Making it Mine with a Monogram

Recently, I started using a new tote bag to house the myriad of things I cart around all day—wallet, iPhone, notebook, business card holder, phone charger, makeup—you get the idea. I love using a bag that is large enough to hold all of my essentials, but not too large that they fall into a black hole never to see the light of day again.

For years, my beloved black Coach messenger bag was my go-to.  It has accompanied me to every first day of school since college, job interview, meeting, and first day on the job. But, at more than ten years old by now, it has started showing its age (and even threatened to quit on me completely, if I didn’t place it into retirement already).  So, under duress, I broke out another tote bag that had been patiently waiting (still wrapped and boxed) for its time to shine.

You may remember this Neely bag from a few years ago and this photo shoot (which for personal reasons, is still one of my favorites). It was love at first sight when I started using the bag—everything fit and had an immediate home, and it wasn’t large enough to lose things once inside. Also, the light brown interior made finding things easier than with the black interior of my Coach bag that I had become accustomed to.

While I immediately received rave reviews on the bag, something was missing. A monogram! If you have been following along on my Instagram Stories (or read this post), you may recall that my monogram madness is in full swing. I recently purchased a monogrammed ring from Rosefield and now the tote bag needed one as well.

After many failed Google attempts and even asking around on Instagram, I couldn’t quite find a reputable place on Long Island that would do the gold embossing that I wanted on the bag. One place that kept coming up was Royce in New York City. They seemed to have good reviews and said they could do the monogram on the spot. So, Royce got the job.

Last week, when I was in New York City for meetings, my one non-negotiable to-do was to head to Royce at Bloomingdale’s on 59^th street and get the bag monogrammed. So, once my meetings downtown concluded, I took the subway to 59^th street and headed straight to Royce. I told them what I wanted and in a matter of five minutes my bag was monogrammed and I was one very happy camper.  

Now, my new tote bag is all mine and absolutely perfect!