Ace the Warhawk Photo shoot

 A couple of weeks ago, we had a Warhawk photo shoot at ULM.

I should of bought a lottery ticket that day because my luck couldn't of been any better!!
  A few days before the planned shoot, I was sitting there thinking about what would make this photo shoot special? We had already had a beautiful white horse in flowers, a 16 year old playing the guitar and singing about Pay Day candy bars, and a bunch of little kids with graffiti at The Maze.
    How do you top any of those??
  And then it hit me...we needed ACE!! The ULM Warhawk mascot. Duhhhhhhh

He is featured on our new tee. It totally made sense!! But how do you go about getting a college mascot to come to your photo shoot? Well, you contact one of the most respected (and sweetest) people you know at ULM..Lisa Miller. I have known Lisa for a very long time and even got to do yoga with her for a few sessions last year with Kelly Hill (she is part of this story blog too!).
   I messaged Lisa and asked her if she had any idea how to get him and what our plans were.  She said she would see what she could do. I really had no idea if he would be able to come or not. I was so pumped to see her face when she pulled up promptly to our shoot at 6:30. She hopped out of her car and popped her trunk and there was the ACE costume.

Then, two college guys pull up and inform me they are there to "be Ace" for the shoot. The costume is pretty hot, so the plan was to take turns. They both laughed and informed me that this was something they would cross off their bucket list. I hit the Jackpot!! Brett Lambert is from Slidell, LA and was on Prep Staff this year. His friend Randy DeArmond was from Mandeville, LA. Both guys are seniors and in Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity.

 Then, we were lucky enough that the stadium was open and we could get on the turf field. AND...while we were there, the ULM band was practicing so it was like we were getting our own private concert.

GOLD MINE!!!  And did I mention the clouds had come out so it wasn't as hot as we had anticipated?
  The models for the shoot couldn't of been any better. First off, we had 8 year old Posey Clark.

She had the best thick wavy hair, expressive eyes and a lively spirit. I loved watching her dance around with not a care in the world. Her laid back mom Kelly brought her to the shoot.

Kelly and her husband (his name is Kelly too! ) have Kelly Moore Bags. Im proud to say I just purchased my second one last week. www.kellymoorebag.com  Posey joked around with Ace while Heather Land went click, click, click.

Next up was the sweetest couple ~Kaitlynn Frey and Jackson Randle. I had actually noticed them both in a photo on Instagram awhile back.

Kaitlynn had on our Warhawk dress and he had just finished playing. They were so cute. She will graduate in December in Elem Education and went to high school in Rosepine, LA (that is 45 miles east of Lake Charles).  She was a pro!!

The lighting behind her blonde hair made for some gorgeous shots.

And then in our old school Indian tee

Jackson played football for ULM for 4 years (defensive end and tackle) and got his Bachelors in Political Science in the spring of 2015.

He is now getting his masters and wants to be a lawyer.

They did a great job modeling!

I loved seeing Jackson interact with my next little model.....

  And that would be 3 year old Jax Hill.

So how funny is it that we had a Jackson and a Jax and two mama's named Kelly!!?! Jax's mom is Kelly Hill. She teaches yoga at Blue SkyYoga (www.blue-sky-yoga.net) and taught me bootcamp many many many moons ago with the late Scott Caldwell.

 We always say that we hope Jax and Phoebe will end up together one day....I can't imagine what kind of fabulous hair their children would have!!! Jax's hair is to die for. He looked so cute in his little Diesel Jeans and mustard colored shoes.

He and Posey really interacted well together too.

One of his sisters Graycee came to the shoot to help and even had on her Walking Tiger tank.

  So Heather hit another home run! Love her pics and how chill she is at a shoot. Don't Worry, Be Happy. :)

  It was a fun evening for me. Photo shoots are one of my favorite things beside drawing the designs. Big thank you to everyone who made this shoot happen. We are proud to be licensed to design Warhawk apparel. I think it is very important to support our local universities and support the Twin Cities.  I Love the hash tags you keep seeing floating social media sites around like #monroeproud and #makemonroegreat

So where can you get one of these new tees?

First- they are in stock and ready to ship from our website www.mrpstees.com.  The adult tees and tanks are also available at Herringstones in Monroe, LA and at Ksera in West Monroe, LA. We also have some tanks and youth tees at Simply Chic in Bossier City, LA and youth tees at The Childrens Shoppe in Monroe, LA.

Also-

 We donated one of our flag designs for a T-shirt Fundraiser to help the late SGT David Elahi's family. Governor's Cigar & Pipe is coordinating this event and the sales of the shirt. You can order one online at www.tommystees.com/store/fundraising-shop/sgt-david-elahi-foundation until Aug 14th. Shirts are $25 each.

