad, if for some strange reason Dad had agreed to carry a purse." Not only did this entertain my dad while they were at the store, but it worked! I have a functional purse now. It appears to lack holes in the bottom or sides and to be big enough to hold the things I want to fit in a purse and to avoid clashing with everything I own. I'm sure, knowing that my mom picked it out, that it has other really nice features, but what I care about is: purse, did not have to go purse-shopping with vertigo, wiktory.

In other news, my godson is hilarious.
Me: Robin, do you know what you're going to want for your birthday?
Robin, eagerly: What?
Seriously. He wanted to know. Because I am his godmama and apparently I know these things.

I do have a few ideas, so his faith in me is not completely misplaced.

(Also I need a new Robin-icon, since he is now nearly 7 and was not quite 2 in the picture in the icon.)

Comments

[guppiecat]

I always* thought it would be wise to design a purse with a zipper on the bottom. That always seems to be where the whatever is that folks are looking for, so it'd be a lot easier just to flip the thing over, unzip it, and take out what you want.

* "always" being shorthand for "since sometime about 15** years ago"

** where "15" is indexed from 2009. If this comment is read later, the "15" should be appropriately incremented.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

So basically when you started being around age-peers who were carrying purses?

Anyway: it is bad enough when you forget you've left the top unzipped and dump things out of your purse from the way you pick it up. It would be far, far worse, to my way of thinking, if you could do this from both ends simultaneously.

[guppiecat]

Well, yes, it would be a niche purse, specifically for people who keep it zipped up. I would hope that anyone who would buy such a thing would already be a zippy sort of person.

[txanne.livejournal.com]

I miss my nephews, and your godson stories make me happy.

My favorite purse is purple and cost $15 at a resale shop. (The fact that it was a tony hospital charity shop on Lexington Avenue, or that the purse in question says "kate spade" on a tiny discreet label, is entirely beside the point. That was a good shop--I also got a pair of nearly-unworn suede Ferragamo pumps for $30. *smirk*)

[redbird]

The Robin story is wonderful.

[rmnilsson.livejournal.com]

My mom once said that if she was going to buy clothing or accessories for me, she would go to the store, pick out the ugliest thing there, and buy it for me.

Thing is, it works when she does it. She can genuinely pick things out for me this way.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

My mom doesn't seem to feel that way about my clothes and accessories, but I'm reminded of one of my favorite Aunt Dor moments: Christmas of '93, she bought me exactly what I wanted, which was flannel shirts, plaid flannel shirts of course. She got a sale, and there were several, and every time I opened one, she would curl her lip and say, "Well, isn't that just the loveliest thing you ever saw." She haaaated them. She would rather have seen me wear just about anything else in the world. And she bought them for me anyway. Because it wasn't about what she wanted, it was about what I wanted. And that's love.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

Now that's gift-giving!

[rmnilsson.livejournal.com]

We don't give clothes as gifts in my family much. But my mom will go shopping with me and tell me whether the ugly clothes fit and are work-appropriate.

And in all fairness, I kind of feel that way about her taste in clothes in return.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

i used to be able to pick things my ex would like to eat in a similar fashion. i'd be reading the menu, and i'd think "wow. that sounds disgusting." and then i'd point it out to the ex and he'd be all excited and order it. he had vastly different taste in food than i did...

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

My very favorite purse doesn't have a shoulder strap and is a little oddly shaped, but since it's really a pocket replacement rather than an all-purpose bag, that's okay. Why is it my favorite?

The clasp has an LED built in such that when you open it, the light comes on, and when you close it, it turns off.

I have a pattern for a messenger bag, and one of the things I am definitely going to add is a light like that.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I don't think anything could make markgritter want a purse. But if anything could, it might be an LED.

[pixelfish.livejournal.com]

I've not really ever had a purse, unless we count the tiny black clutch thing I take to the symphony. But for day to day purposes, I have my awesome, many pocketed Tumi messenger bag. (I was gonna link it up but when I went to the Tumi site, it seems they don't make 'em any more. Sadness.)

[seagrit.livejournal.com]

That is the best criteria ever for picking out a purse.

[columbina.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a genetic boy who has been known to carry purselike objects on many occasions, I don't think you need forfeit your femme card just for wanting a purse that is practical - an object which is sometimes quite hard to find.

Also: This sequence has been pinned up on my wall for some years. (http://www.tgfa.org/strips/images/BabyBlues_082701.gif)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Apparently I am being unclear. Half the questions my mom was asking were practical--what length of strap I preferred, etc. I just didn't care and wanted it over with. This is not the same thing as practical. So not only did I want a functional, not-too-froofy purse, I was willing to take what she found and say thank you--like Dad with his wallets and shoes and things, basically.

[columbina.livejournal.com]

Aha. Yes. Rereading the original post, I believe this was a failure on the reception and not the transmission end; my bad.

(This is what happens when I read LJ before I've had a sufficient amount of coffee.)

[seabream.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on the new acquisition.

This is a thing that would so totally not work for me since I'm so much more specific in my criteria when it comes to use objects than she is that she probably wouldn't even notice multiple make-or-break (to me) attributes of a given bag. However, it would work for my Dad, were he to ask my Mum to get a purse-like object for him, since she knows his tastes to at least the level of detail as he does, and even more importantly, he trusts her tastes more than his.

Re: Robin - :)

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

I mostly hate purses. But I finally figured out what manufacturer makes the type of purse I like (Fossil), by going into a Macy's and giving the nice woman who asked if she could help me a very specific list of requirements. The funny part is that this list was based on what I was going to use this purse for first--a martial arts demo wherein I would use it to repeatedly whack my partner. Practicing for this had already killed 2 cheaper purses.

Final requirements list:
1. Extremely durable
2. Long shoulder strap
3. No large chains or buckles
4. No logos.
5. Small body, but large enough to hold a paperback book plus other stuff.
6. Bonus points if it had many pockets.
7. Extra bonus points if it came in green.

And I got something that fit all my requirements and wasn't too expensive! 'Twas amazing!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

The purse my mother picked for me was, in fact, made by Fossil.

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

That's awesome!

I never thought I'd endorse a particular brand of anything, much less purses, but there you go.