Up & running and Vera Bradley sale

I am finally up and running with my new Internet provider. I got a lot of things accomplished while taking a somewhat computer break. But its nice to be able to check things on my own computer when I want to, not on someone else schedule.

Yesterday my mom, sister, daughter and myself went to Fort Wayne, IN to the Vera Bradley purse sale. Not sure if you are familiar with these type of purses but they are wonderful. So many styles, so many colors, so roomy, so many accessories to put in the purses. If you haven't heard of these purses you should check out their website. They are a little on the pricey side if you buy them retail but they last forever. You can throw them in the washing machine when dirty and they come out looking like new.

Once a year they have a big sale with the retired colors and styles. The factory is in Fort Wayne and her main store. This sale was held at the Fort Wayne Colisium which is a huge place. I thought I took a picture of the outside of the place but when I got home I realized I didn't. It took us 2hrs to get there. Mom, my daughter Amanda and I had never been to this sale before but my sister Lisa had. She went last year and was saying it was fun and the group she went with went in and got their purchases and checked out. Didn't take too long. WELL...this year was a mad house. First off when we paid to park they told us it would be at least a 2 hr delay just to get in. We saw the lines and were stunned. There were lines wrapped around 4 rows of cars on the side of the building. Here is a little bit of the line on the side.
Here is the picture of the line when it came around the front of the building and you can't even see the doors yet. There was maybe another 2 blocks to go just to get to the doors. All in all we waited about 1hr 45 min just to get into the doors.

This is what we saw when we finally got into the main area where the sale was going on. It was like a feeding frenzy. LOL I could not believe it. I was not prepared for this. They gave you this big pink plastic garbage bag and off you went. You pretty much just had to put things in your bag you liked as you saw them and then decide later if you wanted them or not. Things were going fast.

Here is my sister and daughter (in middle of pic, blue shirt to the right of lady in white sweater) my daughter was going through one of the numerous piles on the floor that people had put their unwanted items. They had bins all over the place with discarded items that you could go through and hopefully find what you were looking for.

Here is a pile of wallets on one of the tables. They kept things well stocked up throughout the day. And they emptied out quickly.

Here is a table with some boxes of pajama pants and in the background you can see people waiting in line to checkout in the next room. The line to checkout had started over behind the wallet table above that was 5 rows back.

We walked out into the lobby area and then into another room to checkout. I about dropped my jaw when I saw this. This room was as big as the sale room and they had 13 rows of people waiting to checkout. This picture is just going into the room we hadn't even gotten into line. Now mind you we had already stood in line to get in, shopped for about 2hrs, then walked into this.

Here we are in line in the first of 13 rows. I could not believe the amount of bags some people had and the many ingenious ways people were pulling, carrying, tugging their bags. Some had extra bags tied together and then around their bags so they could pull them. Some had stuff in boxes and were shoving or pulling them. Some even had brough rope to tie their bags together and were pulling them through the lines. I had to chuckle.

I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the checkouts. They were trying to get people moving through as quickly as possible which was good. But not enough time to take any pictures. There were approximatly 60 registers. Everyone was really nice and friendly. I never saw anyone with a frown on their face. This sale had been going on since last Wednesday. I can't even fathom the amount of people, merchandise and money that flowed through that place.

I personally spent a total of $15. And those were for gifts which are not shown here. This picture is of my new items that my daughter bought for me. I had planned on buying these but while going through the checkout lines my daughter ask if I minded if she paid for them and they could be my Mother's Day gift. I didn't mind at all and she is so sweet and does things like that all the time. She is so good to me. My things cost $118 and when we got home we added up what it would have cost retail and mine would have come to $695. So I did alright. My daughter spent about $250 for her items and it would have come to $960. My granddaughter now has a couple of these purses too. We picked her up some things. My mom spent $175 and my sister spent $200. They both also had picked up some things for other people that was included in their total.

All in all it was a wonderful day. Tiring and we all were sore and could barely move to get out of the car when we stopped to get something to eat. We walked and walked and stood in line so much yesterday. I know when I got home and put my things away I got in my pj's and sat in the recliner with some iced tea and passed out. My body ached but feels better this morning. Even though it was a long day we all are looking forward to going back next year. You can't beat the prices.

I know this was long but I hope you enjoyed the pics. I need to finish up going through my container of purses and get rid of the ones I don't use anymore so I can put my new things in it. Now I just have to decide which purse I want to use this week. I have a tendency to change purses all the time. And I also picked up a backpack which is in the above pic top left, I am going to use that for work to carry my things I need in it. Oh and I just realized I forgot to add the insulated lunch bag that I also got. It's really nice and will come in handy taking things to work.

I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the day. Its sunny here today and about 65 so going to open up the windows and let some fresh air in. Take care and be safe.