A new purse

I've been eyeing this purse, the Madison Small Phoebe by Coach, since last spring, but it always seemed something else needed to be purchased, and so it sat on my wish list until Christmas, when my husband gifted me with some spending money. So off I went to the Coach store, and came home with my first Coach purse in more than 20 years. It is a beautiful gray/very pale lavender that will go with just about everything I own. It is very comfortable to carry, and has lots of storage space and dividers to keep things organized without being too big. I thought I'd share with you how I will fill and organize it.

Look at the beautiful lining . . .

There are two large side sections and a smaller center one. The center section seems to be the most secure area, so this is where my wallet will go.

One side will hold my cosmetics. This cute little Betsy Johnson cosmetic case will hold a moisturizer/sunscreen, a lipstick, lip gloss, and lip pencil, some concealer, eye pencil, and blush. I also have a couple tubes of lotion, including Angel hand lotion. Angel is one of my current favorite perfumes, but I don't have a small travel-sized fragrance or it would be included. Several of the travel-sized beauties below were free-with-purchase goodies.

I'll also keep a package of Kleenex in this section and hand sanitizing wipes. And most importantly, my Epi-Pen for allergic emergencies. Thankfully, I've never had to use it, and I don't ever want to.

The only thing I really need is a couple small retractable brushes for concealer and blush.

The other side has pockets for my keys and cell phone. I'll also include pen and paper. I can record notes and lists on my phone, but I really am still tied to old-school pen and paper.

 My sunglasses and reading glasses will go in here as well.

Gloves will go in this compartment. I knit these myself, and am so proud of those little cables. They were my first attempts at anything fancier than straight rows of knitting or purling. I think the color looks nice with the purse, don't you?

This bag is big enough to slip my Kindle in when I'm traveling, and also this little 5-year journal my son gave me for Christmas. This is a great idea -- each page has room for a short note for each day for five years. I think it will be interesting in a few years to see what I did on the same day the year before and the year before that. And there's only room for a sentence or two, so hopefully that will be do-able.

Filled, and ready to go.

I always clean my purse out every day. It's so simple and easy to remove and file receipts and throw out old Kleenex on a daily basis and not have to deal with a messy purse by the end of the week. I am looking forward to being more organized with this purse, as my current bag is a big tote and I am constantly rummaging around to find things.

I still love this bag, but it would work much better with a cosmetic bag and several other little pouches inside to keep organized.

We've had 8 inches of snow here in Michigan in the past 36 hours. Driving today was treacherous. Lucky me, I got to sparkle with this Sally Hansen Gem Crush in Showgirl Chic. I've read glitter is a no-no for une femme d'un certain age, but who could say no to this beautiful sparkly blue and white combo? Don't you think it just says winter?

And with this blue scarf with silver dots from Target . . .

Stay warm if you live in my part of the world!