What’s In Your…? LilaLoa Edition!!

Today I am so excited to be taking a peek in the bag of one of my favorite cookie decorators…Georganne of LilaLoa!!  She’s crazy talented, hilarious, and she lives in Korea, so she has tons of interesting stories.

I’m so glad Georganne gave into my nosiness and agreed to spill her stuff here today!!  Thanks so much, girl!!

THIS little gem is what I like to call “my bag.” The tag says that it was handmade in Nepal, but honestly, I got it in a border town when I lived in Southern Arizona, so I’m not quite sure its authentic. But it IS shabby. So that’s something.

Someday I will get a bag with 20 pockets. This one only has two and everything gets all jumbled up together. I try to keep the important stuff in the front pocket so I can find it easier. You know, like –

1. Korean mints.

2. My keys. I have a key to my bus-van, a key to a room inside of a building located 2 miles from my dwelling, and a key to a closet in the next town over. I do NOT, however, have a key to my apartment.

3. My cellphone. Actually, I share it with my husband. I know. I practically live in the stone age. I promise my bus-van runs on diesel though, not foot power.

4. Binder clips. I use these for practically everything. They are way better than paper clips to hold things together. I put them on my chip bags. And hold backgrounds together with them when I take pictures. And sometimes, I even use them like a little easel to prop up cookies. Also, if someone were super NOT fashionable like me, you could pull your hair back with them. Hypothetically. (Sort of.)

5. Nail clippers. I own about 20 nail clippers and have placed them strategically in my life so that I am never more than 12 seconds away from one when I need them.

6. Hair things. One for my daughter and one for me. You know, in case I lose my binder clips.

7. 100 won coin. In South Korea, the grocery carts at the store are all hooked together. You have to insert a 100 won coin to release the cart. When you hook your cart back to the other carts when you are finished, the coin pops out. It seems like such a great idea until your hands are full with small children. I like to keep at least one of these coins in my “important” pocket so I don’t have to stand next to the cart line fishing around and around inside my shabby little bag trying to find the right coin while hundreds of people stream past me and my crying children. (Because if I’m desperately searching for something in my bag, you can be sure that my children have taken it as their cue to make a bid for my attention.)

8. Umm, I don’t really know why these are in my bag.

And this is all the stuff in the big pocket. Basically its a bunch of stuff that kind of makes a mess. But if you’re interested…

I’m a bit of a minimalist when it comes to what I like to carry around. I live in a tall apartment building and I already have to carry my two youngest children down the hall,  through the elevator, and across the parking lot to my vehicle. I figure these are the bare minimum for my baby girl. A diaper, some wipes, and a pacifier.

1. Korean and American coins in a little handmade coin purse. Handmade by me! I felt so clever and crafty…until I found out that the Korean ladies helping me make this could make one in about 12 minutes and it took me a few weeks longer than that.

2. Receipts. Did you guys notice that I spent 35 THOUSAND won at the grocery store last week? Apparently, I eat A LOT of food.

3. Okay — what do you call this thing? Is it a wallet? A clutch? And more importantly, should I be embarrassed that I don’t know? Either way, it has TWO zippered sides, and that’s real important to me. I have to keep my dollars separate from my THOUSANDS of won. (Before things get too weird — 1,000 won is roughly equivalent to one US dollar. It is still kind of unnerving to talk about rent in terms of millions though…)

4. Stamps. Forever stamps. I’ve had them for…well, forever.

5. My daughter’s passport photos. They give you 10 copies of the photos here. I don’t really know what to do with 8 extra tiny photos of my daughter in zebra print jammies.  I got my daughter’s passport photos taken in zebra print jammies. I’m basically the best mother that ever existed. Hopefully she gets another passport before she’s old enough to hate me for this.

1. A car cell phone charger. I really should just leave this in my vehicle, but I get paranoid. I mean, what if I’m riding in someone else’s car and my phone battery dies and then the highway collapses on top of us and we’re still alive but no one can find us? I think that in this case….a little bit of being prepared would go a long way. (Forget my previous statement about being a “carrying around stuff in your bag minimalist.”)

2. A fan. Its real hot here in the summer.  This has been in my bag since last summer. And I’d take it out, but it’s almost summer again…in a couple of months…so I think I will just leave it where it is.

3. Chapstick, Sharpie, Dry-Erase marker, and a Burt’s Bees lip thing. But no pen. I could really use a pen in my bag. I look for a pen in my bag about once a day, but it never appears.

4. Coupons and a notebook.

5. American Flag patch. This is my husband’s. I would say that it’s seen better days, but since he wore it while he was deployed in Iraq…I’d like to think that THESE are the better days.

I also had some lint and broken crayons in there somewhere. But I didn’t think anyone wanted to see the lint. And my daughter stole the crayons before I could take their picture. They were both brown in case you were wondering.

Thank you Kristan and Shelly for letting me share my zebra print jammie photos and cell phone charger paranoia! Also…if my husband sees that I’m sharing my “well-loved” bag with you all, he’s going to make me buy a new one. So, let’s keep this between us, shall we?