Things I Love: Vera Bradley

I love, love, LOVE Vera! I would be swimming in Vera if I weren't a broke, jobless, college student(They even sell it at our bookstore at school. I think this is a way to tempt me to spend money!)

My favorite patterns, in no particular order, are  

Raspberry Fizz(also retired)

Hope Garden(Breast Cancer Awareness Pattern)

and one of the newest patterns, Very Berry Paisley.

(All pics from Vera Bradley.com)

 

 

 

 

Not only are their patterns SUPER DUPER CUTE their products last a while!

A few that I LOVE and own are

The Clip Zip ID Case. I think I have one of these in almost EVERY color that interests me in the least!

They are really great during the school year. I can throw my IDs and a few dollars for snack and I’m good.

The best part is that it goes on a keychain so I don’t have to worry about searching all over for my wallet

when I am rushing out the door to go to school. I just grab my keys and I’m gone!

P.S. It’s only $10! Totally worth it!

The Betsy is another favorite of mine. I own it in Raspberry Fizz and received it from my parents

for Christmas. It’s the perfect size for everyday and has a TON

of pockets inside f or storage!

I received my Vera from the little boy I babysat last summer as a going away gift.

He was 18 months old. It’s ABSOLUTELY awesome as a school bag.

There is plenty of room for my binder, a few books, the multitude of pens, pencils, and markers I carry(have I

mentioned my addiction to school supplies?), and whatever else I stuff in there and has

held up REALLY well the past year.

It’s machine washable(but you must hang to dry because of the plastic zippers) and cleans up perfectly.

The Zip Sunglass Case is pretty nice too. It’s big enough for nearly any pair of sunglasses that you can find.

I like to stuff this in my bag during school with a sunglass cleaning cloth in it

just in case my lenses get dirty or I just want a break from wearing them on my neck. It’s not a hard-shelled case,

yet it is sturdy enough for me to be comfortable

throwing it in there with my books and what not.

  

(All pictures from Google Images)   

 

These are only a few of what I own maybe next month some more

VB will be added to my collection…hmmm say for that special day

A.K.A my 21st Birthday!!! :)

 

 

 

Here are some items I would buy if A) I had a job and B) I didn’t have other

things to spend money on(I.E. Gas, groceries, etc.)

 

I JUST LOVE this hipster bag. It would be perfect for carrying my daily essentials like pens, pencils,

calculator, gum(haha I’m addicted to this too!). I’m loving the cross body bag style a lot lately.

 

For my Practicum at school this fall I am required to wear my school ID at all times

I am visiting elementary schools. Wouldn’t this be GREAT for keeping

up with my ID?

 

This laptop is TO DIE FOR! I love the print and it is very spacious. I just can’t get

over the price tag.(I have to really want something

bad to pay full price most of the time)

I can’t tell you how many times I have traveled with my straightener wrapped in a t-shirt because I didn’t have

time to fully let it cool before leaving on a trip. This wonderful tool would keep my straightener from

making everything in my bag melt!

  

Go here to check out more from Vera Bradley.

 

Do you have a fave pattern? Let me know what it is!

(P.S. I was not paid to write this. It was all my idea)

Hiding you ask?

Not hiding. TOTALLY busy.

-Zack and I washed my car Tuesday(maybe it was Monday, who knows with my bad memory!), Silvy, the other night. Have I mentioned how sweet he is sometimes? He gave her a good scrub while I fed the machine quarters. She was nearly spotless. I have had her since September and I do believe this was her second real bath. Sometimes I stop by the car wash station and rinse her off or allow the rain to do it for me(This is not my preferred method since the top leaks but in South Georgia afternoon thunderstorms are not uncommon and they often come out of NO WHERE!)
Isn't she pretty?


-I have worked at the daycare all week with the sweet 2 and 3 year old children. I love working up there as a sub. If I lived in Ashburn I would LOVE to work there full time but I need to get this education out of the way before I think if ANYTHING full time!

