heavy on your shoulders

song: crosses – artist: jose gonzalez

Perhaps I should inquire about requests. I mean, I know I’m updating more frequently now. But I’m sort of bouncing between "currents of the month" entries and CoA entries. Maybe you want more. Maybe you want something specific. Maybe I could be giving it to you if I only knew. So… any requests? Is there something you’ve been craving? I do so want to please you if I can. 🙂

In the meantime, a tour through the contents of my purse! Exciting, yes? Let’s face it, this sort of thing has the potential to be very revealing. Or at least somewhat revealing. Am I messy? Do I try to carry everything with me, everywhere, all the time? Am I a minimalist? Do I harbor secrets in the deep recesses of my purse? Will you see something you can’t unsee, but desperately wish you could? Come, let us find out!

Here is where I admit that these photos were taken two weeks ago. Some of the small things have changed in the content department. Mostly in that they’ve been removed. I will note where appropriate. 😉

First, the purse, itself.

I have a bigger bag (also a Tignanello), but I haven’t carried it for awhile, because, it seems, I am not a giganto bag kind of girl. This one is a bit bigger than I usually go for, but it had enough room to easily fit my camera in there, plus the interior was set up to my liking. Bonus: I got three more exterior pockets than I was looking for! While it means more places for stuff to get stashed, it also means easier organizing. And I am SO DOWN WITH THAT.

Aerial, closed:


You’re seeing it in the orientation I’d be wearing it on my right shoulder, the side closest to the bottom of the frame would be against my body.

Aerial, open:


So, there are two zipped pockets, one in the center, one in the back. And then two open slide pockets on one "wall." These were my must haves. My favorite purses in the last few years have had these things. The lack of these features left other purses feeling a little off. Something that led me to the realization that I can be rather particular about purses, beyond the aesthetics. I will now shun bags that do not meet these requirements. SHUN!

Now we begin the contents journey. Oooh.

Exterior pockets:

 

I think we’ll go clockwise here. The lip stuff all hangs out in a pocket together.

Top to bottom:
Urban Decay Pocket Rocket in Doug (my number one lip color product!)
Too Faced Girls Dig Pearls in Tropical Pink
Carmex Moisture Plus in Sheer Pink (the clear is the current favorite lip balm, so I thought the pink tint would pull off the two-in-one function wonderfully. but the texture is off and I hardly ever use it. which is making me realize I should probably just pull it out of my purse.)
ChapStick Fresh Effects in Invigorating Green Tea Mint (it’s adequate and it doesn’t have petroleum in it)

Keys! They get their own pocket. The classic Winnie the Pooh key ring is one I’ve had since I was fifteen. My mom gave it to me for my birthday that year. I was totally into Pooh Bear at the time and in Texas (where we were living), you could get your Learner’s Permit at fifteen-and-a-half. While I’m not wild about Pooh anymore, I still really like that key ring and I don’t foresee changing it anytime soon. It’s pewter, has a nice weight to it and isn’t very bulky. Plus, you know, the sentimental value. The pig is supposed to be like a piggy bank and is a freebie from the bank here. Their logo has rubbed off. It serves the function of holding my mailbox key. I keep it separate from my other keys in case I’m in the car when I’m checking mail (so I can leave my keys in the ignition). Also, it makes it easier to identify when I’m trying to fish it out of the pocket it dwells in, especially if my other keys are in there, too.

The flier is from the fresh look at Wichita fun times. After having a day where several loose papers had accumulated in my purse, I’d gone through it to cull them. This came out then. But it was fun running across it now and again between it landing there and making its exit.

The hand cream also gets its own pocket. Bath & Body Works Shea Cashmere in original scent and the infamous Twilight Woods. Love this hand cream! I kind of wish they made it in an unscented version, as well. Just because it’d be nice to have something that wouldn’t clash with or overpower whatever fragrance I’m wearing. Though I’ve been wearing Twilight Woods with a great deal of frequency the last few months, so it’s not been too much of an issue.

