Not travelling light

While many women have a shoe fetish, I have a bag fetish. I loooove bags. But I'm not into tiny little purse-keys-mobile baggies...I buy the big ones, because what usually happens is that I put things in my bag that I need on a particular day or for a particular occasion, and I never take it out again - until I carry half of my household around with me. As elegant as they are, but you'll never see me with a baguette or a clutch. How am I supposed to fit all my stuff in there! Today, I got curious about what what kind of stuff has already found its way into the bag I'm currently carrying. Here's what I found:

A black Pashmina scarf - if I don't need it around my neck, I use it to cover the stuff in my bag, as I never close it

A book - just one, most of the times, there are more. Currently, it's 'Merde actually' by Stephen Clarke, which I find hilarious. I read it first when I helped out my colleagues in Paris, and I felt comforted reading that Parisian waiters actually ignore everyone, not just me.

A small bunch of printouts from IT trade magazines and blogs on Business Intelligence, which I should have read a couple of days ago (hence the dog ears)

The latest benefit catalogue - yes, I'm a cosmetics junkie, and my husband has given up complaining about the increasing piles of make-up in the bathroom - luckily we have two, so he can evade the stuff

Pain killers - I frequently have migraines

Migraine medicine - see above

An old spectacle case containing my iPod

My 'see-through toilet bag' - the clear plastic bag I use to take liquids on planes. I used to travel a lot, so I didn't bother to take it out of the bag. I also didn't bother to take the stuff out of the plastic bag.

An old ticket to the Richard Avedon exhibition at the Jeu de Paume in Paris, which I visited in July

A hand ventilator - we used these for a summer goody bag for a client, and I still find it very useful

A muesli bar

Moisturiser

A box for my contact lenses and saline solution

Depuffing eye gel and Euphrasia eye drops

A name tag with my name on it from the last event

Nux vomica homeopathy - great against hangovers and other sickly feelings

My iPod charger

A tiny kit kat bar I actually bought in the Seychelles

Two USB sticks

The user manual for my new mobile phone, a very stylish Sony Ericsson C902. The phone itself is currently not in my bag, it's lying on the desk beside me

The mobile phone charger

Hair colour 'Phoenix Fire', a shade I might like to try

Hair pins in all kinds of colours

A writing pad

Chewing gum and mints

Several: plastic bags, lip glosses, old boarding passes, business cards, paper towels, pens, perfume samples, deodorant wipes

My keys and my purse

Usually, a BlackBerry goes in there, too, but it hasn't arrived yet

So...I never get bored or hungry, I can prevent a nagging headache at all times, look put together, I can connect to the world...I always wonder how anyone can get through the day with less.