Autumn Pleasures (including a NEW BAG)

Hello, my lovelies! I am currently perched on my comfortable hotel bed in Sofia after a nice swim in the pool. It's actually really funny if you are a returning visitor to the same hotel in short intervals and notice small differences, such as a different layout of the breakfast buffet every time, or "upsell strategies", such as the lady at the spa reception reminding you to avail of their massage offers next time...
But I didn't want to talk about hotels. Last weekend I was in Carinthia, where the weather was as nice and warm as it was today in Sofia. Autum showed itself from its best side. Below is a picture of the walnut in my grandparents' garden, which they loved sitting underneath in the summer. Autum is not my favourite season and in fact I always get a bit annoyed that the clocks get switched back from daylight saving to "normal" time. If I had a say in this we would have DLS time all year round. I find it so depressing to get out of work in the dark and much rather would leave the house in the dark in the morning. I do love the colour explosion of autumn leaves, though:

The reason of my visit was my Dad's birthday and for weeks I had been looking forward to surprising him with what I thought was a really cool gift. He turned 69, so it wasn't actually a "round" birthday, as we call it in German, i.e. a significant number, I wanted to get him something as a "reward" for the first anniversary of being a non-smoker, which was a couple of weeks earlier. In general, I find it easier to find stuff for my Mum so I always feel Dad gets gifts that are both less valuable and less inspired. Well, this year, I got him an iPad mini (with case and camera adapter), a WiFi router and a book. Obviously, the iPad was the main attraction and since I am an advocate of the saying "it is more blessed to receive than to give" I couldn't wait for his face. Here are the wrapped goodies:

 ...and here is Dad getting started:

He is in fact quite tech savvy so it didn't take him long to get into the swing of things. Success!

Well, before you get worried that I got all altruistic only in my old age, let me confess that I got myself a rather generous gift of *gasp* a bag last week. Meet my new LV purchase:

Yes. This happened. For some reason (and I tried with 3 different ones) cameras seem to have big problems picking up the true colour of this bag, which is bright purple. The closest I could get to the real thing are those pictures I took in bright sunlight. If you want to check it out, it is the new Neverful MM in Epi leather in the colour "figue". So my train of thought was..."Hm, when you spent A LOT of money for furniture, why don't you treat yourself to an obscenely overpriced handbag on top?" Or something along those lines anyway. A few years ago, I would not even have considered such an extravagant purchase, but, hey, we get older and convince ourselves that it's time to invest in quality rather than quantity. Quality, this definitely is and since it comes with a little detachable pouch/mini clutch, it is actually TWO bags, read a steal!

Unlike my first LV purchase, my beloved Neverfull in Damier, this one is much easier to wear with the sides "tucked in" as the leather has more hold than the canvas:

I really love wearing it this way, too, whereas I only ever wear the original Neverfull open. Speaking of investments, since I bought that one 3 1/2 years ago (time flies!), the same bag now costs a hefty €200 more. Handbags are the new gold, in case you had any doubts...