Chanel Reveal

Alright, so if you read the CarsnPurses blog (or follow me on IG), you probably saw that I went on a shopping spree. Yes. Yes I did. This is my birthday gift to myself (and it's not until next year, so I splurged too early).

Great news. The bank no longer owns the purse. WHOOPEEE!!!! IT'S MINE!!!

A little background story:

Last year I had aimed to get the WOC (which I did) and sadly it was around the time that M passed. I then made it an aim to get it in memory of him, as well as add charms to it because Chanel didn't have a cat theme or anything in any of their collections last year. To this day, the WOC serves as a huge memory to me, and has much sentimental value.

Sometime last month as I was browsing the Chanel website, I came across a bag with...what do you know. A cat theme. It hadn't hit stores yet, but it's in the Fall/Winter 2016-2017 catalogue so it was going to arrive in stores pretty soon.

This is what I find so weird. It's all the timing. It's been almost a year since M has passed, and I'm still depressed about it. Yet lo and behold, I see this bag that makes THE perfect memory for him even a year later. It's almost like a dream come true, that Chanel decided to have this theme. It's all I've been waiting for, for the past year, and who knew. Who knew..

My experience:

I had called the Chanel boutique to ask if this particular bag had come in but for a while they kept saying it didn't come in yet. Finally after a couple of weeks of not calling them, I gave it one last shot and called. They had it!!

So off I go to the store. I had just finished work and was pretty much dressed in work clothes (a t shirt with scrub bottoms - thankfully I was in charge that day and not touching anyone). The staff greeted me and helped me right away.

The SA was very friendly with me. I had given her the serial number as well as a picture of the purse. She said they definitely had it! So she brought one out from the back and showed it to me. She encouraged me to try it on, wear it in all the different ways and to take my time.

Then we started having a conversation about pets. This is where it gets emotional for both of us because she's a pet owner as well. She also experienced her pets passing on, and dealing with the loss of it.

We definitely spent more time talking about our pets and memories than the purses. I was really impressed that our conversations lasted as long as they did. I didn't feel pressured to want to buy anything, even though I knew what I was going to get. But it made me feel that I was appreciated as a person, and not just another commission tag.

In the end, I really did appreciate all the help she gave me, as well as our long conversation. I bought the bag of course. My bestie and I were then escorted to sit in the waiting area while they wrapped my bag up.

Before I left, I asked to take a picture with the SA, because she was just pretty amazing. And I always take pictures with the SA that made my experience a positive one.

The reveal:

So the moment is here! Now, this may not be to everyone's taste but that's what makes us different and unique. I wanted something different from everyone else. Although I would've loved to have a classic, I still think it's a classic to some degree, with a bit of a twist.

When I first saw this online, my first thought was this is waaaaaay too busy. But over time I have grown to love it. So if you think it's ugly or too busy, that's ok. I learned to appreciate it for what it is, because it serves as a memory of what I had before.

The beautiful black box with the white ribbon and camellia flower.

The magical black box!

Opened up the box, and there's the black tissue paper sealed with the Chanel sticker!

It's a flap! But which one?! 

The care booklet package, with the history book.

Sneak peak. Thumb's up.

There she is! Medium classic flap in light gold hardware, in fabric print.

Here is the back. Because it's a classic flap, there is still the back pocket.

The inside is gold leather.

The infamous CC logo!

So there you have it! My new bag to serve as a memory for M.

Some details:

Company: Chanel

Collection: Fall/Winter 2016-2017

Style: Classic Flap Bag 

Size: Medium

Material: Printed fabric

Colour (exterior): Navy blue, gray, gold

Colour (interior): Light gold

Hardware: Light gold

Made in: France

Dimensions: 6.3 x 10.2 x 2.8 inches / 16 x 26 x 7 cm

Product Number: A01112 Y61093

Exterior: Turn lock closure, 1 back pocket, 1 chain which can be used for over the shoulder, chain can be doubled up to make it shorter.

Interior: 2 pockets, 1 lip stick pocket, 1 main compartment, 2 flat compartments, 1 small zipped compartment, 1 extra flap to cover.

I have not used this bag as of yet, because I'm not technically suppose to use it until next year (we'll see how long this will last). It is pretty light weight. Just like with any product, the fabric is also delicate when it comes to colour transfers. Hopefully that won't happen. The quilting is still puffy, which is awesome, not flat as I thought it would be. 

Cleaning the product would take some patience and time. It is recommended to not wipe the fabric if something spills on it. Rather dab it dry, otherwise there will be a risk of colour transfer. 

Hope you enjoyed this little reveal and review. Stay tuned for a what's in my bag review! (maybe next year, who knows!).

Random Time!

Greetings all.

The moment you've all been waiting for: a moment of randomness! This is where I just write about anything random that pops into my head. It doesn't necessarily have a theme. Just anything that I've noticed or experienced lately.

