Adventures in Purse Shopping...Oh My!!

First, let me begin with this one statement: TubaDad deserves a medal!! :o)

Sunday afternoon TD stayed with the girls while M3 and I headed to the fabric store to find some materials for one of the little girl's Easter dress. Last year and again this, M3 and I had such fun wandering the stores and looking for dresses that suit each of the girls likes and personalities and at the same time dresses that complement one another. I'm guessing Wela and Ma cringe when M3 and I head out looking for Easter dresses as they always seem to require some sort of modification. Heh...at one point we had them making a coat from another one that came with one of the dresses and modifying one dress. The fact that the girls weren't fans of the coat idea probably made the Grandmas very happy!

Fastforward to Sunday when she and I hit the fabric stores. We found what we we needed and since the night was still young we went next door to K*hl's and that's where the adventure began. Throughout the week M3 had mentioned that the purse she had didn't work as well as she'd hoped as it had a narrow opening at the top. No problem....we'll look for a new purse! Oye vey...what an experience this was!! Fun, exciting and yet an adventure none the less.

Purse requirements:
- shoulder strap that goes over the head
- zipper on the top that makes it easy to get things in and out
- lots of pockets for organization
- preferrably one that has an internal wallet
- cute!

Up to this point M3 and I were on the same wavelength and our purse shopping was quite similar. My time to purchase a new purse? Normally 5-10 mins. M3, not so much!!

Because then it started...the opening, closing, analyzing, trying on, checking out the look in the mirror and so much more. We laughed our way around the purse dept of K*hl's as she tried out about 15 purses. It wouldn't have been too bad except what happened when she found each purse made me laugh! We'd analyze the colour and material and then it would happen....the zipper would open and the paper would be pulled out piece by piece. I never knew how much paper was in purses until this little adventure! We were quite easy to find in the store as just like Hansel and Gretel all you had to do was follow our trail of little stacks of purse paper left on the shelves. There was finally one which she thought could work and she carried it around for a while and it went as far as almost being paid for, but there was a quick change of the heart and *poof* it was history! :o)

We left the store and since the mall was right across the street I asked if she wanted to check a store there. We'd been so close and I was really hoping she'd find a purse so we giddily entered the store and headed directly to the purse dept for round #2. Yup...it started again! Opening, closing, analyzing, trying on, checking out in the mirror and yes, the infamous paper trail. The funny thing about this store was that about 45 mins. into our mission we realized there was a store clerk who had taken it as her personal mission to follow us around at a distance and clean up out Hansel and Gretle paper trail. I'm thinking she was not finding this nearly as much fun as we were!

After taking about 20 purses through the paces above we narrowed it down to 2. One we really liked with the exception that the wallet portion would need 2 hands to zip and unzip it as it had a 3 sided zipper. That might be a deal breaker! It was up against another one that pretty much fit the requirements with the exception that the wallet was a bit smaller than desired. Hmmmm...such a decision to make! After weighing the pros and cons of each, it was decided that slightly-smaller-wallet-purse had won out over zip-zip-zip purse.

At this point M3 decided to save me the final humiliation step of purse shopping by not emptying her current purse piece by piece into the new one to ensure that it all fit...and yet still look cute! Phew...can't say I was sorry to miss that little bit of fun...and I'm pretty sure the Hansel and Gretle clerk wasn't sorry either!

We headed to the checkout walking tall and one of those 'we did it' grins plastered across each of our faces and we were feeling gooood! M3 mentioned how happy TD would be to be saved from a purse shopping experience! After this 2 hour marathon I understood how this could be painful for a guy...especially if he had 2 energized toddlers in tow! (On a funny sidenote, TD was entertaining the girls in a store a little while back and he found himself in the purse dept with them. What did his little cuties do? They proceeded to open purses and pull out the paper even though M3 isn't sure they've ever seen her do this! Like mother, like daughters!!)

As we left the store I was so excited that my friend had found her purse that there was almost a little skip in my step. Thankfully I didn't skip for real since we'd had torrential rains for almost 24 solid hours and my little skips could have caused flooding across the parking lot! It was a happy, happy moment though!

And then....IT happened. That one little sentence that almost stopped me in my tracks.

'Sure hope I keep it.'

Whaaat? You might not? Are you serious???? Hilarious!! TD might still need to experience another purse shopping trip? Oye vey!! Sorry TD!! I tried. I really, really tried!!

We laughed about her comment and headed out for a great dinner at an Italian restaurant with some rockin' cheezy bread and then we made our way home. TD and I compared purse shopping notes and it was funny how we could talk about each step of the purse shopping experience step by step in great detail!

Now, it was time for the big moment. Drumroll please.....the movement of current purse stuff from the old purse to the new one. The first to move over was lipstick which initially made a funny looking bump which was almost a deal breaker but, a quick adjustment and all was well in the world of everything purses...for a couple of minutes but then the grimaces crossing M3's face made me realize it wasn't going well. Uh oh....it's not looking good at all!!

The final verdict? Nope, nada, no, zip, zilch. It was too small and just wasn't going to make the cut. *sigh!* Too bad little purse, you really were cute.

So, as the Salsa fam drove me to the airport Monday morning there was an extra little passenger in the car. The infamous wallet included, over the shoulder strapped, big opening, lots of pockets, cute purse was making it's way back to the store.

Hmmmm, I've been home for almost 48 hours now. I wonder if the Salsa fam are still wandering around the purse dept of a store surrounded by a sea of paper...and the Hansel and Gretle sales clerk?

Looking forward to our next visit together friend....as long as you're not in the need of a new purse or I'm pretty sure I'll be busy. Very, very busy!! ;o) Love ya!