About Vera Bradley & Others

Vera Bradley I believe is one of the designers who really helped pioneer the use of fabrics other than vinyl, leather, and leather-look in making handbags. Her bags are mostly quilted cottons. She has allowed people to understand that a nice quality handbag can be made out of many different textures. Other designers who use odd materials to produce interesting handbags: ~Whiting & Davis for their use of metal mesh in their handbags ~Ecoist for their use of recycled materials such as candy wrappers. They have some really cool bags. ~ Wendy Stevens for her use of sheet metal and leather combination, her bags look like works of art you want to display them in a museum. (You can purchase one if you can afford it ;) at www.guild.com If you like to do your part whether it is helping the environment, helping tsunami victims, or helping African women crafters make an income, these are some companies whose products benefit these causes: http://www.ecoist.com/ www.eco-handbags.ca www.laga-handbags.com www.lucuma.com www.ethnicsupplies.co.uk/

It's all relative really

I received an email from my cousin the other day; in it she was trying to convince/encourage me to press forward and do the things that could turn me from worker bee to employer or at the very least successful employee. I told her I was not quite decided about the financial advisor thing and she asked me what was I working on right now, that I could not give the program a try. I told her I was trying to work on my handbags (even Vera Bradley* started small), so she emailed me back and told me to get started and she wanted to buy one so that she could help promote them and give me feedback. I was actually going to give away a few of them to some family and friends so that I could get word of mouth advertising. My cousin thinks she is being persistent, and she is right she is. I am glad for that, because I actually have someone to encourage me to do better and finally pursue my goals, because sometimes I get mentally setback and discouraged when I think about everything I need to do and how I will pay my bills etc. Growing up I never really had any direct first cousins who I grew up with. My cousins were second and third cousins; my mothers cousins and their kids. I was raised around my mother's sister (my aunt Deborah- didn't have kids) who she spent most of her life growing up with. I always knew however that on my Mother's side I had two more aunts; one on her Mother's side and one on her Father's side. My Mom's Mother died when she was still a kid and her other sister by her Mother (My Aunt Janice) stayed with their Mother's relatives, while my Mom and my Aunt Deborah lived with their Father. When they became adults my Mother and my Aunt Deborah did not keep in good contact with my Aunt Janice and my Aunt Darnelia, not because they had bad relationships or anything, but because unfortunately sometimes when relatives move away they are bad at keeping up with other relatives once they start their own families. So I never really had contact with any first cousins. A few years ago my cousin through my Aunt Janice, got in contact with my Aunt Deborah and we have been able to meet each other after all these years. She is a really sweet person and loves her relatives. It would have been nice to have grown up with her. Now she is trying to persuade and encourage me-that's cool. I think I do need to get back on track because I have put the production process off to the side for the past week and I really do need to get back on track...Press forward, keep moving, race towards the finish line! *Note: Vera Bradley handbag designer-signature style= quilted handbags of paisley and floral persuasion