I am going to New York soon. I am beside myself with excitement. I plan to shop, eat, shop, see the sights and shop. In fact I don’t plan on packing very much because the list of things I “need” to buy is endless and the time I have allocated to shopping is huge.
Top of my shopping list is a new handbag. Maybe two. But it’s one of the reasons that I have had to allocate such a huge amount of time to shopping because I am quite particular about the bag I want.
It needs to be relatively trendy, it must be able to fit my make-up (quite a bit), my phone, lego (why do I always have piece of lego in my bag?) and assorted odds and ends – you know the stuff that somehow makes it into your bag without you ever putting it there? It can’t be too big but it can’t be wallet sized. But importantly it can’t be made of animal – leather, snakeskin, pony skin (I have been seeing that a lot), crocodile or any other creature that once breathed or had eyes.
You see I am a vegetarian purely for ethical reasons– it is my desire not to eat anything that once had eyes and a brain. It’s not been hard because I believe in what I am doing so strongly and also, there are so many alternatives out there. There is a whole world of tofu, vegetables, soy and nuts but I haven’t seen a range of soybean bags. Yet.
My determination not to wear animals is relatively new and sometimes I worry that I am becoming fanatical. In fact I have spent a lot of time becoming quite concerned about all the animal products that I do use. I recently got feather hair extensions and I almost didn’t. Not because I didn’t want to but because I asked so many questions of the manufacturer of the extensions that they almost asked me to leave. I needed to know the feathers were humanely collected, that they were fallen feathers and not plucked, that the roosters the feathers come from had not been held in cruel captivity, that they didn’t die so that I could have pretty hair. I even asked for the name of the breeder and Googled it. Oh yes I did.
