Huffington Magazine Issue 6 | Page 34

Voices creams from hotels, shampoo and conditioner both in the 32 fluid ounce size (Note to self: save space and look for a product that is a shampoo-slash-conditioner), a dried mascara and a half-eaten granola bar covered in a rare genus of bottom-of-thepocketbook mung. Two Moleskine journals, an old Vanity Fair, a full bottle of water, a copy of I am Charlotte Simmons (by Tom Wolfe), Me Talk Pretty One Day (by David Sedaris), dancing shoes for Zumba, water shoes for kayaking, one gym sneaker, a handful of highlighters in red, pink, green, orange and yellow ... the list goes on. Those are just the small things. I’m not even going to mention the other dispensable accoutrements that were part of my haz-mat clean up. Are suitcase-like pocketbooks an over-indulgence? I decided to ask my sister, a minimalist artist. “I never wanted to be a bigpocketbook person, but I think I’ve turned into one,” she said. Toujours chic, my sister was carrying a honking, high designer, soft leather pocketbook that was large enough for a two-week family vacation. It turns out, though, that the pocketbook’s BONNIE BRODNICK HUFFINGTON 07.22.12 bark was louder than its bite. “This thing weighs a ton,” she confided, “and nothing is even in it. In fact, the actual bag weighs far more than all of its contents.” My sister turned her fancyshmancy pocketbook upside down and out poured one lip gloss, a checkbook, a wallet, reading and sun glasses, a travel-size hand cream, Altoids and one pen. I was ashamed that I was carrying so much junk and Are decided it was time suitcase-like for reformation. pocketbooks See me walkan overing down the street indulgence? today and you will I decided to notice that my pockask my sister, etbook is small and a minimalist stylish. I don’t schlep around half as artist.” much as I used to and I hope to never again set off a seatbelt alarm because my heavy pocketbook tripped the sensors. In fact, in seeking to pack more sparingly, I am now going to make the bold move of calling my pocketbook a “purse.” There. I lost one syllable... I feel so much lighter.