Frankly Scarlet, I do give a damn!

First off, congratulations to Lisa E and Diana who each won the North 26 super coupons! YAY!! I will be in touch to get them to you. I still have two more left, so if you like FREE STUFF, go and post a comment on the contest entry. You can't win if you don't play, like they say.

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I have made no secret about the fact that I am a pocketbook fanatic: some people go crazy for shoes; I yearn for handbags. About ten years or so ago, my Aunt K made a gift of Vera Bradley bags to my mom and Sister K for their birthdays and wondered if I would like one for Christmas. I was decidedly against it, declaring that they were nice enough, but not for me, for people of her generation. Fast forward to today when I adore Vera Bradley.

In my defense, those early VB bags were in rather neutral patterns and had no pockets (something I find ESSENTIAL in a purse or tote.) Now they are in bolder colors and busy patterns and have lots of pockets and even key clips. I love that VB is keeping things fresh by coming up with new patterns and styles every season. So, yes, I had to eat my own words about Vera Bradley, and the irony of the whole thing is that I usually end up acquiring more VB bits and bobbles when I am down on the Cape visiting my aunt. (She loves to remind me that they are for people of her generation.)

My absolute favorite pattern is Frankly Scarlet, which is a bold shade of red with medallions in pink, black, white, and a wee bit of purple. I noticed it shortly after it was released and fell in love, not only with the name (LOVE GWTW), but with the cool combination of red, pink and black. Before this pattern came out, I was a pattern dabbler, getting things in this and that color, but not settling on any one thing. I espoused the idea it was better not to have everything be so "matchy matchy", but I think that the reality was that I couldn't settle on one thing. But Frankly Scarlet was different, and I knew that I had finally found my pattern. Now I just needed to go about pulling together a collection of traveling bags.

Now the downside to VB introducing new patterns all the time is that they retire old ones, and, to my initial great disappointment, FS was discontinued last year. However, the upside to having a retired pattern be "your pattern" is that all of the items in that pattern go on sale! You know what that means? Let the hording begin!! Before it was discontinued, I had three pieces in VB's Frankly Scarlet (the "Overnighter", a makeup bag and a wristlet). (As the bags aren't cheap, I thought that was a fairly good sized collection.) Since then have managed to track down a duffel bag, 2 totes, 3 makeup bags (of varying sizes), and a wallet, each of which was about half of the original price - which just makes thing. My friend Maggie, who shares my love of all things Vera, made me a gift of a key fob in the pattern too. At last, I can say, "my collection is complete."

The moral of this tale is that sometimes it is okay when things you love get discontinued. And that matching luggage is quite the thing.