Tag Archives: Handbags

Jul 26 2016

Stylefiles: Ditching the Baby Change Bag

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So you might have seen the news that Little Miss is now potty training. I’m just a tiny bit excited about this. No more messy changes in stinky changing rooms. No more outfits ruined by poo explosions. No more lugging around a hefty change bag full of nappies and bum cream!

Better yet, Heidi is just 27 months-old. Dexter ditched the nappies shortly before starting nursery so I had figured I’d be stuck changing nappies for another 6 months at least.

Bag

To celebrate the fact I’m no longer carting around a heavy change bag, I’ve promised myself a much smaller designer handbag. I’m sick of losing my keys in the folds of spare clothes and nappies. I’ve lost dozens of expensive lipsticks as a result of emergency quick changes too, them being casualties of frantically whipping out fresh clothes. It’s definitely time to switch to a bag that doesn’t weigh the same as a five-year-old child.

Formal

Left to right: Fiorelli Taylor Tan Large Crossbody was £55 now £44 / Whistles Vermont Suede Messenger Bag £195 /Fiorelli Taylor Neutral Large Crossbody was £55 now £44

I’ll figure I’ll need a crossbody bag so I still have my hands free to rescue my wayward children from roads, walking into lamp posts and the like. We lovingly refer to our two monsters as Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao too, given they’d cause each other brain damage if we weren’t there to instantly split them up. Having an over-the-shoulder bag would just get on my nerves as looking after my two requires athletic grace worthy of a spot on the UK gymnastics team.

Cheeky

Left to right: Lauren Ralph Lauren Tate Yellow Satchel Bag was £185 now £92.40 / Michael Kors Ava Grey Small Satchel Bag £260 / DKNY Saffiano Navy Zip Top Crossbody Bag £145

So with excitement bordering on delirium, I ditched the kids for the afternoon and went to House of Fraser for a trying on session. Then, I got stuck.

It’s been so long since I’ve bought something without Spiderman and Paw Patrol emblazoned across the front of it, that even the most vibrant handbag in store looks bland. It’s not that the bags weren’t gorgeous, I’ve just been Disneyfied and completely forgotten how to buy things for myself.

There’s also a tiny bit of irrational guilt when I pick up anything over a tenner, which is stupid given I can’t even close the drawers in the kids’ rooms. They’ve got everything they need and more.

Determined not to let any of this put me off, I’m sharing my shortlist above. Do I plump for a formal Fiorelli bag? Or something more colourful? Given my workplace is my home, I should go for something a bit more fun right? I live in jeans, knee-high boots and whatever shirt doesn’t have baby vomit on it, so my new bag is likely to be the most noteworthy thing about any outfit I happen to shove on of a day.

The Ralph Lauren satchel is really calling me, and it’s big enough to take an iPad and bulging make-up bag. It’s also less than half price. I think I’ve just talked myself into it.

What do you think? Have you ever splashed out on yourself to mark a child’s milestone?

Jul 27 2014

Summer Lovin’ - #NicaSummerComp

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NICA recently called bloggers to action to share their favourite summer memory to be in with a chance to win a £100 voucher to spend on their stunning bags. Not one to pass up a challenge (and let’s face it, I’m a bag fiend!) I’ve decided to take part.

I have sooo many summer memories, choosing is tricky. Both my gorgeous children were born just before heatwaves and I’ve had the opportunity to spend those first weeks getting to know them in the summer sun. We’ve had some amazing family holidays, some precious (rare) date nights in riverside pubs… then there’s my days pre-children full of cheeky al fresco romps with my Craigy, childhood summer romances, even my first kiss (at 13 years old! I know, I must have been such a handful for my parents).

comp

But the one date that sticks out above all others, is my first ever date with Craigy. He’s made my current life possible, special and full of promise. He’s made me a mummy and supported me in everything I’ve done. Somehow, 3 years on we’re still together, still bickering and still very much in love. Despite the fact I’m still waiting for diamonds, I’ve already had the most priceless gifts a woman can ever have - Heidi and Dexter.

A little context…

We met again, after 12 years of doing our own thing and living hundreds of miles apart, in 2011. We’d known eachother when I was a lively 18 years old, and he was 30. I knew full well he had a crush on me, but I was off to university and due to spend ten plus years leading a fairly wanton lifestyle. It never entered my mind that this was the man who would complete me.

When I returned to Reading deflated, sad and totally broke all those years later, he said hello on Facebook. He messaged me, we exchanged numbers and he came over to cook for me one night. The next night he stayed over, and the next night, and the next… we haven’t spent a night apart since. Just 3 months later Dexter was conceived.

So here it is - my favourite ever summer photo. Me and the best man I’ve ever known, at Reading Festival in 2011. This was our one proper date before I fell pregnant.

Why do I love it? Because we look so happy. 299594_2127199254338_7755547_n

So now I have to pick my go-to summer handbag by selecting my favourite style from the NICA collection. It’s an easy choice to make. The shoulder bag is the perfect mummy-about-town accessory, great for date nights and even great for keeping your festival essentials safe… better yet, this bag is seriously scrummy and belongs on my shoulder.

Capture

Thanks for a lovely comp NICA, loving your collections!

If you want to enter, you’ll have to quick as closing date for entries is 31/7. Good luck everybody xx

May 19 2013

Handbag hell… Why babies and handbags shouldn’t mix!

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For my sins I follow the Daily Mail on Twitter (purely for the latest political news you understand…) and spotted a feature a few days back on handbags. They claimed that women’s handbags contained more bacteria than the average toilet… delightful reading then!

Okay, this is exactly the sort of feature that gets my back up (scaremongering and utterly ridiculous) but it did prompt me to have a dig around in my own bag and give it a much-needed clear out. I seriously wish I hadn’t.

Like most women, my handbag is mess. It has the essentials - make-up, hairbrush, hand cream, purse, keys… But there were some altogether more disturbing things lurking at the bottom. It seems the spikes of my hairbrush have split the lining and a number of once important things had fallen through the fabric. Discovering a long-lost MAC lipstick I got excited and plunged my hand in to retrieve more goodies. A few receipts… a fiver (bonus!)… an old mobile phone… sand from years worth of holidays… half a McDonald’s cheeseburger… YEP a half-eaten, mouldy, stinking, cheeseburger! The mould was so prolific it penetrated the wrapping leaving the paper literally blue with penicillin.

Given this family are currently recovering from the novovirus, I dropped the cheeseburger in horror and ran to the toilet to show the bowl my displeasure. Returning to the lounge I discovered my poorly son scurrying across the rug to get to mummy’s treasure-trove, he’s a big fan of chewing my hairbrush, pulling my cards out of my purse, and drawing on his face with my pens. I can’t believe I’ve been letting my son near such a hazard! What kind of parent am I?

So yesterday I popped into town (with a carrier bag to hold my worldly possessions) to replace it. John Lewis have some stunning DKNY bags at the moment and I just so happen to have won £200 worth of vouchers recently with Mumsnet. I was going to spend them on a dishwasher but this was a matter of urgency (at least this is what I’ll be explaining to Craig when he spots it!).

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Bag sorted, now it’s time to get some anti bacterial wipes to clean up my act! There’s no way on earth Dexter is getting within an inch of this one (mostly because it’ll be hidden from Craigy in my wardrobe!).

So can anyone beat that? What’s the hideous thing you’ve discovered in your bag?

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