What's In My Bag: Summer Weekend Edition

Happy Monday! I can't believe this is the beginning of the last week of June...crazy. 

This weekend my boyfriend took me on a lovely dinner date at the Rock Center Cafe in NYC. It was delicious, and I definitely recommend sitting outside if it's a nice day. As I was unpacking my bag when we got back, I decided to take a picture for this post. I'll probably be doing more "What's In My Bag" posts throughout the year. 

This is one of my favorite purses. I love it so much that I bring it to work almost every day. My favorite thing about it is that it doesn't look super huge but it holds a ton, making it the perfect bag for a commute. I bought it a few months ago from TJ Maxx. 

And here's everything that's in it! I didn't edit it at all but I moved the stuff around to look a little better for the picture. From left to right, here are the contents:

1) Train schedule. I always have one of these with me, especially during work.

2) Clean & Clear blotting sheets. These things are LIFESAVERS. New York gets incredibly humid during the summer so these are great for blotting off the results of the weather. In my opinion, these are the best blotting sheets because they really don't mess with your makeup at all. 

3) Planner. I write things down obsessively because if I don't write it down I'm most likely going to forget it. At the end of last semester, my Lilly Pulitzer agenda got lost in the moveout process, so I've been using this little blue one from CVS until I can use my new Lilly one because I can't live without a planner. 

4) My company umbrella. Like a train schedule, this is an NYC essential. Regardless of how clear the sky looks there's at least a 30% chance of rain almost every day. Let me tell you, getting caught in the rain without an umbrella seven blocks away from the subway is no fun.

5) EOS lip balm. If you don't have one of these, go get one immediately! These fun lip balms are super moisturizing and come in a wide variety of flavors, all of which are amazing. 

6) iPad. I carry this around to read on the train. See my post on the case here.

7) Coach wallet. I got this at a Coach outlet store in California several years ago, and it still looks as good as new. The shiny material is very durable and I like that bills or checks don't get folded when I put them in the wallet. 

8) Marc by Marc Jacobs sunglasses...in a Ray Ban case. I consider my gold aviators to be the perfect summer accessory, so they pretty much live in my purse for use throughout the day. 

9) J. Crew Mini-emergency Kit. I bought this on sale at J. Crew because I thought the pouch was cute, but it's come in handy numerous times. It contains important on-the-go items such as pain relievers, safety pins, band-aids, nail polish remover, and many others in one convenient place. 

10) Hand Food hand lotion. Hands down (pun not intended) the best hand cream I have ever used. It smells delicious and keeps my hands soft for hours...oh, and its only $5!
PS: Yes that carpet is leopard print.

Have a good week, everyone! I have some fun posts planned for this week, so be sure to check back!

iPad Mini Case

This post is going to be a little different than a lot of my other clothing specific posts, so if that's what you're here for then keep on scrolling (no hard feelings, I swear). 

I LOVE reading. I can read and enjoy pretty much anything (except Aristotle-- puts me to sleep every time). Another thing to know about me is that my family vacations a lot. Whenever we traveled I would pack between 8-10 huge books for the trip. Not an exaggeration-- my backpack weighed around 30 pounds. Needless to say I was excited when electronic readers were created (I think I was about one vacation away from scoliosis). I have always had a Kindle, but when my most recent one broke I decided I'd try out an iPad mini. Thanks Mom and Dad for the early Christmas present!

Of course, the prospect of getting an iPad was made even better by the thought of the cute case that I would get for it. So many brands make cute iPad cases, so finding one for an iPad mini should be easy, right? Yeah...no. Turns out that most designers don't make iPad mini cases even if they make iPad cases. I searched for weeks but finally found the perfect case. 

The Kate Spade "le Pavillion" folio was exactly what I was looking for I really wanted something that would protect both the back and the screen, and without folds that would leave marks on the screen. My mom volunteered to take a trip to the local Kate Spade to see if they had my dream case. No luck. Resigning myself to ordering from the website and paying for shipping, I log onto Kate Spade and...it's not there. Nordstrom says it's backordered until September. There was no way that I was going to leave the iPad unprotected for that long.

Shopbop

So, I discover this case on Shopbop. I excitedly tracked the order. Finally it came, and it was a really beautiful, high quality case. A very beautiful, high quality case that did not fit my iPad at all. It was part leather, so maybe it would have stretched, but it was an expensive case and I didn't want to take the risk of it not fitting. That one got returned.
At this point, I was getting pretty frustrated. I was also getting nervous because my iPad had been without a case for about three weeks, and I felt like I was tempting fate by leaving it unprotected any longer. Eventually I decided I was going to have to just go to the Apple Store and settle for a less attractive case. Not the end of the world, but slightly disappointing.
I fell in love with this sleeve when I walked into the accessories section of the Apple Store. A sleeve wasn't what I originally wanted, because the iPad would only be protected when it's on, so I kept looking. The store didn't have any folio options, so I decided to combine some strategies.
I'm actually very happy with how this mini-ordeal (lol pun) turned out. The sleeve is really high quality and similar to what I had originally wanted, and the rubber case is lightweight. I also got a clear screen protector.

Does anyone else have an iPad mini (this is a serious question; the lack of cases available for it made me wonder how many people actually have one)? How did you choose to protect it?

Sorry for the long post, I had a lot of case-related venting to do. Thanks for reading!

PS: For those of you thinking that I'm OCD, yes, I am, but this is an expensive piece of technology and I don't want anything too happen to it!
PPS: After I got home I realized that the sleeve looked surprisingly similar to a case I already had. What can I say, Kate Spade does polka dots well.