-The kids I usually babysit for, J & R, have been at the beach since last Saturday so I have been going out to their house everyother to take care of things. I got their mail, watered their trees, flowers, bushes, and fed inside andoutside cats, and THE WORST...I had to clean out the cat litter box each time. Not your ideal job, but hey, it's money! Since they just moved into their new house in May they are still trying to get the landscape just right. The trees are small and require a lot of attention. They water the trees(6 of them) for 10 minutes EACH! That's an hour just spent on trees!

-Zack and I went to Albany to the mall on Friday night. We have been going so frequently lately that you wouldn't know how much I actually DESPISE Albany. We both didn't get off work until 5:30PM and we wanted to go to the mall so that was our closest option at 45 minutes away. We managed to get a little shopping in. We ran into his cousin and his girlfriend which was pretty cool being as we don't see them much.

-The highlight of the night was supper. WE LOVE THE HONG KONG CAFE! It's not your traditional Chinese restaurant. It's a nice little sit-down restaurant with the BEST food. It's pretty affordable and they portion size is HUGE! We love it. HANDS DOWN BEST EVERRRRR CHINESE RESTAURANT. If you live in the area you have got to check it out!

-Yesterday I spent the morning hitting up sales at JcPenney. I love JcPenney and since Goodys closed down thats really the only place I shop. I got two new dresses which were well needed and then headed back to Ashburn for a bridal shower for Zack's cousin's finacee, Hope. We had a fun and enjoyed playing games and eating our Hot Fudge Cakes.

-I also got a new phone this weekend! Well, it's new to me! My friend Thad, got a new Droid X and gave me his Blackberry Pearl Flip. I ended up giving him $25 for it since he met me halfway rather than me driving all the way to Cordele to get it and since it was in such good shape. It looked brand new. I am so excited to get to know all of the features and get used to it! I just hooked it up this morning. Here's a stock photo from google of my phone.

Next week should slow down. I am hoping for a more frequent posts at least until I start to pack to move. By the way...That's NEXT Monday! YIKES!

Zebra = LOVE!

So I got it! I swear I remembered the zebra hair dryer at Wal-Mart being bigger than this but I guess not. It will be good for traveling I am sure!

Sorry the picture quality sucks. Have I mentioned I HATE my HTC Touch Pro...UPGRADE PLEASE!? :)

Hairdryer and Dog sitting

Hello all! I've been meaning to blog for days and just haven't sat down to write something.

Thursday night Zack and I went to Wal-Mart and I saw the CUTEST hair dryer. It was ZEBRA. Okay, those that know me know how much I LOVEEEEE zebra. Look at the name of my blog for crying out loud. I talked myself out of buying it by telling myself that I have a perfectly good hair dryer. Friday morning when I got out of the shower and started to fix my hair my blow dryer(yes, the perfectly good one)wouldn't turn on. The plug on my wall that I use for my straightener and hair dryer frequently goes out and you have to reset it to make it work. So I tried that. No such luck. I plugged in my straightener and it worked fine. I kept going from room to room and plug to plug to see if maybe the outlet was messed up. Nope. My hair dryer bit the dust. I think it was fate telling me I have to go back to Wal-Mart and get the zebra hair dryer. :) So as soon as I can get my butt to Cordele I am getting a new hair dryer. I am currently using one of my Mama's old hair dryers that has NO BLOWING power. It feels like it takes YEARSSSS to dry my hair.

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On another note, I am dog sitting this weekend. I literally have to be here to feed and take out the dogs.

I wish I had a picture of these beauties I get to spend my Saturday and Sunday with. I got these from Google Image Search.

This is Sam. She is an English Bulldog and some how kin to UGA the University of Georgia's mascot. She is absolutely adorable and is definitely the Parker's(who I am dogsitting for) pride and joy! She is so cute and chubby! She sleeps a lot!

Dusty is a cute little cat that wondered up about 5 weeks ago. He cuddled with me all yesterday afternoon. Last night he must have been feeling frisky because he kept chasing the dogs and pawing their tails and hissing at them. He's a sweet little kitty though.

Lady is a yellow lab. She is old and you can tell by the way she walks. She seems as if she is going blind. She lays around all day just napping!

Last night, Zack came and visited and we watched some movies. Neither of them were really good. I suck at picking out movies obviously.

