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My intention for this blog is to inform all of you about cool stores & products, fashion trends, great sales, new businesses, and where to shop for the best unique items and specials. I'm going to end up giving away some sacred shopping secrets, so I do hope there will be some reciprocation - please make comments & give away your shopping secrets and/or advice, too, OK?

What are these secrets??? One at a time... if you are a rough & tumble kind of girl such as myself, and what I mean by this is that it would not make sense for me to buy a $300 purse because, beyond the obvious reason of spending far too much money on a place to keep my money... I would probably drop it in a puddle or get an ink stain on it within a week of purchase. After working at a newspaper for five years, I have phased all white out of my wardrobe. I have also really grown to dislike "dry clean only" and "hand wash only" clothing - seems like everyone is after your money or your time these days, and there's never enough of either, but I digress... the secret I will reveal today is that T.J. Maxx has, bar none, the best collection of reasonably priced designer purses on the seacoast. Some are priced as low as $14.99 - $19.99. The nicer leather purses are pricier, but still an amazing savings for the value. I have scored DKNY, Kenneth Cole, Nine West, Jones New York, and Anne Klein, all in the $15 - $30 range. Don't get me wrong; I love drooling over the Salvatore Ferragamo, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton bags in Vogue & Harper's Bazaar as much as the next woman, but when it comes to practical advice for the seacoast shopper who needs a purse, but also worries about pen stains - shop at T.J. Maxx.

On a final note, it seems appropriate that this blog is starting during the best time of year – award show season. I do count myself among that sick bunch of us out there who live for televised events such as the Golden Globes pre-show on E!, this year littered with inappropriate questions from Isaac Mizrahi, such as, "Are you wearing underwear?" Teri Hatcher wasn't; Keira Knightley was, and let's be honest, we all want to know that information just as much as we want to know where to buy a great, affordable purse.