I only ever switch between two purses anymore unless I'm traveling. One is a zebra-print bag from Kate Spade that I use during the fall and winter; the other is the tan and pink Kate Spade tote pictured below, a cheery little thing (which isn't very little) that I haul out for spring and summer.

Today, I decided it was time for my bi-annual swapping party, wherein I move everything from one bag to the other and assess its potential usefulness for the next six-month period, and I thought it might be fun to do a "what's in my bag" post.

Clockwise-ish from top left:

A buhmillion bobby pins. I've been growing out a pixie cut for a year now, and I have reached the awful stage between chin-length and shoulder-length hair. It is just the right length to jump in my mouth when I'm leaning over a keyboard or a book, but it doesn't quite stay in a ponytail. Bobby pins to the rescue! (You buy them in jumbo packs because bobby pins disappear into thin air after 1-3 uses.)

Mini Moo cards. I have never ever had business cards, personal or professional, on hand at the right moment, even though I have a lovely collection of each. I now carry some in my purse, so I can hand them out to the zero people I meet up with during the week who don't already know me.

Jif-to-Go peanut butter. I bring a bagel to work every morning and eat it with peanut butter as my at-the-office breakfast with a side of coffee. Sometimes, I'm in too much of a hurry to grab these pre-packaged peanut butter cups from the pantry (yes, I realize how terrible that is), so I keep a spare one in my purse. I like to imagine that it could also come in handy as a method of distracting a vicious dog if need be.

Wristlet, debit card, driver's license, pocket knife, lip balm, lip gloss. I keep all of these items stored together in the wristlet (from NY&Co.) because I don't always want to haul around a giant purse, especially if I'm just walking to the nearby general store for a candy bar or some shampoo. Having a few essentials stashed in a separate bag makes it easy for me to dash out the door for a quick errand. The lip balm is Maybelline Baby Lips in Pink Punch, and I have no idea what the lip gloss is. (It is completely unlabeled and was a gift.)

Kate Spade tote. I love nearly everything that Kate Spade makes, especially her stationery and handbags. If I had the money, I'd get one or two more Kate Spade purses and rotate them out every few months, but until then, I will just bookmark this handsome thing for later and hope to find it on sale for $80 later in life.

Canon PowerShot 300 HS camera. I take a lot of pictures with my iPhone 4S these days, but I still like having a camera/camcorder with me at all times. This particular model is popular among YouTubers and makes a great little vlogging camera, so I have it loaded with a 16GB SD card just in case I bump into Elijah Wood and need to record every awkward second of the encounter.

Hair clip. My hair doesn't really stay in that yet, so I guess it's in my bag just to taunt me.

Top Trumps: Doctor Who. Ian introduced me to Top Trumps a long time ago and was immediately sorry; I kicked his butt every time we played. Even though we broke up a few months ago, I keep the game in my purse because it is a really fun, casual card game to pull out when you're waiting for food to arrive at a restaurant or for your flight to begin boarding at the airport or whatever. Plus, Doctor Who!

Advil (ibuprofen). I started stashing a bottle of Advil in my purse a few years ago for headaches and lady pains. Since then, I've discovered that guys just expect gals to carry this stuff in their purse for any time they get a boo-boo. Well, lucky for you, man-children of the world. I am totally that kind of girl.

Go-Go Squeez applesauce in Apple-Apple. This is the perfect snack! No need for a spoon or really even for your hands. I nearly died of hunger on a train once, but then I remembered the applesauce in my purse and survived to tell this cool story, bro.

Frango mints, milk chocolate. I self-medicate with three things: Lord of the Rings, chocolate, and pizza. I have The Fellowship of the Ring on my phone at all times, and pizza is only a phone call away. Frango mints are among my favorite chocolates on the planet, so I keep an emergency stash in my purse for really bad days. This little box holds four Frangos, and I refill it from a one-pound box I hide at home. Brilliant, I know.

