I always told myself that I’d stay on the straight and narrow just in case some day, when they’ve pretty much run out of options some state would give me a robe and a gavel for a seat on the bench. But that’s probably a fantasy more farfetched than finding a grey Himalayan Kelly sitting on a shelf somewhere, unreserved, at an Hermès boutique. So the extent of my breaking bad is dabbling in the dangerous addiction of exotic bags. No lie, it’s a rush to hunt and chase that poor reptile or bird until it’s trophy on my arm. And before the whiff of that leather even wears off, another prey is already prepared for the front sight. Such is the lure–and the high–of my drug of choice. But hey, admission is the first step to recovery, isn’t it?

But whether you find kinship in my obsession with the exotics or not, I think if you’ve brought home an Hermès bag, you’ll empathize with what I’m about to confess next: my ritual of “breaking” a bag.

First, I have to find the right backdrop–a table or box or scarf that provides the perfect contrast to my prey. Today it is the above photographed Mythiques Phoenix silk scarf. Then I carefully position the bag in just the right lighting for the photo shoot, especially since the camera has been my witness for the last fifteen years of my life anyway.

Next, I put the bag away for a couple of days. I might take a peek here and there to make sure I’m not hallucinating, but in the box it stays. Then on the third day I bring it out again to remove the plastic coverings from the hardware, first gingerly…

then a final quick rip of the protective band-aid, as it were, to signify that it is truly mine and ready to be used:

Now that the bag is completely vulnerable to the elements that I will expose it to, I take more photos of it in its pristine condition so that one day, five or ten years from now, when the bag has been well-loved and broken in, I can reflect on the beginning of our journey together…

Last shot? Look at the reflection of the ostrich’s quills in my bracelet:

Breaking bad is pretty freakin’ awesome :D!