dual personalities

Over the past few weeks there have been a lot of blog posts out there attempting to answer that important question: What’s in your bag? This seems to be something that preoccupies a lot of women. Since a love of small leather goods runs in my family (my father was a big fan), I thought I would jump on the blog bandwagon and show you what’s in my purse!

This is my red Longchamp “Le Pliage” Medium Shoulder Tote. I also have the same tote in gunmetal gray and bright green. I am probably due for a new one right about now. Let me just say, it is the perfect purse. Plain, simple–and it holds just the right amount of stuff without getting too heavy. The shoulder straps are the right length and you can even sponge it off.

This is what fits inside.

My Orla Kiely zip wallet.

This cute Brooklyn zip pouch that daughter #1 gave me. It holds my checkbook and my small calendar and a couple of little blank books which daughter #2 gave me. You can never have too many of those you know.

My Vera Bradley eyeglass cases. Daughter #1 gave me the elephant one a long time ago. She also gave me the elephant shopping bag from J. Crew which folds up in a little envelope. I pull it out at the grocery store and say, “I have my own bag!” when they ask, “Plastic or paper?” You are impressed with my green-ness, I know.

A friend brought this cute zipper bag back from Mexico. It’s the perfect size for a cell phone.

My needlepoint keychain which daughter #1 picked up when she interned at the TODAY show back in the day. Katie Couric got all sorts of freebies and this was one of them. The “I am an Episcopalian” medal is in case I am ever in a car wreck and someone wants to give me Last Rites. I remember reading how Eddie Rickenbacker was in a terrible plane crash and they brought a priest over to give him Last Rites and he yelled at him, all crushed and his eyeball hanging out, “I’m a damn Protestant! Get out!” Well, we just want to avoid any such confusion.

You may have observed a theme here, i.e. my daughters are always giving me nice things to put in my purse. Aren’t they wonderful? And the truth is, whenever I use one of these items throughout the day, I think of the lovely daughter who gave it to me.

I have a friend who used her mother’s old wallet for twenty years after she died. It was getting pretty beaten up as you can imagine, but she just couldn’t bring herself to part with it. Finally, she appeared with a new one and I asked her about it. She said she had been looking through some old things of her mothers and she found another wallet(!) which she then commenced to use. I know just how she feels. That is one of the reasons we are such good friends.

In conclusion: “Good order is the foundation of all things.”
–Edmund Burke (Reflections on the Revolution in France)