In honor of Mother's Day this past weekend, I thought I'd give a shout out to all the Moms walking around with a purse full of toys, snacks and wet ones. Gone are the days of walking out the door with a cute little clutch. Instead, just finding a simple lipstick in my bag is worse than finding a needle in a haystack.
A few weeks back, my friend Natalie was visiting. As per usual, I had my hands full so Nat picked up my purse to try and help me juggle my load and was like "WHAT THE HECK IS IN HERE? IT WEIGHS A TON!" I started cracking up because to be honest, I didn't even know what was in there. I proceeded to pull out no less than 5 PEZ dispensers and a full size pair of scissors. WTF?! #momproblems. We joked that my next blog should be a 'What's in my bag' - Kate Law edition. So here it is people. Much less glamorous than the US Weekly version but it's about to get real. There's no shame in my game. If you're stranded on a desert island, you want me and my purse with you. Just sayin'
At first glance my bag looks pretty ordinary. This is my favorite Kate Spade bag I scored at half price (YAAAASS!) at the outlets several years ago when Natalie was in town and we went on a birthday shopping spree. It's classic, nylon and clearly fits a lot of sh#t. I love how durable this bag is. My kids are spilling crap on it all the time. I just wipe it off with a wet one and off we go.
Now on to the good stuff. The really random like WTF stuff. 4 Pez dispensers: 1 Yoda, 1 Storm Trooper, 1 Darth Vader and 1 Nemo, plus 2 packages of Pez. Both my boys are obsessed with Pez and I'm not too proud to admit I bribe my kids from time to time. You'd be surprised how easily a $1 Pez can buy you a few extra moments in the grocery store. I buy them in bulk on Amazon and stash them around the house, and clearly in my purse. I also had 5, count them FIVE toy cars. I'm constantly grabbing toys on the go and throwing them in my purse so we have distractions for the boys when we go out to dinner or are riding in the car. I always have to have AT LEAST 2 because if one boy has one, sure as sh#t the other kid wants one too. 5 is a bit extreme but every time I'm walking out the door with kids, I grab a toy and throw it in my purse because I never know what exactly I have in my bag.
Funny story. A few weeks ago I met some girlfriends for drinks after work. The dads all decided to get together and take the kids to pizza while the moms were out. My friend, Kelley, had to stop by the pizza place on the way to meet us for drinks. She walked into the pizza joint and my husband immediately said, "Kelley, help, I forgot to bring toys for the kids!" Rookie mistake. Kelley calmly dug in her purse and pulled out two cars for my boys. #boymomforthewin Apparently, I'm not the only mom with a sh#t ton of toys in her purse. I also have a Star Wars Lego watch and some crayons in my purse. You can never be too prepared, or I just haven't cleaned out my purse in a while. You be the judge.
On a similar note, I also found 5 (FIVE!) granola bars, 3 fruit snacks, a Plum pouch, a bag of goldfish and 2 Kind Bars in my purse. WOAH. I don't know about you but I feel like my kids are CONSTANTLY eating. For real, where does it all go? Kam would down all 5 granola bars in one sitting if I let him. Still not an excuse to carry THAT many snacks in your purse at one time. GET IT TOGETHER, KATE.
Most Friday nights we try to meet up with our friends and their kids for dinner. Although we usually have it down to a science (get seated, order drinks, appetizers and the kids meals immediately) sometimes the food takes a little longer than usual. It's moments like that when FIVE granola bars come in handy. If you give it to one kid, they all want it. I've been reading more and more about how awful fruit snacks are for kids, so I've switched to the organic Annies fruit snacks. They are at least free of all those crazy dyes and artificial flavors. My kids still eat plenty of crap but I'm gradually trying to wean them off of the really bad stuff. The Kind Bars are for me. They are such a good, clean snack on the go. If you are a 21 day fixer, they count as one blue and one teaspoon. If I'm out running errands this is a great option rather than snacking on the bag of goldfish in my purse. I won't name names, but I had a fellow mom admit to me last week that while she was out running errands she ate a pouch and a bag of fruit snacks she had stashed in her purse. Glad I'm not the only one.
The other key mom essentials in my bag are antibacterial wipes, foaming hand sanitizer, Kleenex, sunscreen, and diapers. No explanation needed.
Now on to the "me" part of my bag. I have this Kate Spade wallet which I take everywhere with me. Great for all my cash, and cards including my Costco and AAA membership, plus the 100 different passes for my kids to the zoo, Legoland and botanical gardens. And last but not least, every mom needs a good pair of sunnies to hide those dark circles under her eyes. These Tiffany shades never let me down. When in doubt, black it out. I always stash a few of my favorite lipsticks from Clinique, Makeup Forever, Esos & Honest Company lip balm and my long lasting lip wear for those special occasions. A little lipstick and a good pair of sunnies and you can always appear like you have it together.
I also carry a bottle of extra strength Tylenol (mostly for work days), gum (post coffee, please), L'Occitane hand cream (the best), dental floss, and some eye drops. Apparently 5 is the magic number because I had FIVE bottles of eye drops in my purse.
About 6 months ago I had an unfortunate run in with a toddler finger to my right eye. Ever since, I've had a series of eye problems that require eye drops constantly, so apparently I just keep dropping bottle after bottle in my purse. I'm blaming all this junk in my purse on being a mom, but maybe I'm just secretly a hoarder.
I also usually have an accessory or two in my purse at all times. Sometimes you just need to accessorize those yoga pants, ya hear me? I kid, I kid. The jewelry is usually tossed in there when I change to go to the gym and gets left in there until I'm looking for that once bracelet. Where the f#ck is it? Oh hello, there it is at the bottom of my purse.
I also love to have this cordless phone charger in my purse. My phone is always dying on me so I like having the option this My Charge to charge it on the go. As long as I can remember to charge the charger. If I forget to do that, then the whole plan is f#cked.
So there it is folks, my mom bag in all it's glory. And for a good chuckle here is was is in the very bottom of my bag. A hair tie, a lone soldier lipstick with no cover, a set of headphones, some change, a few random receipts and lots of crushed up goldfish and cheerios. Sigh. #momlife On the bright side, writing this blog forced me to clean out my purse. So I've got that going for me. Until next time friends, keep it clean!
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