Happy Hanukkah, 2018! We’re three days into our festival of lights, bookish joy, giveaways, and mayhem.
I look forward to this week all year, and I hope you enjoy it, too.
Ready for today’s giveaway? Seriously, as much fun as it is to build the gift guides and shop for all of you, it is extremely enjoyable to shop handbag stores looking for adorable bags that are low-maintenance, not too heavy to carry, and above all, hold a book (or books) (or ereader) (or ereaders) easily.
So let’s do this!
Today’s prize is:
A kate spade Dawn Place Mini Kona Deep Plum Velvet cross body bag!
Want some specs?
- Lots of carrying options: it has double handles with 4.5″ drop, plus a detachable adjustable strap that can expand to a 21″ drop
- Triple entry top with front and back zip compartments, and a main center compartment with snap closure
- Interior double slide pockets and zipper pocket
- Bag measures 9″ W x 8″ H x 4.5″ D
Want to enter? Yay!
Just leave a comment telling us your favorite purchase this year! Some awesome fluffy socks to keep your toes warm? Did an Instant Pot change your life? Let us know!
Standard disclaimers apply: I am not being compensated for this giveaway. Void where prohibited. Open to international residents where permitted by applicable law. Must be over 18 and ready to lint roll the heck out of this purse if you own pets and/or children. We also won’t judge you if find yourself absently petting your new velvet purse. And romance authors, feel free to steal the euphemism of “petting your purse.”
Comments will close Wednesday 5 December 2018, at or near 12pm ET, and winner will be announced shortly afterward.
Good luck, Happy Hanukkah, and thank you for being part of Smart Bitches!
Winner update: Congratulations to Make Kay! Please check your inbox and spam folders shortly.
We have several days of Hanukkah-palooza giveaways left!
My favorite purchase was an Instant Pot. I use it more than I use the stove. I love it.
Wow – it’s beautiful! My fave purchase this year is definitely my first Kindle – I’m now able to carry hundreds of books everywhere I go – what more could anyone ask for really?!
The best thing I have bought this year was my first wireless charger… I didn’t think I would use it much, but it has been practically life changing for me. No messing with charging cords I just have to plop it on to the thing aznd listen for the noise say it’s charging. I am blind so this is a huge timesaver…
My favorite purchase has been my work tea mug. It’s from a shop called T2 (in Aust) and it makes me feel happy every time I make myself a cuppa.
My favorite purchase as been a new tea blend (Evenings in Missoula, by Indigo Teas) that is so soothing and smells amazing.
I hate buying new shoes. Stems from having awkward-to-fit feet as a kid and tiny feet as an adult. So I put off shoe shopping as much as possible. But my mum (who loves shoes) has found a little shop with fabulous shoes – and I am now finding comfortable, stylish shoes that fit! This year I finally succumbed to a pair of red, grey and purple suede ankle boots that are ridiculously comfortable despite the heel. I’d been eyeing them for ages and the last pair was in my size … I didn’t need them … they fit like a glove!
(I am now replacing the half-dozen pairs of shoes that have a least a decade of wear and are showing it.)
Waterproof Uggs. Footwear life= changed.
Happy, happy Chanukah to Sarah and everyone!!
This is going to sound really really shallow, but my favorite purchase this year was the Naked basics eyeshadow pallet by Urban Decay. I am absolutely obsessed with makeup, but hadn’t splurged since I was in college. My brief stint working on Santana Row in San Jose brought me within a block of a Sephora. One Friday over the summer, I decided to treat myself because this year has truly sucked. I am so glad I went for it because the shadows are so smooth and make my eyes look amazing. So many women have complimented me on my eye makeup since I bought it.
My favorite purchase was Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. This game has been SO. MUCH. FUN.
My favorite purchase this year was a comic-encrusted bag for work. From a distance it just looks patterned, until you’re close enough to see Spider Man and Wonder Woman, etc, all over it. Plus it’s the perfect size!
I finally bought myself a combination toaster oven/air fryer/convection oven countertop appliance. I absolutely love it. It doesn’t warm up the kitchen like the big oven, and it uses less energy!
A new laptop which has made such a difference in my life
I bought a pair of grey skinny jeans from the Gap earlier this year and have worn them at least twenty times since. They go with everything!
My favorite purchase has been a vintage baby-blue train case I found in a thrift store. It’s in great shape, the mirror, tray and makeup bag inside look almost new and it sits by my bed with my knitting project in it. I love to imagine the fabulous woman who owned it before me.
