the perfect purse

the perfect purse

• 1.31.2014

First of all, I have a confession...I kinda don't like the word "purse". I don't know why, I just feel like it sounds like an old word and refers to a bag that you've carried for 20+ years. I'm just not into it. So I really didn't want to use "purse" in the title...but "bag" didn't really work either because I'm not talking about the perfect "bag" for travelling (ie. suitcase, carry-on etc). Ok, whatever, now that we have that out of the way...

It's imperative to me that I'm comfortable while I'm walking around a new city, whether that means having the right footwear or the right bag filled with everything I might need. I don't like clutches very much because I can't get the essentials in them. I love a good cross body bag but they can get heavy when I load them up with all my stuff. I started hunting down a bag for this upcoming trip (Athens & Istanbul!!!) with some criteria in mind. 

clockwise from the top left

the molly - better life bags // dooney & bourke satchel // old navy hobo // c wonder tote

Sensing a theme here? Navy is my color because to me, it's a neutral. I rarely wear black so I'm always leaning towards browns/navys. Another theme is the extra "carrying" handle. I like options and flexibility. 

I ended up choosing the customizable Molly bag from Better Life Bags for two reasons. 1) I loved that I could make it my own - choosing my fabric, leather, pockets, hardware. (Honestly, the other bags are way to similar to things I already own.) 2) The company provides jobs to immigrant women who can't otherwise get work. I can dig that. I was crushed when I realized the bag would take 5 weeks to get to me! We leave in less than a month so that was a problem. I frantically reached out to Rebecca at BLB and hoped the magical bag fairies would have a solution. To my surprise, Rebecca had a bag in stock with JUST the customizations I was looking for. It was obviously meant to be. My bag will look just like this one! So stinking excited!!