i started wearing my winter coat yesterday since all of a sudden, columbus is COLD.

when i put my hands in my pockets to defrost them, i discovered a plethora of fun from the last time i'd worn my coat. i found an airplane ticket from a business trip i took back in march from la guardia to columbus, a receipt from dean and deluca (which made me really want a dean and deluca mocha), a receipt from the happy deli on 8th (i don't even remember going to the happy deli - ever - in my life), a movie stub from when hannah and i saw the wedding planner back in february, and a book of matches from "the big 4" (a bar on nob hill in san francisco) that i picked up while there on business in april.

i must admit, i am amazed beyond words that i found no lip gloss in my pockets....

but anyway, as the temperatures drop in your part of the world and you reach into your coat pockets to defrost your hands, what interesting things from last year have you found?

or am i the only receipt/stub/matchbook pack rat here?

-- Anonymous, October 18, 2001

Answers

That's so funny! Yesterday I put on a blazer, evidently for the first time since 1999, because I had a pocket full of phone messages from May 99, all from real estate clients. Bonus: 2 of my old business cards that had my old picture on them!

I know it sounds chintzy, but realtors put their picture on their business cards most of the time. I wouldn't have allowed it to happen had I not been in that field. Besides, I looked beautimous!

-- Anonymous, October 18, 2001

Anna Beth is in my pocket.

-- Anonymous, October 18, 2001

I just put on my pea coat this morning and in the pockets I had a pair of mittens, and one (1) screw. From what, I have no idea.

Robyn, somehow a realtor latched onto us and he sends us fliers every Saturday. And he always encloses his business card, which has a picture of him on it. Par for the course with realtors, except: he is jauntily talking on his cell phone! While sitting for a professional portrait!!! Obviously the implication is, "I am working so hard for you I don't even have time to get off the phone to have my picture taken." It's so cheesy we crack up every time we see it!

-- Anonymous, October 18, 2001

Keli is my knight in shining porkchopolis, and I love her.

-- Anonymous, October 18, 2001

I love finding things in my pockets. My high school lettermans jacket is hanging in my closet and I was looking for a cigarette lighter and checking every pocket in the house...and instead of the lighter that I desperately wanted, I found $20! Whoo hoo! Also, there was half a pack of skittles, keys to my mom's old pickup that we traded off, and a necklace I used to wear that had a silver basketball charm on it. Gotta love stuff from high school!

...I found a lighter too...in one of my shoes. Go fig.

-- Anonymous, October 18, 2001

Putting on the coat for the first time since last season is one of those simple pleasures in life.

I was really hoping to find some cash money, but it was not to be. I found a couple old receipts, a pen, a button that says, "I am a rock", and another that says, "I am a material girl." A gift from somebody's business trip, iirc.

-- Anonymous, October 19, 2001

finding money in old coat pockets is such an awesome thing. even if it's like, 2 dollars, it's still amazing. unfortunately, i usually only find like 20 cents, not 20 dollars...

-- Anonymous, October 19, 2001

Okay, y'all, how weird is this? This morning I started my period (okay, probably TMI) and had no tampons in the house. Not only that, I only have $2.13 cash. Which, criminally, is not enough to buy tampons. (And don't get me started on that. Not only should they be free, they should automatically just be delivered to our houses every month. Or at least we shouldn't have to pay taxes on them. Anyway.) So I'm figuring out what to do, when I open my closet and an old wallet literally FALLS on my head. The Flamingo Hotel key card and an old T pass are poking out of it, making me nostalgic for 2 for 1 Mimosas and decent public transportation, so I open the wallet, and there is $4.25 inside.

This has never happened to me, ever. I never find money. So exciting.

-- Anonymous, November 08, 2001