Why I Am On This Weight Loss Journey

It's my unofficial day off today or the extension of my official days off (called in sick due to a pulled lower back muscle... ouch!). During the latter, I had a couple of aunts and a couple of friends who expressed two very different opinions regarding my progress: one group said I could push further down to 120 lbs for my ideal weight (instead of my goal of 125 lbs) and one group said "tama na" (stop already).

Before I express my decision and thoughts about those, let me tell you a story:

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who weighed "just right" and had two overweight parents. She was told her mom gained weight due to pregnancy. Overtime, when her mom quit her job to become a full-time housewife and mother, she learned that it was because of the latter. And liters of Coke. As for her dad, she had learned to passively accept that people like him gain the weight with age. The passive acceptance, however, turned to fear, when she learned at 15 that her father was diagnosed with diabetes.

Both of these parents of hers used to be really slim. During her puberty years, her mom told her she passed on to her genes that produce more-than-the-average-size breasts. Those genes worked to her advantage when, upon graduating from high school, she got invited to represent her community in her city's local beauty pageant. She placed 2nd. Or 1st runner-up. She was almost 17, 5 foot 3 inches and 117 lbs. The year was 2001.

When she entered college months after the beauty pageant, she gained about 5-8 lbs. It was her first time to realize how much 5-8 lbs can change one's image to people. She thought she still looked fine and was still within the ideal weight range for her height and age and yet, to people, a 5-8 lb-weight gain is a disappointment. In June 2001, she was between 122-125 lbs.

Once she graduated from college in 2005, she entered the workforce as a part-time call center agent in the morning. In the afternoon, all the way to 9 pm, she's back in school, studying law as a post-graduate degree. She didn't really like coffee so much so for four years in the call center industry and just a year in law school, she sought refuge in food to keep her awake and energized. In 2007, she complained to her friends of being 150 lbs.

In 2008, almost two years after her mom died with diabetic coma (yes, diabetes) as the primary cause, her politically active news writer of a father was diagnosed with end-stage kidney failure due to his 15-year-old diabetes.

It's also in the same year that she met her then future husband. He accepted her even if she admitted to him that she's overweight and was heavier than him. He didn't mind that he's taller and more active in the gym. In August of that year, he invited her to an "international romantic date" in Disneyworld. From there, they travelled to where he lives in California. At one of the mall bathroom weighing scales during one fine day in August of 2008, she found out she was 169 lbs.

2009 came and her weight reached 175 lbs. Her man proposed on Christmas Day in 2008 and she knew she needed to lose some LBs. It was a promise to her wedding couturier that brought a 6-lb weight loss on her wedding day. On January 24, 2010, she was 5'3, and a 169-lb bride.

When her 6-month stay in the US on a tourist visa came to an end, she brought back to her native country not only prayers for a speedy immigrant visa processing but 16 extra pounds of which, gave her acid reflux, and, according to her OB-GYN, prevented her from conceiving immediately. She was told not to worry so much; that if she and her husband had already been trying for a year and nothing happened, that's when she should start thinking of treatments.

Having nothing else to do during the year-long processing of her papers aside from taking care of her sick father, she thought of enrolling at a gym just 4 minutes away, on foot, from their house. She took baby steps, steps that progressed to leaps when her required medical exam for the visa came closer. She had heard of horror stories about people either getting the processing of their papers delayed or their applications denied due to various health conditions so she changed certain things where her diet and activity were concerned.

For her breakfast and dinner, instead of eating rice with viand, she replaced rice with oatmeal (oats cooked to the consistency/stickiness of rice). Her only meal with rice was during lunch. Thirty minutes after dinner, she would head down to the gym.

The lifestyle change paid off: She passed the medical exam. In July 2011, she went back to California at a lighter weight of 155 lbs.

A month passed and her hormones went awry. It was her first time to experience irregular menstrual cycles. She was told it's due to either the change in environment or her rapid weight loss. Or both.

When she was finally with a job, her weight shot up 10 lbs. Her state ID indicated that she was 165 lbs.

It was at 165 lbs in May of 2012 that she found she was 5 weeks pregnant. She immediately submitted a notice of resignation as the happiness of finally conceiving was more important to her and her husband. The happiness didn't last though as she eventually lost the pregnancy due to a missed miscarriage. She had a D&C on June 30 during which, her declared weight in the hospital form was 175 lbs.

