2021 Resolution: Shopping my own bag and SLG collection. Any one else?

[Sparkletastic]

NOVEMBER ACTIVITIES

1. Bags by Brand Showcase!

Each week, share photos of your bags from the specified brands. Choose a posed “beauty” shot or get your bags out and about in action shots!

We highlight 3 brands per week: 2 premier and 1 contemporary in alphabetical order as listed on tPF. Any brands not listed are showcased in our last week. Brands change to the next set each Sunday.

Our first brand week starts now - Sunday, Oct 31. Please share photos of bags from these brands:

• Bottega Venetta
• Burberry
• Alexander Wang

Tip: Grab your photos from last year in the 2020 resolution thread. Search your user name and the brand to find your photos.

2. Special Stories
Thanks @Claudia Herzog for the suggestion

Wear a bag that has a backstory involving a person, place, or opportunity for which you feel grateful.

 

[Jereni]

I love your coat!

Aw thanks it is Patagonia and was a Christmas gift from DH.

What a pretty orange Polene!

I think orange is a very versatile bag color! Love this one!

Thank you both! I’m a big fan of this bag. Wish the strap was a tiny bit longer so that it would look better crossbody. But I’m tall so that’s a problem with most supposed crossbody bags for me.

Food budgeting hasn’t been a problem. The issue was we started eating far too much delivery. I’m a good cook but like @whateve, I was already burned out on cooking years ago. So, bringing in food was a tiny Covid luxury.

Of course, that added calories (good for Mr. S, not so for me). And after a while, we just couldn’t take anymore restaurant food. So, around October, I started cooking. While I don’t enjoy it, we enjoy the end result.

I thought of trying one of those meal delivery services. We loosely eat a plant heavy Paleo diet (and I do IM). There seem to be a few options that work and I’m surprised at how relatively inexpensive they are. Anyone use a meal plan they love? I wonder if / how we’ll get all the veggies & fruit I want. I’m open to all insights and opinions.

We’ve definitely been cooking more since COVID... we used to eat out at restaurants a lot and still probably get takeout once a week but haven’t done much delivery. DH seems to dislike the concept of food delivery services, I haven’t figured that out yet.

To keep the grocery bill down we have been trying to do almost all our shopping at Aldi. That place’s prices are amazing.

 

[BowieFan1971]

Aw thanks it is Patagonia and was a Christmas gift from DH.




Thank you both! I’m a big fan of this bag. Wish the strap was a tiny bit longer so that it would look better crossbody. But I’m tall so that’s a problem with most supposed crossbody bags for me.



We’ve definitely been cooking more since COVID... we used to eat out at restaurants a lot and still probably get takeout once a week but haven’t done much delivery. DH seems to dislike the concept of food delivery services, I haven’t figured that out yet.

To keep the grocery bill down we have been trying to do almost all our shopping at Aldi. That place’s prices are amazing.

LOVE Aldi!!!!!

 

[doni]

This morning I went with my Polene nano numero un in terracotta. The orange looks a little more vivid here than in real life. It’s a little more neutral than this and I find it goes with a lot.

Love the color of your Pólene!

Food budgeting hasn’t been a problem. The issue was we started eating far too much delivery. I’m a good cook but like @whateve, I was already burned out on cooking years ago. So, bringing in food was a tiny Covid luxury.

Of course, that added calories (good for Mr. S, not so for me). And after a while, we just couldn’t take anymore restaurant food. So, around October, I started cooking. While I don’t enjoy it, we enjoy the end result.

I thought of trying one of those meal delivery services. We loosely eat a plant heavy Paleo diet (and I do IM). There seem to be a few options that work and I’m surprised at how relatively inexpensive they are. Anyone use a meal plan they love? I wonder if / how we’ll get all the veggies & fruit I want. I’m open to all insights and opinions.

It is like hearing myself talk. We were also falling too much on the delivery slope, the let’s just get some sushi, or we need to support our local Italian. It is true that it is cheaper than eating out, but still, not the best. So this January I said no ordering out until the last weekend. My children are anxiously waiting for their sushi at the end of the month...

I think I have said it before here, I simultaneously hate and love cooking. I like it as per itself, but I resent the daily obligation, and now with Covid, cooking lunch for the whole house and immediately having to think what to do for diner . Plus I fret too much about food, making sure it is healthy, catering for my own food intolerances, making sure that my kids partake of the culinary tradition of their families and countries... There is so much culture and emotion embeded in food and cooking, it exhausts me. Plus I am not a good planner. I use to plan meals when the kids were little, but now I am not able. I think I have enough with the planing involved in establishing a business .

