favorite things...

too bad i'm not rich like oprah.  if i was and you read this title, you would be jumping for glee because you would be getting a whole bunch of loot to call your own.

but i'm not oprah.  and i'm not rich.  so, instead, you get some poorly written captions of things that have been delighting me recently.


Vera Bradley

i got my first vera bag for my first mother's day with asher.  i instantly fell in love.  okay, i am kind of addicted.  i can not stop buying them or requesting them as gifts.  my two faves right now...

the laptop backpack.  i have it in night and day.  i bought this once, returned it because i thought it wasn't big enough, and then ordered it again when i realized i made a mistake.  i use it for school, and i can fit everything i need in it (not all my classes at once, but what i need in a day at least)  i am also planning on using it on vacation to haul around what i need for baby, momma, and daddy as well as our lunches for the day and a guide book.  it will fit it all.  it is lovely, strong, and never feels heavy. 

the bowler.  i have this in lemon parfait.  once i did not need to carry around an entire nursery worth of stuff with me for asher, i started looking for a bag that which could fit all my stuff as well as all of asher's stuff.  this bag fits the bill perfectly.  i can fit my cell phone, keys, huge day planner, bills or mail that i shove in there to remember, a small makeup bag, 2 packs of gum, a wallet, a checkbook, a pill bottle, hand sanitizer, a lighter (no i don't smoke, i'm not sure how it ended up in there), a pen, an inhaler, a tide to go pen, and a travel pack of kleenex, all for me.  it will also hold 2 diapers, a travel pack of wipes, diaper ointment, nasal drops, baby tylenol, a thermometer, a toy car, a small magna-doodle, and a sippy cup for asher, when needed.  everything stays nice and organized in its ton of pockets and compartments.  it is not super huge, medium-large to large purse size i would say.  it is darling.  it can get a little heavy with all that i have stuffed in it, but that is a user error.  i would take 2 more of these in other designs.  i love it that much.  now, if we have another, i will go back to my get carried away to carry all of mine, asher's, and new baby's stuff... but for now this is perfect. i feel like a real person with a normal purse, but nobody knows it is also i a diaper bag.


Scooter's Coffee

i will not try to trick you into thinking this is a healthy snack. what i get is as much dessert as it is coffee.  it is not specialty coffee, it is not artfully crafted, but it is creamy, coffee-ey, sweet, cold, and a bit out of  this world.  it is a blended mocha, which i think they now call an espresso smoothie.  the snickers espresso smoothie (extra shot please) will make you wish you were one of those people who never has to worry about calories taken in so you could drink one a day.  do yourself a favor and try one.


Papa Murphy's Herb Chicken Mediterranean D'Lite Pizza

in my 28 years on this earth, i had never had a papa murphy's pizza until some sweet little girl showed up at my door selling coupons.  she was so shy, she could hardly look at me, and nearly cried when her dad made her tell me how old she was.  i couldn't tell her no.  i bought a whole pack of them.  matthew decided this looked the least offensive of all the pizza's, so one day on my way home from class i stopped and picked one up.  oh.my.gosh.  we want to eat this once a week.  it is so so good.  matthew and asher and i may be able to polish off a family size in one sitting.  and that's not embarrassing at all.  burp.


Virgin Mobile cell phone service

about a year ago we made the switch to prepaid cell phones.  i researched and decided on virgin mobile.  they have lots of plans available, and i encourage you to go check it out.  matthew and i both have android operating system phones with unlimited text, pictures, data, and web, along with 300 talk minutes a month.  i always run out about a day early, matthew never comes anywhere close to running out.  virgin mobile uses sprint's cell towers.  this means we get the same coverage my parent's get with their sprint phones, but at a fraction of the price.  we pay $37.45 per phone a month, all taxes and fees included.  that's it.  on our old service we had just regular old flip phones with no web, no data, the smallest amount of minutes available, and 250 texts a month.  with all taxes and fees we were paying about $110 a month for both cell phones.  we save $37 a month now, and have sweeter phones with service that equals what we had, plus web and data.  we love our virgin mobile phones and can not understand why everyone doesn't do this.