In August, a month before renewing her gym membership, she was at 180 lbs. She prepped for her return to the gym by doing at least 60 spread-out body squats daily. She also stuck to having no more than 3 cups of rice per day and on some days, cut it to two cups due to her oatmeal arrozcaldo (see my oatmeal arrozcaldo blog entry*****) breakfast.

In September of 2012, she and her husband went to Las Vegas. Because she had already started calorie counting via Livestrong's MyPlate iPhone app, imagine being in the Sin City, gluttony and all, eating only in Panda Express due to their disclosed nutritional info and out of Cheesecake Factory's Skinnylicious Menu! By the end of that month, she was down to 177 lbs.

Months passed and another vacation opportunity arrived: They were headed to New York in the second week of December! She knew this would take her away from her calorie counting app so she worked extremely hard to get to a low weight, a weight that's low enough to accommodate reasonable holiday weight gain. A few hours before her flight on December 14, she was still huffing and puffing at the gym. She was 151 lbs.

The vacation was actually her husband's business trip so while he was at the office, she was at the hotel gym, trying to burn the calories that racked up during their dinner adventures in New York. By the end of the trip a day before Christmas of 2012, she was 153 lbs.

The first day of 2013 came and she's down to 150 lbs. 150 lbs! Her husband had never seen her that light, ever! It was supposedly a 3rd wedding anniversary to her husband: for him to see her that light! The "gift" came 23 days early!

On January 3, she started working for a new company. She had to tell the administrative officer if she could change her declared weight when she signed the contract in November (165 lbs). Her new weight on that day? 149 lbs.

It was also on January 3 that she tried on various pieces of uniform from the office stock room. She was given several pieces to wear while waiting for the arrival of her ordered uniform, if she ordered at all.

A week later, during her fingerprinting, at the security office she had to request another weight change. She explained to the officer that she had already lost 3 lbs ever since her start date. She was asked if it's because of stress on the job. She said that she's merely actively trying to lose weight and that walking more than 10,000 steps/day because of her new role contributed to it.

Another week passed and she received a letter from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) that her state ID had been cancelled. She knew and eventually confirmed that it was inadvertently/mistakenly cancelled due to a typographical error. Her trip to DMV was a stressful 2-hour weight that was only made okay by the fact that she was able to change her declared weight of 165 lbs on her old ID to 145 lbs.

It's now the end of January. She still has not ordered her uniform. She figures, she's only going to order once she's between 120-135 lbs. She can pay for alteration any time on her already loose temporary uniform. She called in sick due to a pulled lower back muscle (she blames the squats she did the other day). She's 138.4 lbs now. No longer either obese or overweight; finally in the regular weight range.

The end.......

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is nowhere to be seen yet. My stand on what should be my goal weight now that I'm 138.4 lbs? For starters, I'm 3.4 lbs away from my first goal weight of 135 lbs. Which makes me 13.4 lbs away from my current goal weight of 125 or 18.4 lbs away from my aunts' 120-lb campaign. Well, it actually all depends on whether or not I become pregnant. For each day that I learn I am not pregnant, I feel like I'm always in a marathon: I run faster, jump higher, squat lower, lift heavier in order to get to a low enough weight that's ideal for pregnancy and for my health.

So yes. I'm trying to lose weight to become pregnant again. I'm trying to lose weight to accommodate, just like last Christmas, a healthy or a reasonable enough weight gain once I successfully conceive again. More importantly, I'm trying to lose weight and have a sustainable and healthy lifestyle change for my own health  - a health that I consider as my most important tool in living longer for my loved ones who need me and who love me.

5 Rules to Easy 2-3 Lbs Off in a Month

Yep. You read it right. I bet you mostly caught the words "easy" and "month". Just a disclaimer though: If you still eat over 3,000 calories' worth of fatty, greasy food, this is definitely not for you. Though the word "easy" here can truly be misleading, I acknowledge that there is no sustainable shortcut to weight loss and fitness. This set of rules, however, is worth adding to your fitness and weight loss regimen. The relative ease of these rules separates the truly determined from the simply lazy.

Team Phantom

I know, depending on the perspective of The Phantom of the Opera (POTO) fans and critics, I am several years (movie), decades (the musical) or even a century (the book) too late but hey, I still think it is never too late to support the cause of the Opera Ghost :)

For as long as I can remember, I have been humming to the tune of POTO the musical's main theme song, "All I Ask of You". Way before I knew that it's Sarah Brightman who became the original Christine in the musical (or even the fact that she's POTO composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's ex-wife), I had always sung, albeit lyrically or musically incorrect, the famous love song. And now, thanks to my husband who took me out on a Broadway date one cold December afternoon in New York just a few weeks ago, I am able to present why I, after all these years of supporting the other male lead singing "All I Ask of You" with Christine, changed my mind.

