Rilakkuma key caps

ver since I got my Louis Vuitton Key Pouch I've wanted to get cute key caps for my keys. I'm constantly trying to prettify things in my life. Do you guys do that too? I was looking at my local Asian mall to see if there were any cute key caps, but I didn't find any. I also checked Chapters/Indigo to see if they had any nice key caps as I always find cute knick knacks there. I did see these owl ones, but they weren't to my taste. I decided to check out eBay instead. At first I was looking at Hello Kitty key caps, but they were super expensive- I think around $6 each or even higher. Then I came across these Rilakkuma key caps. I'm in love with Rilakkuma as I have several of their pens and I just think the bear is adorable. They were a great deal too- 4 for $5.49USD + free shipping. I bought these on March 23 and they arrived yesterday.

Here are my keys before I put on the key caps. So plain and so boring *yawn*

The key caps came packaged like this (sans the plastic cover that I threw out before I
took these photos). The key caps were a lot bigger than I imagined them to be, but still
über cute. My younger sister saw these today and she fell in love with them.

Here's the back. It's all in Japanese.

The key caps on my keys. I didn't end up using the duck one because my car key
doesn't fit inside of it. I'm just keeping that one as a spare.

In other news, I went to Target today and bought a few things. I'll show you guys what I bought in my next post. Stay tuned!

B is for Balenciaga

hen I travelled through France in 2008 for my belated honeymoon (I got married in 2006), one of my biggest regrets was not buying something special to remember my trip by. Don't get me wrong, I bought small things here and there, but not something that was extravagant. There were 2 things that I almost bought and didn't during my trip and those were a Longchamp Le Pliage tote and a Balenciaga City bag. 

When I was in Nice, France almost every other girl carried a Longchamp tote. I didn't know at the time what it was because in the city where I live nobody carried them. I was going back and forth whether I should buy it or not and ended up not buying it. On the plane ride home, a couple sitting in front of us had a Longchamp shopping bag and I regretted it right away. I couldn't stop thinking about it so when I was visiting Montreal last February for work I made a pit stop to Ogilvy, a high-end department store, and bought my first Longchamp Le Pliage tote. 

As for the Balenciaga, I made it my goal to stop by the Balenciaga store in Cannes, France while we were there. We don't have a free standing Balenciaga store in the city where I live so I just wanted to check it out. I wasn't planning on buying a bag because I knew they were super expensive. However, my husband almost bought it for me that day. He kept nudging me to try on the colour that I wanted, but I decided that it was too expensive and we left empty-handed. What a mistake! Because we all know that once you start having kids and buy a house, owning a luxury designer item goes down the priority list pretty rapidly. So long story short, buy it while you can and if you can. Of course, you have to still live by your means…

Now, I had a bit of money that I had gotten as a push present after having my 2nd. I knew I wanted to use that to put towards a designer purse. My husband had a boys trip to Las Vegas last week and I decided that it was the perfect time to use that money. I had to still save up a little bit more to buy the purse that I really wanted, but my husband was nice enough to just get it for me.

I was debating between 2 brands, but in the end Balenciaga won. Finally my 2008 regret was no longer! 

I gave my husband a detailed list with the different options (just in case they didn't have one in stock) so that he would be well-prepared when buying my purse. I based my colour choices of the Balenciaga bags from their official website and what they had listed in stock. I decided to just go with the regular hardware because I think it is classic and it will go with everything. I detest the giant hardware (the G21. It is discontinued now. Thank goodness!) because I think it looks gaudy and tacky. The mini Giant hardware (the G12) is ok, but again, I wanted the regular antique brass hardware. And the G12's are more expensive.

My first choice- Balenciaga City in Glycine.
This was a S/S 2012 colour. After looking at all the purses in my closet I realized
I didn't have a purple colour and I LOVE purple.

My second choice- Balenciaga City in Jacinthe.
This was a F/W 2012 colour. I thought this colour would go well with a lot of things in my
closet because it almost looked like a denim colour.

My third choice- Balenciaga City in Parme.
I think this was a F/W 2011 colour. This colour leans on the pink side, but it is also neutral
enough that it would go with a lot of colours in my closet.

