General

You might have noticed through a post I did over at Purse Blog Savvy that I am in Los Angeles this week. As Megs and Vlad were able to give you awesome information about a few of the designers they met with during their trip to NYC, I can’t wait to share some juicy news about a few of the designers and other opportunities we are working on with some amazing people out in LA. From CC Skye, to Linea Pelle, Furla, to Jalda and of course, the more than fabulous December giveaway we will be partnering with Luxholics on… stay tuned!

Quick update! Luxaholics just introduced us today – check it out!

Here at Purse Blog, we have yet another exciting announcement. As Megs shared the great news about Purse Blog Savvy with you on Friday, I thought a fun announcement might help boost your spirits if you are suffering from a case of the Mondays. Purse Blog is teaming up with the next Warner Bros & Telepictures Productions cross-platform franchise, Luxaholics. Luxaholics was recently launched on EXTRA and is all about mingling with the celebrity lifestyle. From celebrity style, to real estate, to where they might have grabbed dinner, Luxaholics strives to provide all of us with insider tips and information. So, what are we going to do? Well, Purse Blog will be providing everything and anything Luxaholics might need about the wonderful world of handbags. We are thrilled to start this new adventure and hope you will follow along too!

The Purse Blog team has been hard at work deciding on our next endeavor. Sure we love shoes, clothing, and traveling, but handbags are our first love. While Purse Blog Savvy covers some of the more affordable bags, the Purse Blog readers love their fix of Hermes, Prada, Louis Vuitton, and all the latest and greatest in the premiere designer handbag market. And while we have covered ‘bag deals’, it seemed that most bag deals were covering amazing designers that could make a stand of their own.

Today we are introducing you to Purse Blog Savvy, the sister site of Purse Blog that prides herself in being “Responsibly Decadent”.

Purse Blog Savvy will feature handbags under the $1,000 mark, focusing on those under $800. The designers featured include some of our favorite; Rebecca Minkoff, CC Skye, Linea Pelle, Treesje, and Marc by Marc Jacobs to name a few.

With the economy making it tough for many to splurge on luxury goods, we realize that a true fashionista’s desire for shoulder candy remains strong. Our love of handbags does not solely go to the premiere designers of the world, but the new designers who have made a splash and continue to ignite a new group of followers. We will be updating Purse Blog Savvy daily, just as we have Purse Blog for three years.

Make sure to go and check Purse Blog Savvy and let us know what you think!

Have a great weekend,
♥ The Purse Blog Team

We have been hard at work on the new design for Purse Blog (Purse Forum’s new design to follow)! We did an entire site overhaul. The header is smaller, being able to showcase more content right when you visit the site. We decided to go for a more streamlined look, dropped off the bright colors, and brought it a more magazine feel. The content is now left aligned, banners, recent news, and ads are on the right of the page. We added a new footer to the bottom, to show you our most recent posts, most popular posts, latest reviews, and news from our sister sites (on its way!).

We hope you like the new design! We have a new site coming this week, the sister site of Purse Blog, and the forum re-design should be up tomorrow.

Take a look around and let us know what you think!

Just a minor update. Vlad and I are in part of the path of Tropical Storm Fay. We do not expect a direct hit and should be just fine, but we may lose power. So if you do not hear from us, we are just sitting in our house playing Jenga by lantern light while eating canned soup and chips. Hopefully the power will not go out though and all will be good!

My background is not fashion, nor is Vlad’s, nor is my sister’s. In fact, some days in our office I can smell the faint remnants of chlorine seeping out through our skin. The chlorine came from 5 hours a day in the water, two practices a day, dryland, weights, stairs, running. You name it, we did it. And we did it at obscene hours. College was always fun, as my sister, Vlad, and l went to The Ohio State University to swim. A notorious party school, we would be bundled up walking to morning practice at 5 am and would see the ‘normal college students’ just on their way in from the night before. It was a different path, but competitive swimming was a major part of our life for years. Now we are all phased out of the sport, but many of our friends are still competing. And these Olympic games have been beyond exhilarating for us to watch, as we all know and have been rooting for many athletes competing.

We wanted to take this time to say great job and good luck to all of our friends competing in the Summer 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing!

Read on...

For those of you who pay close attention to Purse Blog, you will see that we have had two posts by Shannon this week. Yes, an unfamiliar name that has not been introduced. But we want to take the time to introduce our newest member of the Purse Blog and Purse Forum team, Shannon Mahoney. I take a special liking to her, since she is my older sister! And yes, I am Meaghan (shortened to Megs) and she is Shannon, we could not have more Irish names if we tried.

Shannon has moved down from Washington DC and left her job in the corporate world to help our company and websites grow. Her previous job focused on statistical analysis – let’s face it, handbags are so much more fun!

You will see Shannon posting on Purse Blog some, but she will be working behind the scenes mostly.

Welcome Shannon! We are happy to have you on our team!

The resonating theme of the Strategic Airline Event Vlad and I attended in the beginning on June was “It is the only way to fly“. The ‘it’ being referred to is private air charter. And I am not going to sit here and pretend I have flown privately for eons, because I have not. In fact, I have never. But the perks of flying privately really are worth the price. In fact, if you are traveling with a larger group, flying privately can be as cost effective as flying via a commercial airliner, minus the long wait, early check in, and delays.

Vlad and I attended an event held by Strategic Air, who specializes in worldwide private air charter, on June 11th in a private hangar at the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport. Hors d’oeuvres and cocktails were served as the guests mingled and boarded the aircraft and a luxury motor home that Strategic Air provides. The guests chatted and as we made our way around I realized that flying with the Deltas and US Airways is not comparable to flying privately. When you fly privately you are treated like royalty, especially by Strategic Air. From arriving to the airport to arriving at your destination the company pampers you as, offering car service, catering, hotels, and personal protection. I really would only need the catering, as the rest I can handle, but the company covers everything so that you do not have to. An array of airplanes are offered, and again, if I had it my way I would travel in one of their Heavy Jets, which can hold between 12-15 passengers. Read the full article...

We left without saying goodbye! Vlad and I will be in Key West through next Monday celebrating the 4th of July with our family and most importantly celebrating my grandmother’s 82nd birthday. It has become a tradition that my family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc) come to Key West each summer for my grandmother’s birthday. This is the 3rd year, as we have been doing it since her 80th. Posting will be really slow, if at all, seeing that we are on island time and the internet only works at the Starbucks down the street (very slowly might I add). I can’t even check emails, as the connection is too slow to bring in all my messages. So this is what I call a true vacation! We will try to be on some, but if not, have a great 4th of July and see you all on Monday!

How many times have you heard that patience is a virtue? I attempt to be patient in all walks of life, but when it comes to waiting for the mail man to bring me a much anticipated package I can not control myself. Typically I do not even go down the route of ordering a bag online; shocker, right? I prefer going to the store, picking the item, and leaving with a big shopping bag and a big smile. But last week I began to yearn for a new little treat and the treat that I settled on is being shipped to me now. It is funny because the item is not something I thought I would get anytime soon, rather it is a holy grail of sorts. But when I heard that it *may* be available and then found out that indeed it was not sold, but waiting for me, I had to say yes. There was no way I could decline an item like this. It is not a large purse, rather a clutch/wallet. The material is beyond divine and the color is iconic. But I will not share the exact details until this divine design arrives to me (middle of this week).

So what do you do to pass the time when waiting for a coveted purchase? Do you order many bags to have them sent to you? Do you have anything fabulous waiting to arrive (or are on a wait list for)?