In no particular order are my reasons:

1. Raoul, for all the royalty flowing in his veins as Viscount ("Vicomte", for you, French peeps) de Chagny, is unbelievable in his professed/declared love for childhood sweetheart, Christine Daae. I can cut him some slack by saying he eventually came to really love her years into the marriage but come on! Tell a girl you  have not seen for years that you love her and you want to marry her after only several weeks of seeing her again?

2. I fully know I will get murdered here by the members of Team Raoul but he is no prince charming or knight in shining armor. He is portrayed in the book, the musical and the movie as either lame or condescending (towards Christine). He is possibly dashing, but he is lame, nevertheless.

3. Reason #3 is further proven in one of the book sequels to POTO of which became the basis to Webber's "Love Never Dies" the musical. No one can ever fully convince me to give a break a man who succumbs to fits of jealousy, gambling and drinking just because he suspects his wife never really loves him. And then have your wife work again to pay for your gambling debts? Just turn away, man. Turn away. You could just let her go to avoid further damage to your feelings, to your ego and to everyone else's. Wait... Christine died at the very end of "Love Never Dies" after proclaiming her love for the Phantom (and that you were never really the father of her son)? Geez. I guess it's too late then.

4. Man, whoever thought of giving Raoul a really bad hairstyle in the 2004 movie with Emmy Rossum playing Christine, Patrick Wilson playing Raoul and Gerard Butler playing the Phantom/Erik, must be on Team Phantom. Gerard is hot in the movie. Patrick is, too, just in desperate need though of a haircut.

5. I can think of a thousand and one reasons why I'd stay away from Erik being the stalker/murderer with the "carcass of a face" but I can also think of a million and one reasons why I'd choose him over Raoul. Blame the members of Team Phantom through the years. They romanticized his entire demeanor, his underground lair, included, and even made him hot in Ramin Karimloo's Broadway/West End suit and extra hot in Mr. Butler's Hollywood shoes :)

6. Let me end this obsession with two of my most loved videos from what is obviously my favorite adaptation of POTO. Watch and see what I mean:

RECIPE: Oatmeal Arroz Caldo

OATMEAL ARROZ CALDO

I'm no health expert but when articles from all over and your own experience tell you that oats are good, then oats are, indeed, good.

Oats are the best thing that can ever happen to one's diet. According to Wikipedia, these contain more soluble fiber than any other grain. And what good does fiber do? It essentially makes us feel full thereby effectively curbing any more craving. What's more, certain studies have shown that it may actually help in lowering one's cholesterol. Between my hubby and I, I'm the oatmeal person. My husband's heart belongs to cereal (well, Quaker OATS cereal). He's taller and lighter than me (weight's regular) but it seems that my previously non-stop consumption of oatmeal a few months back has kicked his cholesterol level to the curb. Mine's at a regular level, his' is borderline high!

But okay, this blog post is not about our eating habits and our sad weight comparison. It is about that oatmeal dish that I still have every now and then for either breakfast or dinner.

OATMEAL ARROZ CALDO

"Arroz" means rice in Spanish, while "caldo" means broth. Basically, arroz caldo, a staple popular in former Spanish colony, the Philippines, is a rice broth or otherwise known as the Filipino-style congee.

The Philippines, being geographically close to China, has a lot of Chinese dishes in its cuisine and Arroz Caldo happens to be a Spanish-sounding "Filipinized" congee made of sticky rice, chicken broth, chicken, garlic, pepper and onion.

Now for someone like me who grew up to this but is on a quest to lose the LBs due to health concerns, rice can be a little tricky due to its calorie and sugar level. Thankfully, I discovered (and friends concur) that oatmeal can be of the same sticky consistency as rice as long as the oats are not swimming in water. And since I don't like the traditional breakfast oatmeal with the fruits, nuts, sugar and milk (I don't have a sweet tooth), I thought of making my own Oatmeal Arroz Caldo.

