Purses...

 

I haven't gone back through the last 18 years or so of blogging to determine how many posts I have written about purses but I am betting there is more than one or two!  Purses (pocketbook if you prefer... an interesting side note the term pocketbook is used almost exclusively in the Eastern U.S. and even then, primarily in the South!) are very personal.  Much like shoes, I think they can say so much about personality; even more than clothing or jewelry. 

It is near impossible to buy a purse for someone  (now I am not talking about a cute, little, cocktail number or statement purse but rather those bags we turn to everyday)  unless you have specifically been shown what/which purse they love.  I believe this to be almost exactly the same in the buying shoes.  These items are not just decoration they have to work with our bodies.  The handles/straps have to fit "us" and our lives or even season of life.  I remember the years of not really carrying a purse but throwing my wallet into a diaper bag.  Now, I often forgo the purse and drop my wallet, keys, sunglasses into my computer bag and head out. Just like a shoe has to fit your foot to work in your daily life, so does the size, shape, and yes, even whether it has pockets, snaps, or zippers in a purse matter.  I can look back at my purse styles over the years, and although I have "tried on" different styles, I tend to navigate back to a basic style and fit... much like my basic black pumps that live in my closet as a necessity not an option  

In purses I am not brand loyal or even a brand snob.  If I see a purse I like, regardless of brand, and it fits...I will carry it.  My current bag is a lovely, pink patent, Kate Spade that I have carried in Summers past.  It is still in great shape, fits, and I love the pop of color... not to mention since it isn't current season no one else has the same bag!  One holiday season I carried a bag which had been the giftbag for a set of lotions but was made of red faux fur, trimmed in white faux fur with big, fuzzy, white pom-poms!  It worked and it fit.  It was festive, got lots of compliments, and no one was the wiser it wasn't even a purse.  I once had a friend who made delightful cocktail purses from wooden cigar boxes.  There is probably a great post about cocktail purses somewhere, I just haven't gotten around to it.

All this to say, that bag you haul around everyday says a lot about you.  If it is recyclable tote from the grocery or a Hermes Kelly bag, you are sharing more than you may realize!  Your purse is an extension of that arm it hangs from!

Day to Day...stress?

Recently I was talking with a friend and we were sharing about how things sometimes feel like they get out of control and it seems like it is impossible to get our families back on track.  We weren't talking about major things, but rather those little things that seem to add up and just make the household not run smoothly.  The kind of things that are like little pebbles in your shoe...the ones that you might not even notice at first but after a while you find you can't keep walking.  As wives and moms I think we all can relate and have all had a season (or two) that we felt overwhelmed and just at a loss as to how to live the life we know God desires for us and our families. 

A few years ago, I was deeply lost in one of these seasons and couldn't quite get it together. At some point I heard about this book, Desperate Households - How to Restore Order and Harmony to Your Life and Home by Kathy Peel so I went by the bookstore and picked it up.  It was the balm this family-manager-mom needed to get back on the train (really, it was one of those seasons that I was thinking of bailing on this whole ride!).   I took it with me on a weekend trip and spent an entire day reading it.   It was like a little push in the right direction to help me feel like "yes, I can get things back on track", whereas before I was feeling like there wasn't even a track left anymore! 

So, after this conversation with my friend, I shared this book with her and started glancing through it and realized I could probably benefit from a revisit myself.  It is nice to have a refresher from time to time to keep me loving my job and helping me create a home that truly is a haven for my family and friends from the rough winds of the world. 

"The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down."

Proverbs 14:1

***no endorsement paid, just sharing!

The love of friends...

Aren't these roses just gorgeous? 

They are almost as beautiful as the face and heart of the sweet friend who brought them to me.  Although I have only known her a short while, she dropped by this morning with this lovely vase full of flowers from her own rose garden, because she knew that this week was going to be difficult as I adjust to having my daughter at college for the first time.   She knows from that deep place that is a Mother's heart.  I am thankful beyond words.

Yes, yesterday we dropped DD off at college.  It was such a roller coaster of emotions, which I will share more about later, because right now I am tired and a little too spent to share. 

Happy Monday, sweet blog friends!

One one week away...

Only one week until my baby girl graduates High School.  It has been a couple of weeks of Mama Drama as we have had some wonderful celebrations and events to close out her Senior Year.  I am not a big crier, but this last couple of weeks finds me weepy more than I could have imagined!  We started the "Senior Moments" with the Senior Banquet held by our church.  It was one of those evenings where you realize exactly where you are in this season of endings and beginnings.  That was followed by a fun day when the parents snuck into the High School and decorated the Seniors lockers and filled them with fun gifts (see the photo at left!).  This past Sunday was Senior Recognition Day at our Church, where all the Seniors wore their respective caps and gowns.  It was so neat to see how many different high schools were represented!   Then we had a Senior Parent breakfast which was a time to presented our Seniors with some special, sentimental gifts and letters written to them by special people in their lives.  The next day (and last official day of school for Seniors) was Awards Day and that wrapped up with the Junior-Senior Reception.  Of course, the next week seems to have some event or party planned every day to keep things hopping. 

I feel so torn and it is truly a bitter sweet season of life.  I am so proud of DD and all she has accomplished and excited for her to see what the future holds... but in all honesty...I am sad for me!  She and I are so close, I can't imagine that my baby girls is ready to fly!  I know she is competent to fly...I just don't think I am ready.  Y'all think about me this week...