The Vera Bradley Sale

Kalisha likes to do what other people are doing. I know that we all like to do that, but Kalisha can become obsessed with it pretty quickly. She, for several years, had talked about going to the annual Vera Bradley sale which is a H_U_G_E annual 4 day event in Fort Wayne, IN.
 Since she is an Indianapolis Colts fan, most of her purses and bags are Colts related. I continued to dissuade her about going; the lines are long, things are expensive, you don't carry that kind of purse, etc. A year ago, she convinced me to take her to the coliseum on the last day of the sale when things are marked down even more. We stood in a line that snaked back and forth across the parking lot for about 2 miles. When we finally got inside, she found a pattern she liked and we stood in another line. This one went back and forth ( like the lines at Disney World  ) until we got to chechout. People come from all 50 states to this sale (10,000+)
While we were there, she talked to lots of people who bought items to take home and sell on E-bay. I could see the wheels turning! As soon as she got home, she was searching E-bay for some matching pieces that were not available at the sale. She didn't find any, but she did find a 'retired' pattern that she fell in love with. It had tiny pink elephants on it. She bought a backpack and a purse in the elephant pattern. She wanted a cell phone cover and a wallet to match.
She was going to sell the first pattern she bought so she could afford the elephant pattern she really liked. She found an elephant cell phone cover on Craigslist for $5. She made arrangements with the seller (in Ohio) to meet her in Fort Wayne to buy the cell phone cover.
I came home from work one day to find her with blisters on her feet. She had read a garage sale ad in the newspaper that advertised Vera Bradley things. It gave an address but no phone number. She thought she knew where that street was, so she walked (many, many blocks from home) there and back. Was her hunt successful? No, there were no elephant patterns there.
I realize that this sounds like Kalisha is pretty smart to locate all of this stuff. Well, that part is true, but you see, she doesn't ever think of the whole picture. She gets blinders on when she is on a quest for something and nothing stops her. This has proven dangerous on more than one occasion.
We were invited to a 50th anniversary party for my cousin and her husband. When Kalisha found out that their daughter-in-law is a very important person within the Vera Bradley business, she was on it! She found Jolene (not her real name) and asked her if she could get her some pink elephant stuff. Jolene was so sweet and gracious and talked to Kalisha for a long time. When we left, she had given Kalisha her e-mail address at work and told her to contact her the next year when it was time for the sale again. You certainly don't think she forgot, do you?
She e-mailed Jolene and asked if she could work at the sale...this is the girl who doesn't like chaos, ok?.

Jolene said they had enough help, but she would send us 2 VIP tickets and our registrations. That enabled us to go on the first night when it is by invitation only and the crowds aren't nearly as big. We still had to stand in line to get in, but not very long. Kalisha found a pattern she liked and bought a few pieces. She is going to sell what she bought last year, but will always keep the pink elephants.
Kalisha has to spend her own money on this and she had a set amount that she could spend.
She has absolutely no concept of the cost of things. One of her favorite sayings in regards to price is "That's not bad." The only problem is that she says that about any price. If I told her about an ad for a large pizza for $150.00, she would say "That's not bad."
That is one of the reasons she can't carry her debit card any more.