What's in the bag?

Handbag Thursday [hānd'bāg' thûrz'dā]
-noun
1. A Canal Street knockoff of Jodifur's Shoe Friday.
2. A desperate swipe at regular blog fodder by invoking my own accessorized day o' the week.
3. A frivolous little feature that allows me to talk about handbags every week.
--------------------------------------------
Long ago, I was in a Walgreens in Lawrence KS. It was raining and I was a drippy, sodden mess. I heard a voice behind me, "Are you Cagey from Rancid Raves?" It was Kenna - a reader. I don't get recognized very much in public and it never ceases to take me by surprise.

As it turns out, Kenna is a huge bag aficionado herself. Ah, a girl after my own heart. She sent me five snaps of her bags and I could not choose just one from this fun group of purses.

Thanks, Kenna!

Poppy Clementine

Marimekko

Betsey Johnson

Bali

BCBG MaxAzria

Guest Post: Bag Lady

We have a guest poster this week - my good friend Brit! I am absolutely envious of her beautiful sewing and quilting skills, so of course, she posts something that she made with her own two hands. To taunt and mock me. Evil girl, she is.

Brit can usually be found posting at Running Stitch, when she is not trying to convince her three year old that he really should be wearing pants or her five year old that it is not, in fact, going to snow in June, and that maybe instead of making a snowman they could paint!

When Kelli started her bag entries I feigned interest, because you know, she's nice and I like her and I can force myself to look at her bag entries. I'm not really much of a bag person myself.

Except.

Except as I look around my house all I see is bags. Bags for grocery shopping, bags for library books, bags for the boys to take places full of distractions and clean clothes. Bags for biking, bags for the car, bags for lunch,bags for this sewing project, bags for that sewing project, bags for running shoes, bags for running clothes.

It's only been a few months, since I stopped carry a diaper bag. Of course now I carry a backpack full of extra clothes, because, wow! are little boys dirty. The backpack also contains bandaids, benadryl (my oldest is allergic to the world) tea (because you never know) and their medical information.

However, I have also gotten to the point where I'm going out sans boy bag often enough that I made a little bag for myself. I call it the 'Just Me" style I actually completed this over a year ago and I carry it everywhere. It is perfect for my wallet, cellphone, and change purse. And it fits right into any of the the bigger bags I perpetually
seem to be carrying.

Apparently, I am a bag lady after all.

What's in the bag?

Handbag Thursday [hānd'bāg' thûrz'dā]
-noun
1. A Canal Street knockoff of Jodifur's Shoe Friday.
2. A lame attempt at regular blog fodder by invoking my own accessorized day o' the week.
3. A frivolous little feature that allows me to talk about handbags every week.
--------------------------------------------

As promised, welcome to this week's Scottish Edition of Handbag Thursday. Also known as "May I take a picture of your crotch, kind clansman?"

Last weekend while we were at the Scottish Highland Games, I realized I had a windfall for my Handbag Thursday. Like, DUDE. Men in kilts carrying handbags. Does it get any better? No. It does not.

Oh sure, you may say sporran, but I will still say handbag. Wicked cool.

Although, admittedly, there about a thousand things wrong and so not traditional with this guy's getup, I still liked his sporran.

I really wanted to get a closeup of the detail. But um. Yeah. No. No, thanks.

And since he was so kind to pose, how could I resist a full body shot? *cough*

What's in the bag?

Handbag Thursday [hānd'bāg' thûrz'dā]
-noun
1. A Canal Street knockoff of Jodifur's Shoe Friday.
2. A lame attempt at regular blog fodder by invoking my own accessorized day o' the week.
3. A frivolous little feature that allows me to talk about handbags every week. What's not to love about that?

--------------------------------------------

As promised, I checked out purses today while at the DMV. My original line of thinking was that this would be easy pickings - after all, I usually languish in the crowded waiting area for at least 45 minutes to an hour. Every.Single.Year. Today? The waiting area was nearly empty save for a few men and a pair of little old ladies. Furthermore, I grabbed a ticket which had a number that was immediately announced. The one time I needed to hang out at the DMV? Denied. Totally.

But, of course.

Fortunately, I spied a gal standing near to me. I happened to finish my business first and then proceeded to pretend that I was taking snaps of Anjali, when in reality, I was in serious need of some telephoto lens action.


Anyway. I really liked the colors of this bag, which is why it grabbed me. I would love to have a bag like this for knitting projects!

What's in the bag?

Handbag Thursday [hānd'bāg' thûrz'dā]
-noun
1. A Canal Street knockoff of Jodifur's Shoe Friday.
2. A lame attempt at regular blog fodder by invoking my own accessorized day o' the week.
3. A frivolous little feature that allows me to talk about handbags every week. What's not to love about that?
---------------------------------------------

Guilty Pleasures
I am in Branson, MO. With all these beautiful, luscious outlets.......utter bastions of temptation.