Here's the recipe of what I have been eating for the last two years:

1/2 cup dry of Quaker Oats Quick 1-Minute Oats  -  150 calories

1/2 boiled egg  -  39-40 calories

1/2 link microwaved chicken hamonado sausage (or the tastiest chicken sausage you can find in the deli/grocery)  -  115 calories (I buy Martin Purefoods' Chicken Hamonado Longanisa in the US)

1/2 tsp of powdered ginger (McCormick or any other brand)

generous sprinkles of dried minced onion and granulated garlic (McCormick or any other brand)

a dash of pepper to taste

chili powder (optional)

1. Pour hot water into a soup bowl, add the oats, ginger, onion and garlic

2. Add the sliced boiled egg and sliced chicken hamonado

**Makes 1 serving (304-305 calories/serving)

I know health nuts will surely chastise me for adding sausage in this dish (preservatives!) but hey! It's fast. filling, low in sugar and works for my palate. I am also not preventing anyone from going the extra mile by boiling their own chicken and adding it to this dish.

Winter in New York

It's actually partially "Autumn in New York". Yahoo states that the winter season officially starts on December 21. I'll be joining my husband for a brief tour of New Jersey and New York from December 14 to TBA (lol).

This trip is going to be a bittersweet one. The not-so-tiny elephant in the room that is my dad's condition still looms like the recent hurricane in the East Coast. There's also the fact that New York was the city where dad could have gotten a job some three decades back if it had not been for good old "utang na loob". But then, this opportunity to be in the area is something of which we have to take advantage since it's actually a business trip for my husband. So sasabit ako. Sayang naman. :)

Shouldn't it be "Keep Calm and GO to New York"?!!
Oh yeah, I'm not calm!
This is from http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk

Now, what to do? As of this typing, my husband is petiks at work, compiling FAQs about the trip while I should have gone down to the condominium gym some hours back (I was watching the Giants parade!). To be addressed too is the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in New York and New Jersey. Here's just to hoping that things are not so bad anymore and that things will never be as bad, God forbid, once we get there...

So let's go back. What do you do and where do you go if and when you have the opportunity to be so close to the Big Apple? Here's what I found so far:

1. Statue of Liberty  -  No one can't miss this opportunity (unless there's another hurricane, again, God forbid) especially now that the Crown of Lady Liberty is once again accessible to the public after a major renovation. I might even forget that I have an extreme fear of heights if mother nature cooperates. :)

2. Times Square  -  For the countless times I've watched Good Morning America (GMA) on TV, I may want to get up really early if it means being behind the glass windows of the set of GMA. Hehe. Or it probably is the magic of being there, in the middle of it all in Times Square that I want to experience.

3. Central Park  -  Central Perk for me! There's been so many times that I've imagined strolling in this park whether alone, with friends or with my loved one. No park on earth, or at least the ones I've been, has come close to what I think I could expect once there. And yes, heaven forbid, robbers and all. But hey! I'm from the Philippines. And I've experienced being chased by drug addicts in Luneta. lol

4. Rockefeller Center  -  I don't skate. I can't skate. But I want to take a photo with that huge and famous skating rink behind me and I want to see that huge and famous Christmas tree. It's the Christmas season, after all!

5. Empire State Building  -  If only to be WITHIN its Observation Deck to drink in the sights of NYC, I'll gladly flush down the toilet my fear of heights.

6. Pizza  -  So I still don't know if we should brave Brooklyn or stick to Manhattan for this. One more concern: I'm a calorie counter. Or maybe I'd just forget Livestrong's MyPlate for that fine winter day when we're going to need all the energy that the carbs in a New York pizza could bring.

7. Ninja Restaurant  -  My former co-trainer, Kitchie, is the one to blame for this! Ever since being told by her of ninja-like food servers jumping from another floor to where customers are, I have not stopped thinking of possibly dining here. But oops. $38 for a 3-course dinner! Maybe I'll just stick to a quaint Japanese resto. 

8. American Museum of Natural History  -  Just for the sake of being there. Okay. Fine. It's the stuff of which Hollywood movie magic is made. I always see it in movies. I. Just. Want. To. Be. There. I wonder if my Bank of America debit card allows free access to this  museum... Yes it does!!!!

9. Broadway - I truly hope we could squeeze this in. I'd love to see "A Christmas Story" if only because it's in the Christmas season when we're going to be there. Or... Oh!!!! The Phantom of the Opera!!!!!!!!! :) :)

10. World Trade Center  -  These days, no trip in New York is complete without paying a visit and paying homage to the Twin Towers that were... or are going to be.

This is the only way I know how...

... to possibly forgive myself in the future.
... to say I'm sorry, dad.

