30DC21: What's In My Purse

My purse and its contents - the only thing not pictured is my phone (iPhone4), which I used to take this picture!

A gay man once proclaimed that I have "THE most boring purse, like, ever" after rifling through mine, and he proceeded to ask if I really were born female, because how could any woman leave the house so unprepared?!

"What if

Buying Tiffany and Label Whoredom

I did it!!! :D  When I was in Manhattan.  I bought my first Tiffany.  And I bought one for my mum.  Nothing elaborate, just simple, elegant silver rings that we can wear all the time.  I've gotta start somewhere and work my way up, you know?

It was the most lovely shopping experience.  When I asked to try something on,

One of A Kind: Barbie's Basement Jewellery

“I’m so gay, I sweat glitter,” says my favourite fashion blogger, the fabulous BryanBoy. As a gay man in a woman’s body, I can kind of relate. There’s just something about sparkly things that gets me right there, similar to the effect of the colour pink on me. That’s why every year, I’m inevitably drawn to the Barbie’s Basement Jewellery (BBJ) booth at the One of A Kind.

BBJ is run by this really nice couple, Robin and Ange, who’ve been together for absolutely ever; I remember seeing them at my very first One of A Kind Christmas show! Some years ago, Robin was facing a possible layoff at her really boring full-time job, so she decided to turn her hobby, jewellery-making, into a business. She sold beaded jewellery at first, but then she conceived the idea of making glass bubble rings with a piece of text underneath over a bed of glitter. Later, she came up with the idea of featuring pop culture images in her jewellery, and another line began. Then in 2000, her partner/future wife Ange hurt herself badly at her day job, and when she was recovering, she decided to join BBJ as Production Manager in 2001. Since then, they’ve expanded to making cufflinks, magnets, key chains, belt buckles and lots more. Their belt buckles are particularly popular and Jessica Alba wore one in the movie Honey. Robin and Ange’s work has also been featured in a bunch of magazines.

My favourites are the glittery pieces, of course, which I really wish I could find a picture of so that I could show you. I got my first one from them a few years ago, and I can’t even tell you what a hard time I had picking something out, because I always just want to bring their whole booth home every time I see it. I ended up choosing a bright red glittered ring with the word “rebel” in it. The following year, I began eyeing these two supercute necklaces – one that says “uptown” over light pink glitter and one that says “downtown” over hot pink – get it? At the last Christmas show, I decided that I was going to get one, and I decided to get “downtown”, despite the fact that I’m really an uptown girl, just because I liked the hot pink better. But there weren’t any more necklaces in the style I wanted, so Robin, who is super sweet, custom-made my necklace with exactly the shade of glitter I wanted, despite the fact that she was in the middle of the demanding show and was probably really busy. The next piece I’m aiming for is the charm bracelet, with five charms on it! I just have to decide exactly which charms I want, which will be a challenge...

Go check them out at the One of A Kind beginning next Thursday at booth N-48! You can also find BBJ products at retailers all over North America, at their secure online store, and at Snazzygirl.com. Best of all, they welcome custom orders if you’re looking for something specific!

For more information, visit their website at http://bbj.ca.

One of A Kind: Karen Wilson Hand Bags

Hello, friends! Please pardon my week-long hiatus – it’s been a tough one. A friend in my program just received some very bad news from the doctor and has to go home. I hope she gets well soon – and that she drinks a ton of Second Cup Green Tea Chillers (or Lattes) for me when she gets home. The last time I hung out with her, she was telling me how excited she was to read my One of A Kind series because she loves going to the show with her stepmom every season, so the following series of posts is dedicated to her. XOXOXO, girl!

You know how there was this air of finality when Anna Karenina threw her beloved red velvet handbag into the railroad tracks? A woman who throws away her favourite purse and banishes it to the dirty ground evidently has lost the will to live. This perfectly describes the sacred relationship between a woman and her handbag.

Unlike Anna, however, I don’t subscribe to the idea that there is The One. I’ve long since decided that a harem full of gorgeousness is much more suited to my depraved appetite for prettiness. And the bag I have my eye on for the next addition to my bag harem is a Karen Wilson original.