So I did try those meal kit delivery services, Hello Fresh I think it was called. Nothing wrong with it, it worked very well and I have friends who swear by it. You can choose your meals, but of course sometimes I would miss the deadline. And it turns out that something I hate more than planning is someone else planning for me... Plus I am a fussy cook, and I like things my way, so I would be tweaking the recipes or changing ingredients. At the end it was more stress than help! But that is just me.

 

[Bag peace]

catering for my own food intolerances,

On the subject of intolerances (I know I've spoken before about limiting my ingredients per dish so I've hogged this topic entirely), but this is the reason I can't order in like most people. Just like you, my food intolerances add a whole other layer of stress. I'm allergic to wheat, soy, sesame, shrimp, almonds...it's easier to cook for myself no matter how tired I am, because at least then I don't have to worry about an unwanted reaction.

I really feel for parents who have to cater to their families during this time, especially if the kids have food intolerances. It's so much work! My friend has to cook 3 different dishes for lunch and dinner because her DH and 2 kids all have different allergies- so either they all forgo the allergens (like nobody gets to eat normal bread because one of them is gluten free) or she cooks for each person separately, which is the path of least resistance but leads her to utter exhaustion.

 

[BowieFan1971]

I was finding more actual joy in cooking recently (the last 2-3 years) and now it more of a neutral “something I have to do thing.” No stress or resentment, but not joy. I used to want to be more experimental, give myself more challenges, like try a recipe from a foreign country or try to make great meals at less than $5 each for the two of us. Now I just cook. I wonder why? Maybe because I am home all the time? Or I have other creative outlets I am trying? Maybe it is the long term stress, which is going to grow now that I have seen the situation with my grandparents (not good) and will have to take 5-5 days each month to drive up and help. My grandma I knew is basically gone (think Bea Arthur...efficient and sharp as a tack with a quick sarcastic wit) and my grandpap is an overwhelmed, stressed out mess who was “the sick one” before all this. He is so great with all this and I am so proud of him. It makes me so glad my stepfather is 10 years younger than my mom because he has so much better ability to handle my mom’s needs.

 

[msd_bags]

Early days of the pandemic and our lockdown, I was cooking and preparing healthy meals. I was also enjoying myself. However, when work, despite being WFH, started yo demand a lot of my time, I couldn’t focus on meal preparation anymore. But at least, new kitchen “toys” (pots/pans, airfryer (actually a tabletop multifunction oven), InstaPot) provide inspiration here and there.

 

[Jereni]

I was finding more actual joy in cooking recently (the last 2-3 years) and now it more of a neutral “something I have to do thing.” No stress or resentment, but not joy. I used to want to be more experimental, give myself more challenges, like try a recipe from a foreign country or try to make great meals at less than $5 each for the two of us. Now I just cook. I wonder why? Maybe because I am home all the time? Or I have other creative outlets I am trying? Maybe it is the long term stress, which is going to grow now that I have seen the situation with my grandparents (not good) and will have to take 5-5 days each month to drive up and help. My grandma I knew is basically gone (think Bea Arthur...efficient and sharp as a tack with a quick sarcastic wit) and my grandpap is an overwhelmed, stressed out mess who was “the sick one” before all this. He is so great with all this and I am so proud of him. It makes me so glad my stepfather is 10 years younger than my mom because he has so much better ability to handle my mom’s needs.

Yeah prior to COVID my husband and I used to plan for the week in terms of the meals we would cook and be ambitious. We’d prepare the home-cooked meals together and always made them big so that we had leftovers for several days.

Now because we sort of have to be more reliant on the kitchen it’s become a little bit less of a special project and many days we are sort of ‘foraging’ the misc ingredients we have on hand to put something together, lol.

Early days of the pandemic and our lockdown, I was cooking and preparing healthy meals. I was also enjoying myself. However, when work, despite being WFH, started yo demand a lot of my time, I couldn’t focus on meal preparation anymore. But at least, new kitchen “toys” (pots/pans, airfryer (actually a tabletop multifunction oven), InstaPot) provide inspiration here and there.

Glad to hear you have some new kitchen toys! My husband just bought us a pressure cooker so we are having some fun trying out meals we can make with that.

Some more bags from yesterday and today. I think I might be up to 22 at this point, of the 27 that I am aiming to wear this month.

