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Status: Drafting the fourth book in the PERILOUS series!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Purses? Duh!

Oh man, I was laying in bed this morning (because I swear, that's all I do these days) and I realized something.

Teenage girls don't go to the mall without their purses.

The problem is, in the first two chapters of Perilous, I have four teenage girls at the mall. None of them have purses on them. How on earth did I not catch this before?

I was one of those unfortunate teenagers that always seemed to be a step behind my peers. Maybe because my parents weren't very materialistic in the fashion sense. We didn't watch TV, listen to radio, or have magazines. So I just wasn't aware of what the next fashionable item was until everyone else at school already had it.

In junior high, everyone had one of those giant binders. The vinyl kind that held seven different folders, a pencil case, and velcroed shut.

By the time I got myself one of those cool binders, everyone had abandoned them in favor of backpacks. Backpacks??? My mom said she wasn't buying me a backpack since my binder still worked fine. Good thing, too. Because one day in ninth grade, I come to school to discover that the backpacks are gone. Three of my friends are sporting the exact same brown leather purse. Lockers are being used again, with only one folder being brought to each class.

By the end of the week, all of my friends had this brown purse.

Of course, I wanted one.

My mom fished around in her closet and found--this.
An authentic Guatemalan handbag.

My friends did not think it was cool. Neither did I. But it was my purse. And a teenage girl cannot go anywhere without her purse.

Luckily, this is easily fixed in my story. I just need to write in some purses.

And oh--about a year later, I got a brown purse that looked very much like the ones that had been in style the previous year. Still have it, somewhere.

15 comments:

nephite blood spartan heart said...

Guatemalan purses rule.

I am surprised you spaced your 4 characters not having them though-how could Kristine not catch that? I know she's a total Mall Rat too.

Unknown said...

We never used backpacks either, no one did. Just arms. And a purse!

Mary Gray said...

Yeah, that purse rocks. It's hard to imagine it not being the rage before!

Lothiriel said...

lol! i remembered when my mom biught me an MC Hammer backpack long after he went broke and everything. she got it on sale at the Dollar Store. i didn't want to hurt her feelings so i used it; but sprayed painted all over his pic and the words Hammer Time!

Vicky B said...

Don't you hate it when that happens??? Btw, I didn't start carrying a purse until a few months ago, and I'm a freshman in college.

Voidwalker said...

That's funny. I would have assumed the Guatamalen hand bag would have incited a new trend, but it didn't. I guess only the elite leaders of fashion trends can make something "hot" or "not."

I hate trends myself, I do my very best to fight them, but it's an endless struggle.

Unknown said...

I still don't quite roll with the purses trend. You know, the matching or accenting clutch or handbag... the 'can't have too many bags' idea...

Before I had a baby, my purse was my coat pocket. Now, my purse is the diaper bag. What more does a girl need?

Amber said...

I used to try to make my purses and coordinate them with different occasions, but never different outfits.

I like your posts; they have so much personality in them and they make me laugh!

I tried the whole diaper-bag-purse thing but I could never find my chapstick...or my pen...and if I was just doing a quick trip, I didn't want to take the WHOLE bag...so we abandoned that idea.

Stefany said...

i feel so much more normal now! (whew) I just stumbled upon your blog today and I LOVE it!

Leslee said...

It's the little things that get us. And it's the little things that make a book feel real.

I think your friends were actually very jealous of your Guatemalan hand bag. They just couldn't say at the risk of not being cool themselves. It's how the girl brain works.

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

I am still not a purse person. I kind of recycle my purses. Every once in awhile (like last September) I'll see a purse I like that makes me want a new one. So far, I haven't found that purse and I'm making due with what I have.

Hi Stefany! Glad you found your way over!

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

wouldn't that be something? If my friends were actually jealous? Ha!

Annie McMahon said...

I'm going through that now with my twelve-year-old daughter. Nobody has a backpack in middle school, so she needs another certain type of bag. It takes forever to find just the exact bag she needs. LOL!

Love your post! It made me smile. :)

Kelly Lyman said...

This was great! I was always a beat behind too. I never carried a purse and I still hate to. I was never the "girly girl" in my group of friends. I was the one who carried around a small fabric wallet, with just enough cash and my drivers license. Actually, I still have it and when going out, I tuck it in my pocket, or ask one of girlfriends to carry it. My hands are always free. Not knowing your story, maybe all of the girls don't carry one...just something to think about.
oh, you won an award over at my blog ;)
www.kellylyman.blogspot.com

mark said...

(This is Tamara--using my husband's computer)

good luck, Annie! it is so hard, this crowd thing. Whether it was shoes, shirts, purses--and it's made for the rich!

Thanks, Kelly! I'll hop right on over. I tried to hard to be a girly-girl. I think there are a one or two girls in my group in the book that aren't too girly. I might be able to give them a fabric wallet. Thanks for the idea!

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