We watched "41 Year Old Virgin who Knocked up Sarah Marshall and Felt Superbad About It". I figured it was a spoof of all of the above movies but it wasn't really. It was a very low budget film. The cast was actors who played actors. (I.E. the guy who played in "40 Year Old Virgin" wasn't who played in this movie)

We also watched "Crime of Fashion" which is about a girl who attends fashion school who's grandfather dies and leaves her the "family business". She becomes the mob boss and turns the mob around. Either way it wasn't that great and I realized halfway through that I have seen it before and on ABC family at that. For free. So I paid to rent a movie that I have already seen for free. I contribute this one for my bad memory!

Well I have to take the puppies out for one last bathroom run and then I am off to my home.

Flint RiverQuarium and the Albany Mall with J and R!

Today J, R, and I loaded up and headed an hour east of Ashburn to Albany. We had one thing on our mind. AQUARIUM!! The kids have been dying to go all summer and I was pleased to take them!

It is sad to admit that I have never been. I have wanted to but the opportunity has never arisen. Zack doesn’t like to do that kind of stuff so I enjoy having people that will go do things like that with me!

 

We got to the RiverQuarium about 11AM and stayed until 1PM!!! There were so many cool animals. The kids favorite animal was the ALBINO ALLIGATOR. J told me I JUST HADDDDD to take a picture and put it on Facebook and my blog.(Isn’t he just the cutest!?) The horrible lighting, bad positioning of the alligators, and fact that I didn’t bring my real camera and this is a camera phone made the pictures super blurry so I left those out. I mean it’s so bad I can’t even tell what it was supposed to be!

We played a trivia game in the Aquarium and I totally kicked butt! Haha Yes I am almost 21 years old and find satisfaction in winning against a 12 and 9 year old!

After our visit to the Aquarium we went to eat a late lunch. R and J couldn’t decided on where they wanted to eat so we headed to the mall. This was sure to please everyone. After we got there J and R ended up eating at THE SAME PLACE the SAME THING! I think they were just pulling my chain earlier about not deciding where they wanted to eat!

Since we had to be home this afternoon I let each of them pick one store they wanted to go to. R picked the pet store. She loves animals and has one of the biggest hearts ever. She told me the other day she wants to be a emergency vet or a animal cop. (I didn’t know what that was either! She said they rescue pets from abusive or neglectful owners. Sounds kind of like DFCS for pets!)

J wanted to go to Hibbets Sports. He spend all of 30 minutes in there just looking. We all but had to drag him out of the store by the back of his head! He picked up every single bat in the store and inspected it from EVERY angle!

I picked Old Navy as my store! As we were walking in the mall we saw a lady who had pulled her car right up to the entrance of the mall and was unloading a stroller with nine, yes NINE!, Old Navy bags and that lured me in. I am a sucker for deals and I knew Old Navy must have been having some! We got in and didn’t see much of anything at first and then I saw the cutest bags. They were originally $16.50 and on sale for $6.97 and ON TOP OF THAT all clearance was 50% off! So I picked up three one for each of us. J decided he didn’t want one so R and I have two CUTE totes that we got for $3,50! R picked a blue one and I got the cutest pink on.(shocked?)

We had an awesome day. The kids were WORN out. Had I not been driving I would have snapped a picture of them sleeping the WHOLE WAY home!

ENJOY!    

HOORAY!!!

WARNING! THIS POST IS COMPLETELY RANDOM!!!


I had a long day babysitting yesterday...I didn't get there til 12 but I ended up staying until 7PM!

Zack's aunt, uncle, and three young cousins are in town from North Carolina so we had a family dinner at his house last night. Needless to say I was late! We enjoyed the kiddos a lot! They will be headed out Wednesday because they have plans at church.

