The Windows to Your Soul

They say eyes are the windows to one's soul, but personally I find the contents of one's handbag to be far more revelatory. For instance did you know that all Queen Elizabeth II carries in that enormous handbag is sugar cubes for her ,children horses? Not even a wallet, keys, or checkbook. That my friends is privilege. Personally I carry around basically my whole life in an overburdened shoulder bag. Many people I meet wonder what I could possibly need and Mary Poppins jokes are frequent (although as a nanny I carried around way more stuff since I needed a mini first-aid kit, pocket tissues, and books to amuse the children as an additional minimum). So in the interest of the sort of full disclosure on which blogs thrive, here is my life in a handbag.

Here is the bag itself, or anyway this is my usual bag. It has enough room to hold anything I may want to carry, up to and including occasionally needed things, such as up to six novels that need to be returned to/ have just been checked out from the library, a few small purchases, or my current knitting.My basic nessecities which all of us (save European royalty) basically need. My cell phone, wallet, current house and bike lock keys, my Puget Sound mass transit card, and a notebook for shopping lists, fabric swatches (when I need to buy matching notions), bus and/or walking directions, and quick nessacary notes of such a sort.
Necessities for the well-bred lady or secret assassin: passport (for any short notice trips to Canada or further, but normally used to prove I really was an undocumented guest worker in a minor European country), swiss army knife, bobby pins (for McGyvering small and large, I wouldn't use them in my hair, As we all learned from Burn Notice a bobby pin may be the world's most useful tool, for everything from picking a lock to disabling a weapon), hairpins for emergency buns, a fan (useful for everything from cooling off, creating a small island of shade, to, if House of Flying Daggers is secretly a documentary, stopping a sword), handkerchief, Jane Austen themed address book, and reading glasses.
Small grooming needs: mints (apparently ram-flavored),a least three kinds of lip gloss, lip laquer being my favorite, collapsible hairbrush with mirror, matchbook nail files, mini deodorant, and powder foundation.
Reading for me and thee. My current bus reading is the latest issue of piecework magazine, recently though I've been reading though the trades of Fables, good stuff. I also keep a couple of current mark catalog for selling to people or leaving discreetly in public locations.
I have no idea why I keep lugging these around: including a map of Bainbridge island, various other flyers, a list of environmentally friendly seafood, a mineral makeup compact which I don't use any more as I find it clumply, messy to use, and chalky looking, every student id, loyalty card, gift card, appointment card, etc I have ever recieved. I am always thinking, ah but I may need this one day. It's a sickness.

So what's in your bag? I considered making this a meme but realized I could not predict who would find it interesting a fun and who would find it tedious, so I invite you to post you purse contents and track back*.

*Which you do by posting a link to this post within your own post, mom.