Onto the front, interior section:


Clockwise, again.

JasonBateman, my iPod touch (with a snazzy pink case – and plugged into my stereo while I was taking this photo). My phone with its awesome case that I totally dig and that has provoked more than a couple of fellas to make a comment upon seeing it; like its mere existence in their proximity threatened their masculinity. Nevermind that it BELONGS TO A GIRL. My phone remains an unnamed electronic, though. I’m justifying this with the turn-over rate of most phones. As you can see in a previous photo, JasonBateman and my phone live together in one of the open slide pockets. Unless they’re out paling around with me. Which is what they’re usually up to.

Then there’s my wallet. I think I may be even more particular about those than purses. So… I’ve yet to find a replacement for this one.
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Yeah, three, THREE packs of gum. But the blue Dentyne Pure was down to two or three pieces. The store I was at didn’t carry Dentyne Pure when I was looking for a replacement, so I picked up the Stride Spark. But I soon found I really didn’t like it. Shortly thereafter, I was somewhere with Dentyne Pure, so I picked up the green pack. I’m down to just the green now. I know you’re relieved.

The pens and cards all hang out in the other open slide pocket. The Il Vicino customer loyalty card used to not live in there. But it wound up in there on the last trip to the restaurant and I haven’t done anything else with it since. I get to my debit card fairly frequently and the Sam’s Club card has to be flashed every time I go in, so it’s just nice to not have to deal with having to dig it out of my wallet every time.

The pink bluetooth earpiece is for hands free driving. Which is really the only time I wear it.

And someone definitely has a thing for pink. 😉

Rear, interior:


Okay, we’re just going clockwise for all of these. But I suspect you assumed that by now. 😉

Sunblock! I’ve come to learn that SPF 100+ may, in fact, be a little too hardcore. Especially for on-the-go application. See, definitely by the time spring is rolling around, I have sunblock in my purse. I even carried it (most of the time) in the smallest of my regular bags (which was fairly small for an everyday bag). If it stays in my purse during the winter, it’s just because I figure it’s better to have it in there so I don’t have to try to remember to throw it back in when it starts getting warmer. But I carry it because I’ve had a couple of bad burns happen due to impromptu sun exposure. This way, if it turns out to be a lovely sunny day and I wind up being out in it, I can just come home with some funky new tan lines, instead of funky new patches of red. I like Neutrogena for my purse tube, because they make ’em with a thin profile. When I had to replace my purse tube, I figured the higher the number, the better. Except this stuff goes on like the lifeguards’ zinc oxide cream mixed with lotion. So, it needs to really be rubbed in and you’re going to look paler by the time you’re done. Something best done with good lighting and a mirror. Not wherever my purse and I find ourselves out in the sun, somewhere. Still, I’ve yet to wind up with a burn while using it. So, there’s that.

There’s the camera case, where the camera lives when not in use.

A copy of the Avett Brothers’ I and Love and You, which made its way in the same night the blue flier did (and is still in there, though does come out for the occasional spin when I’m driving – it’s already made its way to my hard drive and onto JasonBateman, too).

My favorite of the many pairs of sunglasses I own and their case. (The pairs that make it to the top of my list have all come from Kohl’s. These are from the Simply Vera line. Though from a few years ago.)

The zippered pouch houses my girly time products. Men, you can skip this bit. I’ll understand. I had a bit of an overlap of product toting. I carried both OB tampons and Softcups for about a year. Part of it was because I’d go back and forth between the two initially. But after I was solely using the softcups, it was due to this ingrained thing from my teenage years, where between the irregularity of my cycle, plus having been in enough situations where someone was in need of supplies, I just got in the habit of always having some in my purse. Since softcups are unusual, and I had the room at the time, I just kept both in there. As I didn’t encounter anyone who needed to tap my stash during the overlap, and I’d switched to the aforementioned smaller bag, I just went with the softcups. I adore them. Even over the Diva cup (though I use that, too). They’ve changed my life and they’re awesome. The Always package is a flushable wipe. I have a few in there. In the event I have to do a change in a public restroom and things get a little messy. That hasn’t been an issue in some time, but I still like to be prepared.

