The Bolivian Bag of Many Colors

Have you ever found a treasure so beautiful, so appealing to your eye, you couldn’t leave the store without it? I found such a treasure today….I took my bi-weekly trip to the local Goodwill store this fine, Sunday afternoon….Goodwill happens to be a place I find to be a treasure trove, somewhere where the possibilities are endless! Can you imagine some of the stories that the items you find could tell? The places they've been? The people that have purchased them? How they came into existence? I could…ok...I DO spend hours sometimes in that place trolling through each area, looking for that perfect item. One week it’s a purse, the next week a book, a pair of designer shoes…maybe a pair of name-brand blue jeans that are actually long enough for my 34-1/2” inseam. But today….yes, today I found my treasure in the purse section, a place I often find myself. You see, I have an internal map of where I go in this store. I have a routine…and if I don’t follow this routine, I can’t adequately complete my treasure hunt successfully (rule number 153 - never default from routine). So, I find myself sorting through the purses – one can’t just look, one must dig to find the treasure – often times the true gems are hidden far behind the basic browns and boring blacks. The first purse I picked up was…okay by my standards, a decent brand, well made…goldenrod yellow – I don’t have one in that color (those that know me well will be surprised to read that). The zipper was heavy duty, the bag was leather…there were some odd knotty-bow type things on the side – I could get used to it, they were funky…and I like funky. It had a blue tag on it, and as my fellow Goodwill shoppers will know, every week a colored tag is on sale for 50% off….so, alright, I didn’t think the shoulder straps were long enough to accommodate a winter coat, but I liked that the rest of the bag was big enough to lug my enormous amount of, what my husband finds to be, unnecessary junk. I, of course, disagree finding everything in my purse to be absolutely necessary – otherwise it wouldn’t be in there. Anyways, I grab the bag and continue thumbing through the others – I’m not finding much, I have to say I am rather disappointed, as I have been several weeks in a row now. I happen to grab this exotic looking, “Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat” looking bag – my first thought was that I would use it for my writing stuff, for the umpteen books I like to carry around…when my purse isn’t big enough and I decide I need to carry a second purse…it was alright – and priced at $3.99, who could go wrong? So, I grab it and still was not overly impressed with the goldenrod leather bag…but, whatever…still not thinking much of it. By this time, my husband decides to make an excuse to run back home and leave me there for awhile to continue my searching – making me promise that when he gets back I’ll be ready to go. “Yeah, sure…okay” I say, without even looking up. He knows better than to think I’ll be ready when he gets back….well, at least I don’t have to worry about him hounding me every 2 minutes about whether or not I’m ready to go yet. I move on to the shoes, as is my usual route – and again, I am in grave disappointment at the size 10 selection of footwear…really people? Either all women with size 10 feet hoard their shoes, or we have a serious shortage of fashionable kicks for the women that don’t wear a size 7. Severely disgusted and cursing the footwear industry under my breath, I mosey on over to the books and find a couple that I’ve been looking for and by this time, the hubby is back….didn’t seem like it took him long enough – I hadn’t even made it to the clothes yet! Oh well, my time is up – I suppose it really is ultimately my fault anyways for inviting him along in the first place, but it’s keeping my wallet a little bigger this week at least. We check out our items, and to my dismay, the goldenrod bag is NOT half off as I thought it was….so, my decision has been made, I am not going to buy the bag that I am on the fence about. Sure, the color is not yet in my collection, and the bag is of sound structure…but, I’m afraid I must say to this bag “I’m just not that in to you” and leave it behind for a woman who will love it for sure. I did, however, purchase my ‘Joseph bag of many colors’….and when I got it home and took a closer look – I am so pleased I did! It is the purchase of the month for sure! First of all, this unique bag is made in none other than Bolivia, the colors are amazing – there are pockets EVERYWHERE – and not just pockets, deep pockets…two water bottle holders on either side….I can jam all of my – very necessary – junk in the thing and still carry books and writing materials….it’s an amazing bag and at $3.99, it is a treasure find for sure. Whoever tossed this in their Goodwill donation bag, I can assure you, I will love it and use it and give it a good home for a long, long time…!

So I give a big thumbs up to the Bolivian Bag of Many Colors - as I have affectionately named it....confession: all of my bags have names.....as you have read in my "What Inspires Me" post, I am a self-professed (and proud of it) geek....I prove it yet again....