Purses Galore

I recently bought a fabulous purple purse at Shecky's Girls Night Out kind of on a whim.  Meghan and I were wandering around the show and we came to this booth that had all kinds of purses for sale.  We were both drawn to two different purses, but decided to check out the rest of the vendors and come back later.  We figured if they were still there it was a sign we ought to own them.  When we returned to the stall we found both were still there and immediately made the purchases.  As an added bonus, because we were so polite while two really cranky ladies were harassing the vendor as she was ringing us up, she threw in a purse hook for each of us.  Sweet!

I was so thrilled with what I bought, I had to show it off to everyone at work.  I also emailed the guys I used to work with on the flight line for fun.  They have had a history of teasing me over my purse collection and I thought they would want to know there was a latest addition!  Their favorite was my "shinny bucket" which they always told me was really a weapon or some sort of mirror device to check my teeth after lunch or be forewarned of people sneaking up on me.  It also went against the rule of No Fu Fu on the Flight line!  I got numerous emails back with all sorts of comments regarding my taste in purses.  In fact one of them requested a group photo of my purses so they could see the brilliant collection all together.

I happen to like my eclectic collection and each one of them has some sort of story behind them.  The first couple I ever bought were more of less the functional kind.  One black one (in front) and one brown one (back right).  I branched out with a blue one (back right) because it is my favorite color and I thought the purse was cute.  I acquired a few from gifts and beauty purchases and carefully hand picked the rest.  Those particular ones (Shake Your Coconuts - back left, Red clutch - right center, Patchwork - front center, Swirl Cyclone - front right, and the Purple - back center) all were purchased because they made me feel giddy in some way or another.  After some thought, I have decided this is pretty much my main criteria for selecting what I buy.  The only other thing that gets factored in is price, but that weighs in less if I am head over heals in love with one.  So far that hasn't been an issue as I happen to some luck finding great deals.

I hope to expand upon this collection as time goes on with all kinds of fun options for a carryall.  I just received a $30 gift certificate for completing a survey for eBags.com and I am overwhelmed by the choices.  I have found a handful that I would be really happy with, but picking just one is going to be hard.  But it will be unique and it will make me happy!

Girls Night

Friday night was an official girls night out. It's been a while since I had one of these, so it was long overdue. A couple of co-workers/friends of mine and I decided we were going to go grab a bite to eat and then see the musical HONK at my old high school.

We decided to keep it real local and eat at the famed B-ville diner located in downtown Baldwinsville. This place is known for it's retro diner style, decent prices, and their pies. Heidi and I got talking about pies starting at about 10am on Friday morning and it proceeded to remain on our minds for the remainder of the day. By the time we got there, we were tempted to skip dinner all together and just gorge ourselves on pie. That would have been heavenly. Instead we ordered food and then got pie after. I tried their peanut butter pie - it was to die for. Heidi and Jenn both went with apple with ice cream on the side. I just can't do any apple pie unless it's my own. I am an apple pie snob.


We made it over to my high school to watch their musical HONK. It brought back so many memories for me. For the four years of high school I was involved in the musicals in some way, shape, or form. The first year I think I mostly just hung around helping where ever I could and eventually found my way to the spot light crew and spent 3 years helping there. My senior year I decided to change it up a bit and went over to the pit band. That was a lot of fun and I had front row seats! I had never heard of this musical until we found out it was what Phoenix was doing this year. It's based on the tale of the Ugly Duckling. I thought the high school did a wonderful job with putting it on.

The girls and I decided pie night needs to happen more and since high school musicals only happen once a year, we will have to find other activities to fill in for that part of the evening. :)

I <3 Shecky's Girls Night Out

Twice a year a magical thing happens in Atlanta. Shecky's Girls Night Out comes to town and spreads cheer all over the city! It has been in town for two days (last night and tonight) and a bunch of Lockheed girls went tonight. With no work tomorrow, it's perfect timing!

If you sign up to go with a friend you can get "Two For One Goodie Bag Tickets" for $25. This gets you in the door, the fabulous (and I do mean FABULOUS) goodie bag, plus drinks all night. At first I thought this was silly, but then I thought about it. If I had two beers while I was there the ticket had paid for itself nevermind the goodie bag worth "over $100" (their estimates, not mine).

When Mrs. Volker and I got there tonight we picked up the goodie bags immediately. They were busting at the seams and weighed about 10 pounds. I opened it up and pawed through it. Oh my god. It's like it knew what I wanted! Three bars of Lindt chocolate, hair ties, Aveeno sunblock and body wash, two bottles of flavored water (hello 10 pound bag), coffee, Dove samples, toothpaste, teeth whitening trays, a new razor (as opposed to an old one), and other trinkets.

