What is in my bag:

• Sunglasses case
• Espe Wallet
• Camera case that I use to carry both my phone and my camera
• Sunscreen
• A spare poop bag (for the dogs, not me)
• Wrappers from the after dinner mints from the Adobe
• CSU office and building keys
• A bracelet made in Africa
• A grocery list: 1/2 pint jam jars, lemons, pectin fruit, cake flour, buttermilk, purple grapes, pine nuts
• A bunch of hair ties (I seem to either have 20 or zero)
• Eye glass cleaner and cleaning cloth
• Three pens, two which are my favorite Pentel Clarius and the other from CSU Parking Services
• A card for the bakery that sells my favorite brownie cookies
• An empty Altoids Smalls container (I ate the last ones yesterday)
• Dental floss
• A tube of Excedrin
• Strawberry Chapstick
• Rescue Remedy Spray
• Aspirin
• A small wallet with various club cards, business cards, discount cards, extra credit cards, insurance cards, gift cards
• Address book
• Spare cellphone battery
• Carrier for my “life” cards (it doesn’t really work to call them business cards)
• Headphones
• Another envelop of gift cards

It might look tiny, but it’s mighty.

In today’s August Break prompt, Vivienne McMaster suggested,

I’d love to invite you to take a selfie today, in which you settle into your self. How does it feel in your body today? What is weighing heavy on your heart or what is making you smile today? What could you most use to hear today? Let’s put a hand to our heart, close our eyes, get quiet for a moment and tell ourselves that.

I didn’t want to take a selfie today. I’ve been fussing about it ever since I checked early this morning to see what was scheduled for today. I held my phone up to my face right away, but I looked so tired and the light was all wrong, so I decided to wait. I told myself to go to yoga first, shower first, read the email Susannah would send with the prompt first. Later I bargained with myself that I could just use one that I’d taken already, like maybe the one Eric liked so much, the one where he said “You should use this as your blog and profile picture. This is a beautiful pic. Seriously.”

Finally, I just decided to get it over with. I went into my meditation room, sat on the spot on the couch where Ringo has been curling up and napping in the morning, and did just what Vivienne suggested. I closed my eyes, put my hand to my heart, and told myself I didn’t need to try so hard. And this is the picture I took: tired, tender, unwashed, and unfiltered.