Bags, beautiful bags

Mum and I went to Skipton today for an outing and found the most wonderful shop that sells bags and accessories. I could have gone quite mad in there, buying belts, cocktail rings, necklaces, and of course, bags. A good bag, with just the right weight, and heft, just the right closure, the right pocket arrangement, right size, colour and of course the most important thing of all, the right handle that sits comfortably at whatever position you most prefer to carry a bag, can be extremely difficult to find. Today, my major problem was deciding which of several I really, really wanted to adopt. After spending a lot of time trying about twenty different bags, all different sizes and colours, mum bought two for me as I couldn't decide between them. She, who makes her mind up more quickly than I, settled after about half an hour for a gorgeous leather, crocodile pattern Kelly bag. And my delightful pair are shown below.

The teal suede will be my new summer handbag as it will look good with my navy trenchcoat and planned navy, blue and white wardrobe which will have splashes of red and teal as accent colours. The bag will also work with my recently purchased teal sparkly flip flops.

The grey bag is a much larger affair and will be used to cart my stuff to work and back. Much nicer than the horrid sports rucksack I currently use. I've been on the lookout for a really nice bag to replace the rucksack for ages. This has a very conveniently located zip pocket on the back of the bag, which I can easily access, one handed, without putting down the bag... perfect for my work security pass. Best of all, it takes a lot to make it fall off my shoulder and it seems like it will hold a lot of kit. Even I can't believe how much stuff I sometimes carry back and forth to work. It seems to lie nicely under my arm which will hopefully free both hands for me to do other stuff like control dogs that want to streak off after wildlife. But it won't look ugly like the rucksack. All I need to do now is crack the conundrum that is "what footwear will look good with a smart coat and pretty bag, but still allow five miles of walking over uneven, sometimes muddy ground, with a bit of mad running now and again when the dog decides it would be better if the owner fetched the ball. " And the person who can resolve that conundrum is going to be a very rich person indeed.