Tales of the Tank - The 50 Cal aka le Clutch

So if you've been following my Tales of the Tank, you'd know that I am a lady with a love of big purses. Partly out of necessity, for me anyway, and partly because they pretty. I don't normally do small bags as they don't hold nearly enough of the things that I need on a daily basis. But with May introducing the warmer weather and huge events, like my BFF's college graduation and a few concerts of the classical variety, le tank isn't always the best thing to show up with. Safe to say that the tank may be a bit much and so a different weapon must be used in close combat, the clutch purse.

According to my little brother, the military warfare type guy, I had to get the appropriate title for this post and for the clutch. He suggested the 50 Cal. Technically it's a gun that helps the tank in the close combat because who wants to waste a huge tank round on something that could be better taken care of by something smaller and quicker. It can still pack a punch when it needs to without endangering the tank or the crew inside.

Now that you've learned you something new, we can leave the metaphor and come back to the clutch itself. It was not easy for me to use, at first. They are small, don't hold much, small, easy to lose, and did I mention small? Sometimes there's a handle or a wristlet or it's just nekkid (yes nekkid and not naked). But it has it perks when I'm somewhere that doesn't really require my entire arsenal. So narrowing down the necessities from what I use on a daily basis to a specific event is also not easy but I've finally found the basics for any event that requires something smaller with a punch.

1. compact mirror - because there may not be a bathroom
2. lippie - chapstick, lipstick, liquid lip, just make sure it matches what you have on..
3. external battery - I will never not have one, read on here
4. mascara - whether it's full size or trial size is up to you
5. smaller coin purse with cash and/or card plus ID - because duh!
6. Wisps, mints, gum (pick your poison) - ain't nobody got time for pepper in your teeth

Now if your boyfriend is like mine, then occasionally you hold the tickets too. But despite the lack of space, it can really help pull a look together. The clutch goes from luggage to a statement accessory with the ability to pack a punch. Needless to say, I've had a few over time to go with just about every level of fancy. And the best part is that they don't have to cost an arm and a leg.

It's all about the care. My first clutch was from Rue 21 for $10 and I still use and the shape has held for many a year. My fanciest is a great gift from my wonderful friend this last Christmas. She thought of me because 1, It's all sequins and 2, I almost bought it myself. Fun fact, it was the only clutch of that kind at maurices in town so who feels super special? This chick! *points at myself*

What do you put in your clutch for special occasions?


Other Tales of the Tank
Makeup - http://bit.ly/TOTTMakeup
Electronics - http://bit.ly/TOTTTech
The Vessel - http://bit.ly/TOTTTank
Panda - http://bit.ly/TOTTPanda

5 Things You Need If You’re Running Late

I know I’ve had my fair share of late mornings for various reasons including my own procrastination of the inevitable, so I’ve just about perfected my routine for such a morning. When running short on time, logic is your friend. I’ve been lucky enough to have some go to outfits for work or something planned either the night before or if I’m not particularly feeling it, then it’s best to stick to some basics.

1.     Coffee – it’s bad enough to wake up late or get out of the shower later than intended, so it’s better for the sake of everyone involved that if anything, you need your dose of caffeine. If your coffee pot has an auto start setting, then you’re ahead of the game. I have a Keurig, and it’s my life. I turn it on first thing in the morning and it stays on for an hour, just flip the switch, grab my k cup and a travel cup with a lid. Prefill my creamer and Truvia and let it set while I go wash up. Now I just have to get ready and make my coffee before it turns off

2.       Makeup – With my job, I normally have to be there about a half hour before opening. Why? I’m not sure because it literally takes me about 5-ish minutes to get set up for the day. So I have some travel makeup in my tank, aka my purse. I wrote about it some time back, so read ya some here about what I have in it. If I have a few minutes, I may start my makeup at home but I have no problem nor shame putting it on at work

3.       Perfume or Body spray – For days like this, I feel that when you smell good thought is put into your appearance regardless of how long it took you to get dressed. Also for this reason, I absolutely love travel size perfumes, thank you Birchbox, and sprays from Bath and Body Works. They fit in your purse, your desk, the console of your car or glove compartment. There is no excuse to not smell good.

 

4.       Scarf or staple accessory – On late days, when I don’t know what to wear or can’t decide, there’s a switch in my head to go with the basics like I mentioned at the beginning. For me this includes: some black slacks and a black blouse. To break up all the black, that’s when I grab for a vibrant scarf. I’m a total scarf addict and I feel like it’s easier to pick an accessory that’s dramatic and makes me smile in any weather when I just have to go by color(s). For me it’s a scarf, for someone else, it could be a statement necklace, whatever you have as a go to, go for it in less than 2 minutes.