And the black thing bellow the zippered pouch is a scarf headband. I’d thrown it in on a day I thought I might need it. I pulled it out to wear it on another day and I’ve since returned it, as it seems a handy thing to have in there. Especially on a windy day. Of which there are plenty in Kansas.

Now for the center zipper compartment!


The white things in the Ziplock are those makeup remover cloths that Ponds and so many other skincare lines produce. I decided I was over the combination of the massive width of the travel pouches and the way the resealable flap thingies would inevitably wind up open or no longer sticky and so my cloths would dry out. So, I just put a modest amount in a Ziplock and carried on. I find I use the ones in my purse like wipes more often than for their marketed purpose. Either way, they’re good to have.

On the far right, a checkbook. Then a couple of bank envelopes because I’ve found they prove useful now and again. The M&T Bank envelope has been kicking around since sometime before leaving New York. Apparently I like to carry bits of functional nostalgia in my purse.

Those are insect repellent towelettes. I heard too many warnings about chiggers and mosquitoes last spring/summer. And in the same way it seems a good idea to be toting sunblock for impromptu outings, the logic seemed to carry over to insect repellent.

Even though the bottle says Excedrin, it’s really ibuprofen in there. And that bottle was acquired from the hotel lobby in Atlantic City the day I got my tongue pierced on the boardwalk (May 5, 2001). Wow. I have way more nostalgia in there than I thought. The bottle has stuck around because I like its size, really. That it has a back story is merely a bonus.

Almost done, y’all! The rear zipper pocket:


I think most of these are self-explanatory.

Batteries for the camera. Lens cleaning tissues, because, wow, there are few things in life more annoying than smudged up eyewear. Brush-ups, because sometimes you feel like you need to brush your teeth, but you can’t. Band-aids, cough drop, ponytail holders and, oh, sweetmotherofpearl, more nostalgia. Those oil absorber tissues are getting up there. I’ve had them since I lived in Texas. It’s closing in on 12 years since I left. Clearly I don’t use those that often. But I do use them on occasion. I tried a few different times, after Bath & Body Works stopped carrying them, to find some alternatives from other places and never liked those products. Eventually I wasn’t using these on a regular basis and they’ve some how managed to make the journey from purse to purse. Usually I’ll resort to a makeup remover cloth anymore now. But there are times when I’d rather not remove my makeup and just get rid of some extra shine. Wow. So, yeah. Moving on. A wee pad of paper, because that is always good to have. An emery board, because a snaggly nail is way more annoying than even smudged up eyewear. And a little bottle of sepia. It’s a homeopathic thing. I… have gotten out of the habit of taking it. Which is unfortunate as it came in handy for arighting declining moods and it helped lessen cramps, at least for awhile. I should totally get back on that.

Last one. Excited?


Quite possibly the most important/my most favorite: Hand sanitizer! I freakin’ adore this thing! Bath & Body Works has these PocketBac bottles. They’re petite. And they fit into these holders that you can loop onto all sorts of things. Which means my hand sanitizer is always easy to access without having to dig through my purse with unsanitized hands! IT IS SO AWESOME! If you’re a hand sanitizer lover, but you think the 5 for $5 deal B&BW always has going on their PocketBacs is overpriced, at least do yourself a favor and pick up a holder and a single PocketBac. You can always refill it yourself. It is so ridiculously handy and brilliant! It’s one of those small things that enhances one’s quality of life. Well, if you have a thing for hand sanitizer, at least.

And so concludes our journey through the amazing world contained within my purse. Something which may or may not have inspired you to request content so you feel like you have some control over future illustrated journeys through various facets of my life. 😉

I love you guys! I hope you had a most amazing weekend!