Vera Bradley x New Hope Girls.

     Starting off this new week by sharing my first spring outfit of 2020, and introducing y'all to some cute bags for a great cause. Happy Monday!

Photos by Meredith Sledge Photography

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Sweater // Jeans // Shoes {old, very similar here} // Earrings c/o {sold out, similar here} // Necklace {old, very similar here} // Tote bag c/o // Hobo bag c/o // 

     Long before I was a fan of Lilly Pulitzer or Kate Spade or Tory Burch.... I was obsessed with Vera Bradley. I asked for a purse in their iconic Java Blue print for my 13th birthday, and it was probably one of my favorite birthday gifts of my whole childhood! That's the bag that started my love of it, and for the rest of high school and college I had tons of their stuff. I would say my obsession really peaked around my freshman year of college, which was also my first year blogging! You can check out this super old blog post from 2013 (!!!) to see how big my collection got to be during that year. 😊I also still have and use many of those same items today- the quality on Vera Bradley is wonderful and the items really do hold up.

     I was incredibly honored when the Vera Bradley team reached out to me last month to see if I would be interested in sharing about their second annual collaboration with New Hope Girls. If only my 18 year old self had known that years later I'd get to partner with this brand (and that I'd still be blogging in 2020!)- I probably would've freaked out! Haha.  

     Anyways- New Hope Girls is an incredible nonprofit that’s helping the most vulnerable women and girls in need. They operate a safe house in the Dominican Republic for women and girls in dire situations, giving them a place of refuge peace. They also have a thriving workshop where ladies can find safe employment. For the second year in a row, they’ve teamed up with Vera Bradley to release limited edition bags in a beautiful exclusive print, which went on sale yesterday to celebrate International Women's Day! Last year’s collaboration sold out very quickly, so if you’re interested in purchasing one of this year’s beautiful bags, check them out ASAP!

     A sincere thank you Vera Bradley for gifting me with these bags- each time I use them I will think of New Hope Girls and the incredible mission that they’re supporting! I already know they'll both make perfect bags for pool days this spring and summer, and I can't wait to use them for other things as well. You can never have too many tote bags especially! I was gifted these two bags by Vera Bradley so that I could share them on Instagram- but I truly liked them so much (and love the mission of New Hope Girls) that I also wanted to share them here on the blog too. 😍

     Now for some less fun news- my car broke down on Friday night while I was at a workout class, and I had to get it towed. The place I brought it to didn't have time to see it on Saturday, so it will finally be getting looked at today. I'm still driving my first car from high school so it's definitely older. I was hoping to get another 1-2 years out of it- fingers crossed it isn't something super serious! I am thankful this weekend that I was able to borrow station vehicles from work to still get around a bit. 

      God Bless,

      xoxo Annaliese