The Perfect Bag

I don't know what's happened to me recently.  I always used to detest shopping.  I'd only go to town if I really needed something, and once there I'd nip in, buy the thing, and hop straight out again.  But I can't help noticing that in the past few months I've really started to enjoy it, especially if I'm with John.  It's quite nice when your husband also happens to be your best friend and he likes shopping as much as you do.  We love to shop, stop off in a cafe, and shop again.
Part of the shopping thing is that I've been on a quest to find the perfect handbag.  I bought this one in Paris after a great deal of dithering:

I absolutely love it.  There's quite a bit of room and it goes over my arm perfectly.  I had no idea strap length was so crucial!
But of course I couldn't take this bag when we went back to Paris in October without blatantly looking like a tourist, so the hunt was on for another suitable bag.  By now I'd found my perfect black coat and boots, so the obvious way forward was to find a black bag to go with them.  I found this bag in a shop in Loughborough:

(I immediately found a similar one that I liked even more in Next for half the price, but we won't go there!)  So this is the bag that I took to Paris and it worked very well.

But since then, this bag has been driving me barmy.  Considering it's not very big, it's amazing how many things, like keys, get lost at the bottom of it.  I keep having to take everything out to find what I'm looking for.  Things like that really frustrate me, especially if it's going to make me late for work when I wasn't late before and especially after working to hard to simplify my life recently.
In the meantime, I've been looking at bigger bags and trying to decide how I feel about them.  I really didn't want to lug a great big bag full up with stuff, around with me all day, like a sack... but there is something attractive about these bigger bags.  I've been thinking it might be an idea to buy a nice shopping bag in black, similar to my green Harrods bag (which, incidentally, I've had for 25 years and it still looks brand new!)  Don't forget, these bags have to fit on the handlebars of my bike, too.
Then last Friday I went to T.K. Maxx with Priscilla, and there before me were some of the most beautiful bags I've ever seen... and most of them were big.  But I was smitten.
So on Saturday John and I went to the T.K. Maxx in Luffie, with me determined to prove they don't sell them there... and there they were!  And before you know it, I was cruising the shelves, trying them for size, checking the interior, knowing exactly my spec for the perfect bag.  I actually fell in love with a lime green one, which opened wide with a big cavernous space inside.  It looked wild and fun.  But then I saw this one and I knew it was THE ONE! 

For some reason, although it's a bigger bag, things don't get lost in the bottom of it.  It's perfect for church, when I take my kindle and a notebook and it'll carry a bottle of water without even noticing it.  Basically, I'm in love.  I've finally found the one for me.
Now I just need that pair of shoes...!
Back soon
Jane x

The Woman In The Fifth

You'd only have to spend a short amount of time with me to find I'm totally book obsessed and have been all my life.  My blog wouldn't be truly mine unless I told you what I was reading.  And, nine times out of ten, I'll rave about the book and put it on my list to be read again in two years time.
But not this time.
Lesson learned:  Just because a book is set in Paris, and the writer has won awards, it doesn't mean the book will be good!  I was totally into it.  Man leaves America in a hurry, and, bit by bit we find out why.  He gets a strange job and lives in a sleazy apartment, but I'm good with it.  And then, by the time it's too late, the whole point of the story is revealed and, frankly, "Nooooooooo!"  is what you get from me.  But fortunately by then there were only a few chapters to go, and I was prepared to wade on, hoping right up to the last minute that the author would change his mind, but no.
And so I will never read this book again.  But it did bring a flavour of Paris into my life for a while and I'm grateful for that.  People buy this book in their droves in France, apparently.  Well they're welcome to it.  At least mine was a library book and didn't cost me any money.  Thank goodness for that!
Back soon
Jane x