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I carry a tiny purse. Always have. I've actually carried the SAME tiny purse for going on 3 years. It's turquoise and brown, and actually matches very little of what I wear. But I fell in love with it three years ago (before turquoise and brown was even cool), and Darren bought it for me for Christmas. It's the most expensive purse I've ever carried, but I'm to the point now that I can justify its expense: after all, I've never carried a purse for more than 3 months, let alone 3 years!

It's tiny (10 inches long by 4.5 inches wide (at the bottom) by 4 inches deep) , but I can pack everything I need into it. Here's a glimpse of what's in it as I type:


1 wallet (no credit cards - don't use 'em, and no cash - 'cause I never have cash. I'd spend it on stupid stuff.) The rest of your usual wallet stuff is there though - driver's license, debit card, Costco card, insurance card, various business cards, receipts... and a newCingular sim card for Dani's phone. Nothing too exciting.

1 cell phone (old school. I don't qualify for a free upgrade until April, and I'm too cheap to just go buy a cooler phone. So I'll wait.)

1 Barnes and Noble gift card. (Darren's. He won the card at work last week, and we went to B&N on a hot date tonight and didn't even spend it! What's up with THAT?)

2 ColorBox ink pads (black and royal blue)
1 pair scrapbooking scissors
1 black Sharpie
1 white GellyRoll pen
2 mechanical pencils
2 Burt's Bees lip balms (regular and Champagne Shimmer)
1 Clinique lipstick (Deeply Rose. I hate the color. Why is it in my purse??)
1 pack Trident Cinnamon gum
1 Moleskine
1 empty Pappa's Restaurants mint wrapper
1 set house keys that don't work anymore (we changed the locks last week)
1 set keys (car and new house key)
1 DumDums wrapper, Cream Soda flavor
1 gold forearm (from Ian's Power Ranger, I think)
1 piece of cropped photo with a note written on the back
5 3/8" screws
1 eye hook
1 random, lone pen lid
1 wadded Orbit wrapper with chewed gum inside it
27 pennies
1 dime
4 of my business cards (need to restock those)
Usually my little CanonA80 is in there too, but I was using it to take the picture :)

My most cherished possession in my purse is my Moleskine. First of all, every artist/writer/thinker needs one of these. They come in different sizes and with different pages (I have the plain notebook, pocket size), and were used by such greats as Van Gogh and Hemingway. I use mine for quotes and inspirations.

I try to keep it in my purse, but inevitably, half the times I hear or read a quote I want to add to it, I realize that it's sitting at home in my studio. I reference it all the time when I'm scrapbooking. Seriously. All. the. time.

Tonight it happens to be in my purse because as we headed out the door to Barnes and Noble (where I bought my Moleskine a year or so ago, by the way), I thought to grab it. Well, see, I thought to grab it, but then I forgot. So I called Dani and had her meet me out front with it. Turns out, I didn't add much to it tonight as I scanned the books and magazines at B&N, but something I read reminded me of the quote Aidan provided the other day: "Mommy, I like loving you." Tonight, sitting at a table near the Travel stacks, it hit me. It's my newest quote, and my favorite. And it's attributed to Aidan Kocur, right next to "I love you more than yesterday, less than tomorrow" by Edmand Rostand.

I gotta change my purse soon. I have a brand new, beautifully-designed-by-Elaine Z Becky Brown bag sitting here ready to be packed. It's still smallish, but not tiny. It'll fit everything and then some. And my Moleskine will feel right at home there. :)