First I look at the purse

I admit to being a shoe whore, but now I am becoming a bag hag, too.

Purses/pocketbooks/handbags were those things that clearly separated the boys from the girls. Slip on your high heels, grab your purse and you are out the door as a woman, not some boy pretending to be a man.

I had a small collection of bags. Most were inexpensive bags that I purchased at JCPenney, Payless, Fashion Bug, etc. The only designer bag I owned was a B. Makowsky satchel that I bought for $80 at a consignment shop (it cost $250 new).

Then my daughter Christmas-gifted me a Kate Spade bag. And when she moved to an apartment last month, she gave me two Coach bags and two Jessica Simpson bags that she never used and did not want to take along to her new digs.

Since then, I acquired two more Coach bags!

Not only have I become a bag hag, but I am also a bag snob, because when I go out now, I will only wear a designer bag!

I call that "progress." LOL

Wearing Moda  Operandi (Source: Moda Operandi)

Womanless pageant contestant before and after (Source: Pinterest)

Company Christmas Party

Thursday, I attended my former employer's Christmas luncheon party.

I wore the Julia Jordan gunmetal fit-and-flare dress, Dress Barn off-black pin-dot tights and Nine West metallic platform pumps. Instead of accessorizing with silver jewelry as I originally planned, my wife suggested I wear something colorful for the holidays, so I wore a red necklace and red earrings.

As I began to fill my old tired-looking black handbag, my daughter gave me an early Christmas present: a red Kate Spade handbag! I was so surprised and happy with her generous gift that I almost started to cry, but I held back my tears so as not to ruin my makeup.

I left the house and drove to the banquet hall hosting the luncheon. Usually I wear my heels when I drive, but the platform pumps are about a half-inch higher than my usual footwear and that half-inch or so made it difficult to manipulate the three pedals under the dashboard, so I wore flats to drive and switched to heels when I arrived at the banquet hall.

I entered the hall and when I checked my coat, the three women staffing the front of the hall said they loved my outfit. One said she wanted to buy shoes like mine.

I found a seat at a table with my former co-workers and it was just like last year's Christmas luncheon when I wrote, "It was as if I showed up in boy mode." Folks greeted and chatted with me like old times. The fact that I was presenting as a woman made no difference.

Reflecting on what I wrote last year "...as if I showed up in boy mode," I realize now that it did not matter if I showed up in boy mode or girl mode. Rather it mattered that I showed up in Stan mode. In a dress or slacks, I am the same person that my former co-workers knew for 20 years and I think most of them were glad to know me just as I was glad to know them.

Wearing Unique Vintage (Source: Unique Vintage)

Joe Regalbuto femulates in a 1990 episode of television's The Love Boat.