What you can learn from peeking into my bag

There is something to be learned from what a planner carries with her.  We are paid to be prepared for everything, so in my daily life, here's what I carry around...  let it inspire you to be prepared for anything, too.

But first, let's get this straight, I don't carry around just any bag.  I carry a Kenneth Cole Silver Edition Tote...  a snakeskin bag with killer grommet studded handles.  A Christmas gift from my hubby.  Seriously good job, babe!

Now for the unusual things in this beauty:

1.  A totally bedazzled, rhinestone covered glitzy/glam measuring tape.  As an event planner, I need a measuring tape with me at all times so that I can quick check the size of a table, or the width of a doorway, or the height of a dog (you will need to do that to order the right size dog tuxedo for a ring bearer, duh!).  But why carry a Home Depot measuring tape?  I'm in the business of making things beautiful, so I collect fancy measuring tapes and this is the tape du jour.

2.  My iphone.  I know that's not unusual, but the apps are....  my iphone has apps like a pantone app that helps me get the exact color of something by using my camera.  That little clever gadget helps me all the time.  

3.  Surfer's Salve.  We spent Thanksgiving in Hawaii a number of years ago and while there, I picked up a tin of this amazing stuff and now I order online whenever I'm running low.  It's a moisturizer, lip balm, hair putty, bug bite reliever, rash calmer, cuticle cream, you name it.  It has saved me in a million ways and I've gotten dozens of people hooked, too.

4.  A large black pashmina.  Sure it's helpful when I find myself in a cold room, but in a pinch, this thing has been a wrap skirt to cover a broken zipper, a tablecloth, a backdrop for a product demo, a drape over a mirror to prevent glare in a picture, a blanket for a sleeping child, the uses are endless.  I have pashminas in a dozen colors, but I carry black with me because it's most versatile.

5.  Sharpies in 5 colors: black, brown, red, green and blue.  Now these are my favorite little secret.  First of all, I can't tell you how many times I've been in a room or a meeting where someone said, "If I only had a sharpie," and then I whip out five colors and the client looks at me with amazement.  But that's not where the fun stops.  I've used the brown to hide a chip in a wooden chair, the red to cross out a mistake in a sign, the black to fix a mistake in a sign.  I use sharpies to label things that are mine at an event so cleanup crew gives it back.  I use different colors to color code which boxes are for which event room or which CD goes for which part of the night.  The uses are endless and once you know you have them with you, you'll wonder how you managed without!

There you have it, 5 things this planner carries with her always that might help you be prepared for anything, too!