Yes, It's Still a Purse

I overthink things.  After weeks of choosing and rejecting bags, I picked up an inexpensive black Baggallini cross-body bag a few weeks ago.  It's like the one pictured, but in black.

It's not ideal, but it's good enough.  I was looking for either a very small bag or one large enough to hold my small tablet, which I keep saying I should use more anyway.
 
Jessica commented that it sounds like it's time for a nice messenger bag.  She's exactly right, but I was looking for one designed for female but male-ish.  Something taller than wide, for instance, and without clasps or other purse-y adornments.

It has three zippered pockets on the outside, and one on the inside.  It also has an open pocket on the outside back.

I don't like the inside zippered pocket.  It's hard to zip/unzip and easy for things to fall in there accidentally.  More than once, I searched for something in that large pocket only to eventually find it on the other side of the divide.

I keep everything in there now.  My cel phone is in the smallest outside pocket.  My Coach wallet, some cash and mints and cough drops are in the next pocket.  The top pocket holds everything else, including makeup when Meg uses it; if you look at some recent pictures you'll see that that's my bag of choice if I'm not carrying my camera.

If I was more diligent, I'd probably put my makeup in the inside zip pocket so I can remove it easily.  As it is, I was searching for my lip brush last week and just now found it in the bag.

It travels with me now, sitting in my tote at work and if I'm stopping to shop or go to a client I just pull it out and pull it on, cross-body as intended (although the strap is quite adjustable and I could carry it over one shoulder; that wasn't my goal though).

It's a very handy purse, and it's nice to have everything together instead of digging around my tote or in my pockets and wondering what I forgot.

And, yes, it's a purse.

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