wallet?

my sister suggested that i get this wallet. it's a hayden-harnett wallet and honestly, i've never heard of it. am i a brand snob or what?! here's its specs:

size: 7-1/2"L x 4"H x 1"D

custom geometric printed leather
mirror under flap
multiple credit card slots
large bill pocket
ID window
exterior rear zippered coin pocket
multiple interior pockets to hold receipts, business cards, etc.

what do you think? unfortunatley, i'm still on my wallet hunt and it's helpful to get suggestions.

trunk la funk

as soon as humanly possible, i left school and drove my enabler friend and my purse addicted self to scp. bye bye bitches!! the rain had let up a little so driving there in traffic wasn't as bad as it could have been. i also had company so that passed the time quickly. it was still a long trek though, but NOTHING was going to keep me from viewing the chanel trunk show. nothing. not even horrible, pouring rain and bad l.a. drivers. screech!!!!

well...bleh. *sigh* the purse that i went hunting for is the one pictured below. when i first saw it leaked on the internet, i FELL IN LOVE. i thought the purple was SO SO beautiful...but seeing it in real life is a different story. the purple did not live up to it's hype...it was obvious that this is a photogenic purse. i did not love it and modeling it sealed my verdict. it was a no go. i told ritsuko that i will not be buying a chanel at this time...my wallet was so willing too! too bad, so sad.

instead, i will be funneling my money into this. i guess there will always be future chanels to gawk at and possibly to buy...i will just have to wait for a winner i suppose as my money gathers interest. not a bad ending after all i suppose....

1/2 committed...good gawd....

ritsuko (the SA from scp chanel) called me today. apparently, the bag that i saw from trunk show leaks on the internet will be available at this boutique...BUT only 4 of them. in order to be put on the waitlist, i had to give my credit card info...which i did....wow! i don't even know what they look like in real life!!!!! what the heck is wrong with me??!!

no worries. the cc info is just to guarantee my spot on the waitlist (i made sure of that). i can make up my mind on thursday when i check it out. if i don't want it, then she'll just give me that slip of paper with my cc info back. *whew* no obligations whatsoever.

can't wait for the trunk show.....

mini lins

i have very conflicting feelings about lv. part of me thinks lv is way overexposed and the fact that most people IN THIS WORLD owns a piece of it unfortunately takes away from the uniqueness of this design house. it’s not just a matter of “exclusivity,” but the idea that you can walk around anywhere and everywhere and see people toting around the same bag really makes me cringe. but then again, every once in a while, lv throws something hot out which makes me look twice.

anyways, this is the louis vuitton monogram mini lin saumur. i saw this young asian girl rocking it at a forever 30 store (hahhaha). when i saw it, i thought wow, that’s really cute. i really liked the chocolate background because it reminded me of a smooth chocolate bar. the color is oh so rich! it looked different from their other designs so i liked it. i purse stalked her for a bit and thought it was hot. i also thought the monogram lv graphics were small enough so it added to the design of the bag rather than overwhelmed it. i really dig chocolate backgrounds, hence the harajuku lovers tote. must be my sweet tooth influencing my bag taste.

this bag is a small messenger bag which brings it to the casual side of a bag life. i think it would make a good replacement for my black lesportsac nylon canvas bag if i ever have any intentions of upgrading. unfortunately, the price for this saumur is outrageous! it’s not even leather for gosh sakes! it is made of cotton and canvas with bits of leather trimming. it’s like their denim line…i CANNOT justify paying outrageous prices for cotton. i don’t care WHO designs it.

i can’t quite make up my mind whether i love lv or i’m annoyed by it. maybe it depends on the bag and who rocks it…but the mini lin design i like. this bag would make a GREAT casual bag if the price wasn't so out of control!

clearly stupid

you know, i “heart” chanel and everything, but seriously, must chanel ALSO get into this plastic bag see through craze? i know marc by marc jacobs has one with this glittery starburst pattern, but no matter how cool chanel is, a see through bag is just plain stupid.

why would anyone buy a bag that allows their contents to be visible? i don’t need to see that you’re carrying a cosco size box full of condoms or that you like using extra long kotex pads for that time of the month. hahahaha. no seriously, why are you broadcasting your wares? this kind of see through plastic bag reminds me of those cheap plastic umbrellas back in the days that looked like half an egg. or those restaurants that have those plastic side panels for their outdoor seating. anyways, just makes no sense.

to add insult to injury, these bags are pretty expensive for what they are worth. no leather to even justify the price….nothing. it is CLEAR that you are buying this bag just for the sake of the double c's. i've even read in some purse forums that women were getting the chanel pictured below because it was a relatively more "affordable" chanel. yo, chanel is cool, but a plastic bag isn’t…i don’t mind drawing a line to demarcate the difference.