My fourth choice- Balenciaga City in Rose Bonbon.
This is the S/S 2013 colour. I normally wouldn't get a pink purse, but I thought this would
be a fun idea for spring/summer. 

My fifth choice- Balenciaga City in Black.
Classic and I don't have any black bags in my collection. However, I wanted to get a
colourful Balenciaga bag because that's what they are know for- their fantastic array of
colours. I can get a basic black in a cheaper bag…

My other choice from a different brand was the Louis Vuitton Speedy 30 Bandouliere.
I know I already talked about this when I posted about my LV Key Pouch here, but I
didn't actually try this on in person (they didn't have the 30 size in stock when I went
to the store a couple of weeks ago) so I wasn't sure how it would look on my frame.
My husband said he went and saw this purse in person, but he hates the Damier Ebene print.
I don't know why because I bought him a Damier Ebene print wallet and he still uses it to
this day. Maybe he hates this print on girls? 

So what bag did I get and what colour???

I got the Balenciaga City in Jacinthe! They didn't have the Glycine. My husband said
he saw Rose Bonbon and Black and whatever other colours that they had in the store,
but he said this was the nicest one. I'm a little bit mad because the colour that they had
online was completely different from the true colour of Jacinthe. Jacinthe is more of a
purple-ish blue. Online it shows up as a blue. I still love it though because I love my
purples. So I suggest that you see the colours in person before purchasing it online.
The Purse Forum is also a great resource to check out. Not just for Balenciaga bags.
Oh, and lovebbags.com is also a great Balenciaga bag resource site.

And here is the back.

The famous stitching on the handles of Balenciaga purses.

The bag closes with 2 zipper pulls.
The difference (other than the hardware) between the Classic-style and the Giant-style are
that the Classics have the leather tassels while the Giants do not.

You can tell the real from the fakes by the rivets. Real Balenciaga bags (post 2004) should
have notches at the top and bottom.

Another indication is the bale. Authentic Balenciaga bags should have rounded bales
instead of square bales.

The stitching on the tag at the top running across should be BLACK while the stitching
on the sides of the tag and the bottom should be the colour of your Balenciaga bag.

You can tell the season of your Balenciaga bag by the letter after the number on the tag.
In my case the letter is 'K'. That means it is from F/W (Fall/Winter) 2012. You can find
out in more detail what season your bag is here.

I believe Balenciaga bags now come with 2 little pockets (2012 models).
I don't think previous models had that… They used to only have the zip pocket.

All the tags that came with the bag as well as the leather colour swatch.

The sales associate also put in a sample of the new Balenciaga fragrance.

I would have been happy with this one bag, but my husband surprised me with another purse- a Longchamp LM Metal Shoulder Tote.

My other Longchamp purse is the large Le Pliage in Duck Blue.
This one is the medium size and it is a coated canvas with leather accents. The bag
has the LM (Longchamp Maroquinerie, or in English 'small leather goods from Longchamp')
logo throughout.

The back.
Unlike the Le Pliage, this cannot be folded up into a compact size.

Close-up of the leather closure.

Modèle Déposé, which is on every Longchamp bags means 'Registered design'.

The zipper pull.

The inside is lined with a brown-coloured fabric.
My Le Pliage is white on the inside and it isn't lined with fabric. It shows a lot
of marks so I'm glad this one is not white and is a fabric lining.

I'm still too sick to do any OOTD shots of me with my new purses, but I will once I feel better.

A small treat

or those of you who follow me on Instagram (@cujo931), you'll know that I got a little something something at Louis Vuitton today. I've been wanting this item for a while now and I'll tell you why. For those new to my blog I'm a mother of 2 kids- a 3-year old and a 7-month old. Most of the time I'm carrying a diaper bag with me. However, when I go out on my own I like switching to a regular purse. Since I'm constantly switching back and forth from a diaper bag to my regular purse I'm tired of my huge Kate Spade wallet taking up so much room in both bags. And if I'm just dashing out the door to pick up my son from daycare I just want my keys and driver's license. Nothing else. So that's why I've been thinking about getting the Louis Vuitton Key Pouch. It can fit my driver's license and my most-used cards in the pouch and the keychain can hold my car keys and house keys. 

After watching PearlyThePug's review and Hollyannaeree talking about it on their respective YouTube channels I was sold. I'm kind of bummed that I didn't get it before the Louis Vuitton price increase a couple of weeks ago, but the price increase for this particular key pouch was very minute.

