Bag Lady

There's something I have been hiding from you folks, but now is the time to come clean.  You see, I've developed an almost unhealthy obsession with a certain Merona hobo bag available at Target.  It started innocently enough last spring, when I decided it was time to get rid of the brown pleather bag that I had bought for 10 dollars at the thrift store.  It was starting to crack and look distinctly non-leathery, so I headed for Target to check out the hobo bags available there.

Incidentally, I've been attached to the hobo style for years.  It's the only kind of purse that is not only large enough to hold everything I need to tote around but also allows me to rummage through it without having to take the bag off my shoulder. And the handle isn't so long that it doesn't hang too low on my short self.

Form AND function!  Also, pretty color...

So! The girls accompanied me on this purse-finding mission to Target.  We found a lovely, soft-green hobo bag there, a perfect bag to announce the coming of spring.  Upon taking it home, I realized that its form was rivaled only by its functionality.  Its central zippered compartment - roomy enough to hold wallet, glasses case, several hundred receipts and expired Bed, Bath, and Beyond coupons, and a dozen or so old Ricola cough drops - had a smaller zippered compartment inside for meds and medical cards and other important stuff.  And then - be still my heart - there were two roomy outer compartments (one on either side), perfect for carrying current knitting projects and all the little tools that accompany them. It was a knitting bag/hobo purse, all in one.

I know! Sometimes a gal gets lucky.

Perfect for fall...but February?  Not so much

By last fall, the color green no longer seemed right, and we noticed that THE SAME BAG was available in an entirely new line of fall colors.  So Susie assisted me in picking out a dusky purple, with all the same functionality as my previous bag.  Oh, we loved that purple! People stopped me and asked where I got it, it was so pretty and so perfect for fall.

But now?  Now, it is February.  I've found myself looking at the purple and wondering, "What did I see in this?"  And then, walking by the handbag aisle in Target the other day, the girls and I spotted a HOT PINK Merona hobo bag.

Readers, I bought it.  What is it about February that makes me crave bright colors?  Each time I look at that bag, I just feel happy.

Think spring!

In short, I've gone from a gal who picked up a cheap purse maybe once every two years to someone who has bought 3 (count them, 3!) new purses in the space of 10 months. Is this an unhealthy shopping addiction?  Or maybe just a cheap version of a midlife crisis?  I can't decide.