Every year, Fashion Girl and I make at least one trip over to Karen’s booth at the One of A Kind to stare admiringly at the newest collection. I can’t be there in person this year, but I’ve checked it out online, and let me tell you, Fall/Winter 2008 looks divine. Each season, Karen Wilson Hand Bags releases a new collection of beautiful purses in the 10 styles she’s known for, including functional market totes, elegant gathered frames, fun evening bags, and more. Her pieces are especially well-made and every design is made in limited edition, to keep them special and exclusive.

Go check out Karen’s work at Booth J-25 at the One of A Kind, opening next Thursday, November 27!

Glamorous Poverty: Wine, Skin Care, Shoes and French Generic

It’s a happy coincidence that the boy that I love shares his first name with a huge fashion designer/major label, because every time I see people wearing shirts with his name splashed across the chest, it’s like he’s winking at me, all the way across the pond.

In additional gushing, the wine is so cheap here it’s ridiculous. You can get a perfectly decent bottle for anywhere from 1-3 €, but I’ve even seen some that are less than a euro! That’s practically free! They’re almost giving it away! They may as well just have wine come out of public fountains, or spray it out onto the streets at people – can you imagine what a party that would be?

It’s such a shame that wine isn’t dirt cheap at home, though – after all, Ontario produces wine, too. It’s also super easy for anyone and everyone to buy alcohol here – a local friend told me that a child of 10 could easily buy wine or beer and no one would bat an eye. That and the fact that kids are exposed to wine at their family dinner tables virtually every day since a very young age is why I suspect that drinking isn’t as huge a deal here as it is in North America.

But I digress. The point is, wine is really, really cheap here, and buying an occasional bottle to sip with friends or to cook with is a great way to amp up your quality of life despite being dirt poor in Europe.

I find that as a general rule, necessities are expensive in Nice, while fun things can run really cheap. For example, food is generally more expensive, especially if you have certain diets. For instance, I eat rice almost every day, and a one kilo bag of mediocre rice is about 2.50 €, while a premium-quality 10kg bag in uptown Toronto is about $15.00 CAD – and that’s after inflation, because they used to cost about $10.00. Personal care products, like shampoo and toothpaste, are also really pricey – only exceptions are French skin care products, which are not cheap but are definitely less costly than at home because here, they are domestic products. For example, I love the brand Avène because I have sensitive skin. An Avène moisture serum (which, by the way, is a phenomenal award-winning product) is $43.00 CAD at Shopper’s Drug Mart in Toronto (since August, anyway), but here, I can buy it for 22 €, which is about $35.00 CAD. Pretty darn good.

Fashion accessories can also be really cheap, but it takes a lot of patient sifting to find something really special, I think, because there’s just so much to choose from. I’m particularly interested in shoes, and I’ve been able to score some great finds here. My flatmate found a store that has a selection of shoes for only 5 €, but I went there, and I don’t really like what’s available. However, I got a pair of cute little cobalt blue patent pumps for only 22 € (that’s about $35 CAD), which is now on sale for about 11 €, and today I bought a pair of supercomfy, casual canvas flats on sale for 6 € (!) and a dressier pair that can totally pass for real leather for just 13 €, all at Moa (on Jean-Médecin). For those of you living in Nice – there’s a huge sale there. I saw a few cute bags that I’d totally go for if I didn’t have the good sense to guilt-trip myself for spending money I shouldn’t spend yet. There are also a lot of great little items (especially trendy pieces and cheap shoes!) at Pimkie, the store right beside it.

Luckily, for all of us poor students living here in France, I find that most generic brand products are very good quality, sort of like President’s Choice in Canada, although I’d say that President’s Choice is steadily becoming a power brand. The other day, I bought a box of Schlecker-brand tissue from Schlecker, this awesome sort of discount store chain in France that reminds me of, say, Pharmaplus or IGA in Canada minus the medications, and I’m very happy with it because it’s thick, durable, and it can almost pass for Kleenex. It wasn’t cheap (because it’s a necessity and it follows my rule, see), but it was cheaper than everything else and it’ll last me because it’s good quality. I’m also pretty happy with Casino-brand food products, which of course, are sold at Casino stores – it’s a supermarket brand that’s sort of halfway in quality between Loblaw’s and No Frills, except with lots of booze.