5.       Bobby Pins – any girl knows that life isn’t complete without bobby pins. Pinterest gave me the best hack for carrying bobby pins in an empty pill bottle. There could be a few or a lot but it beats trying to find the 3 that you had in your hair last night because they tend to disappear like socks in the dryer.

So what you’ll do is:

·         start the coffee

·         go wash up (washing your face and brushing your teeth) get dressed and brush your hair

·         If time permits and if you can put foundation on in less than five minutes, put on your base

·         Make sure that your emergency makeup bag, perfume/spray, and bobby pins are in your purse

·         Grab a scarf and throw it over your head as you grab your already made coffee and you’re ready to run out the door.

This way if your make it to work even a few minutes early, just go straight to the bathroom and finish the makeup and pin your hair.

Tales of the Tank - External Batteries

First off, Happy New Year to you and yours. If you went out with your squad and were proud that you woke up on the 1st without a hangover, more power to you. I spent the night in with some awesome peeps and went to sleep and even better, didn't have to work on Friday. But if you did, sorry.

Anyway, so goes the never ending quest going through my purse which functions more like a tank. If you’ve read my other posts then you know the high regard I have for the tank. And so go the regard for the tips and trades that bring the essence of Mary Poppins to the modern world.

I mentioned in my Electronics Tale (Read: Here) about how I carry an external battery with me. Now in my mind, everyone knows about these, because they are literally everywhere. I have a few that come from Walmart, Rue 21, Office Depot, you name it. The point is that in this world of technology, ain’t nobody got time for a dead battery. 

This is my newest beauty from Amazon. Gotta love cyber Monday and all its discounted glory. It’s a bit bigger than I expected but that is what I get for not looking at the measurements. However, it does stand to reason because this particular beauty is at 10,000 mAh. Here’s the link on Amazon if you’re like me and add to wish lists as a form of window shopping.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JM59JPG?keywords=kmashi%20portable%20charger&qid=1451455266&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

The mAh stands for milli Ampere hour or milli Amp hour. Long story short, the bigger the number, the more juice it can hold for your charging pleasure. They really aren’t pricey if you look in the right place, but some can get up there. This beauty I got is about $14 on Amazon Prime but you could easily find some smaller ones around 1800-2200 mAhs at a drug store or other for about $10 and they've charged my old Iphone to about 70-80% and my Galaxy S5 to about 80% if I'm between 10-20% charge. 

With my smaller battery packs, there’s about 3 that I used to carry but of course this big one could easily replace those. Now will I throw these away? NO way. There is nothing wrong with being prepared. In preparation for Snowmageddon or winter storm Goliath, I had to make sure that I had enough battery power to last the weekend in case my power went out. And the smaller ones help out if I do have to carry one in my teeny pocket or a clutch.

Everyone knows that charging a tablet takes forever and a day and can literally suck the electrical juices out of a port, but these help ease that burden. Forgot to charge your phone last night before work and don’t want to be chained to an outlet??? Then seriously invest in one of these and they could change your life.

I won’t lie when I say that I’m hooked on my phone because I am. My calendars, contacts, unlimited text messages, social media. I’m all about it. And because of that, I tend to run my battery down pretty damn quick. I’ve got wall chargers at home and at work and a car charger in my vehicular, but what about times at a restaurant, or walking around a mall or outdoor event or roaming the strip in Las Vegas. The smaller ones don’t take up a lot of space but since I tend to have a tank on my person, having this big one with a lot more power and a dual hub, I’m gonna be covered for a bit from all angles. (And they make great non-lame gifts for guys and girls.)






Like this? Check my page out on Bloglovin
http://bit.ly/MyBloglovinPg

Or check the side bar for my social media --->>>>

Tales of the Tank - The Vessel

If you haven’t read my post about my surgery, 1, you should right here and 2, this is how I know that I am healed. With everything that was going on with my body, a major factor of my day to day activities were limited and the one that held me back was not being able to have my normal size tank.

The whole argument about big and heavy purses actually holds some water folks. As much as it pains me, and it does...in multiple ways, I can testify to that. It mainly affected the incision on my back. It’s amazing how weight is distributed when carrying a purse or in my case, a tank. I felt the pull from the weight of my tank on my arm and it felt like my incision was stretching from one side of my back to another. Just insert a visual of some medieval stretching method and that's what it feels like. I all but dropped my bag from the pain.

To solve this, I got a smaller purse. It was a cute little tote from Nine West that I found at DSW on sale. Best. Day. Ever. I paid maybe twenty bucks. It was my first trip to that store and I will definitely be going again. I thought that it was going to be solid wall to wall shoes that were out of my budget and while a lot were, there were more that were not. Then, add different accessories that even flattered my plus size tastes and it makes for a happy Jazz. It was a great find and I filled that little bag as much as I could.

But now, I’m healed and it drove me insane. (And because I failed and didn't get a picture in the time I used it, I snagged a screen shot of it from my coworker's Instagram, thanks girl.) 