On another note, I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get my cable, internet, and power set up when we move in. I know, I have two weeks before move-in but I wanted to make sure they have all of my information and I know EXACTLY what money is due when we move in. Between being on hold for 20 minutes at a time and waiting three hours for a call back about my whether or not we could use their services in my apartment complex I got the most exciting news EVER!!!! They ran my FIRST EVER credit check and I, SUZI MASTRARIO, HAVE CREDIT!!! Great credit at that! I was super excited because 1) I did it myself! 2)I don't have to pay all of those CRAZY deposits! 3) I DID IT MYSELF. I really didn't think I had credit. I mean, I got a credit card last year and make SMALL purchases on it every now and then. I put like maybe $35 for gas on it here and there and then I pay it straight from my checking account but I didn't think $300 or so would be enough to establish credit. Let alone GREAT credit. So that's my awesome news. I feel like a responsible adult with my utilities in MY NAME rather than my parents! :) Now to just get a job to pay them!



If any of you reading know of a job opening in Valdosta HOOK ME UP!

Don't you just love...

QUESTIONNAIRES!? I do!

I got mine from Pink-Ture Perfect's post this morning. Here goes.

1. What time did you get up this morning?
9AM. I didn't come in to work until 12 :)

2. How do you like your steak?
WELLLLLLL done! No pink!

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
Toy Story 3 with Jake and Rach!

4. What is your favorite TV show?
Pretty sure it's a three way tie between Secret Life, Pretty Little Liars, and Royal Pains

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
An exotic island. Somewhere that would feel like a 24-7 vacation!


6. What did you have for breakfast?
Nothing

7. What is your favorite Cuisine?
I love Chinese

8. What foods do you dislike?
Carrots, onions, fish, spaghetti, etc.

9. Favorite Place to Eat?
I have too many, but in Ashburn I love La Hacienda! :)

10. Favorite dressing?
Ranch

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive?
Silver Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder


12. What are your favorite clothes?
shorts and t-shirts

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance?
The Carribbean

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full?
Varies from day to day. My mood determines that!

15. Where would you want to retire?
I'm pretty content with Ashburn!

16. Favorite time of day?
Ehh, no faves.

17. Where were you born?
Pomona, New Jersey. Shh, don't tell anyone!


18. What is your favorite sport to watch?
I like football...alot.

19. Bird watcher?
No, thanks!

20. Are you a morning person or a night person?
Depends. I like to be alone in the morning

21. Do you have any pets?
Kind of. I really don't spend time with them but we have 2 horses, 2 donkeys, a few cats, and a random brown dog that adopted us about a year ago that doesn't like people.

22. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share?
Not really.

23. What did you want to be when you were little?
A teacher. :)

24. What is your best childhood memory?
Everytime I think about my childhood I think of my friend Lauren. We don't really talk much anymore but we have some AWESOME memories!

25. Are you a cat or dog person?
I like dogs. Not so big on cats.

26. Are you married?
Nope.

27. Always wear your seat belt?
Most of the time.

28. Been in a car accident?
Two. No injuries. Thank God.

29. Any pet peeves?
Oh Lord, yes!!! I hate for people to use my shampoo and conditioner. I like for the amount to be even in them! I have many more WEIRD pet peeves.

30. Favorite Pizza Toppings?
Dominos Chicken alfredo pizza=love!

31. Favorite Flower?
I would love a dozen RAINBOW roses. Hmmm...HINT HINT Z!


32. Favorite ice cream?
Vanilla with chocolate shell

33. Favorite fast food restaurant?
Popeyes is pretty rad!

34. How many times did you fail your driver's test?
None!

35. From whom did you get your last email?
Probably my sister or junk!

36. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?
This is hard. Not really sure

37. Do anything spontaneous lately?
not really.

38. Like your job?
I wish I had a job!

39. Broccoli?
Yes.

40. What was your favorite vacation?
No favorite. The Beach is pretty much a win for me!

41. Last person you went out to dinner with?
Sarah, Justin, Zack, and I went to Hong Kong Cafe in Albany Friday night and it was great!

42. What are you listening to right now?
J and R being fools in the kitchen.

43. What is your favorite color?
Hands down. Pink

44. How many tattoos do you have?
None

45. Coffee Drinker?
Starbucks Frappaccinos or Elliano's frozen blended coffee PLEASE!


46. What Magazines are you reading?
None currently.

47. Favorite smell?
Polo Blue. Mmmmmmm.


48. Favorite movie of all time?
The Fast and Furious movies.

49. What are you listening to right now?
This is a repeat.

50. How is the weather right now?
Sunny