I mentioned this on another thread last week, but losing a pair of gloves led to a serendipitous stroke of good luck.

I left my gloves in a Burger King bathroom when I changed after a ride (we had driven an hour to the starting point so I didn't want to wear my cycling clothes home). When my DH and I went to replace them next day, he won a $250 gift card to the bike store from the big promotion event they were having. I got my new gloves and a pair for cooler weather and stow them in one of those re-useable shopping bags, along with my helmet, mirror, shoes and a couple of emergency snacks.