Tory Burch Lee Radiziwell (sp?) mini double bag. Yet another taupe bag (just love taupe), but this one is fun with the brightly colored suede interior. I know these bags copy the Birkin but I love them anyway.



Then this morning, wore my other Chloe bag, also to Starbucks. This is more of a chain wallet I guess. It’s a lovely warm blush/brown color.

 

[More bags]

Hello, how is everyone doing? I am out of sorts, my routine is scrambled today - I took my older DS to an orthodontist appointment this morning. Funny how a small change can flip me upside down.

I watched an interesting YouTube video last night. The YouTuber helped curate one of their subscriber’s bag collection. I liked the way she grouped the bags. I’ll share it here, in case you find it useful.



On the theme of wearing and appreciating what I have,
1) Chanel Black Patent Coco Shine Small Flap, funny I don’t have any individual pics of this bag except for when I purchased it. I do more group pictures of my bags, it’s easier for me to compare and contrast, identify my favourite, most used and least used bag within that group.
2) Cross posting my Hermes Jaguar Quetzal CSGM (large shawl). I wore it on the same day I carried the Coco Shine.
3) Hermes Etain Massai Cut 40, I wore this to drive DS to his ortho appointment and I waited in the car.
4) Here’s the scarf I am wearing today with my Massai Cut, it’s Hermes Zebra Pegasus Maxi Twilly.

Sending warm vibes and positive thoughts to our pocket friends.

 

[More bags]

Yeah prior to COVID my husband and I used to plan for the week in terms of the meals we would cook and be ambitious. We’d prepare the home-cooked meals together and always made them big so that we had leftovers for several days.

Now because we sort of have to be more reliant on the kitchen it’s become a little bit less of a special project and many days we are sort of ‘foraging’ the misc ingredients we have on hand to put something together, lol.



Glad to hear you have some new kitchen toys! My husband just bought us a pressure cooker so we are having some fun trying out meals we can make with that.

Some more bags from yesterday and today. I think I might be up to 22 at this point, of the 27 that I am aiming to wear this month.

Tory Burch Lee Radiziwell (sp?) mini double bag. Yet another taupe bag (just love taupe), but this one is fun with the brightly colored suede interior. I know these bags copy the Birkin but I love them anyway.

View attachment 4964076

Then this morning, wore my other Chloe bag, also to Starbucks. This is more of a chain wallet I guess. It’s a lovely warm blush/brown color.

View attachment 4964077

Oooh, great pics - I love your Double Bag and taupe/grey bags. How do you like your Double Bag, is it heavy? Would you consider doing a review?

 

[SouthernPurseGal]

Okay my bags of love photo tote with leather trim is so nice! It's like a Le Pliage but more personal! I have group family photos on both sides. I added my initials to both sides as well. Not too big for every day, nappa leather handles, and super spacious as a carry on or something as well. Oh! --and only $89!

 

[SouthernPurseGal]

Oh and if any of you are looking for affordable, anti microbial, machine washable nylon bags with high quality zippers and hardware that looks a bit more grown up than Kipling, here are an assortment of my pouches in social butterfly print.
These 3 I bought new on eBay for $45 or I could have ordered them from Jujube for $60. Not bad and come with an assortment of matching straps so you can do mini purse, wristlet or Crossbody.

 

[papertiger]

Absolutely loving my new-to-me Peretti Tiffany Bone Cuff - I received it earlier today and haven’t taken if off or even noticed I was wearing it. It’s freaking amazing! ETA: Yes, that’s a dog’s ear I was fondling. Darn hard to take a photo while holding one’s iPad in one hand and one’s other arm far enough away without dropping said iPad or scaring the dog to death.

View attachment 4957897

Iconic!

 

[whateve]

Love the color of your Pólene!



It is like hearing myself talk. We were also falling too much on the delivery slope, the let’s just get some sushi, or we need to support our local Italian. It is true that it is cheaper than eating out, but still, not the best. So this January I said no ordering out until the last weekend. My children are anxiously waiting for their sushi at the end of the month...

I think I have said it before here, I simultaneously hate and love cooking. I like it as per itself, but I resent the daily obligation, and now with Covid, cooking lunch for the whole house and immediately having to think what to do for diner . Plus I fret too much about food, making sure it is healthy, catering for my own food intolerances, making sure that my kids partake of the culinary tradition of their families and countries... There is so much culture and emotion embeded in food and cooking, it exhausts me. Plus I am not a good planner. I use to plan meals when the kids were little, but now I am not able. I think I have enough with the planing involved in establishing a business .

