Pampered

While the guys are away the girls shall play!

This weekend the guys (Geegaw, Uncle Josh & Joe) took a little trip down the river. While they were floating their cares away, the girls (Ninny, Hana and myself) decided to play. First stop: the nail salon where Miss Hana Grace received her very first big girl mani-pedi! She's had her nails painted numerous times and even been pampered a bit while sitting in my lap while I got my feet worked on, but today was special. She sat in her very own chair.

She got her arms and legs massaged:

She even got her arms and legs wrapped in warm towels.

She told me it felt cozy and warm but told Ninny it was silly.

She sat so still the entire time and behaved like a mature little lady!

She talked the guy's head off! She told him about the lizard (Gecko) we found in our house last night...

(Yes, his tail is missing. I accidentally cut it off while trying to get him off the ceiling. I had never done that before. The tail flipped & flopped around for at least 5 minutes after it came off! GROSS! We caught him in a bowl, as you can see, and then we set him free outside...where he belongs.)

...about playing peek-a-boo, about the sparkly lotion she has and likes to put on and I even heard her say once, "Sometimes my daddy lays on me and squishes me!" and "Sometimes my momma laughs like a piggy!" and then she snorted to show him. Nice.

None of the employees could believe she isn't even four years old yet! She was so well behaved and talked and talked and talked. The lady waxing my eyebrows said, "Is that your daughter? She's not shy at all is she?" Nope. Not my girl! She is so very proud of her beautiful, sparkly fingernails,

her extra soft skin from the lotion they rubbed on her and last, but certainly not least, her super sparkly toenails! 

We'll have to do this more often!

Don't Judge Me

It all started in Florida. Angela showed up with Vera Bradley bags galore. I had never seen a Vera Bradley bag, that I knew of anyway. Once when Jennifer and I were shopping she pointed out a Vera Bradley look-alike, but I didn't care for the print and just didn't get it. I didn't get the whole quilted look. But then we went to Florida and Angela had a different Vera Bradley bag for every occasion. LOL! Now, how she happened upon all those bags is another story in and of itself. She had this one in particular that I ogled for a week and guess what! She and Josh got me one for my birthday! Heck Yeah! It's the Vera in Baroque:

Of course I was delighted to receive such a wonderful gift, but I really had no idea how delighted I was about to be. I just had no idea what I was in store for. Just look at this:

That, my friends, is the oh-so-organized inside of my Vera Bradley bag! You know I love organization! Now that picture is of it packed full last month when we went to Scarborough Faire. I was able to fit SO MUCH in it, everything we needed (a foldable potty seat for Hana, sunblock, a variety of wipes, water bottle, snacks, change of clothes for Hana, etc.) and then some! Now it's easy to cram everything into a bag, but look how organized it was! I had absolutely no trouble at all locating what I needed. Needless to say, I was instantly obsessed!

Angela, Jennifer, Hana and I did a little Father's Day (etc.) shopping last Friday and we were stoked to find that a new Vera Bradley store was in the mall we just so happened to be in. What could we do? We had to go in! Now, mind you, I hadn't so much as looked at Vera Bradley online. I knew nothing about this store other than the array of bags and totes I had seen Angela with in Clearwater, which I loved. OMG. There were so many patterns, styles, shapes, sizes and colors! I don't know exactly how long we were in there (the first time), but it had to be at least two hours. At least! Probably more like three. Ahem. There was a huge clearance section, and I'm a sucker for a good sale so that's where I stayed, digging and digging and digging. And I found these precious little guys here: 

What's that? Well, that would be Hana Grace's very own Vera Bradley bags. Don't judge me! It's a backpack, just her size by the way, with a matching lunch tote. What's great about Vera Bradley is everything is machine washable. Can you imagine a machine washable lunch tote? GENIUS! Okay, okay, you know there is no way I would pay full price for designer bags for my preschooler!  The pattern (Purple Punch) was on sale for 40% off, Angela was nice enough to share a coupon with me that saved me $20 and I got a $20 birthday discount since my birthday recently passed. Now that's a deal! I was already looking at getting Hana a matching lunch tote and backpack for preschool (so it would be easy for her and everyone else to know what's hers) and the other brands I was looking at would have cost more. These are the perfect size, very durable, machine washable and are childlike yet grown up enough that they can be used over and over (even by me!). SCORE!

So I made my purchase, Angela and Jennifer made theirs, we had lunch and started to head out of the mall. I all of a sudden regretted not making another Vera Bradley purchase so we turned around, went back in and I bought this: 

Yep, I got a purse to match Hana's set. LOL! I LOVE the pattern and this particular style (which I LOVE) is being discontinued so it was also super inexpensive. It, too, has lots of wonderful pockets and is the perfect "other size" to compliment my other. Yes, I love bags, but I also love a good deal. What can I say?

So, I promised myself I am done with buying bags for a while...but look, just look:

 

What am I going to do?! ;-)

Don't judge me!