Purse Shopping

I bought a new purse this week!  I'm in LOVE with it.  It's toddler friendly, colorful for spring/summer and it's a messenger bag so I can wear it and still have two hands available at all times! SCORE! You might be thinking "where can I get this amazing purse that you speak of?" Well it's a beautiful designer purse from.......................Old Navy!!! Get this it was $12.95. Yep $12.95.

Here's my purse back story. I was a girl that never paid very much for a purse $30 max. I would buy several purses a year and I was happy. Well about 4 years ago I wanted to treat myself......I wanted a designer bag. A bag I could wear over my shoulder and feel "good" wearing it. I wanted a purse that made me stand out. So for my birthday I went and bought a really cute leather Juicy bag. I fell in love, I felt great wearing it and I felt a huge amount of guilt. How could I spend so much on a PURSE? Who did I have to prove myself to? Who did I have to impress? I swore I would wear it to death to justify this purchase to myself.  Motherhood killed this purse.....I'm going to bag it up for special occasions. It's just not practical for me to carry this very heavy leather bag anymore.

Living in Orange County can be maddening. I was born and raised in Orange County and I never remember feeling pressure to look a certain way, have a certain lifestyle or carry a certain purse. Was it all the TV shows based on the OC? Is it the fact that where I live is now being called the OC?  Did that change things?
I refuse to live a lifestyle that is against what I believe in. I believe in being true to yourself.  I want to and have surrounded myself with people who feel the same way. So buying this purse that I love for $12.95 had many meanings for me as you can see. I'm going to be proud of my bargain purse and try not to feel that kind of pressure again.