your resident bag whore

it's kinda funny, but perhaps when you see me, you think of bags? recently, i got a text from a friend who normally doesn't send me too many texts except for the holidays and such. she texted me out of the blue one day (i hope you don't mind me sharing friend):

"OMG, thinking of you cuz i made a bag purchase....have not in years....love it."

i thought it was cute that she texted me regarding her purse acquisition. i would LOVE to see it when we hang again :)

then in the same week, another friend emailed me information about a purse exhibit at the pasadena museum of history:

The Purse and the Person

A Century of Women's Purses

January 23-March 31, 2008

http://www.pasadenahistory.org/thingstosee/purseexhibit.html#PurseandPerson

thanks for thinking of me. DO show me your bags when i see you.

chanel trunk show

the chanel trunk show is scheduled to be held at scp on jan. 24th. it’s a school day, but i plan to zip straight out of school as soon as humanly possible in order to avoid running into TOO much traffic while heading down to costa mesa. regardless, I HAVE TO CHECK IT OUT. i saw a few internet leaks and discovered a bag that i may “heart” for this new season but i won’t know until i model it. tee hee. or at least until i see it in real life. if i love it, then i need to put myself on a wait list and cross my fingers that it will eventually be available for purchase (OMG, it sounds like i'm BEGGING to buy something!). i will probably be exhausted from school and traffic may be crappy, but the trunk show won’t be around for long. it will be a new experience for sure and i don’t want to miss out on this one.

i know i can make my life easier by going to the chanel boutique on rodeo drive, but i really dislike the location and the SAs there. i would rather take 50 minutes to drive out to a place where i feel relatively comfortable in. besides, they have boudin’s, a san francisco based restaurant with the yummiest clam chowder ever!! i can always end the night with a nice bowl of clam chowder regardless of the hunt results.

so that’s my plan and i’m sticking to it. anybody want to join this bag whore on a bag hunt? :)

commitment phobic? or just plain cheating?

i don’t know if you have this same problem as i do, but i find that once you go to someone for service, any return services to the same place makes you feel obligated to use that same person.

case in point. when i was getting my hair did at this asian salon a few years back, this lady became my stylist because she happened to be the first one there to cut my hair. afterwards, all my return visits were automatically scheduled with her even though it became pretty obvious to me that she wasn't the best stylist there. eventually, it became uncomfortable for me to even think of requesting for a new stylist because that would be an insult. well, tired of blah hair, i decided to go on a salon search. that's when i met rogerio, my hair god at the hair salon that i currently patronize. but you see, i had to LEAVE the place first...there was no way i could have patronized the same salon and just switch stylists.

when i bought my camellia wallet at the chanel boutique, i bought if from this SA named p.j. p.j. is alright, but unlike ritsuko, she was a bit snooty and only became "friendlier" when it became apparent to her that i was going to buy the wallet. when i met ritsuko afterwards, i was pretty sure that i wanted to conduct any future chanel transactions with her because she just seemed really nice. but just like the hair salon, there are some unspoken binds of loyalty that you're suppose to have and i felt it there too. i did feel like i was "cheating" when i began directing my questions to ritsuko.

i told one of my bag friends about this and she said, "you're cheating!" really? i mean, i do feel kind of bad, but i would rather give my business to someone that i think deserves it especially since they make commission off our purchases. i DOUBT p.j. will remember me if she ever saw me again, but if she does, i'll just pretend that i don't remember her. hahahaha. OR, it might not be as bad as i think.....

"you are so nice"

not too long ago, i went back to scp to look at a prada wallet at saks so it was just natural for me to mosey on over to the chanel boutique for a looksie. i know i’ve been there already and have seen their merchandise, but i’m beginning to discover that sometimes, boutiques will get new things sent in and if you so happen to be there and you like what you see, you can just snatch it up. OR, you can make good friends with a SA and have her/him call you when the new items come in…yeah, like that’s going to ever happen. anyways, i wanted to know if there were any wallets that i may have missed last time (wishful thinking on my part. i think i just want a wallet and it bugs to have to wait). that’s when i met ritsuko lee, the SA over at chanel.

ritsuko is an older asian lady. she reminds me of someone’s momma. perhaps yours? i did not get a snob vibe from her which was refreshing. she was patient and answered my questions without making me feel like a poor dork. i inquired about their new wallets and she said they should be coming in at the end of january. she even suggested that i come and see their “trunk show” scheduled sometime in late january/february. btw, a trunk show is when all the new season’s products are put on display. it is also a time for you to put yourself on a wait list if you see something you “heart” and would love to buy when the shipments come in.

