Do you Vera?

There are people I know that talk about Vera Bradley on a regular basis, and I also visit a particular store (owned by one of those people) that happens to carry Vera, so I've seen the purses and such. And they're not really my style as they're very flowery and colorful, and I've never really had purses like that. Not to mention the fact that I'm not really a purse person. Oh, yeah, I've always had purses, but I usually have very basic ones, not ones to match every outfit, and I've never really been one to spend any significant amount of money on purses - I usually buy ones that cost about $20 from Mervyns.

But a couple of months ago, I saw a new line of Veras called microfibre that I kind of liked because they were more basic. The manager of the store I mentioned refers to them as training purses or the "my first Vera" line. And they weren't terribly expensive. Hmmm.

I thought about stopping by the store this week on one of the days I'd taken off to finish my Christmas shopping, but the husband and I ended up being in the area on Sunday for another matter that turned out to be a bust, and which I will be blogging about on a later date. As we were leaving the other place, we happened to drive past the store, and I noticed they were open. Ummm, they're not open on Sundays. OK, so I didn't think about it being right before Christmas and so that might account for them being open on a Sunday. Since we were there anyway, I decided to stop in so I wouldn't have to make a second trip a few days later.

So, I'm browsing the Veras, and the store owner came out to say hi and mentioned that the purses were actually on sale. Oh.

I had looked online at the microfiber line (I liked the black better than the brown) and seen two styles that I kind of liked, but the store didn't have either of them in stock, though I'll admit that while I do remember one style being the Lil' Hipster, I can't remember what the other style was. And then I saw Lil' Hipster ones in other styles, and it didn't turn out to be quite what I expected. It was too flat for my uses - I always have stuff in my purse that's not flat. And in looking at the microfiber in person again, they looked a bit dull. So I browsed the other styles that were available. And found some I liked.

I really liked the Kensington print, and I ended up getting the bucket tote. (And because I'm weird like that, it helped that I have a particular affection for the name since it reminds me of Kensington Palace.) I liked the tote as well, especially the clasp, but it didn't have an outside pocket, which I wanted, so I went with the bucket tote.





I also really liked the Yellow Bird print, and I ended up getting the Sherry. Nice name, huh? ;) It's really cute, and it's smaller, so while it's not an everyday purse for me, I think it will work really well for evenings out to the theatre. I have other dress purses that I've been using, but while they're cute, they're really not very practical because they're so small that I don't have enough room to carry my essentials *and* my celphone.





I also saw some celphone holders and tried to find one in either the Kensington or the Yellow Bird, but there weren't any of those in stock. I found one in the Pink Elephants line, and for some reason, I just thought it was really cute, so I bought that. I don't think it clashes with either the Kensington or Yellow Bird, but it's also convenient because you can clip it so it's easy to find.





In looking around at the various items in the store, I did wonder why Vera made a case to hold a Twinkie in. ;)



OK, so I now own three Vera items. And for my birthday this year, a very good friend very generously gave me a Coach purse, which is the purse I'm using everyday currently. I realized earlier this year that I also have a Liz Claiborne purse from some time ago, before I knew that was any kind of name brand. I don't recall buying it, so it must have been a gift. I didn't pay attention to the name - I just liked the purse. I don't use it very often because it's a "hang on the arm" purse whereas I generally prefer "over the shoulder" purses, especially when I'm shopping and want to have my hands free.

Shhh, don't tell anyone, but I might actually have some semblance of a girlie gene after all! ;)