Needless to say, I could have gone home then a happy camper, but we stuck around for a while. We did the beer and food pairing, had a few drinks, shopped, and even made some purchases. I got a cute little purse and an awesome necklace.

They were also handing out FREE manicures if you signed up for them. They gave us the bottle of OPI nail polish they used when they were done. I don't normally paint my finger nails, but if someone wants to do it for me, I am not going to turn them down.

Overall, A++ night and the company wasn't too shabby either. Good times all around. Six more months until it comes back to town. At least it's frequency is better than Christmas. :)

Girls Night In

This past Saturday I did something different. Instead of doing girls night out, four of us, Ashleigh, Heidi, Jen and myself all stayed in at the estate de Ashleigh and Dan. Dan went to play in Vegas for a bachelor party so the girls took over the house.

We started out with a trip to a matinée to see the undoubtedly biggest chick flick in the theaters, Made of Honor. It was a decent film, but probably not going to be nominated for anything. The annoying part about seeing a chick flick in the afternoon is that all the chicks want to chat through it. That aside, it was a good time. Ashleigh even put the top of her convertible down on the way home. WHEEE!!

Getting back to the house, Ashleigh made wonderful grilled deliciousness for us. Grilled fish, shrimp, and veggies. I need to own a grill. Seems silly I have to buy a house first. Whatever... Then we really busted into the cocktails, played on the Ouija board, got answers to life's most pondering questions from a spirit named Be, and got silly and called some boys. In the morning we made pancakes. YUMMY!

So yeah, we are not teens, but teens normally don't know how to cook, need parental supervision and can't drink. So there. :P And no, still no pillow fights, sorry guys.

Shecky's Girls Night Out

This past Thursday I was invited to do this Shecky's Girls Night Out. In an effort to just get out and do things, I said sure why not. It sounds like fun anyway. The idea is, they take over the lobby of a hotel and pour in vendors of things woman love to shop for like purses, jewelry, clothes, and other random stuff. Then they offer you free drinks while you are there, some wine, beer, and chambord. They also give you a goodie bag full of free stuff with your ticket. So we paid $13 to get in and do all of this. I didn't think it was a bad deal.

To be honest, there was a lot of tacky stuff (and people) there. It was entertaining just looking around. Some tables were hard to get a look at so we just made the rounds. We meandered a bit, stopped to grip about work while nice people brought us refills. Then went back shopping. I did find something I really liked for a reasonable price. It's pictured below. It reminds me of the necklace from Lord of the Rings.


We headed for a bar to get some munchies and then onward to home not to long after. Well I spilled out my goodie bag to see what I hauled in. I got some active hair rubber bands and head bands, a free compact brush, a pair of underwear, a trail size Lara Bar, a fill size skin milk hand wash, a free beauty magazine, and a free book. Overall a decent haul. Then I look closer at the magazine and the book.

The magazine has on it "New products and procedures that really work, from wrinkle creams to liposuctions, lasers to botox, experts reveal their secrets". Nice. The book is called "Change Your Looks, Change Your Life - Quick fixes and cosmetic surgery solutions for looking younger, feeling healthier, and living better" So much for being happy with who you are.

Overall, it was a fun night and I really do like my new necklace, just poor choice in reading materials.

Girls Night

What a fun night it can be. I never really understood why people would attend these or I guess I should say that I never really grasped the concept of having them. Well since moving to GA there have been a number of them that I have been invited to and quite a few I have participated in. These particular girls nights are we low key people who just want to have a good time. We don't go crazy drinking, hit up strip clubs (although always an option here in the ATL apparently), or trying to pick up guys in bars.

That being said, we did spend the night before St. Patrick's Day in a bar, however no one was really looking for a date, half are married, a quarter are dating, and the others ere quite turned off from the males present. No doubt a smart choice for them. But we have also done pizza and bowling, dinner and a movie, dinner and a play, etc. Simple things that woman like to do. Tonight is dinner and a movie (chick flick too) and it's going to be a lot of fun.

The girls that go aren't catty. I don't see them enough for them to seem that way to me even if they are. They are good, fun people. I guess my perception of girls nights were tainted by movies and preconceived notions. Most of the woman at these things don't go out with many people other than their husbands or boyfriends except for these girls nights. I thought that was odd, surely they must go out, everyone does. Turns out a large majority are looking for friendly people to hang out with just like me. For some reason this totally surprised me, but it's been nice to know I am not alone. In fact it's something to bond over. I appreciate girls nights now because I get to go have fun with random people who are there for the same reasons I am, unload about daily life, share jokes, and enjoy ourselves. We keep it to once a month and change it up. I haven't seen an invite for any repeat events yet which is always refreshing. I finally seem to be embracing the girl thing; wearing pink and purple and going out with the girls. It's a start!

To the males reading, no pillows fights have ensued and I am fairly certain it won't happen. Sorry, but I felt I should be upfront about these things.