Burt's Bees  Lip Shimmer

i am rarely disappointed with burt's bees products, and this is my new favorite.  it is the same creamy healing formula of the lip chap (at least it seems so to me) but with a touch of color and shimmer.  you get the benefits of the lip balm but the pretty of a gloss or shimmer, plus your husband won't misplace steal lose borrow and forget to return it like often happens with the regular lip chap.  quality of a lip chap, pretty of a lipstick or shimmer, no husband stealing.  win. win. win.


I Love You Stinky Face  by Lisa McCourt and Cyd Moore

asher asks for this book nearly every bedtime.  it is an adorable story of a mama putting her baby boy to bed.  when she says "i love you"  he tries to find out what would make her stop loving him... what if he was a meat eating dinosaur, or a big scary ape, or my personal favorite, a slimy swamp monster. the pictures are endearing and story is sweet.  asher and this mama both love this book tremendously.


The Lumineers

matthew and i first happened upon this band a while ago in a you tube video of their song ho-hey.  matthew scours through hundreds of videos of musicians nearly everyday looking for gems.  this find actually paid off.  we all loved this song right away, asher ho-hey's right along with them.  we were very excited to get the full album when it was released, and i have not been disappointed.  it has become my go to album to listen to in the car.  it is sweet and smart and danceable.  check them out.


i am sure there are tons more things i could put up here... but for now, that's it.  i'll update soon about our vacation, and tell you why we have decided vacations away from home are overrated. glad.to.be.home.  


Comments

  1. So happy to see your post. OK, Burt's Bees.... love it all! I have the shimmer which I would prefer to use over lipstick anytime!!!
    Vera Bradley got me through the baby/toddler years with a sense of dignity.... loved that! Heaven helped the person who actually looked through my bag in those days!!!
    I have a few nieces and nephews and my gift of choice is always books... Love hearing about one that Asher and you love!
    Off to listen to the Lumineers.
    Have a wonderful day!

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  2. nice list!
    question, did you have to initially pay that high price for the actual phones to use with the data package?
    just curious.

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  3. so, I'm looking into this whole Virgin Mobile thing and you might have sold me on it....but, do they have any mobile to mobile deals? I can't find info or fine print on it.

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  4. juli,

    yes we had to pay bigger bucks for our phones than people with phone plans normally pay... however, with our monthly savings our phones quickly payed for themselves. i bought my phone last year for $200. matthew started with a only phone and text plan on a cheap phone which cost $30. the day after thanksgiving we got him the same phone i had, but paid $50 for it.

    with a phone plan we usually got a phone in the $50-75 range, so this was a little more out of pocket initially. my dad always gets the newest and best phone every 2 years when his nenewal comes up and pays $200 or more even with his 2 year renewal discount on the phone.

    virgin just announced that at the end of the month they will have the iphone 4 available. with the phone purchase (somewhere in the $400-$500 range) you also get a $5 a month discount if you set up for automatic payments. the out of pocket cost for that phone is still too great for me... but i am sure people will be jumping over that.

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  5. juli,

    unfortunately there is no discounts like that. every minute to any phone counts as a minute. my sister in law has virgin mobile and buys the plan 1 larger than ours, because she realized the 300 minutes was not enough. still cheaper than phone plan prices.

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  6. juli,

    also, if you activate your phones over the phoen with a rep, they will change your phone number to your new phone for you.

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  7. that is my favorite papa murphy pizza.

    now you've gone and made me REALLY hungry.

    i miss you.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Melinda,
    Thanks for the info! I just saw on the website yesterday about the iPhone! I have a little spreadsheet going to figure out how much savings will be, etc. I was going to add a phone to our existing plan (because I have a crappy blackberry paid for by work), but I need to get my own phone. blackberry devices are awful! I'm waiting to see how much the iPhone is going to cost and will decide then. The savings will be about $45 for just one phone! crazy!
    who knew?

    ReplyDelete

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