What's In My Bag?

After I saw Lauren at Letters & Lipstick do a "what's in my purse" blog, I knew I was hooked on the idea!

So since I just flew across the country, I thought I'd take some photos of what I keep in my bag when I'm traveling.  The results are pretty surprising and a little atypical from my usual flight routine.

Here is a general overview:

 1.  First things first, my bag!  I almost always take my Michael Kors tote on flights with me.  It's the perfect size for me to have the iPad, a book, and whatever else I cram in without it getting too heavy on my shoulder!

2.  The horrifying, but somewhat organized mess of the inside.

3.  The bottom of the bag--where my change goes to die, I keep spare contacts, and sunglasses go to break in half.

4.  My wallet, picked up from a boutique in Florida in Feb.  A whole lot of hair ties, which I actually bought in Chicago at like 1 am.  Extra contacts-you never know!  And my silver cross necklace from Forever 21.  Also have the gold which I wore on the plane.

5.  iPad in it's keyboard case (has a wireless keyboard for easy typing when I don't bring the laptop!), the book Micro by Michael Crichton that I bought at the airport (so far it's great), and a Wisconsin mug my friend JP bought me at a Dunkin' Donuts in BRIDGEPORT.  If you're from Chicago you know how insane this sounds.  Basically Bridgeport is the area best known for housing the Chicago White Sox--why was this mug there? Kismet, people.  I had to keep this in my purse so it didn't break this time around.

6.  GUM! I always want gum when I travel, yet rarely chew it otherwise.  Sunglasses, a given.  Headphones for music and generally blocking out life on planes.  Two books of matches from Pappacito's here in Houston...I always grab them when we leave and I guess they were in the bottom!  Turns out matches are a-ok by TSA guidelines.

7.  Phone charger, bording pass holder..boring.  Then there's my Urban Decay NAKED eye palette.  This I never pack.  I am terrified that the pressure of my clothes or shoes and the plane would somehow crack all of these colors, and that would be a true shambles moment for me.  I don't use any other shadows now-not even for my brows.  This palette (at least for me) was 100% worth the investment, especially since I've had it for almost a year now!  Also in this pic--Phenylephrine, a/k/a sniffles meds because I get the sniffles all the time on flights and hate being "that" person.

8.  1 lip balm + 2 lip colors.  The far left is a mint lemonade lip gloss/balm that I've had for a while and I honestly don't remember where it came from!  Center is my L'Oreal Colour Riche gloss in Baby Blossom, which I absolutely love, and this is usually what I'm wearing in photos that are on here.  The far right in silver is my Clinique Almost Lipstick in Flirty Honey . This is a gorg raspberry lipcolor that adds color like a lipstick but moisturizing and not too overbearing.  This Almost Lipstick line started with one color-Black Honey, and I wore that way back when I was like 14.  Now they have multiple colors and I highly reccommend testing one out!  Each color looks a little different person to person too, so it's great.

9.  Vera Wang's Lovestruck.  Favorite perfume.  Bought it for our wedding so it's got a special place in my heart.

10.  Cash baby.  I basically never have cash, unless we are traveling.  In this case, lots of singles and fives from my change in my cab!

There you have it, my travel essentials! Typically, I also have my makeup bag and Fixit mineral spray from MAC, but because the mug took up a decent amount of room, I left that in my suitcase.  It totally worked because my flight left at 10:45 pm and landed at about 1:30 am on Wednesday "morning"....so I definitely wasn't trying to fix myself up at that hour before meeting Bryan in the airport!

What do you keep in your purse when you travel?