It’s a toss-up between my big Yeti-style tumbler and the Christmas leggings I got with corgi dogs on them. 🙂
It was really my husband’s purchase, although I’ve been the happy beneficiary, but the air-fryer/oven has been a wonderful addition to our kitchen. It makes fabulous grilled-cheese sandwiches and potato logs, not to mention the chicken wings, which are off the charts!
Five days in Las Vegas with day tours to Death Valley and Utah. A break I badly needed which included some truly awe-inspiring scenery.
I’m actually a bit ambivalent about most of my (few) splurges this year; the highlight of which is probably the pair of earrings I bought on my long-delayed vacation on Crete.
It’s totally mundane but I bought a bakers rack to replace my hodgepodge of kitchen storage. I can keep like things together and see what I’ve got at a glance, I love it so much.
Happy Hanukkah and thanks for the giveaway!
Bought a pressure cooker!
That bag is so pretty and sounds like lots of pockets which I love. You always pick the loveliest bags!
My favorite purchase this year was three hydrangea trees for my garden. Plants and books bring me joy but this year I struggled to concentrate on reading. So I turned to my plants instead. I bought so many this summer and fell in love with hydrangeas. Like I do when I discover a new author I love, I started collecting as many as I could get my hands on. But the trees are my favorite. I’m really looking forward to seeing them bloom come the spring.
My best purchase this year was a roomba!
I bought a Stinky Pig farting-pig game for my family’s grab bag this holiday season. Am anticipating the reaction when it’s opened (and played)!
My favorite purchase this year is an iPhone for my husband. He still doesn’t answer his phone, but it is easier to text him!
Three words. Heated Matress Pad. Last year I had to throw out my hot water bottle after accidentally scalding myself trying to pour too hot water in. I have perpetually cold feet and thought nothing would keep them warm ever again. Enter Sunbeam.♨️
Happy Chanukah to all celebrating!
A blanky with attached hoodie and mitts. Can’t wait to see what my daughter thinks when she opens it.
An electric kettle. Where have these been all my life!?!
I collect milk glass pieces; most I just display, but others I use daily. I was antiquing & found a beautiful stein shaped piece that I’m using in my bath as a toothbrush holder! It’s a little over the top, but it makes me smile every day when I use it!
Happy Hanukkah! My splurge this year that I am so excited for is for spring – tickets to the local NASCAR race, including pit and victory lane passes, for me and three of my friends (who got me into racing about 5 years ago). They were over the moon when I told them, and we’re already making our plans for the weekend. 🙂
A six foot piece of Pine for a cutting table in my sewing area (aka a corner of my basement).
My favorite is a set of the adhesive photo tiles of some of my favorite pics off my phone. I did nine–one of my dh and daughter, on eof daughter with her cousins, one of daughter with her friends, and then a couple of the dh and me. They always make me smile. I get to see good memories on my wall, not just my phone screen.
I bought a dress from Svaha that is basically a black top and a skirt that looks like book spines. I love wearing it to work (I’m an English professor).
I found two different styles of blue jeans at Macy’s that fit petite but curvy me PERFECTLY right off the rack!
We just bought a treadmill. Only one of the treadmills at our complex’s gym accommodates my husband’s speed, and he would frequently go to find it in use. I’m also getting over a foot injury and finally able to walk again, but now it’s getting cold outside. So we’re pretty excited to have something in the house.
My favorite purchase was my green velvet wingback chair.
I moved to my first apartment after finishing graduate school, and I bought myself a “grown up” chair for reading things that are *not* related to my research! It’s vintage and velvet and PINK, and it reminds me every day to prioritize time that is not spent on work!
While I haven’t actually done much with it yet, I love the blank recipe book I got. Best feature is that the pages are removable, so I can keep things organized.
Weirdly enough, my favorite purchase this year is a “ruggable” rug for my dining room. A screen-printed, lightweight thing that looks rather amazing for its thinness and low price point. It even goes in the clothes washer…
Not a purchase, but a wonderful gift – a pair of noise-cancelling ear buds for plane travel – smaller and better quality than my old headphones. A real life-changer if you don’t like all the noise on planes, plus you can listen to music or an audiobook without cranking the sound to ear-damaging levels. Thanks for the chance to win and Happy Hanukkah all!
My mink fleece sheets that are so soft, cosy and warm.