before i left chanel, i said, “you are so nice.” seriously, i thought it sounded stupid when i heard it coming out of my mouth. they are SALES PEOPLE after all. they are suppose to be nice because they want your business. but unfortunately, the ones i’ve run across aren’t very helpful and uber snooty…except for zeyad of course who likes to gab a lot. ritsuko was a nice change of attitude in the sea of snooty SA faces. if zeyad worked at chanel, it would be perfect. that mofo likes to talk up a storm even though i don’t buy much from him. he’s really helpful, too.

the collector within

i say i’m a collector because if i say i’m a crap keeper, it sounds really bad. when i was in grade school, i collected stamps and stickers. i still have a few of those lying around…somewhere. when i went overseas to study abroad in hong kong, i discovered that mcdonalds released these international snoopy figures made out of plastic. they were designed to dress up in the said country’s garb that they were representing…i.e. a hong kong snoopy wore a chinese outfit whereas u.s.a. snoopy wore a statue of liberty costume. bless my friend’s heart, i made him (and me) eat a ton of happy meals until i finally collected all 28. a few years ago, when our national treasury made the commemoration quarters with the individual state designs on the back, i started to collect those. a friend even bought me a coolio u.s. map that allows you to embed the quarters in it…for safe keeping and display of course. about a year ago, i started collecting the peek-a-poohs that you get from those japanese toy machines. they are little plastic winnie the pooh figurines with a plastic costume that you can put on and take off. i particularly liked saying “oohh, i got pooh in a present, or pooh in mushroom is cute.” (so i’m immature…so what). NOW, i have a thing for collecting purses. they cost a bit more than the other things that i’ve collected before, but they can be so darn pretty! i’ll approach THIS collection in moderation though…there’s only a few more things that i still want…though getting another chanel or two will do me in…. now, you know i like to collect things…does that explain my bag obsession a bit? how about you? do you collect anything other than bad credit? j/k. hahahahaha.

a few asian favorites (left to right: thailand, vietnam, hong kong, china, japan, and korea)

kawaii desu ka?

i was at nordie’s the other day and i visited their purse section (of course). i’ve been thinking of getting another teacher tote, not because i don’t “heart” my marc by marc jacobs tote in bourdeux anymore. actually, i LOVE that tote too much! it’s become a great mall bag, roomy enough to store all my shitz AND a cardigan when i feel a little chilly whilst shopping. because of its newfound convenience, i decided to keep it at home rather than abuse it as a teacher tote. that meant i had to find a teacher tote replacement. well, while walking about nordie’s, i saw a few of their reduced bags on their sales table. amongst all those not so cute sale bags were a few harajuku lovers totes on sale, too. i paused.

as a fashion icon and musician, i like gwen stefani. i think she has good style and i like her songs when she was in no doubt as well as when she embarked on her solo singing projects…as a designer though…not so much. i REALLY dislike her harajuku lovers line because i think there’s something FUNDAMENTALLY wrong with her whoring another culture as a white person (we need not get into a convo about racial dynamics and exploitation here)…and have you seen those japanese dancers that she has dressed up in interesting costumes that follows her around to all her press moments? THEY DON’T TALK! these japanese women are literally gwen stefani’s backdrop. i have issues with that too….

with all that being said, i ended up buying a harajuku lovers tote anyways! hypocrite or what right? i found this cuteish tote in brown and tan. i liked the fact that it has the letter “H” as oppose to “harajuku lovers” graffitied all over it (i would have preferred no lettering at all especially from this brand). if you don’t know the brand, the letter “H” can be mistaken to stand for many things such as:

“H”ope
“H”appiness
“H”amburger (hahahahaha)
oh, and “H”ahahahaha

the tote has these four leaf clover shapes on it which is lucky and cute AND best of all, it’s made of canvas and was relatively cheap for what it is. it serves a purpose and i didn’t care to go on a tote hunt anymore. i don’t mind dragging this sucker around school or flinging it on our dirty school carpet. it is still a step above the apple and rainbow teacher tote that i rocked from yesteryear…and i must admit, it’s “not ugly.”

(note: kawaii desu ka? means “it’s cute?” in japanese)

the year end bag-view

2007 started relatively slow, but sure picked up by the end of september when i picked up a few bag beauties to start a luscious bagnatic collection. to think, it all started when i told my friend that i just wanted to find a “good black purse” which i did! it just came along with a lot of other purse purchases as well. who would have thunk?!

i most definitely “heart” marc jacobs and his more casual line, his marc by marc jacobs bags. but ultimately, the house of chanel stays firmly rooted as the number one designer of choice, with it’s timeless pieces and its history in fashion. although i’ve had a few uncomfortable chanel moments, this design house truly is fabulous. i cannot wait to acquire more chanel items….

if you are reading this and you know me, then i must adore you very much. thanks for checking up on me and my friendly interest in bags. here’s to a wonderful 2008 full of fabulous purses and other shallow thoughts. *hugs and kisses*