I try my best to organize my things so that they fit in a particular way. Most times it actually stays that way and eventually, it becomes a bit more chaotic. So then came the sign for a new tank. Now, I don’t throw away my bags until they fall apart, but for some reason, I’m down to about 4. There’s going to be a lot of changes happening in my life so I didn’t want to be left in a spot where the straps fall apart at the most inopportune moment for example. That’s just my luck and so the hunt began for a new tank.

There are a few things I look for consistently, especially when shopping online and I can't look in or hold it:

1. Dimensions - looks can be deceiving. Just because it says that it's 17 inches tall doesn't make it roomy when it's only 2 inches wide

2. Material - I tend to be hard on my purses because of what I carry so flimsy canvas totes are out, bring me the pleather because it needs to last a while.

3. Straps - hand bag, cross body, the type is not as near as important as how wide the strap is. Half inch to an inch is pushing it. I tried the cute chain and ribbon straps and almost cut my arm off.

4. Reviews - It's online peeps. Just because it looks pretty doesn't mean that it's God gift to the world. If it sounds to good to be true, look through the reviews. Both the good and the bad. What annoyed someone may not annoy you and vise versa. I'm always pretty leery when it comes to items that have no reviews, that is when you really look into the details. What is it made of? Where is it made? Where is it shipped? 

The Amazon Prime Day was coming and I had seen a few that looked promising and was counting on getting the much wanted discounts that were supposed to be bigger and better than Black Friday. All I will say about Prime Day is that I could have been super super broke however comma, I actually went thru Prime Day with a few things I needed and that my parents needed and didn’t have to worry about breaking the bank. So in a way, thanks Amazon for not really having what I would have splurged on.

I still got a small discount on the purse I bought and it’s beautiful. The glorious part about it is while it looks small, the base is actually quite wide and holds a hell of a lot. I was able to basically dump my little bag into this bag and still have major room left. Also found a couple hidden pockets, which is AMAZING! I mean who doesn't love multiple pockets??? So from my amazon receipt, here's a thumbnail of the one I bought and the other one, I gave to my coworker. I knew I wouldn't use it again because it's just too small now. Besides, sharing is caring right? 

Tales of the Tank - Makeup

As much as we try not to rush around in the morning, we have those times where we wake up and realize that you have about thirty minutes to get up, wash up, get dressed and get to work on time. Let’s be honest, it happens. To some people, more often than they care to admit. You can ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you about my Tank. I have tanks for purses. They aren’t huge tote bags, although my mom says that it should be. I’ve also heard all the “you’re going to hurt your back, shoulders, etc with the size and weight of your purse.” Tell that to the publishers who make $300 text books.

Any-who,

I have a system and it works for me for just about any situation. And for the occasional late-waking-up-day and frantically flying to work, I have found that sometimes it’s just easier to get ready and bring my makeup with me to do at work. (read about that here). I know some don’t approve but I am also a person who wears makeup every day and don’t feel like I’m properly dressed for my professional setting without my makeup. I was also not blessed with great skin, so there’s that too. It’s just one of those things.

Anyways, I have this cute little bag that lives in my tank and has saved me many a time whether it be at work, or just out. And it has been the best little makeup carrier ever and the best part was it was about five dollars at Big Lots.

The top zipper lets me stock it with a couple eye liners, brushes, and bobby pins. Easy to see and easy access. The bag zipper holds my face powder, oil blotting sheets, lip balms, lip butters, mascaras, the occasional hair ties, and of course a compact mirror. On a trip, I’ll pack in my Naked Basics eye shadows and Flushed pallet and it all fits! Throw in my purse and I am set for the day. It doesn’t take up a lot of space in my bag and touch ups throughout the day are conquered.

I love finding great finds on the cheap. Of course what woman doesn’t love sales and when you have something that works, you stick to it like waterproof mascara. High quality and top dollar aren’t always together, sometimes you just find the best things at Big Lots on a Sunday afternoon after eating breakfast with family at Ihop. Sometimes the good Lord just knows that you need something awesome in your life and like my mom says, “there are too few joys in life.” Can I get an amen?

Some days, we just need a little extra help and this is where the purse comes in. I can understand using a clutch for an event, but how you get anything done anywhere in those teeny tiny coin purses is beyond me. Especially when I got my kindle for my birthday a couple years back, I had it attached to me everywhere so my purses have to be at least big enough for a Kindle Fire HD 8.9. Yes that is a big mofo of a tablet but it is so worth it.

Bottom line is that no one can be too prepared for any situation, whether it is get to work in the style of the Fast and the Furious, or to an event that you plan on attending straight after work, or just in case the khol pencil you were trying out now makes you look like a raccoon, the tank holds most if not all the solutions. This little bag has saved me a few times and a lot of others have something similar. What do you carry in yours?