Pursuing the purse...

Don't worry, I don't think I'd ever have to go do that 'matching shoes' deal with it.

For years unending I didn't have what seems to be a must for every woman - a purse. Honestly, thought it was not that needed. Still not 100% sure it's an absolute must have, but it's nice. Hubby doesn't mind having a bag to carry around things, but for some reason I had a hang up about it.

At work I tend to one of those sillys that just can't use the pens the job provides - after all, where's the fun if everyone's writing in black or blue? So I got me some colored pens: true blue (blue pens at work tend to run the navy blue-ish color which is traditional), pink, orange, green, purple, and gray. Gray's the coolest in my opinion, it's not black but still dark! So looking up who wrote down what is so much easier - just look for splashes of color. Yes, I was fair and did buy pens to give to some co-workers but I think they took theirs home. Have yet to see someone else write in colors, but no one has yet complained - so guess being a little colorful isn't too bad. (Did I ever mention I work at Subway?)

Then there's the datebook. Got more dates to keep track of then when I work and when assignments are due; so I got a little day to day book so I can write down things and keep myself a bit more organized. Unfortunately it can't fit in my back pocket and if I don't have it on me, I don't use it. I did grow to detest the random scraps of paper with appointment information scribbled on it scattered all over my desk, so I figured I needed to get a system started of sorts. I did try Sticky notes, honest, but they are so distracting on the monitor and if the sticky lost its tackiness... I didn't want to end up with a very tacky situation I witnessed one time: a supervisor I knew had sticky for stickies - his workplace was a post-it storm with scattered clear spots.

I tend to also have stray thoughts I need to write down from time to time - or they run off again and good luck remembering what they were. Ideas, lists of things to do, appointments to make, and inventory numbers for work. I did carry paper in my wallet and a pen, but it was getting a bit ridiculous even for me. I used a little Chinese red brocade backpack with golden dragons on it, but was afraid of it becoming a causality of stains from work... One of my co-workers is notorious when it comes to working with anything relating to sauces - I'm still wondering how she manages to get sauces under the cutting board when she's working the veggie section and if she's refilling them there's no telling where sauce splash will be found. I tend to be a lot neater, so I often get the task to fill the sauce bottles.

So it dawned on me one evening, while visiting my sister-in-law after taking our niece out to eat that I may have to actually get one of those 'necessities'. I asked her if she'd want to help me look for a little purse, not a saddle bag - sorry, they're actually called satchels - and I could have knocked her over with a feather. We set up a day and time, and I regretted not having a camera to catch her expression for it was truly priceless.

When the day came, I learned how very different I was from Billie - purses she thought were cute were too frilly in my opinion. Some she liked generated the ick sensation to me - I didn't care for the texture of some. But I did find a purse, one that was better then the little pack I was using for it had more then two pockets and had inner pockets too. So I put all my pens for work, datebook, other stuff, little origami paper (yes, I like to do origami while waiting for the doctor or my order or just waiting in general), and other little niceties in it. It's not crammed full and I still carry a wallet in my jeans. My Scooby Doo wallet, of course - what, you'd think I'd let my show of whimsy be in colorful ink?