Knit sleeve for coffee cups. This came as a surprise gift from @bethanyactually when she shipped my tiger mug many moons ago. Slipping this thing over a hot or cold beverage from Caribou Coffee brightens my day so much. Plus, it saves me from using a cardboard thing, making it cute and environmentally friendly.

Minimergency kit. When I saw this at the Container Store two or three years ago, I thought, "Oh, that would be a great gift!" So I bought one for myself. The kit contains a teeny tiny bottle of hairspray, clear nail polish, an emery board, floss, a sewing kit, bandages, a safety pin, hair ties, and much more. (Read the full list and/or buy one here.) It really does come in handy in a pinch, and it has even impressed a number of my coworkers. This is no small feat, since a lot of them are mothers and have way more life experience than I do and generally have a solution to every conceivable problem within arm's reach. All in all, really glad I bought this for me and not for you.

Wallet. This NY&Co. wallet has just the right number of pockets and slots for store loyalty cards and imaginary cash. Plus, it's pink. (My favorite color is actually purple, but my favorite accent color is pink. Yes, there will be a quiz later.)

Earbuds and decorative bag. This combo solves two problems for me: 1) it is way too easy to lose small items in a large purse and 2) earbuds are the devil's string. The decorate bag came free with another Etsy purchase, so I was thrilled to find a good use for it. The bag is easy to find in my purse, and keeping my earbuds separated from everything else makes it 20% less difficult to untangle them in a hurry (like when a chatty group forms outside my office to discuss the merits of kale for the third time in a week).

Dior Addict Lip Glow. This Dior product is best described as a balm that lightly enhances your natural lip color. It's a nice and easy way to freshen up my face. I don't even use a mirror to apply it, so I keep it in one of those "your phone is obviously supposed to go here" pockets for fast access while at a red light or while I'm running up the stairs to get to my office in the morning.

Fisher Titanium Bullet Space Pen. If you're only going to keep one pen with you at all times, this is the one. It is compact when closed, but the cap attaches to the body of the pen to form a full-sized writing utensil. It writes well at any angle, even upside-down, and even on damp paper. Also, it's adorable.

Compact mirror and brush. I picked this up ages ago at Bed, Bath & Beyond. It opens up to a mirror on one half and a small hair brush on the other, which is obviously nice to have for on-the-go situations. I rarely use it because I am very lazy about fixing up my appearance after I leave the house in the morning, but that's another story entirely. If I want to look pulled together all the time, I have the tools to make it happen.

* * * * *

There you have it. I carry quite a bit of stuff with me, and I can give you a reasonable excuse for every item. Impressed yet? Terrified? I'm dying to know what you take with you in your pockets or briefcase or purse or oversized hat. Tell me in the comments or put a link to your own post!

There are two squirrels living in the box elder tree in our backyard—Bob and Janice. They have returned to their home after a winter of hibernation only to find that the neighborhood has gone to hell in a hand basket. (Most notably, there is a plastic grocery bag waving from one of the tree branches nearby, which is not a symbol of classiness, even among squirrels.) Janice is very cross with Bob about all of this, and the first time I saw her, she was on the far end of one branch tapping her foot angrily at Bob, who was at the opposite side of the tree waving his front paws about in a gesture of helplessness.

"BOB." [tap tap tap tap] "Bob, this neighborhood is not what it used to be. I can't be seen here, Bob. BOB, what are you going to do about this?"

"I'm sorry, honey. The housing market isn't what it used to be. The Hendersons' tree was bulldozed just last year, and now look at them. We should be grateful to have a home, dear."

"I don't care, Bob. I want to move. Sally Skinnytail said her husband said that now is the time to invest, and I think he's right." [tap tap tap tap]

"The only available real estate nearby is that new sapling under construction, and it won't have room for a growing family like ours. The rent on a place like that is going to be way out of our price range anyway. You know we have to be careful with our budget after the winter."

[tap tap tap tap] "Whatever, Bob. I'm going next door to see what Sally plans to do about getting out of this wretched wasteland. Make yourself useful and find us some dinner, Bob. I don't care what it takes."

