Over Christmas I got a screaming deal on a new Vera Bradley purse. I've used it all spring and summer, but it's a little bit on the small side. I've been keeping an eye out for free shipping so I could get a little bit larger purse. Late last week they had free shipping again combined with a pretty great deal on a very large bag.Ever since I received the Daisy Daisy pattern for my birthday, I've been wanting to get a bag in this now discontinued pattern. I bought the Morgan purse and the Super Tote in the Daisy Daisy. To round out my minimum purchase, I also bought the Tech Case in Mod Floral Blue that I've been eying since I considered the last round of free shipping.
I received my new bags yesterday, and I love them. The Morgan is a great size for my new everyday purse. The Tech Case is perfect for my camera. I'm not sure yet if I'll always be in my bag, or if I'll just use it when I'm carrying around my wallet and camera.
But I love the Super Tote. This bag will be perfect for my next quilt, a mommy overnight, or taking kids clothes to swimming. But since I don't quilt and probably won't see a mommy overnight for ages, it'll probably just be for toting swimming stuff - or at least it would be if the kids were in swimming. No matter what I use it for, I really like the size of this bag and have been looking for something this size for a long time.
I have another book post today, but this one is a tiny bit different. I put Sophie Kinsella's Twenties Girl on hold a few weeks ago, and on a whim decided to put the CD set on hold also. I used to listen to a lot of books on CD when Paul was little, and basically didn't talk as much, because I drive around quite a bit to get kids to and from childcare.
After I found ways to finish listening to the book on CD I borrowed for our drive to my cousin's wedding, I thought I might be able to listen to an entire book that way. I'm almost done with the second to last disk and will probably be able to finish it in the next couple of days. Aside from the fact that I've really been enjoying the book, I also like the benefit of feeling like I can do other things while "reading".
I may have to see what other books I can get from the library to listen to. As a bonus, the audio book became available fairly quickly, and I'm still better than 100 people away from receiving the paper version.
It was not easy to figure out which picture to go with today. I took the boys to the Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park today and took bunches of pictures. It was a really fun park and the boys had a blast. I was a bit concerned that it would be something I would be dragging them to, but we literally spent hours playing.
I'm going with the picture today because I thought it was unusual. It's a flower on the head of a cactus. The coloring is really interesting, and you don't see too many flowers on cacti.
One of the things I like to do while on vacation is try to pick up some beads. It's fun to check out new shops, and I like being able to make something with a little bit of meaning to it.
Tonight I was able to do some bead shopping. The store I found in Grand Rapids happened to be about two miles from where we're staying, so it seemed only natural for me to check it out.
I picked up these really fun turquoise and brown stones and some copper chain. The chain is part of a potential plan for a project I'm working on. I was able to try it out tonight and I think it's going to be perfect. If my plans change, then there is always room in my stash for some more copper.
There were several times in the last couple of days, and especially those final hours, where I thought we would never be ready to go in time, but here we are at the airport. This is our luggage piled up on the cart that someone was kind enough to leave abandoned in the parking lot. It's a good thing too because even with two adults, it's more than enough stuff to be trying to haul around. And the other car seat isn't even on here.
Last night I was in the middle of one of the first of several loads of laundry that I needed to get done before we leave on vacation. The washer filled with super hot water and then did nothing. It had done something similar a few days ago, but when I changed the water level, it started right up again. No such luck this time.
So I spent much of my day at my mom's house doing laundry. This is about three loads that I'm taking back home so I can put Matt down for a nap and do some packing. Not exactly the way I had planned to spend my day, but it's nice to have some options available.
Tonight we took the kids bowling. The school rented the whole 10-lane alley for two hours. Part of the party package was to put the black lights on and play some groovy music.
I had a couple of artistic shots of my shoes and my purse that I liked. But then, I bowled a 145 and had to use that picture today because that's probably the best I've ever bowled. I had to quit while I was ahead and take Matt back to the resort for bed, or I might have really put the other chaperones to shame. ;)
For the first time, I was able to accompany my husband on one of his school trips as a chaperone, and I picked a good one. We left for Lake Chelan this morning and spent the afternoon at the water park. This evening we took Matt on a walk around town (Paul is staying with my parents), and this was the view of the lake from the park.
In about a month the boys and I are going on a middle-of-the-night flight to meet daddy in Michigan. It is my hope that the boys will be sound asleep when we have to transfer planes (yes, transfer). I have a couple of carriers for Matt, but my sister-in-law has been very excited about the ease and comfort of her Ergo Carrier. I tried hers out with Matt and had to agree.
After some failed attempts at getting a reduced price on eBay, I did some searching online for a "deal". The best I could do was free shipping, no tax, and a free rear-view mirror. The fact that it was coming from California and would probably be here quickly is what sold me - well, and the mirror. ;)
The carrier came yesterday (after the parade - oh, well). We tried it out tonight, and my brother took some pictures for me.
My husband is leaving in a few days for an eleven day trip to Europe. I couldn't imagine parting with my DSLR for that long and he couldn't imagine lugging it around. We have an old point-and-shoot from many years ago that seems to still work, but we had been talking about getting a compact digital for a while.
On Saturday we finally took the plunge. This is a cute little 10 megapixel Canon PowerShot. It fits in my purse and takes video too. I'm looking forward to always being able to carry a camera around with me that has much better quality than my iPhone. Of course, I have to part with it in a few days.
We went to dinner with my parents at the Celtic Bayou tonight, and while it's a good place to eat and made a rather boring picture, it's not really the reason why I decided to snap this photo. There were some amazing pictures of Ireland inside the restaurant, and I really wanted to take a picture of them. But they were for sale, and I didn't think it would be fair to the photographer to capture his or her work.
I would love to go to Ireland. I actually hope we can go sometime in the next 4 or 5 years. I would love to take hundreds of photographs of the landscape and architecture. I'll just keep working on honing my photography skills between now and then.
