Sunday, September 30, 2007

missing.... well probably not, just in hiding

Dave and i realized that we haven't seen "the statue" in quite some time.... all year in fact.


Is it ok? It's never been out of rotation for so long. Did someone like it enough to put it on their mantel?


not actual item:



When we got married we received a wedding gift that closely resembled the above picture. We didn't want to be greedy, so we felt that we should share it with family and give it an adventure in the meantime.


Since 2003 "the statue" has been in the hands of everyone of my immediate family members and even been through several on the Gilpin side.


The last time it was seen was I believe the white elephant gift exchange last Christmas. if anyone has any information about the well being of the statue, please let us know.

i don't need you, cuz i'm neato

because i'm awesome!

this is my new favorite song, if you don't dig the video - close your eyes, cuz it's awesome!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

there's a monster at the end of this post

please



please



please stop.





please cease reading and breathing.



please just turn back now.







I'm begging you - you don't know what you are doing to me.



I can't handle how this is going to end.





PLEASE DON'T DO IT!!!





you know who I'm talking to.



If you turn 18 tomorrow, I will hold my breath and die.









Please stop aging, it is aging ME!!!





WHY do you have to grow up???





If you were bit by a vampire (i know of a nice family) then you would have to stay 17 FOREVER!







I just can't bear the monstrous feelings of ...... I don't know what, but they are monstrous.



Maybe I'm looking at this all wrong.??



Maybe it's not ABOUT ME???











But then WHY do I feel like a monstrous sob is sneaking out?







Perhaps I should just do as you do one one's birthday and say happy birthday. ???



I guess I could.



What would it change? Nothing, he's not going to stay 17 just because I don't want to acknowledge his birthday.





huh?





Ok, I can do it. I can be supportive.





Here it goes.













HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my FAVORITE BABY BROTHER who also is now technically an ADULT. I love you little bro!

Monday, September 24, 2007

welcome back family guy


I know this show is rude and offensive and not family entertainment. However, I love it and it cracks me up. There, that's one more of my dirty little secrets.

I've actually only seen half, I felt bad watching it without Dave.

Tuesday, after Jojo goes to bed: Dave, Me, half gallon of cookies and cream ice cream, and ONE hour star wars family guy.
What a great date!

eye-ING

That is what Jojo calls lightening.


We had a beautiful lightening show last week. We turned off all the lights in the house and opened the blinds. Not only was the show entertaining, Jocie kept yelling "READY SET GO" and "ONE TWO THREE GO!" to make the lightening GO!

The funniest part was her scary weird evil villain laugh that she does after every strike. She does this forced laugh thing that you can usually only see on a really cheesy superhero movie after the bad guy captures the hero. Click here for short example

kids wearing white should always eat lunch at Costco



(Ran into the Blackburns, they said to tell the family HI!!!!!)





purse week may be over but.... lets be real, it never will be

Well I totally missed my deadline for my Saturday night purse post, but I have to admit.... I was never good at homework.

Saturday's post was SUPPOSED to highlight different entertainers like Gwen Stefani and Fergie that have their own line of bags. Which are fab (oh ya at Ross I ran across a few of Gwen's Harracuchu Lovers line- pretty sure I didn't spell that right).

Anyway, following that I was also SUPPOSED to tell you that you don't need their lines when you are just as capable of making your own bag. Here is where I would show you awesome bags you can make yourselves. Yes I did make a few, and one definitely turned out better than the others.

I googled how to make your own purse and came up with two patterns I was interested in. The first is the "BRA BAG", cool concept, just not too sure about it. Well bras were not on sale at the thrift store but BIKINI TOPS were 99 cents! (um, random girl in picture, was I not supposed to post this? I would have shown it not being worn, but you were really excited to wear it so I never got a before pic)




Thanks to Kim for telling us about the placemat bag, it is by far the most sturdy and cutest!

Below: 2 Place mats and 2 Napkins from thrift store $3.99 together (only used one place mat and the napkins - still have one place mat left to make)





that's all for now!

Friday, September 21, 2007

girls night

for the past few weeks we have designated Friday night as GIRLS NIGHT, so in honor of girls night I would like to share the designers that you have submitted as favorites as well as my own!