So I did try those meal kit delivery services, Hello Fresh I think it was called. Nothing wrong with it, it worked very well and I have friends who swear by it. You can choose your meals, but of course sometimes I would miss the deadline. And it turns out that something I hate more than planning is someone else planning for me... Plus I am a fussy cook, and I like things my way, so I would be tweaking the recipes or changing ingredients. At the end it was more stress than help! But that is just me.

I know I'd feel the same about those meal kit delivery services. I like to make things my way. I'm constantly tweaking recipes and often adding more spices. Many years ago we hired a woman to cook us a weeks worth of meals. If it had worked out, we would have continued to use her, but we really didn't like anything she prepared.

I feel that having to constantly think about meal planning makes it very hard to me to keep my weight down. I'm always thinking of food. There is pressure to decide what we are going to eat the next day before I go to bed so I can defrost anything I need. I end up dreaming about food.

On the subject of intolerances (I know I've spoken before about limiting my ingredients per dish so I've hogged this topic entirely), but this is the reason I can't order in like most people. Just like you, my food intolerances add a whole other layer of stress. I'm allergic to wheat, soy, sesame, shrimp, almonds...it's easier to cook for myself no matter how tired I am, because at least then I don't have to worry about an unwanted reaction.

I really feel for parents who have to cater to their families during this time, especially if the kids have food intolerances. It's so much work! My friend has to cook 3 different dishes for lunch and dinner because her DH and 2 kids all have different allergies- so either they all forgo the allergens (like nobody gets to eat normal bread because one of them is gluten free) or she cooks for each person separately, which is the path of least resistance but leads her to utter exhaustion.

I discovered an intolerance to soy about a year ago. DH still doesn't believe me. Food intolerances are hard to identify as it can take up to 48 hours to get a reaction. I've had problems with Chinese food for many years. At first, it just made it so I couldn't sleep. I blamed it on the tea, but even after I stopped drinking tea, I still had the problem. I couldn't figure it out. Then the last few years, I've gotten headaches, even when there is no MSG. I finally narrowed it down to soy. Every few weeks I make fried rice for DH, which he loves. I'd love it too but it isn't worth getting a headache.

I bet I have other food intolerances I just haven't identified yet. Sometimes I'll have headaches several days in a row.

I'm so tired of cooking. It is a treat for me to eat out. I don't want to ever have to give that up. I know that if I only had to feed myself, I would make a lot less dishes with a lot less ingredients.

 

[papertiger]

Oh I am so happy you like your D&D shirt! And relieved, I was anxious you wouldn’t and feeling responsible for it

It sure looks great on you! I have all three. They really are so practical that to me it is easy to justify the purchases, the ppw rate is so low. I love the striped one too, also because it has a contrast picket in pink.
I have several of their pijamas and have given them as presents and everybody loves them. I always end up ruining silk pijamas, so these are much better for me and great to hang around with your coffee in the mornings without feeling too messy.

Btw, about my order where DHL wanted to charge me 50% of the value. Part of that was the new custom duties, part the European VAT, part an outrageously high admin fee that DHL charges. I talked to D&D and they say they have now a different procedure for ordering from Europe where they take care of all charges and I don't pay more. Somehow my order went as a local order in pounds. So I sent back to sender and will do another order. Just in case anyone in Europe has a similar situation with a UK site!

We (UK) have to pay duty on any purchases from the French h.com site, obviously enough sent from the France, but all the items that are on the UK site are also sent from France.

 

[papertiger]

Bags 16 and 17 of the month yesterday. Both Proenza Schouler as it turns out.

First up is the mini PS2 in biscotti. This bag goes with so many outfits. I love camel as a color for a handbag, and this one doesn’t make my heart sing quite like it used to, but whenever I evaluate a potential new camel bag to replace it - this one still seems to fit into my wardrobe more. So, it stays.
View attachment 4958329

Then for our dinner run I broke out my PS1 crossbody in suede ‘Pepe’. This bag is DEFINITELY showing a bunch of wear. I don’t feel fancy anymore when I wear it, but the slouchy look of it is so cool for some outfits. So, it also stays.
View attachment 4958330

Thanks for letting me share!

Well, I think the Pepe looks amazing, suede is never pristine and the colour of this works in suede beautifully.