Totes vs. Clutch

How many of us carry a bag that we can basically fit into?  I'm guilty!  With that said, I love big totes.  I like to be able to carry everything from a bottle of water  to my son's thomas the train toy.  But it gets daunting.  My shoulder is permanently leaning to the left.  It seems like the bigger the bag, the more we find to stuff into it.  The other day my hair stylist said to me "I love your luggage".  At that moment I realized this has become ridiculous.

Well, i'm loving clutches right now.  They aren't exactly practical, but if you're going to lunch with the girls or out to dinner with the boy, it gets the job done without looking like a bag lady.  No matter how great the bag is, an overstuffed trash bag is never cute.

We only need a few essentials when going out:

• The lipstick we put on at the beginning of the evening so that we can re-touch after our meal
• Our house keys...(Never cute to jump the open window)
• A credit card, license and a little bit of cash (in case you have to take a cab home)
• Gum or breath mints 
• And last but not least, our cell phone 
  

As tempting as it is to take everything but the kitchen sink, carrying only the essentials to lunch or on a night out is completely liberating.  We'll be able to see you, not just the balloon attached to your hip.