Dad... The clock is ticking by the minute, by the hour. And I know you're just waiting for me...
Like how you've always waited for me. For just this one last time, please wait for me. I'll be beside you soon.

Dear Dad,

As of this typing, I don't know if you're still fighting the big fight. I was budgeting my international call credits and hesitating to call (as I've called more than my usual in a week for the last two days) when Joy messaged me on Facebook saying you no longer have a heartbeat. That had me calling. You were being revived.

I know I should be frowned upon by your psychiatrist when I did what I did last Sunday. I have no justifiable excuse for alarming you on that level and causing your declaration that you've become depressed because of it. But what could I do, dad? What should I have done?

I'm asking these questions not because I do not know the answer. I'm asking these questions because you've always been the one who I turned to whether intentionally or not. And why?

It's because you're my dad. And you mean so much more than that word.

You're my first idol.

You're my first writing mentor.

You're my first speaking coach.

You're my first grammar nazi.

You're the one who taught me how to cook bulalo and pansit.

You're the one who bought me that green swing at our house in Santa Rosa.

You're that one person whom I've fought with the most. And boy, did we fight.

We fought because you're the one who had always pushed me to overcome my shyness.

You're the one who had high hopes that I graduate with honors in high school.

You're the one who wilfully hid your own disappointment when I didn't place in the Top 2 or even Top 5 (I was number 6) just because I was one of the two who managed to enter your dream  -  and of many others' -  university.

You're the one who picked me up from school whenever I would send alarmed text messages saying I ran out of money.

You're the one who'd pawn our cellphones just so I could go to school.

You're the one who was scarily quiet when you learned from my otherwise hysterical mother that I was no longer the celibate woman (at least until marriage) that you'd hoped I was.

You're, at one point, the person I hated the most, when I had found out for myself your affairs behind mom's back.

Still, you're the one who I saw as the most crestfallen, hands on your head, when we rushed mom to a very expensive hospital sans money.

You're the one who told me to stop working at a call center and just continue my studies because you found out that her medical insurance from her last job could still be applied to the expenses.

You're the one who kept quiet and didn't respond to my angry text messages regarding what I thought as my inability to be up to par with my then-unknown siblings.

And even so, you're the one who I had never seen so happy and proud when I graduated from college with honors.

You're the one whose pride shot through the roof when I was able to enter a very tough law school that you willingly gave all of your prize money from a journalism contest to use as my tuition fee.

You're the one who tried to comfort me when, just a month after mom's death, I found out about the infidelities of my then boyfriend.

I sensed you, dad. I was crying and my vision was blurry with tears but I sensed that you're the one who got up from your room as I wailed to try to reach out with your hand to comfort me.

You're the one who pushed, and pushed that I work with politicians in Congress.

Yet you're the one who I had disappointed, more than my own bosses, when I got tired and allowed myself to fall short of what I could do and what's expected of me.

When I came to my senses, you're the one who I had quit law school for because time eventually came when things were no longer just about me.

But you were still the one who picked me up from work or met up with me halfway whenever I got off the office late.

You're the one who patiently waited if I'd go home to the property you were temporarily renting from your ex-girlfriend when we had to leave our Santa Rosa house.

You're the one who deftly instructed what I could and should do the moment you got sick and was confined at the Philippine Heart Center for the first time.

I want you to know that you're the one and only reason why I sold the cellphone you bought for me even though it disappointed you big time just because I knew we needed whatever money we could have when you got hospitalized.

You're the one who was most grateful and proud that with the good position I had secured at a good call center, I managed to shoulder your hospitalization cost.

From that health scare I had then promised that I'd no longer leave your side even if it meant being civil with your then girlfriend and her daughter.

You're the one who I gleefully went out with on dates at Luk Yuen and Kenny Rogers.

You're the one who agreed to my cheesy wish of welcoming 2008 at the Mall of Asia.

You're the one whose company I cherished and enjoyed during those crazy Pasig to Taguig jeepney rides.

You're the one who always bought and brought home exotic food like smoked deer meat which I loved.

You're the one who had always encouraged me to watch live Pacquiao bouts at a nearby gym even if I had always said no.

You're the one who told me to lose weight so my then boyfriend-now-husband could better appreciate how I looked.

And even when you had really gotten very sick, being diagnosed with kidney failure, you're the one who made sure that I realize and appreciate the importance of family reunions.

You're the one who got up very early in the morning every Monday in 2009 to go work at a province, three hours away, in exchange for free dialysis and a small amount of money.