I'm so darn tired these days. I work almost everyday, but lately it's just been the mental stress. Making important decisions on a constant basis that impacts someone's life. It's a lot of "I hope I made the right decision" moments. A lot of last minute changes as well that requires mental alertness to fix things right away and not screw up. A lot of days I end work late and don't get paid overtime for it. And a lot of times I don't take breaks because there is always something happening. I would be lucky to have a washroom break to take a piss but that's about it. Sometimes I'd go almost 20 hours without eating anything. I would eat my lunch for dinner, and then maybe a bit of dinner later on if I was still hungry.

Either way, it's destroying my body. I may not even know it now because "I'm still young" but everything is starting to slow down. Thankfully I'm almost done and can take a break soon so that's something to look forward to.

I was driving home today (and let me tell you, it's a terrible idea to be driving home after not eating anything since the previous night) and I could feel the rage inside me. The last minute lane changers (because of these dummies, I can't make the traffic light!), the slow slow drivers in the left lane, the people who don't signal when they change lanes or turn, the dumb pedestrians who can't make up their minds if they want to cross the road or not, ESPECIALLY when the road is clear for me to go, but these slow ass mofos are taking their sweet ass time to decide whether to cross or not, distracted drivers (eating, or talking on the phone, putting on make up..you get the idea), and the list goes on.

My trend of aggressive driving increases when I don't have anything to eat. It's been like that for the past 5 weeks because yes it's true, I haven't taken much breaks when I'm in charge of a unit.

My goal was to also lose weight during these past few weeks because of stress. I don't feel any different than 6 weeks ago though, so that sucks. I'd lose a few pounds (mostly due to water imbalances) but would gain it after a day of eating. Definitely not the proper way to lose weight though.

I called the store and I almost jumped for joy because the handbag I've been seeking is now in store! WOOHOO!!! I'm so excited! This is pretty much the only positive news I've heard all week. Anyways I still have to try it and see if it's really to my liking or not. Then I will decide whether it's a go or no.

Just over a week ago, I bought the "girl on the train" novel because I saw a trailer of it prior to an outing and I wanted to see what the hype was all about. I finished the book pretty quick and then saw the movie.

You know, it was only halfway while reading this book that I realized each chapter was from a different character perspective. Yes, that's how slow I was. I got so confused because I thought the main character was crazy. Then I realized no, it was from 3 different perspectives. Right. I need to re-read it.

The book itself in the beginning sort of dragged on. It didn't start picking up until about 3/4 of the way through. However, I did like how everything played out.

The movie, starring Emily Blunt, was just like any other book-to-screen adaptation: they cut out lots of parts from the book, and it also becomes difficult trying to portray the character's thoughts into the movie. I liked how they cut off unnecessary things from the book though, and got straight to the point.

Just like the book, the beginning did drag on a bit. It seemed repetitive (almost like Twilight when Bella kept saying oh my goodness repeatedly), but it showed the struggle of an addict as well (in this case, alcoholism). There were quite a few themes going on in the book: alcoholism, divorce, cheating/unfaithful, and how these all affected a person psychologically. Then of course came the whodunnit aspect.

Would I recommend? I try to not read critics and what they say because what I think is obviously different than them. For me, I like to see how things impacted someone from beginning to end and what made them do the things they do. The novel/movie delivered that aspect so if you are into that, then I'd recommend it.

I finally got a chance to clean my Tiffany charm bracelet. I've noticed it starting to tarnish a bit so I decided to clean it with the polisher the store had given me with the gift. And damn, it worked like a charm! It's so shiny now. However, my charms are all scratched up because it keeps banging against the bangle. So I was unable to remove the scratches, but overall, the tarnish was gone. The cleaner has a weird smell to it. Definitely should open the windows next time when I clean it.

The older we get, the less tolerable we are to alcohol. At least that's with me. This past weekend was probably the most I've ever drank in my life. It started off with a cousin's wedding. It was beautiful of course. And then I saw him.

Now, this would make sense if you had read previous blogs (and this one goes way back to my terrible date stories). So I didn't know this particular person would be invited but I guess it's a small world. This was the one who had a crush on the Chinese Mafia girl and was trying to get at me as well.

Well, let's just say he wasn't seeing the Mafia girl anymore but he had another one with him, and who was 2 heads taller than him. I laughed, and I couldn't stop laughing.

I needed a drink. Or maybe a few more. Knowing that I'm light weight, I had to be careful not to get too carried away. I believe I had 2 beers and a tequila shot, and I was pretty much done for the night. Anything more and I'd be puking.

Right after the wedding, I went to another birthday party and had another drink, and played a game, which the loser has to drink. It was pretty fun, time of my life! Then I got home and passed out.

Next day there was another gathering. I had probably a couple of beers then had to stop because it was getting late. But both days I was pretty flushed. Because Asian glow baby! I was in a happy state. That was my limit sadly.

