See that purse in the photo above? That's a beautiful Cole Haan bag that my sweet hottie hubs bought for me a couple years ago for my birthday or some other holiday or occasion momentous enough to warrant a purchase such as a new handbag. (I've trained him well) :) I loved that purse. I carried it and carried it and carried and loved every minute of it. It's the softest, most supple leather and that buttery yellow.....well, it was just a very nearly perfect purse. That is, until the day I discovered that every time I carried it while wearing jeans, I was slowly killing my purse. You see, the denim in my jeans was rubbing on the purse when the purse was on my shoulder and was turning that soft, supple buttery yellow into a nasty shade of blue-ish green! Ack! My purse! My beautiful Cole Haan! Boo! See, I wear jeans a lot. Apparently a whole lot, judging by the sorry state of my purse. It got to looking horrible. I mean, really really bad. I tried leather cleaner and I think I made matter's worse. They certainly weren't improving -- I can tell you that much. I was so sad. I had carried the Cole Haan for a long time but I had to let her go. I put her in a body bag in the closet and that's where she stayed for probably a year. She was ruined forever. Or so I thought.
(This is the part of the show where I sing Cole Haan's praises.) Usually, if Bart's going to buy something as luxurious (read: spendy) as a Cole Haan bag, he doesn't buy it in the store. He researches and shops online and eventually buys a brand new one for way less money on ebay. It's that manly "thrill of the hunt" thing, I guess. But that doesn't stop us from enjoying an occasional trip IN the actual Cole Haan store, so a few weeks back we were in the store on the Plaza browsing around and I guess I was in a particularly chatty mood and the sales girl was being ever-so-friendly and one thing led to another and I told her of the demise of my beautiful buttery bag. That's when SHE told ME that I could bring it in to them and they'd send it off to their "restoration guy" and he could attempt to clean it -- for a mere $30!! I said, "$30?! Are you kidding me? To restore the life of my buttery baby? Where do I sign up?!" And so, a few days later, we took 'ole butter bag into the Cole Haan store and left her with the sales clerk. I must admit, I was completely skeptical. She looked even worse than I'd remembered. However, we paid the $30, gave them our address so they could ship her back to us, said our goodbyes with the dearly departed hand bag and left the store.
Yesterday however, my dear beautiful buttery delight was returned to me. The FedEx man brought her home. I carefully opened the box, unsure of what I would find inside. What would she look like? Would I be able to use her again? I can't tell you how ELATED I was to see her looking AS GOOD AS NEW!!! She's been cleaned, reconditioned and restored to her former glory and I never thought it possible! And all that for the low, low price of only $30 -- including shipping it back to me! Oh happy day! The sun is shining......a beautiful shade of buttery yellow all across the land.
And as if all that yellow wasn't enough to excite me, just check out the exciting GREEN in this photo!! Our first tomatoes of the season are popping their pretty little heads out to see what's going on in the world. See that tomato? And the teensy one just to the left of it? And the bigger one behind them both? I was almost giddy when I spotted these little guys this week! I had to run and take a photo to share with you. Those tomatoes represent hope, and life, and growth, and progress, and salsa, and salads!! LOL!
Oh, and one more bit of happiness to share with you. Remember when I told you about this book? And how you could get it for just $2.99 from Lifeway Christian Stores?
And I told you that I couldn't wait to get the next two in the series?
Well, the best deal I'd seen on them anywhere was at amazon for a little over $10 each. However, I was bee-bopping thru Sam's Club the other day and they had all 3 books for $7.67 each! SCORE! I don't think I have to tell you that I snatched up the books and ran for the checkout! :)
Hope your day is awesome, Sweets!
I'll chat atchya soon,