First is MagBags that is located in Missoula, MT. My sister Rhonda brought home the cutest bag from her family vacation this summer. It was so cute that my other sis Meg ordered a really cute diaper bag from her also. Click her tag to get the link, the only thing is you will have to come back later to see her bags, her site says she's on maternity leave! Congrats to the MagBag Family!


Next is a company that is Canada based and I first heard of them through Megan and then Monika. Matt and Nat have a beautiful line of bags and get this - they are all vegan. Who knew that was even an option? Click their pic to get a link to them.


Lastly are my picks - you know I love Coach but that's too easy, who doesn't. The last 2 or 3 bags I have bought have been by Kathy Van Zeeland. I love her fun designs as well as the tons of bling and charms that she adds to embellish their beauty! Enjoy her art in bags!



random purse love connection: I saw this picture of Jennifer Lopez and wow what a bag, then I realized that's the same Gucci bag I picked to have on my blog last week. Maybe all Jens think alike?

Thursday, September 20, 2007

save a buck, buy a fake??


I would be lying if I said I didn't have any faux designer handbags in my closet. There I said it.


Now let me tell you, since I do love a good deal and fashion I was ecstatic when I purchased these knock offs. And do you know where they have spent most of their lives? Yes, still in the closet.
Anyone that knows me knows I can't afford a Prada bag. I don't go anywhere where they would care or worship my presence because of a Prada bag. In fact, the phonies sit in my closet because THEY ARE FAKE.


Some how that fake feeling releases it's venom through the handle or strap, it penetrates my skin, gets into my blood stream, and before I know it I HAVE FAUX FEVER! I know it sounds ridiculous but it's true. Although I think I'm pulling off a snobbish, upper class move, it is in fact the opposite. I feel stupid.


Remember how I felt stupid for buying a Coach bag and noticing EVERYONE else has one too, well it's worse to carry a fake. You wonder if the actual people you are trying to impress already can tell it's a knock-off, and the other people who don't have one probably think you have money and that is hilarious! I'm American, I have credit card debts and a fake bag - how pathetic is that???
(I know it's hard to tell some fakes, but real bags aren't sold out of the back of cars, at flea markets, or in plastic trash bags. Look inside the bag for a serial number)

1.) What about artistic design? There is a reason hot handbags are hot- they were designed that way. I have designers that I love and can do little wrong in my eyes, why would I support someone who wants to steal their ideas for their own gain. Like "sharing" music and movies on the Internet this is looked at as a justifiable grey area. Stealing is stealing, I would be upset if I had created something only to have it repeated without my consent.


2.) I recently saw an ad about fake bags in Vogue or Harpar's Bazaar that said illegal bags fund terrorism and gangs. Is that true? Am I funding crimes against innocent people?


I googled the subject and found 496,000 articles that matched my search. Oh my gosh, how could something so lame as a fake bag impact thousands of innocent lives?


It actually does in several steps. First these organizations that start the "replica" project use very poor places where the children are used for hard labor and very little pay. These children are exploited and know they are replaceable by any other neighborhood child if they step out of line or don't produce enough. Cheap labor, cheap materials, cheap bags. These bags are then sold around the world with proceeds funding groups ranging from terrorist to gangs.

(Although I'm sure all these bags resemble real bags, I'm guessing they aren't. I doubt this was Louis Vuitton envisioned his retailers would look like. )

Based on past feelings of low-bag-self-esteem I have sworn off "designer inspired bags", but I feel I have already contributed. What I ask of you reading this is to make the same pledge. There are thousands upon thousands out there, but if there is no buyer for these bags they will finally become a loss to the producers.


There are plenty of stylish reasonable priced purses, go find them!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

ask me



I thought I would open today's post up to any of my 3 readers (well just 2 now since my brother is now working too hard to read much) questions, comments, or stories.

I found that there is a whole website dedicated to purse stories, see I can't be that crazy if someone else has beat me to it..... right? (link above)

Make me feel loved (you know who you are.... let the guilt run through you) and leave me a comment.

***kisses***

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Save the Date


Kim and I will be in a holiday boutique on OCTOBER 19, 2007 at the Country Inn & Suites (Superstition Springs Blvd/Power Road in Mesa)


Kim will have all her Scentsy products and I will have vinyl lettering, sayings and home decor.


