The Juice Bag

I'm bad at bags. They make me nervous. They're so expensive! And I never know what to do with them once I'm in a restaurant. I never have the right bag for an evening out, but during the day, I do OK, mostly because my days are extremely casual and because last spring I bought this bag. I liked it so much I got one for my friend E. for her birthday, because I figured it was just the kind of thing she'd like, too. I wasn't wrong about that. What I wasn't prepared for, though, was how much everyone else would like this bag. Just this morning E. called to say that when she pulled out the bag for summer, her fashion quotient went way up. Everyone gives her props! She lives in Philadelphia, and I live in New York, but I've experienced the very same thing here. People on the subway, in stores, in restaurants, tourists, hardcore New Yorkers, older people, 10-year-olds, you name it, they've complimented me on this bag. I've never seen the likes of it. Nora Ephron described a similar phenomenon in I Feel Bad About My Neck, for her it was the result of an MTA bag. I thought of Nora the other day when I saw an Orla Kiely bag that I really liked. The colors, the straps, the shape, it was all very appealing. It was also $198.00. Not outrageous in the spectrum of bag prices (although it's outrageous that I think $198 is not an outrageous price for a bag), but a heck of a lot more than my fantabulous Basura Bag made of stitched together juice boxes that would otherwise clog the sea. I may even buy another juice bag. Just for fun. After all, I saved $198 the other day when I didn't buy that other bag......