I love shoes but at heart, I am a purse girl. I would rather spend $400 on a purse than on a pair of designer shoes. Mostly because I’ll damage that shoe beauty in about 2 seconds (with my luck).

I wouldn’t even know what to do with a $400 pair of shoes. I would just wear them around my house, to do dishes or water the plants. Money NOT well spent.

But purses are my love. They always fit, look good year-round and are such an easy way to dress up an outfit.

And right now, I’m on the purse prowl.

That’s right, I’m a purse puma/cougar in heat, looking for her next fix.

To fix my purse craving, I went to my happiest place on earth, Nordstrom, allowing myself to gingerly touch the soft leather and imagine how gorgeous these lovely bags would look on my shoulder. Yeah, I went to second base with them :)

Beware, below is unrated, hot, purse-on-purse porn action I have my eye on.

Marc Jacobs Amber and Carla totes. Love the color on Amber and satchel/shoulder straps on Carla – gorgeous!

Burberry Heart Check tote – I love the hearts! But it’s canvas, which means: stains

Steve Madden cross-body bag. Love the color, detail and odd shape. It’s like having a letter on your hip

Valentino Shopping Couture tote – I’ve seen this in a few colors and I am LOVING the paillettes. Such fun!

Just because I prefer purses, that doesn’t mean this post is without shoe love too. So while feeling up purses at Nordstrom, I also found these lovelies in the shoe department:

Report - Love the gunmetal color and the pattern on the toes.

Jessica Simpson Alexandra sandal – Love the contrast on the brass and tan leather. This may be more of a “sitting shoe”

Steve Madden Florale flat – Ruffles + peep toe + bold green? With a pedicure, this is too cute, especially for this weekend!

So many choices. Some that cost as much as two months rent and some that are affordable. What is a girl to do? Sharing these made me feel better too so the purse urge has been met.

What do you love more, purses or shoes?

Why I love online shopping:

• It’s easy to do from home or work
• You do not have to wait for a fitting room
• You do not have to deal with unhelpful sales associates
• More likely to find your size (especially in pants for me)

Yes, I love online shopping for all of these reasons. Plus, I get little presents (that I paid for) delivered to me at work. It’s like Christmas or my birthday but throughout the year!

And sales tax is usually cheaper (especially if you live in Chicago where it’s 10.25 percent.).

Sure, returns are annoying sometimes, but overall, it’s easy.

The only thing that dampers my love of online shopping is the bait and switch.

This means: what looks great online looks awful in person.

Wah wah.

Yes, the trouble of “maroon red” looking more brick red, or “dreamy green” looking more like some odd mix of grass green and puke. Not so dreamy after all.

Or when that lux-looking fabric and dress feels like a bad polyester/nylon blend. Ick.

I don’t have this happen a lot but when it does, it really irritates me. I hate getting all excited about the stuff I purchase, only to find out it looks totally different in person. That does not make my shopping experience easier.

And I’ve found Old Navy and Land’s End are the biggest offenders of this bait and switch. When I complained once, a rep from Land’s End actually told me, “oh yeah, we hear this a lot.”

Really? Well maybe…something should be done about that? If I have to go into the store to make sure that what I buy online looks normal in person, I would just BUY in the store.

Speaking of that, I have a stack of returns for this weekend. Sometimes, I wonder if I should just stick to buy things in black, gray or white online because those colors are tough to really mess up.

Lots of questions to ask! Do you online shop a lot? If so, what do you usually shop for? Or have you had this happen to you when you shop online? Or do you prefer to still go in store to purchase?

Movie review: I’m off to the movies this weekend but you can still check out my review of An Education in the meantime!