And here she is. It doesn't go with my Miu Miu Bow Satchel that I wore today to the mall,
but it goes with a lot of my other purses in my collection.

I chose the Monogram print vs the Damier Azur (like the print on my Speedy 25 here)
because I don't like how dirty the Damier Azur print gets. Plus, I'm seriously thinking
about getting the Damier Ebene Speedy 30 Bandouliere as my next purse. I wanted a
key pouch that would go with both purses without it clashing. The sales person thought
I should also go with the Monogram print.
Here you can see it clipped onto the D-ring that is inside my Speedy.

For those of you who are wondering the price of the Key Pouch (or the Cles as it's
sometimes called), I bought it for $185CAD (not including tax). I'm a little bit surprised
because on the US Louis Vuitton website it is listed as $190. Usually prices in Canada are
much higher than in the States so I anticipated it being around $225CAD. I think before
the price increase it was listed on the US site at $180. So this item didn't increase in price
that much.

The key pouch comes with a dust bag and a pull-out box with a leather pull.
I never was a huge fan of Louis Vuitton because I thought it was too gaudy and loud.
However, the quality of their bags are great. After owning a Speedy 25 for a few years
now I'm more interested in the brand because of the craftsmanship.

I know some people are so picky with their Louis Vuitton being made in France (I believe
they are also made in Spain and the US). Some even going as far as making the sales
people exchange it to one that is. I was never one to care, but I'm lucky that both my
Louis Vuitton items are made in France :-)

Here's a close-up.

So while I was at the mall I picked a couple more basics to add to my closet. 

I don't know about you guys, but I've always had a wish list notebook with cut-outs from magazines. It would give me great pleasure crossing off stuff on my wish list. Now that I have Pinterest I can post my wish list online and access it anywhere I go. Lately, my wish list has consisted of basics. Today I was able to cross 2 things off my wish list- a boyfriend-style jean and a jean jacket.

I know the jeans look strange in this photo- almost like midget jeans, but it's because
I rolled it up when I tried it on to the length that I wanted. I got this pair at Zara.
I love the distressed detail on it. 

I'm not quite sure how I like this print showing through the hole. I wish it wasn't there, but
I loved the colour of the jeans and the fit so I couldn't pass up on it.

I could have gone with a smaller size. it's a little big at the waist and the crotch area
seems a little baggy, but this was the smallest size that they had. I know boyfriend-style
jeans are supposed to fit a little more relaxed so I'm not too worried about it being a bit
big. This was $59.90CAD. I think it's a decent price. I saw one at Gap that was around $80.

Next, I went to Old Navy. I love going to Old Navy because I can get great deals there. You guys know I love a good bargain!

I bought my sister-in-law a really cute jean jacket at Aritzia last year when I went to
visit my in-laws and I've been wanting one ever since. However, Aritzia isn't cheap.
I used to shop there all the time when I was in my early 20s, but I'm sort of over that
place. Every other girl here wears stuff from there and I can always find better deals
at places like Holt Renfrew Last Call for premium designer brands.

I was so surprised how cheap this jacket was. It was $34.94CAD. I think the Aritzia one that
I bought my sister-in-law was around $100CAD? Maybe even more?
The best part about the jacket was that I got a discount on it. I'm in Old Navy's mailing
list so I checked my email while I was in the changing room and found out that I could get
20% off the regular price. Score! I think with the 20% discount I got it for around $31 taxes in.

I took a quick snapshot of myself wearing the jacket in the changing room.

There's a lot of stretch to the jacket that I love. I also love how it looks with the collar
popped up.

Have you gotten anything on a deal lately? Please share!

Cool collaborations

Superflat Monogram by Takashi Murakami for Louis Vuitton. More cute-sy than anything, but I can watch it over and over...


Trembled Blossoms by James Jean for Prada. Lots of hidden meanings behind this video- Eve in the Garden of Eden eating a forbidden fruit. Then getting clothed by Prada? Interesting...

here should be more artist collaborations with big brands, don't you think? There's something so unique about promoting a brand in an artistic way than throwing a product in your face. I think it's much cooler to develop a brand rather than a product produced by the brand.