There will be a raffle and silent auction and proceeds will be donated to the Susan G. Komen, 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk. It's great to help support this wonderful cause, please stop by if you can and check it out.


It sound like it will be fun! I will remind you again in as we get closer to it!!!


10:00 am - 8:00 pm

Oct. 19 @ Country Inn & Suites

day 3 of purse week






Seeing that my last two posts are probably too long for anyone to get through I though I would keep today short and sweet.



Did you know that you can rent designer bags for actually very little a month? (little in comparison to the bag your are donning).












This is a great service if you like to change out bags frequently and want a bag without dropping big money!

Here are a few links to peruse.... enjoy



ta ta for now......

Monday, September 17, 2007

first fatality of purse week, purse shopping with Mom, & my daughter fell in love with an ugly bag (gasp)

First let me start out by sending my heart felt condolences to - myself and a mateless right shoe.

It seems that during the purse photo shoot I moved a pair of shoes to the top of the closet, where it fell to it's death somewhere between the hours of 1800 and 2400 hours. Of course the fall was not the cause of death, it was the torture that ensued once on enemy territory. A dog that I am not speaking to today, found the poor lost sole and devoured the straps, like the animal that she is!


I got these fun shoes for my birthday and they were amazingly comfortable. I actually bought them and then Megan took them off my feet, handed me cash and wrapped them so I could open them at family dinner. Look, just what I wanted!

I had planned to wear them with my bag from BJ, but alas it will never be. Rest In Peace.

Ok onto happier times:

So I had planned what to talk about tonight, but I got a hot lead that I had to follow.

My mom called today and said "where is the best place to buy a purse?" WHAT? Hu? what was going on, this is so random, yet it was I she was calling as a purse consultant - yippee. I told her without hesitation "ROSS, what's going on?" She said that since it was purse week (yeah!) that her and her friend Joann were going to go get one for a lady they work with who has a birthday this week.




I got so excited, you know, the purse shopping rush. I immediately asked if I could go with them and document the trip. They said yes (but I know they thought I was kidding, or crazy, or both).






Well Jojo and I met them at the said Ross after work. I had already scoped it out and had fallen in like, maybe even love a few times. We had fun looking and scouring the racks.


Now, this is not an ad for Ross, it is just that if you want a very large selection and want to get the most for your money without spending hours on sale racks, Ross is a very good place to do it. They have many brands, several isles, styles and the tag shows original price and markdown price. They try to keep them organized and do a pretty decent job of it.


We searched for the bag for the lady they work with, and then I (might have pressured) encouraged them to get new bags for themselves.



They were so cute, Joann fell in love with her backpack purse immediately. This is the first BLACK BAG she has ever bought! Come to find out she is a brown bag girl usually. Get this, she even bought a pair of BLACK Clarks AND a BLACK wallet to match! I loved your finds Joann.



Now onto Mom. She had several characteristics she was looking for: not small, big is ok, lots of pockets and/or compartments so she can keep it organized, and a decent strap that would hang nicely on her shoulder and wouldn't be cumbersome. She was a good sport, I don't actually know if she wanted a new bag, but I was not letting her give up. We looked at A LOT of bags, picked a few, put down a few and finally found the one.


What about me you ask. Well yes in the search I did fall in love with a beautiful silver Kathy Van Zeeland bag, it fit perfectly on my shoulder and was the loveliest bag there. The original tag was $99 and was marked at $39. I think that officially made it one of the most expensive bags there. I (am a dork) went to the cashier and asked her if there was a way this was mismarked, it wasn't marked down enough. She looked at me, then the tag confused. She said "that's the price". SHOOT! I solemnly walked back the the purse department and said farewell to the most beautiful bag I had seen all day. I can't pay $40 bucks for a bag that was $99, that's like only 60% off, that doesn't even give me bragging rights. (that's it, the one Mom is holding)



Although I walked out empty handed, Jojo found the littlest, ugliest purse with lots of fashion less things going on. HOWEVER it was $1.50 (marked down from $25) and Mom and Joanne thought she needed it. So there we go, ugly bag for cheap. (I'm sorry there is no picture, I'm too vain to mess up my blog's ambiance with it's homeliness)



Thanks for letting me hang out with your girls, I know you weren't thrilled about the camera - but you were wonderful!!

I hope you love your new bags!