A New Handbag, a Book Swap and a Big Thank You

Yesterday, after going to the pub the night before to celebrate the birthday of one of the mums at school, I was feeling a bit worse for wear.  Having taken the dog for a lovely long walk in the brisk air to clear the cobwebs, I had to go out to get some blinds for my daughter's bedroom, which I'd reserved, plus a few other bits.  Whilst I was out and about I decided to treat myself to a new handbag for the summer.  I went for quite a bold colour - red - as I'd like to get some red shoes or sandals when I find some that I like and I tend to wear a lot of red, white or navy in the spring or summer, so I thought red would go with all of these colours.

I also went for quite a large bag as my current handbag seemed to be bursting at the seams with glasses, sunglasses, camera, purse, umbrella, etc. etc. etc.  I'm not sure how I'll get on with it as I am used to a more compact handbag, but we'll see.  The handbag itself is quite slouchy, with several pockets on the inside and outside for all my bits and pieces.  It can be carried over the shoulder, across the body or by the handles.  Here's a couple of pictures.

It cost £25, which I thought was pretty reasonable.  Obviously it isn't leather for that price, but much as I'd like a leather one, I also prefer not to spend more than £50 on a handbag.  It has a leather look about it though, which is good enough for me.  In the next week or so I'm going to follow the lead of some other bloggers and do a post about what I carry around with me in my handbag on a daily basis.  I don't know about you, but women's handbags fascinate me and have done ever since I was a child and used to love exploring my mother's handbag contents.  Obviously I'm not going to go into too much personal detail, it will just be a bit of fun.

I digress again.  I bought the bag from TK Maxx and whilst there I couldn't help but also buy a few clearance items.  I bought these 8 V&A notecards inspired by 1950's fabric for just £1.  They are very cheerful and great for thank you or other notes you might want to send to people.  I also bought these adorable striped paper straws for 50p.  They reminded me of the straws I used to use as a child, which tended to go a bit soggy after  drinking through them.  The last item I bought was this book by Gretchen Rubin called 'Happier at Home'.  I had read several blog posts that have said really positive things about her books, so I thought I would buy this one and see what I thought.  (I'll keep you posted - literally).  The book is a hardback and was reduced to £6 which is more than I usually pay for a book, but it looked just the kind of book I like to read so I splashed out.

When I got home, I went to collect my daughter from school and there was a book swap for World Book Week to attend, which had been postponed from the previous week.  I thought it was just for children's books, but there was a table or two of books for grown ups, so I had a browse.  The teachers were trying to encourage everyone to take as many books away with them as they could, but as my unread book pile is in danger of toppling over I only really wanted these two things, this book called 'Cupcakes at Carrington's' and February's issue of Tatler magazine.

I must admit that Tatler is not a magazine I normally read, but it looked to have good fashion content and it was a lovely treat at end the week to flick through it knowing that I hadn't had to pay the £4.10 it would have cost me if I'd bought it.  Not wanting to sound ungrateful, but to be honest I found it was aimed at a far wealthier reader than myself, as everything featured seemed to be hugely expensive.   I enjoyed the fashion and home spreads though.  A bit of escapism is good sometimes and it's interesting to try new things and see how 'the other half' lives once in a while, especially if it is free.

Before I go I'd just like to say a big THANK YOU to BadPenny over at The Hen House  for your very kind and neighbourly mention in your post today.  If you've popped over from BadPenny's blog I'd like to say a big HELLO and WELCOME and I hope you call back again in the future.  Thank you BadPenny, for being a lovely, kind neighbour in blogland.  In creating this post you have also motivated me to create a link which I have never done before on my blog, but now knowing how easy it is I won't hesitate to do it again.