cutie-patootie purse

Mar 14, 2011

I have had the Sherpani Zenia shoulder wallet purse for the past two years. To say this purse changed my life is absolutely true and quite possibly an understatement. I don’t know if you can grasp what a difference this purse has made in my life. I am not a purse person. I am not a haul-everything-around-with-me-all-the-time person. I have had a clutch wallet of various sizes and styles for years and because it was not attached to me, I would lose it.

Frequently.

Once Kat found it at Smith’s. I have left it at Winco numerous times. How is a person supposed to bag their groceries while holding a clutch in their armpit, especially when you have a child attached to you in a sling? Good thing I carry my babies in slings, eh? I might have lost one of them over the years! I can’t even tell you the amount of time I have lost in my life searching for my clutch wallets. Richard gets seriously worried about me losing all of our IMPORTANT CARDS and freaks out every time this happens. Me, not so much. A thief wouldn’t be able to pull much out of our account! My library card though…that one is too important to lose. So, I started my search for a solution and found it in the Sherpani Zenia. I have LOVED this small, life-changing device. It is the perfect size. It holds my cards, my cash, and a pen. It is attached to me at all times when I am out of my home. It has a spare key for our vehicle in it and because it is attached to me, I have been able to save us a small fortune in locksmithing fees. It is small enough that I am forced to throw away receipts on a regular basis, which is good for the soul. No point in carrying around receipts from 2003! The only drawback to the Zenia is there is no place for my phone. I can fit it on the inside, if there is nothing else in there, but that is not realistic, so I have had to carry my phone in my pants pocket or hand when I have no pocket. This had led to more than a few times of losing my phone. I have dealt with this problem, but have really wished I had a cell phone pocket.

The Zenia…aahhh, I loved it.

Then it broke. Not the whole thing, just the zipper pull, which makes it difficult to open and nearly impossible for my non-dextrous fingers to close (thank goodness for Keziah, it has been her job for months to close my purse for me!) It has a lifetime replacement warranty, so for the last 9 months I have just needed to mail it in and Sherpani will either repair it or replace it. Sounds simple, right? It would be, except for the fact that I cannot live without this life-changing device. I intended to mail it in last year on our way to our two week camping trip. I figured I could live without it in the mountains. Somehow I forgot about my plan until I was in the mountains and didn’t want to drive out of the mountains to mail it in, so now I have ended up living with the broken zipper for months and months.

I decided I would buy a new purse, but nothing spoke to me. I didn’t love the new Zenia colors and I didn’t really want to buy a new one when I will be given a new one if I mail in my old one, so I have been searching for something to replace it with. If you know me at all, you know that my personal possessions must speak to my soul. They can’t just be things with no connection to me. The color, the feel, the fabric…all of it has to MEAN something to me. Nothing could be found.

Then in January, I found a purse pattern at a local fabric store and fell in love. I knew this was the one. I quickly enlisted Kat into the project since I have no skills to actually produce the adorable thing. She agreed that we would do it in the next few weeks. I started scouting for fabric and finally found something that spoke to me. It has several shades of green, which is one of my current love-you-so-much colors. Green is my color for growth, for becoming, for sprouting forth in ways God wants me to sprout. It also has red…I have always loved red. Red looks good on me, it is vibrant, it represents life and life-sustaining activities to me. It also has pink. I haven’t always loved pink, but my little Annesley looks so good in pink that over the past three years, I have fallen in love with pink. Pink is also Kat’s favorite color and every time I see pink, I am reminded of my dear friend, Miss Katherine.

Katherine looked at the purse and then came to my house and made, yes, MADE a pattern for it, with a few modifications to make it smaller, more functional, and with a better use of the zippered pocket. My part of the deal was keeping all of the children happy and feeding Kat delicious food. I made delicious fajitas (twice), scrambled eggs, smoothies, and, of course, we had ice cream as well. I think I kept my part of the bargain, but I still need to do something fabulous for her. We started working on it on Thursday afternoon. Then we worked on it again on Friday after gymnastics and continued through the night until three a.m. On Saturday, we were up and working on it by about 8 a.m. and finished around 3:30. LONG project. I think the next one (Kat’s) should go much quicker! Stipling was a huge stress for us, so we emailed Jessica at 1:30 a.m. and she said we could come over and consult with her…right then, in the middle of the night. While Jessica and Kat figured out a stipling solution, I deep-cleaned her bathroom. Fair trade, eh?

I am in awe of Kat’s amazingness. My new purse holds all my debit cards, discount cards, membership cards, and of course, all five of our library cards, has a zippered pocket so no cash or critical receipt can escape, will hold my cell phone securely, and looks oh, so adorable! I am SO thrilled with this new little number.

Pretty stinkin’ adorable, eh??

And now, I can mail in my Zenia!