VASHTIE

So, I’m from the hood and growing up – my family and I were too poor for name brand anything. I’m talking 8 year old hand-me-downs from my older brother and sister and lay-away at Kmart. I attribute growing up poor in the hood for the fire that lit my obsession with sneakers, because I had no options in that department and wore Jordache sneakers for gym class and casual days if my Catholic School uniform was not mandatory – which by the way was a blessing for a poor kid. I have very terrible memories of getting clowned for them too, like in 5th Grade when Orlan Jones called the classes attention to let them know I was wearing “Jord-Ass” Sneakers. I needed to give you the backstory – because I always like to remind people that anything is possible and that your circumstances can change if you want it to.

Vashtie, Junior High. Albany, New York.

Now that I can afford nice things – I like to indulge from time to time. I never go overboard, I just like to invest in pieces that I can hand down to my daughter or gay son. You know, timeless classics. During my last 2015 to Paris, I stumbled into the Prada store and found a bag that I had been eyeing for almost 3 years.

You guys may remember because I did a blog post asking your opinion, HERE.

Shopping at The SoHo Prada Store. Summer 2013, NYC.

Anyways, I found that all the fancy-shmancy Italian and French designer things that I loved all happened to be cheaper in Europe – because, duh, it’s all made there. And, depending on the Euro – there was an advantage of buying it in Europe. Not to mention – you get the 12% VAT tax back when you hit the airport. Basically, any item can be up to 400$ off the American price you see.

So far, 2016 has been good to me and I decided to splurge on my best friend – Me! Okay, that sounds OD silly, but I’m really trying this new thing of celebrating and loving myself how I want others too. Not meaning showering myself with Louis Vuitton because that is nice – but being kind and sweet to myself…which I think we all can do. Never underestimate your worth – I’m working on that myself

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My friend Vanessa Hong has this amazing bag from Louis Vuitton called the Pochette Metis and I love it on her. Perfect for everyday with a cross body strap and then perfect for evening when the strap is unchained.

So, I went into the Louis Vuitton Champ Elysees store and found that the bag I wanted was sold out and on waitlist. I was sad, but walked around for a bit because the nice salesman said he would try his best to locate one. As I waited, I walked around found that a tall security guard was playing me so close as if I would shoplift. I mean, dude was less than 3 feet away from me for about 10 minutes as I walked. I thought it was funny at first and then I got so annoyed. I tried conversing with him, but of course he told me his English wasn’t so good. BUT, just then a girl recognized me and told me her best friend was a huge fan. We Facetimed her and then took some pictures and then the guard disappeared. For the record, I dislike that I was treated like a criminal but when he realized that I may be “important” – he treated me as such. It just goes to show, you never know – so treat everyone kind. That’s all. Now on to my superficial bragging.

Louis Vuitton Agenda MM.

You know I am obsessed with Planners and Planners:

Remember this post?

A Cosmetic Pouch

Pochette Metis.