You're the one who laughed at my stories while you're undergoing dialysis.

You're the one whose temper must have rubbed off on me because as you got mellower, I got meaner and felt like I should champion what we both were entitled.

You're the one who took me to the airport and took over my errands and paid our bills when I had to go out of the country for weeks, even months, on end.

You're the one who took every technologically tricky opportunity to go to an internet cafe to chat with me.

You're the one who always picked me up from the airport and whose face I'd love seeing light up the most upon presenting my pasalubong.

You're the one whose palate I had wanted to please the most.

You're the one whose forbidden favorite food  -  siomai from Siomai House  -  I'd begrudgingly but willingly buy.

You're the one who bravely stayed in line and walked a long way with me to view former President Cory Aquino's wake.

You're the one who welcomed with open heart my then fiance, Sergs.

You're the one who walked me down the aisle.

You're the one for whom I went crazy, making sure you had everything you might need before I left for the US, phone numbers, titles and all.

Not wanting to miss me before my flight to the US, you're the one who, alone, went to my in-laws' house to join my brother-in-law in taking my husband and me to the airport.

You're the one who I've always had in mind each time I go shopping.

You're the one for whom I cried buckets when you welcomed me back to Manila with a worsening eyesight and a damaged right index finger due to complications of diabetes.

You're the one who got up from your hospital bed when I got locked out of your room and fell, head first, while trying to reach out to me.

You're the one person for whom I'd willingly go into a fight with so many people.

So I'm so, so sorry dad that there have been so many times that I had lost my temper.

I'm so, so sorry dad that I have done so many things an understanding and caring daughter should not have.

I'm so, so sorry dad that that you always end up sacrificing so many things for me.

I'm so, so sorry dad that I can't be there, right at this very minute, with you just yet.

I know you hate ICUs...

I know you're afraid to go... to die...

I know, and I remember, that you asked me when I could go back to the Philippines.

I know and remember that I told you we're working on saving for that trip.

I know you conceded and just told me to not worry about you.

I know so well your wish to see my first born.

I know too that you're hanging on and holding on because you're afraid that Sergs and I would be childless for a long time like what you and mom experienced.

I know that you  know that only Him could make our wish happen

Dad I'm sorry I can't press my way and tell snooty nurses and cold doctors to let me into the ICU and stay beside you and hold your hand the way I did with you a month before my wedding and with mom before she passed away

Dad I'm sorry I'm 7,000 miles away and I can't just hop on a plane the way I did when I caught a bus to see mom when she slipped and when I squeezed my way inside a jampacked MRT the first time you had that health scare at the Heart Center.

Dad I'm sorry I might not be able to go back there in time to say these things in person to you.

Dad I'm sorry if I have one last thing to ask of you:

Go home, dad. Go home.

Remember when you were first diagnosed with kidney failure? You went home and I went back to the office to figure out if dialysis treatments were part of my health insurance at work. On that night dad, I barely was able to go through phone calls. I cried, dad. I cried. But somehow, by some miracle, I made it through. We made it through.

Go home, dad.

I'll be fine... I'll be fine...

Go home... Go home...

I am not fine... But I'll be...

You're not... And  more than anything else, I want you to be...

Go home, dad... Go home...

Drool-Worthy Bags (At least for me!)

Hey! I just saw this.

This bag is crazy!

But it's expensive.

So next time, maybe.

So, okay. That's not the cutest "Call Me Maybe" parody. One thing's for sure though, with that written and the pics below created this afternoon by me, I'm one bag-crazy girl. :)

But before my friends and relatives raise further their already raised eyebrows at this, let me state my disclaimers:

1. Unless I have millions to spare, I will not buy an Hermes Birkin. Seriously.
2. Unless we have already paid at least one of our mortgages, I will not buy a Chanel bag. I promise.
3. No more Louis Vuitton in Damier Ebene for me. At least not before I bag, pun not intended, a job that pays at least $50,000 a year.
4. No more Louis Vuitton in Damier Azur too. Unless someone's willing to buy my Neverfull Damier Azur PM so I could upgrade to an MM. *wink* *wink*
5. The Gucci bags remind me of a memory of my mom.
6. I'm kinda really diggin' the Coach horse drawn carriage logo on the Madison line. My current Coach bag is from the Poppy line and though I'm fond of it, it's getting kind of nauseous.
7. Burberry's a spare bag if I have spare thousands.
8. I will never ever be satisfied with Longchamp, even the made-to-measure ones here.