But my favourite generic food brand by far has to be Leader Price, which is available at Leader Price and Franprix stores. The only Franprix store I’ve been to was very clean and very well-organized, if a little small. Leader Price products are even cheaper than Casino products, but they are very, very good quality. One of my flatmates recommended this mussels & potatoes TV dinner, which costs only 2.14 € and it’s one of the most delicious things I’ve eaten since coming here – as well as a great substitute if you’re craving moules frites and are broke.

So! If you’re low on cash, don’t despair, because there are ways to live well without bankrupting yourself – I call it living in glamorous poverty. ;}

Addition to Bag Harem - Laptop Bag

Hello! Begging your collective pardon - I totally meant to post earlier today, but I've literally been hopping from farewell party to farewell party tonight, and this is the first time I've been at my comptuer today.

I have four parties lined up in total (two more left - my goodness, I love all the people who love me!), plus some birthday parties and other get-togethers before I leave next Friday. Saying "Goodbye for now" is a little sad, but I'm always up for a reason to have fun!

I am christening my new laptop by blogging on it for the very first time - yay! I finally have it all organized and ready to go, you see: my awesome brother set it up for me with all the programs/security I wanted, and I finally transferred all my files from my old computer to this one.

And now I can tell you guys all about the new addition to my Bag Harem that I've been referring to. Those of you who've been following TSH since day one may remember that my very first post was about my bag crush, the Susan Komen collection version of the Milano laptop bag by Mobile Edge.

After I bought my new laptop, I just had to get a hot bag to put it in, of course, but I was struggling between the original Milano, which is black, and the special edition pink one, which I was also head-over-heels for, but was more expensive (albeit for a good cause). I finally decided on the black because it's more timeless (always superimportant to me) so I won't outgrow it so quickly, if ever, and so I could save some money.

It came really quickly and I am so, so happy I went with the black! It's really classy and besides, I think the pink would look really fake. It's not exactly the same as the pictures online, but I'm really happy with it nonetheless. It came with a dust bag, which is key for storage (although I'll be using it practically every day next year) and I love that it has feet - not that I'd ever banish it to the floor.

The red velvet lining is also very sexy and reminds me of Anna Karenina - remember how she had a red velvet handbag? It was such a defining moment when she tossed it out onto the railroad tracks before throwing herself in front of the oncoming train. But I digress.

So, I love this bag, because nearly everyone who's seen it so far exclaimed, "It doesn't look like a laptop bag at all!" I've always thought that traditional laptop bags are really ugly and clunky. To my delight, my brother even remarked that it looks like a bag a high-powered executive businesswoman would carry - score! Plus it's faux-croc, so it satisfies my skin fetish without sacrificing the life of an animal.

I also think that it was wonderfully designed and perfectly meets the needs of a woman on-the-go. There are all kinds of useful compartments (including one that will prevent your PDA/iPhone from getting hacked into or receiving viruses!) and it even comes with a detachable wristlet for makeup and such.

I love.

It also comes in two sizes - the regular can carry laptops up to 15.4" in width and the large can hold laptops up to 17". If you live in the States, you can get it at a discount at sites like BeachCamera.com (lucky you!), but if you live in Canada, Dell.ca is really efficient, even if it costs a little more.

I highly recommend it, or at least checking out other cute, non-traditional bags to carry your laptops around in. After all, there are so many choices out there now!

Bag Crush

I love pink. I love owning pink things. I think the right shades of pink can make a woman really powerful. Pink things just get me right there. So you'd probably be able to imagine my impassioned squeal when I saw this:

It's the Komen Collection version of the Milano laptop tote by Mobile Edge ($130USD).

You see, the Enter key of my 3-year-old laptop has fallen out (after I'd already had to replace the keyboard last year when the first two letters of my name fell out), and it's the last straw - so it looks like I will very likely be getting a new laptop. A much smaller version, which I've been wanting for a really long time now, probably a Dell Vostro with a 13.3" in screen.

So naturally, I'll need a superchic tote to carry it around in.

I adore skins, and this is a beautiful faux-croc pattern - awesome, because I won't have to sacrifice my conscience for style. It's lined in a buttery-soft tan suede, and it features a super secure laptop compartment, a removable wristlet, cell phone and pen/lipstick compartments, and - can you believe it? - a wireless security pocket that will prevent hackers from getting into your BlackBerry/PDA.

Plus it comes with a lifetime warranty and 10% of the proceeds go to the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

LOVE

If only I didn't have to save up for travelling in Europe next year...