Ingenius Recycling

Last week, a co-worker of mine came into the office with some purses that she bought from a charity that handmade them......but they are quite different than most purses you have seen before......they are made out of bras!!!

What I found really funny is that they are made by a ladies group (older ladies) from a Catholic Church that is located just outside Oklahoma City!

From what I can tell, they just sew the cups together and then make the straps into the strap of the purse and the back latch is the top latch of the purse!

Here's one of my friends at work 'modelilng' the purse. They were hilarious!

Here's a traditional white bra - with a floral twist!

And a very ornate black bra with some 'flair'!

The things you DIDN'T think you would see in a typical work day!

The LIGHTS At Night....Are Big And Bright....

As if the Fort Worth lights weren't enough, Chris and I decided to go to the Prairie Lights display in Grand Prairie. We knew TJ would like it and I have wanted to go since last year (never made it).

It is the kind of light display where you drive your car through most of it and then towards the end, you can get out of the car and walk around a different lighted display. Here's the entrance to the event:

They did an amazing job - very cool!

I loved these big huge Christmas presents - they were taller than the truck!

All of the little bridges were lit up - love the pathways that the lights create!

Here we are going into the walking tour:

It was absolutely amazing - SO MANY FREAKING LIGHTS! I love when they wrap the tree trunks in different colors - so cool.

And here's the North Pole.....

And Santa's house - TJ got to see where he lives!

What was just as magical as the lights was the fact that it was in the 50's/40's - and NOT in the 0's like Minnesota would probably be!

Here's Chris and TJ, playing around....

The displays were so creative and cute - I think I had as much fun as TJ!

Here we are having fun in "The North Pole"!

The Lights of Cowtown

Because I am so obsessed with Christmas lights, it should come as no surprise that I went on a bus tour of the Fort Worth lights this year. Mayce, April and I headed to the Stockyards to meet with the other girls.

The Stockyards were decorated all cute for Christmas!

Here we are (Mayce, April and I), waiting for the bus.......

It was a Sunday night, so things weren't too crazy there, which was nice. We ate at the Mexican restaurant at the Stockyards (Habanero's) - it was OK, but not great. Riscky's BBQ is WAY better.

When we were about 1/2 way through the tour, the bus stopped in a parking lot and some teenage carolers came on board and sang us Christmas songs!

And of course, Santa and Mrs. Claus jumped on the bus too - very cute!

Crouching Maggie, Hidden Gift - Year 2

It happened again.....a couple weeks after Mom's visit, I got the following email - indicating that she has hidden Christmas presents in my house for me to look for and find!

This year she made it into a rhyming poem! I'm planning on waiting for a while to search for the presents to make it fun for Christmas, but I may not be able to wait! We'll see......

Hi Lauri

Just a note to let know
presents are not hidden in snow.

One for Maggie is wrapped in green foil, surrounded by festive red
don't bother looking under the bed.

Look high and low, like a riddle
in fact, it may be in the middle
There's no real decoy
It could be a favorite doggie toy.

The present for Lauri is a TX star
No need to spy under the car.

It's heavy in weight
and has no mate.

Hidden behind some softness,
In a place of daily business.

It could be hard to spy,
like something fallen from the sky.

Open a door, check inside
This one cannot be easily spied.

Don't drop it; it might shatter
fall to the floor with a big splatter

Hope you find them for Christmas! Love, mom

Alfred Hitchcock Parking Lot

Last week, I was shopping in Dallas while wasting time before meeting some friends for dinner and I was kind of grossed out in a parking lot - I pulled in and there were a million birds everywhere!

You could barely drive through there - they wouldn't move until the last second. I just had to creep across the parking lot and hope that I don't feel a 'thud' under the tire!

I thought maybe someone had thrown food out there or something, but when I got out of my car, I didn't see any of them eating or any food anywhere. I just have no idea why they would be just congregating there and SO MANY of them?!

Very weird and kind of gross!!! However, I was kind of glad they stayed on the ground - I didn't want to be bombed on the head!

Lost Treasures

When I was rummaging through all of the stuff in my Grandma's cedar chest recently, I found some pretty cool stuff. I can never just go in there looking for one particular thing and then just shut the lid. It's just not possible.

I am a very sentimental and nostalgic person, so these kinds of things just intrigue me and pretty soon I've spent 2 hours in that cedar chest!

Here are some cool finds on this trip down memory lane:

This is a sign from my Grandpa - Robert Larsen. It's a metal sign and I imagine it was attached to a mailbox or something outside at some point. I had to laugh, though......who makes a sign with a squirrel on it?! Hee hee.

Here is one of my favorite pics of my Mom - she was a little girl and oh so cute!

And here is my Dad's navy hat (he was in the reserves) - so cool!

He told me once about how he joined the navy reserves and had to take a train to where the boot camp location was. I can just picture a young version of my Dad jumping on a train with a big duffel bag full of his possessions - off to a new adventure. I know the feeling!

The Ghost of Christmas Past

I think that part of Christmas time is reflection and remembering past Christmases from your childhood. With that in mind, I found myself digging in Grandma Larsen's cedar chest.....

I found a needlepoint-type thing that my Mom made years and years ago (when we were little babies). It used to be in a square frame and hung on the wall each year at this time in our New Hope house, all throughout my childhood.

It must've taken a LONG time to do - there is a lot of detail in it and it was made with love.

But what I was really searching for in the cedar chest was my childhood Christmas stocking that Grandma Larsen made for me when I was born. I used it every year when I was younger, and even into my adulthood. I no longer hang it up because it's kind of fragile and I'm afraid of ruining it. And since Grandma is gone now, I want to keep it as kind of an heirloom of sorts.

Grandma made lots of these craft projects, and we each got a stocking and a decorated Christmas ornament. Even my Dad had one that she made - with his name "Richie" (as she called him - so cute!) and the year he was born (1939).

She even stitched the cursive name in the top - I love it!

Here is my Grandma Larsen - she was quite the lady! We had a lot of similarities - she would be up working on crafts or trimming her hedges at midnight or 2am! Gotta love 'ladies of the night'!

And a non-Christmas find in the cedar chest was my baby blanket! Here's Maggie getting ready to take a nap in my blankie......