Vera Bradley Outlet Sale 2013 Experience

View from the "choosing floor".  When you enter, you immediately start down the aisles, bagging everything you think you may want.  Then at the end, you spread everything out on the floor to make your decisions before going to check out.  Your return the things you don't want to shopping carts throughout the area. 

A good thing about being in Indiana in the spring is the chance to go to the Vera Bradley Outlet sale.  My mother has gone for years now, sometimes getting tickets to go in the opening days, some years going several times.  This year, we were all pretty busy so we had to wait until the open session on Saturday to go.  We got there around 3:30 and it was busy but not too crowded.  There was still a pretty good selection.  Prices may have down a bit more on the last day of the sale, but I felt there were quite a few good deals there on the second to last day.

This time was special because it was little Maci's first time to get a VB.  She loves clothes and accessories already, so she was happy to look through the rows of VB items.  She was literally dancing through the aisles to the music, and did very well for being two years old and missing her nap.

We also took Eli.  He didn't get anything, and he slept throughout the whole event.  But, it was great that we had a stroller and a toddler because... we got expedited check-out!!!  I had no idea they did this, but apparently they let those of us with young children or guests with wheelchairs go through a separate (hidden) check-out.  I think tour groups also have a similar check-out.  It was great, we waited all of about 2 minutes and were at the counter!  After the several hour wait last time, this was unexpected and fabulous!  We will definitely be taking the babies with us in the future!

Got her purses (two of them-she knows you grab everything first and make decisions later).

A bag for pre-school in a couple more years.

Making her final choice.

Still in good moods after the short line!

There were quite a few new (to me) items that I thought were pretty neat.  There are now attache bags, that I would have to have if I were still teaching full time.  Perfect for taking papers back and forth to school in.  And the best was the contact lens case!!  I was super excited about this, but didn't find any in my patterns.  Will have to wait for an online sale or pay full price on this one.

Strawberry Layer Cake

I don't have the recipe for this-yet-but wanted to post a picture.  This was a pretty fabulous cake my little sisters made with Grandma B.  We're not really about presentation in my family, but this was a beautiful and delicious cake.

Lutheran Baptism

Theodore was finally baptized into the Lutheran faith on Aug. 15, 2010 at our newly renovated church. It was a unique experience for my family, who are non-denominational Christians that normally wait until adolescence to baptize. We do actually have Lutheran ancestors way back on our Poulson side, maybe I'll write up that story on here someday. I am a very big fan of genealogy, though I have very few posts about it on here.

However, on the paternal side, Brian's great-great-grandfather Martin Phillipp came from Germany in 1893 and was a Lutheran minister in Michigan. So it was very meaningful to see this new generation carry on the Lutheran faith.

Grandma had to let out the sleeves a little for Theodore's chubby arms so he was able to wear the baptismal gown that Brian and his siblings all used. We accessorized with the cap Brian wore, and a new bib and socks.

Brian in Dec. 1982.

Theodore in August, 2010

It was a great time, and we were glad for every single person who could make the trip for Theodore's special day.

Graduation Number Two

After his first flight home, Theodore had a great time at GFS shopping for Aunt Erin's party.

He also got to meet some new friends...

Oliver

and Hogan
And he got to see a ton of family. Too many to add pictures of all of them.

Easter 2010

Easter in our Church's newly remodeled sanctuary!

With my family.

With Aunt Erin.

Brian made Leg of Lamb for Easter dinner.

And I made cheesecake for dessert.

Theodore being goofy...

And in his second outfit, sleepy...

Baby Goes to Washington

So we met my family in DC a few weekends ago when they came out to visit. We embarked on our second annual trip to view the Cherry Blossoms!

Many of the family had never rode the subway. I am now an expert at the DC system, don't even have to look at the map anymore (can't say the same for the NYC metro).

We came up Smithsonian station, right on the mall.

We saw the White House, getting ready for the Easter egg roll later in the weekend (I have got to try and get Theodore a ticket next year!).

We saw the new WWII Memorial (well, newish).

The Lincoln Memorial (I made it up all the steps.  C-section pain has subsided).

The Korean War Memorial (one of my favorites-really makes you think about the soldiers).

The often overlooked Memorial to "The Great War"

And finally the Cherry Blossoms!

This year the Tulip garden was in full bloom.

Matthew got this great shot!

It was a fun day, and exhausting! My family had driven the night before, so they were dragging by the time we got back off the subway at our cars. But we made it home to the hotel in time for the basketball games.

Winter/Christmas 2009

Picture of the Atlantic snowstorm:

Dec. 19. Saturday: I wake up early to find the entire complex covered in snow. It’s been coming down pretty hard for a few hours, and no one has really mussed up the streets yet. I make Brian get up to see it, and Cori loves bouncing around in the snow. The car dealership closes, so we can’t take our car in to get its oil changed like we had scheduled. We take our Christmas card picture with the windows open so everyone can see the snow. “The Blizzard of 2009” ends up being pretty substantial, definitely setting some records for the area. I see on facebook that our church has canceled services for the next day.

Dec. 20. Sunday: I bake pretty much all day… We get a call in the afternoon that Appo has already canceled school for the next day!! Get a lot of wrapping and letter writing done.

Dec. 21. Monday: The baking continues. I’m making up for last year, when I didn’t get any Christmas cookies made at all… I get another call saying that Appo has called the next day as well, and am officially on Christmas vacation! Get the Christmas letters mailed.

Dec. 22. Tuesday: Bake a few more things… decorate our sugar cookies! I normally don’t have the patience to decorate, but tried to make them cute this year.