While I am loving my Sherpani backpack, I do not always need to tote a frockin' backpack into the grocery store. Or to Target. Or to lots of places. So. It seemed a smallish, evening-type bag was in order. One that I could conveniently tuck inside of the backpack.

But, of course.

What's in the bag?

Handbag Thursday [hānd'bāg' thûrz'dā]
-noun
1. A Canal Street knockoff of Jodifur's Shoe Friday.
2. A lame attempt at regular blog fodder by invoking my own accessorized day o' the week.
3. A frivolous little feature that allows me to talk about handbags every week. What's not to love about that?
---------------------------------------------
So awhile back, while she was in Vegas, Monkey happened across my Only If I Ever Win The Lottery Dream Bag and took a snap of it for me. Yes, this is the infamous Birkin bag by Hermès. (Fun Washington Post article: the difference between a Kelly bag and a Birkin bag.) Folks, she saw this in person - a rarity right there. Of course, I will never actually own one of these bags and given the choice (ha! I crack myself up) this Kelli would prefer a Kelly bag.

Besides, I find it hard to believe that I could ever be in a financial position to buy one, much less be in an emotional position to own one. Dude. My grandma would have a heart attack if she ever found out that I paid over $200 for one of my favorite bags, much less what it would take to own a Birkin. Eh.

A girl can dream.

What's in the bag?

Handbag Thursday [hānd'bāg' thûrz'dā]
-noun
1. A Canal Street knockoff of Jodifur's Shoe Friday.
2. A lame attempt at regular blog fodder by invoking my own accessorized day o' the week.
3. A frivolous little feature that allows me to talk about handbags every week. What's not to love about that?
---------------------------------------------
So, yeah. I missed Handbag Thursday last week. I just was not feeling it. And, eh. That is the beauty of being an Itty Bitty Blogger, folks are less likely to notice if you fail to show up or not.

This week's handbag comes from a Woman on the Street move I made a few weeks back at a local children's farm. I saw this bag and thought it was so interesting and fun. I stopped the gal, told her what I was up to and asked if I could feature it. She was so flattered and pleased by my request, that I will definitely be doing that move again!

This is a Lucky bag from Macy's.

What's in the bag?

Handbag Thursday [hānd'bāg' thûrz'dā]
-noun
1. A Canal Street knockoff of Jodifur's Shoe Friday.
2. A lame attempt at regular blog fodder by invoking my own accessorized day o' the week.
3. A frivolous little feature that allows me to talk about handbags every week. What's not to love about that?
---------------------------------------------

Erin sent this one in - what a fun, floral bag! Thanks, Erin!

What's in the bag?

Handbag Thursday [hānd'bāg' thûrz'dā]
-noun
1. A Canal Street knockoff of Jodifur's Shoe Friday.
2. A lame attempt at regular blog fodder by invoking my own accessorized day o' the week.
3. A frivolous little feature that allows me to talk about handbags every week. What's not to love about that?
---------------------------------------------

Okay, we are back to some fun, frothy nonsense. This blog is not about Heavy Lifting anyway, right?

This week's bag is from the lovely Monkey. When I began Handbag Thursday, she told me about a funky bag that had been given to her as a gift. I have been pressing her to send me the snap ever since and I was excited to finally see it. Apparently, this purse is made by a company called Ecoist and they were featured in In Style at some point because Carmen Diaz has one. Monkey's purse was made with gum wrappers from Mexico. A quick perusal of the site myself and I am already in love with the Coca-Cola version. However, the Barcode version brings back vivid memories of my mindless days as a checker in a discount grocery store in Lawrence aptly called Checkers. Yum.

What's in the bag?

Handbag Thursday [hānd'bāg' thûrz'dā]
-noun
1. A Canal Street knockoff of Jodifur's Shoe Friday.
2. A lame attempt at regular blog fodder by invoking my own accessorized day o' the week.
3. A frivolous little feature that allows me to talk about handbags every week. What's not to love about that?
---------------------------------------------


My friend Mojavi sent this one in. What is difficult to convey in this photo is the sheer magnitude of this bag. This behemoth has a perfect "handbag" shape, yet it easily measures 24 inches wide and about 18 inches high - no kidding! I used to always tease Mojavi that this bag was worthy of Madame Maxim herself, the headmistress of generous proportions from Beauxbatons, the rival wizarding school to Hogwarts.

What's in the bag?

