Carrie Willard wrote a post last week about the things in her purse and I kept meaning to snap a picture and join in the fun and then life got busy and I forgot, until today! Better late than never, right?

Here are the things I found in my purse minus a not terribly exciting receipt or two.

1. MONEY STUFF Obviously, my wallet and checkbook. I love my checkbook case which I found on etsy a million moons ago – it’s the blue rectangle with a mustache on it.
2. DRUG STORE The bag next to them with the glasses on the cover is actually where I store my Lactaid and allergy pills. Other medicinal objects found included Advil, tums, kids’ Dramamine for my drama queen, cherry chap stick (oh la la) and hand lotion. All the necessities for motherhood these days.
3. SUNNIES Obviously I never go anywhere without my sunnies. The case I keep them in isn’t in the photograph, but they are prescription sunglasses, so they live in a hard case in my purse.
4. SELF DEFENSE There is a small flashlight attached to the strap of my purse that my husband bought me to ward off predators because he doesn’t trust me with pepper spray. His theory is that the insanely bright flashlight will startle an attacker and draw attention to myself. I showed a friend how bright it was when I was telling them about it and they shrieked, so…
5. PENS I found three pens (all Pilot G2s, my fave) and a highlighter so I am prepared for note taking situations in multiple colors.
6. BOOK LIGHT In addition to my sunglasses, I also keep my book light in the hard plastic case so that I can read in the dark if necessary. I suppose the flashlight would also do the trick but the book light can be clipped to my book and won’t wake the dead.
7. BOOK (OBVY) My aunt gave me a book of poems by Emily Dickinson in the photo above and I stuck it in my purse so I can read it during school pick up, etc. It’s really cool – all the poem were found on envelopes and scraps of paper, hence the title.
8. MULTI TOOL I literally do not remember putting that Leatherman in my purse but it was a good idea – my husband always has one with him and I have moments of jealousy about all the things he can open, cut and fix while on the go. Apparently I can do those things, too, and I just didn’t remember.
9. RIBBON I bought that spool of red ribbon for my women’s group so that I can tie a red ribbon on my bag to help new members find me at public events. It was a little bit of a failed experiment for me as the ribbon kept coming loose and eventually I took it off and always forget to put a new one on for events. I’m trying buttons now instead.
10. What’s missing? I was surprised that there were no journals in my purse at all when I took this picture. I’ve since remedied this problem.

What’s in your purse?