The following day, I had a bit of a headache and just didn't want to work. But I forced myself to plow through the day. To others that may seem miniscule. To me, that's enough drinking on my end. My worst moment was in Paris, when I had drank a champagne bottle, along with maybe 1/3 of red wine from a bottle. I knew what was going on around me and remembered what happened. I was also extremely flushed. Then of course I puked my guts out in front of my folks. Let's just say they were not impressed.

The following day I had the worst hangover. It was also the first day of my lovely period, and of course I had to have the worst cramps. Took a narcotic, and puked again. We were in Luxembourg and I didn't enjoy any of it because I just felt like crap. That was the first and only time drinking until I puked and I didn't enjoy it one bit. So I will never understand how some people enjoy doing that every weekend. It baffles me.

I've had a few near misses when it came to drinking. Two events I remember the most were at a bachelorette party and at a wedding. The bachelorette party included pre drinking before heading to a nightclub. I believe the entire night I had 6-7 drinks which included 3-4 shots of something. Then I fell asleep on the lounge sofa in the club. When I woke up, the club was closing and the wedding party was trying to get me up. Good times.

The wedding time I had a couple of drinks and shots as well. Then I passed out on the sofa. What's with me and passing out on the sofa after having a few drinks?!

Anyways those were the wild days. It's funny because those were not during my high school or university days. I just know I'm a cheap date when it comes to drinks.

What's with the Samsung 7 phone battery over heating/exploding? My experience with Samsung has been nothing but mediocre. The first and only flip phone I owned from Samsung was over 10 years ago when smart phones were still non existent. That phone was like iron. Still works to this day. The S4 that I had died within the year. The screen went nuts after 6 months and then it just died. Part of it at the end was my fault when I threw it on the floor after an argument. But prior to that, the screen was all weird and could've given someone seizures if they kept staring at the screen.

The battery sucked. It would always die so fast and then it would over heat. After that experience, I decided to stick with my iPhone, which I had for 5 years and had no issues of it over heating. The only time it over heated was when it was a hot day, and it was in my purse. The phone gave me a warning that it was too hot, and I couldn't use it, so it had to cool off before I could use it again. The first and only time I've seen that with the iPhone.

And look. It's still in one piece, unburnt. Yay iPhone!

Don't get me wrong. There are plenty of great companies out there and products. I used to hate Apple because their Mac computers back when we were in elementary school were always having problems. They only looked cool with the different colours but that was about it. I was always a Windows person.

Problem with Windows started happening when I went to high school. During the high school years, my computer always had some sort of virus and thus, I would lose my home work or pictures that I took over the years. I still remember my final year, I had just uploaded all my prom pictures and had all my last assignments saved/handed in, and one day they all disappeared. Just out of the blue. Turned on my computer and desktop was BLANK.

Like how the hell? What the hell Windows! DAMN YOU! I was pretty sad I had lost my prom pictures. I still have no idea where the SD card is. Or maybe I had uploaded them all and then deleted them off the camera. I really don't remember.

University was no different. I had a laptop, which I spilled hot chocolate on after a week of owning it. Got it fixed but it never really worked the same after that. It was always slow, and over heated. Eventually after 5 years I got rid of it. Worked and saved up for a Macbook. Never looked back because it's been almost 6 years and it still works like a charm. No viruses or anything crazy happening.

My mom's phone case had cracked and broke after barely 5 months. Not sure how that happened but we went to the Asian mall of all Asian malls to go shopping for another one. There was a sale happening so she chose a Hello Kitty case, which is AWESOME because it's pink and cute. Plus it looks much more durable than the previous one. So I'm happy we found one she likes and enjoys.

I also found out that there is a place there that sells hot and sour soup. Geez, they used to sell it everywhere and now it's so hard to find. I'm not sure why. Maybe something in there is unhealthy? I don't know. Either way, I'm just so darn happy I found a place to go to for that soup.

A few days ago, the Mustang club had gone on a cruise in the outskirts of Ontario. Lo and behold, one Shelby lost control and crashed. I kid you not. This actually happened. The owner had only gotten the car 3 weeks prior. From what witnesses have said, the driver was driving too fast in current weather conditions and lost control, flipping his car a few times. Driver and passenger survived with minor scratches.

Yes, weather nowadays is getting colder, the summer tires don't grip as well, so don't drive like a douchebag. Simple. Mustang driver or not. It's not the time now to be showing off on the streets how fast your car can take a corner or do a straight away. Especially when you don't know your car very well. I just smack my head sometimes seeing these people on cruises, showing off and then flip over. You may think it never happens on cruises, but it does. This is probably the 4th or 5th time I've heard a car flip over in the past year while on cruises.

Check your tires. Check your car. Check your ego. Seriously.

Alright time for bed time. :)