well, following in the grand tradition of yesterday, we must have pawed through every store in georgetown, lifting and sniffing everything that looked remotely like something i could carry around. but each was either too big or too small, too mature-looking or too ridiculous, too plain or too ugly. a couple that fit other requirements had to be dismissed because they didn't have covers, which is the problem with my present bag.
finallyfinally we found one: saddle leather, so it's kinda cool looking, with enough but not too much space inside, a shoulder strap, and a covering flap. bought it, marched it proudly back to the car, only to discover that my notebook doesn't fit in it. i don't think we've entirely recovered from that, either of us. too much disappointment too suddenly after all that searching.

on the brighter side of things, we found a sweater/jacket from jcrew and two barrettes of a sort i've been coveting. my mom took them to the cash register while i was looking at gloves and the woman informed her they were $14 (each.) i exclaimed and she frowned. she flipped through the catalogue until she found a little hair scrunchie for $4 and scanned that in instead.
thank you, we said, amazed. satisfied and beneficent, she nodded back at us.