what I'm obsessed with mocking today

Back in the day, I used to be a big fan of Vera Bradley. The bags were cute, fun, preppy, well-made, and not totally ubiquitous. Slowly, the patterns started getting uglier, the quality declined, and suddenly, everyone from girl scouts to old ladies was carrying these bags. I have not purchased a Vera bag in quite some time, and have not liked any of their new stuff. I still receive their emails and their catalog, and when I received this in my inbox, it was too good not to share.

Introducing Frill, by Vera Bradley. It is, and I quote: "a new take on Vera Bradley! Sleek and shiny texture, patent details, and pretty bows..." The collection looks much worse than described, and to top it off, all of the bags are named after text message lingo a la the IDK my BFF Jill commercial.

My personal favorite from all of this? Well, it really is hard to find just one item, but I will have to go with the $94, shiny, Daisy print, LYLAS backpack. For anyone who is not up on their teenspeak and needs to Urban Dictionary this, let me tell you that LYLAS stands for Love Ya Like A Sis. Thank you Vera Bradley for enriching my vocabulary.

Does anyone want to take bets on how long it will be before Vera Bradley is sold exclusively at Claire's Accessories?

favorite things

Hope everyone had a good week and enjoyed better weather than us NYC people did. Rain ALL week. It finally stopped but only for a few hours apparently. I guess April showers don't actually end in April? I thought this week it would be appropriate to do an umbrella post. I don't like plain black umbrellas and love quirky, fun, colorful ones. I think they are a fun way to stand out from the crowd and can brighten up a dreary day. (I despise things falling out of the sky with a passion- rain, hail, and don't even get me started on snow.)

The first umbrella on this list actually is black, with a twist. The inside is blue with white clouds, based on a painting from one of my favorite artists, Rene Magritte. $35 from the Art Institute of Chicago shop.

Next is an anything-but-black umbrella from Vera Bradley. A few years ago, I was really into Vera Bradley and acquired a rather large collection. When it became trendier and turned into something that everyone and their mother started carrying, I lost interest and have since then started getting rid of my collection. However, I love the new Bali Gold print, and think that it is great for accessories, like this umbrella. ($28)

A fun, uber-girly one from one of my new favorite stores, SB Design Studio. ($34.95)

The umbrella I currently use: (don't have an actual picture of it, taken from the website)

A blue monogrammed A. Tierney. I got the children's sized umbrella at the sample sale which is about the same size as a regular adult umbrella, and got it monogrammed with a hot pink monogram on it. So cute! Available on the website for $18 plus $10 monogramming.

A pretty pink one from Coach. ($88)

A slightly more muted one from J. Crew. ($19.99)Lastly, I found these beautiful umbrellas on a Japanese site. They are attributed to French designer Atelier LZC. The company's site just brings up a white screen and I cannot find them online. However, they are just too pretty to not include. If you speak Japanese, or can figure out how to navigate the site, you can get them here for $38.18.