Thanks for reading-
Love
Lissy
 

San Antonio Art Retreat

 
Im thankful for the 3-4 times a year I get to go out of town and work on new designs for the tees. I normally just jump on I-20 and go hole up in a B&B somewhere for a couple of days, but this time,

I got to hop on a plane and meet up with one of my favorite people in the whole world down in San Antonio, Texas.

  This is not the first time I've met up with Jennifer Gunter out of town while she worked... We had a Vegas experience back in 2005 where she was at a Pharmacy (Residency convention) thing and I tagged along.

The BillBoard music awards were in town (we went!) and we lied and told everyone that our names were "Kate" and "Sienna" and we were writers for InStyle Magazine doing a story on the show..... It. Was. A. Blast.

  It is amazing how 11 years (later) can change a couple of girls!! hahaha

 Over that time period, She & her family moved to Texas and she got a job with the VA Hospital in Dallas. I got divorced. She had her 3rd child. I got married again and then had the two P's. That is a quick summary :) 

   Needless to say, we were now in beds & lights out pretty early!! Our alcoholic beverages never exceeded more than two in one night

and our late night talks were now about living intentionally and our families. I Love Jennifer so much! She is very wise and fun and someone I am totally honest with no matter how bad it makes me look. True Friend :) 

  I learned something about myself this past week...Im more of an Introvert (or at least Jennifer figured this out for me). I truly get my energy from being ALONE. Why has it taken me 37 years to truly realize this? I have always been outgoing and I feel comfortable talking to people, but in the same tune, talking to people sucks the life out of me. It wears me out! I normally have to go hide out in the bathtub every night or sneak in a nap to get away from the world to recharge. Getting away to travel is AMAZING and ENERGIZING for me. 

  Absorbing the vibe a new place def helps bring on the creative juices.

I sketched on a plane.

I sketched over guacamole and chips.

I sketched in bed. I sketched by a rooftop pool.

I sketched at a garden.

I normally just work on t-shirt designs, but this time, I allowed myself the time and permission to just sketch for the hell of sketching. Not for someone, or for some event. But 

just. 

for. 

me. 

Ahhhh----- this is so satisfying. I will treasure these little drawings for years to come and think back at those little moments.

I enjoyed the view from our hotel window of the River over breakfast each morning and did a 25 minute colored pencil sketch.

  As for the t-shirts, I got 13 designs done. Some of these were customs and the rest were for us. I already shared the funny Longhorn ready to do some Branding

and the Wood Chuck Chucks.

I also worked on a new Bulldawg, a fun food related design, our Christmas tee and more. While I was there, our new Warhawk design was at the printer and I got to see some sneak peaks of it.

Amongst all the drawing, I snuck off to the Alamo (Sorry PeeWee- I never found the basement either! ahhahahah)

I took some cool pics of a tree at the Alamo for my Talented Art Students to draw this Fall

and at the recommendation of a server, caught a cab and went to these Japanese Tea Gardens

The bridges and foliage were amazing.

I had a nice walk down a wooded path and had many thankful prayers to God. My buddy Scott would of liked seeing his shirt there too.

Here was a little waterfall at the gardens

Its funny how people react when they see you drawing.

They get so curious and want to come look so bad and finally break down and just come over to chat. I had one kid take my photo and then asked if I would take a Selfie with him! Heck yeah!

So funny. :)

  We ate very well. One evening we ate at Iron Cactus (enjoyed it) and another at the famous Mi Terre (its open 24/7/365 days a year! Thank you Laurie for the recommendation )

Another thing about me, I am a food snob. I was trying to ask my local cab driver Ronald on where to go eat. I told him Jennifer was tired of Mexican and was craving a salad and veggies and we couldn't go to a chain. He totally ignored that last part and suggested Olive Garden. What??? No way. 

 Let me try again. "Ok Ronald, let me ask you this, if it was your birthday, and you could go anywhere to eat in this city and price didn't matter, where would you go??" Do you know what his answer was?.... freaking Olive Garden again!! HAHA Thankfully, Jennifer found this cool place called ZINC.

We sat in an intimate courtyard area and sweated our asses off!

haha
But the food was delicious.

We started with Hummus. And then I had the Shrimp and she had the crab cakes.

We ended with molten chocolate and a bread pudding. I hope Mario isn't reading this!

Also loved lunch at Acenar on the Riverwalk too.

The birds and squirrels just come right up to you. 

If you need a getaway that is not too far from North Louisiana, I'd def recommend San Antonio.
Now, back to reality :)  Happy 4th of July!!!!

Love
Lissy

The P's made their very first batch of homemade ice cream.

www.mrpstees.com