Dec. 23. Wednesday: Wake up to find a tragedy in our fish tank. Apparently a bubble fish anemone has attacked our Nemo fish. Brian got it knocked off, but by then the fish was pretty much a goner. We hoped he would perk back up, but he never did. Good-bye Nemo fish.

Started on our way home. First stop is the Gap cheese shop, to pick up some extra aged gouda (Rembrandt) for Brian’s sister. We also add the following to our cart:
· Campo de Montalban (semi-hard Spanish cheese, made of cow, goat and sheep’s milk)
· White Stilton with Mango and Ginger (AGAIN! We always get this)
· And one of Bill’s Christmas Cheddars (Beecher’s Flagship Reserve, Seatle, WA)

We then decide to stop for lunch at the Gap Diner, since we always drove past it. We finally get going, and make the following progress, averaging 30 mpg. The cat and dog actually traveled very well together. No fighting, hiding, or getting sick.
· Left Newark at 10:17 AM
· Estimated Drive Time: 10 hrs, 43 min, Estimated Total Mileage: 627 miles
· Actual Drive Time: 12 hours, 33 min, with 2 hr, 44 min in stops, and actual mileage of 637 miles · Arrived Huntington at 10:50 PM

Dec. 24: Thursday: Spend the morning in Huntington, and head up to G & G B’s for our early Christmas. We then head to my old church for communion, and then up to Roanoke for a Lutheran Christmas Eve service. We sleep at Brian’s house. I’m too tired to make sure someone put out cookies for Santa.

Dec. 25: Friday: My mother ends up not having to work another shift, so we do get to have Christmas morning with my family when she comes home from being at the hospital from 7 pm-7 am.

We then head to Grandma Knight’s and see some of the family there. Little cousin Madison does a good job of leading Cori around like a steer and tiring her out.

Then we make it back up to Huntington to spend the afternoon with Brian's family, including Grandpa Eddie, excluding Mike and Ashley.

Our last stop of the day is the Banter Christmas that evening, where we get to meet baby Dylan.

Dec. 26: Saturday: We head to Ohio for Brian’s family Christmas. After a freakish car malfunction that left us sitting in a parking lot for about 45 minutes, we make it to the party. After eating, the Hutson aunts do an awesome job showering us with gifts for the little one.

Dec. 27: Sunday: Brian and I attend my church for worship, and then I have a “last super” (before one of us is a mother) with Mariah and Ashley. Following this we head to my second baby shower, hosted by my sister. She did a great job with it! We did the candy-diaper game, one where they had to guess my girth, a guessing game, and also the game where you lose your necklace if you say “baby”. It was cute, and pretty fun. My older sister in Alaska got to attend over the internet through Skype, which was really cool. I’m not much for video cameras, and this had the same feeling to it, so it took a while to get used to, but it was really awesome. Nephew Aydan acted like it was totally normal for him though. Good food and great gifts rounded out the shower.

(Pictures from the showers to come...)

Dec. 28: Monday. This was our first break in a while. We returned one double gift we got, went to the Bath & Body Yellow Sale (a personal favorite of my mothers, and a big surprise to Brian-“This normally costs $12????” Everyone in the store heard his opinion on the price for a bottle of lotion), and ate at Biaggi’s for lunch (you can now get refills on the soup!!! I have not had the chicken Florentine in years and was very excited). I got to read through most of “Hunger Games” and Brian spent most of the night playing poker with Matthew and my father.

Dec. 29: Tuesday. We ended up going to see my mother’s new hospital unit… see more in baby update posting. We then headed up to Huntington to have our official Christmas dinner with all of Brian’s siblings.

Dec. 30: Wednesday. Hung around in Huntington all day… I finally finished this needlepoint for baby Alison. I almost had it done with she was born, but it took me forever to get the last details done. Picked up “Chasing Fire” to start reading.
Cori had a lot of fun playing with Gus, most of the time. She had more energy to play than he did though, and he got grouchy about it a few times. Here they are in her cage together.... they both went in together on their own.

Dec. 31: Thursday. We had a busy day, having breakfast with my grandparents, and then eventually heading over to Megan and Ben's for a late lunch. She made us really tasty chilly, and we enjoyed some time with them. My sister thinks she is moving to Germany soon to live with Ben while he is still in training, but I'm not thinking about that until I see the actual orders in her hands.

We then have a quiet New Year's celebration with each other. For TEN years (!!!) Brian and I have visited the Marion lights every New Year's eve. We continued that again this year, and then headed to Ivanhoe's for tenderloins and ice cream. It was fantastic, and a nice little quite night together. We then headed to my parents where Brian worked on cooking meatballs and I fell asleep long before midnight. Brian missed waking me up to see the ball drop, but we said our "Happy New Years" a few minutes later.

Jan. 1: Friday. We partipated in my cousin Joel's 8th Annual Meatball Contest. There were 13th entries.  Even with crumbled bacon on his, Brian was not able to pull out a win. Afterwards we spent over an hour packing the car, getting almost all the Christmas and baby gifts in the car. We finished with dinner at BWW with Kari & Josh and Mariah & Kory. Even though it was absolutely FREEZING out, we finished off with DQ ice cream. My ribs hurt quite a bit after today-I think it was all the giggling.

Jan. 2: Saturday. We attended our last Christmas party in Toledo at Brian's grandpa's. Afterwards we drove straight through for nine hours and finally arrived home. Unpacking and getting our house back in running order will be on the agenda until we go back to work on Monday.