My handbag's been at the center of several discussions over the last several days. First, Adam went pawing through it for some reason that's since been forgotten, and then spent the next two days making fun of me for all the "junk" I carry around. And then last night, I accidentally left it at my parents' house and felt jittery until I picked it up this morning.

So just what's in the bag? Let's look.

• Wallet — You'd think this would be self-explanitory. I've got a wallet. My wallet holds my driver's license, my debit and credit cards, my Satellite coffee stamp card (love!) and is a breeding ground for receipts. It's like any other wallet on the planet, though my wallet probably hasn't seen as much cash. Seriously. With the exception of a ten dollar bill I had a couple of weeks ago, I haven't carried cash on me since the trip.

• Travel sized Purity by Philosophy — My face is going through a second puberty. The only way to stem the tide is to get in a mid-afternoon scrub.

• Glasses cleaner — A girl's got to see, right? Right?

• Checkbook — Not so much for the checks as the balance book, though you never know when you're going to end up buying a Miata on a whim.

• Two Stash Earl Grey tea bags — Adam thinks this is proof of some sort of secret obsession with Star Trek: The Next Generation. Okay, so I can give a detailed plot synopsis of any episode after seeing ten seconds and I know that Data had a cat, but it's not like I ever in my life made time to watch the show or that I write Riker/Piccard slash fic when nobody's looking. Really.

• Four packets of Splenda

• Rescue inhalor — "You have an inhalor? Um, why?"

"Because I've got asthma."

"Um, this is news to me."

"You know that lung capacity toy you like to play with? That thing's supposed to tell me if and when I need to be suckin' on that thing you're holding, least I, you know, die."

"Oh."

• iPod

• iTrip for iPod — Because you never know when bad radio's gonna strike.

• Cell phone — My version of the long distance plan combined with my version of the little black book.

• Kleenex — Man (and woman) was not meant to live in the high desert without a good decongestant and a lot of tissues.

• Allergy eye drops — and allergy eye drops.

• Clinique Moisture Surge Extra Thirsty Skin Relief — And extra moisturizing lotion

• Philosophy's Amazing Grace lotion — Okay, maybe carrying around two lotions is excessive, but it smells sooooooo pretty. I dig smelling pretty.

• Listerine breath strips

• Hair clip

• Smith's card

So not that excessive, but enough to make me nervous if it's not at hand.