Handbag Thursday [hānd'bāg' thûrz'dā]
-noun
1. A Canal Street knockoff of Jodifur's Shoe Friday.
2. A lame attempt at regular blog fodder by invoking my own accessorized day o' the week.
3. A frivolous little feature that allows me to talk about handbags every week. What's not to love about that?
---------------------------------------------


This is one of my handbags, but I use it as a knitting bag. Truthfully? It is not something that I would carry because I prefer leather. However, when my grandma offered it to me, I could not resist the red velveteen with the embroidery. It is just so pretty. And soft. So while it is not my style to carry as an actual handbag, I do enjoy using it to carry knitting projects.

What's in the bag?

Handbag Thursday [hānd'bāg' thûrz'dā]
-noun
1. A Canal Street knockoff of Jodifur's Shoe Friday.
2. A lame attempt at regular blog fodder by invoking my own accessorized day o' the week.
3. A frivolous little feature that allows me to talk about handbags every week. What's not to love about that?
---------------------------------------------



This bag belongs to Deanna from Pair of Ducks Knitting. It is green. Can you not tell? Heh. Her mom used a secondhand sweater and made this purse for her. The straps and interior lining were also recycled. Awesome!

What's in the bag?

Handbag Thursday [hānd'bāg' thûrz'dā]
-noun
1. A Canal Street knockoff of Jodifur's Shoe Friday.
2. A lame attempt at regular blog fodder by invoking my own accessorized day o' the week.
3. A frivolous little feature that allows me to talk about handbags every week. What's not to love about that?
-----------------------------------------
They* say one should blog for oneself first and foremost. And as the majority of us bloggers know, just because you blog and pour your heart and soul into your wee space, it most certainly does not mean the audience will come, much less read all those precious letters you just painstakingly pecked out. Heh. This means, that it is imperative to actually enjoy what you are doing on your blog. Astounding, I know.

As I mentioned last week, I am establishing a Handbag Thursday, my own little accessorized day o' the week. I see now why Jodifur is doing Shoe Friday - for no reason other than it is fun. I would like to give her a hearty thank you to her for encouraging me to plug forward with my Canal Street knockoff, Handbag Thursday. She was even gracious enough to provide this week's handbag.

This week was hectic and I got a lot of things done around the house and even in the yard (3 hours, one pile of branches and 7 bags of lawn refuse. And that is just the front yard, which is still not done. *groan*) (Oh and thank you February! I apologize for smiting your name.)

So while I could not write much this week, I really looked forward to Thursday and doing a silly post about handbags.

The Seatbelt Handbag, Made Entirely of Seatbelts


Again, thanks goes out to Jodi and her green little heart for providing this week's handbag. Al Gore would be proud.

*Who is this "they"? Why do "they" just not identify themselves, already. Damned cowards.

What's in the bag?

Handbag Thursday [hānd'bāg' thûrz'dā]
-noun
1. A Canal Street knockoff of Jodifur's Shoe Friday.
2. A lame attempt at regular blog fodder by invoking my own accessorized day o' the week.
3. A frivolous little feature that allows me to talk about handbags every week. What's not to love about that?
-------------------------------------------------

I find that it is vital to have at least one handbag for each of the ten types of social occasion:
Very Formal, Not So Formal, Just a Teensy Bit Formal, Informal But Not That Informal, Every Day, Every Other Day, Day Travel, Night Travel, Theater, and Fling. - Miss Piggy

A few weeks back, I asked Jodifur to do a Handbag Sunday that could bookend her lovely little Shoe Friday gig. She called me a lazy whore and told me to do it myself. Well, maybe she did not put it precisely in that way. I forget because I was drunk. Or something.

Actually, come to think of it I seem to remember her being very positively generous about the whole thing. Anyway..... without further ado, I present Handbag Thursday. Because I am nothing if not a brazen copycat.


I decided to use this purse as the inaugural Handbag Thursday. I bought it at a little boutique in Marblehead MA for about $40 in 2004. I still love this purse and when I am done with the whole toting of toys and tissues*, I hope little purses are back in style so I can use it again. It has been a great purse and very sturdy - this thing has traveled all over the country and has taken a beating, yet is still in great condition. I think it is a valuable lesson in that a nice, durable handbag does not have to be an inordinately expensive one. Although, not that there is anything necessarily wrong with an expensive handbag. Gulp.

____________________________________

And...........there you have it. Handbag Thursday! Not every post will be long like this one. Also, I am certainly open to posting snaps of your own handbags - just email me (cagey333ATgmailDOTcom) if you would like to be included.

I would like to extend a special thank-you to Jodi for giving me this idea and granting her gracious permission for the knock-off. It is obvious she is having much fun with her Shoe Friday, I suspect I will have as much fun with my own little accessorized day o' the week.

*Believe it or not, I do not carry a diaper bag and have not for well over a year now - I have a Fleurville Re-Run Micropod which usually hangs out in the car.