And then Janice scampered off across the fence, and Bob worked for ten whole minutes to get past all the squirrel guards to steal dinner for himself and his wife. Later in the week, he suggested they seek marital counseling, and Janice chased him around the base of the tree in a blind rage, shrieking at the top of her lungs.

Basically, I ran out of things to watch on Netflix.

One of my coworkers can remember the details of every meal he has eaten. If you ask him what present he took home from the staff Christmas party in 2007, he won't have a clue, but he will know what kind of chicken was served and every dessert available and the dessert he liked the most.

I can't remember what I ate for lunch two days ago, but I distinctly remember the hot pink fountain pen I got for my 10th birthday. I still have and will forever cherish the beautiful, weighty silver ballpoint pen my dad bought home from a business trip when I was 13. To this day, I hold a grudge against the classmate who broke my Sensa Cloud 9 after history class during my sophomore year of high school.

For a long time, my dad was the only person I knew who enjoyed pens—and notebooks and planners and file folders—as much as I do. We bonded in the pen aisle of the local office supply store as easily as we bonded on the baseball field or watching favorite cartoons. Shortly after I started blogging, though, I started making friends online. And one of the best parts about the Internet is that it makes it so easy to connect with people who share your interests and passions and who don't think you're at all crazy for having more pen cups than beverage cups in your home

Fast forward to September 2011 when I got a follow and a tweet from @EuroPaper.

@rachelskirts Thx for the follow! We're huge @lotr fans too & just finished the extended versions for the 4th time #weneedtogetbacktowork :)

— EuroPaper (@EuroPaper) September 12, 2011

@europaper: HA! And here I followed you because I love paper products. Match made in heaven. ;)

— Rachelskirts (@Rachelskirts) September 12, 2011

@rachelskirts Too true! We just launched last week; so exciting!! & yes, we tend to abuse the privilege of exclamation pts (!!)

— EuroPaper (@EuroPaper) September 12, 2011

It was the start of a beautiful romance. I started buying products from their site. They featured a link to my site on the sidebar of their blog. I signed up for and won a free Moleskine planner in one of their first giveaways. They highlighted one of my blog posts in a link round-up.

Then they joined Instagram and posted a photo of some misplaced inventory with the caption, "Look what we just found! What should we do with these extra journals?" As a joke, I called dibs on the cat-themed journal. As a not joke, they sent it to me. It's like they have a step-by-step guide posted in the breakroom entitled "How to Win Rachel's Heart."

At that point, I was so enamoured with everything about European Paper Company (EPC) that I was singing their praises at every available opportunity. Eventually, my dad subscribed to their weekly newsletters and shortly thereafter became an insufferable know-it-all about their selection of notebooks. Of course, he insists on buying two of every kind, one for each of us to try, so I really can't complain.

He also entered a giveaway, one I didn't even know about, and was one of ten winners. When he submitted his mailing address to EPC to claim the prize, he mentioned that I was his daughter and joked that I would likely be jealous of his new notebook. So they sent me a notebook, too. (Also also, they wrote this charming comment and this charming tweet, both of which thoroughly warmed my cold, dead pirate heart.)

I cannot say enough nice things about the European Paper Company and the people who work there, but I do need to end this blog post eventually. To sum up: these people are doing everything right in my book. They are incredibly generous, not only with product giveaways but also in how they treat other people in the industry, fellow pen and paper enthusiasts online, and their customers. They have a genuine passion for the stuff they sell. They embrace everything related to social media and use it not just to promote their own products but also to form actual relationships. It's almost a bonus, then, that they sell quality products.

They have not sponsored this post in any way. I have been meaning to write up this love story for at least a year. I think it's important that they know how much I appreciate what they do, and I think it's equally important to document what a stellar business-consumer relationship looks like in the digital age. Thanks for being so cool, European Paper Company. I look forward to being a customer and gushing fan for a long time.