Taco Sloth.....It's 4:20 somewhere....

One of our newest designs out this Spring was inspired by Marijuana... HAHAHA

I better explain....

Especially since I teach today's youth!!

 Back during the Christmas holidays, we were invited to a Tacky Christmas sweater party. So, like any busy mother, I googled "Tacky Christmas sweaters" on Amazon. Let me add that it was late one night--- I found two I liked and was pumped to see they were on Prime- YES!! Ordered. Done. I could check that off my list...

  When it came time to go to the party, Brent decided to stay home with the kids and I went. I wore sweater #1 which was really awful. Here is what it looked like... I even had a little Elf on the Shelf I carried around the party HAHAHA

Sweater #2 stayed in my closet. So... fast forward to the half day we were getting out for Spring Break. I decided to be FESTIVE!!

I got out my funny Sloth Christmas Sweatshirt. I love sloths and thought it was hilarious how he was eating on a candy cane. hahahah

(I AM AN IDIOT!!!)

Here I am thinking I am so cute!

I left for the day and my husband NEVER said a word about what I was wearing. 

I took my baby to day care at Claiborne CHRISTIAN School. I talked to the nice Pentecostal lady who worked in the nursery and everything.

No one said a word.

I then went to get ready for our office Christmas party. One of my co workers walked in and pointed and started laughing.

I still didn't realize.

I kept thinking that I was so fun and festive and full of holiday cheer in my tacky sweater!! lololololol

  And then he pointed out all the weed on the sweatshirt.

Weed??

I thought that was tropical palm trees- OMG!!

I. D . I . O . T.

We were all dying laughing. And I ended up leaving it on all day for fun. I think I will bring it out every year at Christmas for a chuckle.

  So, I knew we needed to have a sloth tee... but we really didn't need him to be smoking anything.

We are a family friendly business!!! I first drew him on a flag pole with Donald Trump hair....

But we really aren't trying to make a political statement..So that design was scratched.

Then I drew him in a tropical shirt... kind of like the one I wore, but I just wasn't feeling it.

And then I started looking at the shapes of their hands and it hit me- He has to be holding something. What could he hold???

What do I love? Tacos!!! YES!! A freaking sloth holding a taco- it doesn't get any better than that!!!

   So, there you have it- That is how this shirt came to be.

And how cool is this- Our little baking Brand Rep Suzie up in Ohio (muddyoakhenhouse on Instagram) just had a "Taco Tuesday" party for her son Thomas who just turned 5.

Happy Birthday Thomas!!! Adorable!!

Thanks for reading-

Love

Lissy

Taco shirts available online at www.mrpstees.com

Big Spring Reveal....

We are so ready for Spring around here. I'm so over all the rain and crazy temperatures...

We have been working hard on our new spring designs and will have them for the very first time in person at the Monroe, LA Junior League Spring Market at the Civic Center. The event starts TOMORROW morning (Friday March 15th) and goes until Sunday at 5pm. We will be in our usual spot with two booths. You will have to come check out our new set up...think Clean, Fresh and COLOR!!

Check out the super fun paint plate skirt!! They were all left overs from my talented art students at George Welch Elementary.

  So I know you guys have been dying to see the 6 new designs are so here goes....

#1) The Taco Sloth- We showed a pic of the actual drawing the other day on social media. We love sloths and we love tacos!! HAHAH Its a win/win. Check out Shelby, Juliana and Breanna enjoying some tacos at The Planters Bar in downtown Monroe. Delicious!! And then we have the adorable Ace with his red curls and little sassy Laken hanging out on the sidewalk and (Maybe!) sharing a taco.

#2) The Old Red Barn- This design was very important to Brent- he had been asking for a barn design for awhile now. Funny thing is, we are in the process of getting ready to build a barn. Life imitating Art. Here is Mattie and Jordyn modeling the old red barn look at Kendall Cooper's farm in West Monroe, LA

(Thank you Rodeo Boutique in Ruston for these cute cute shorts and jackets.- We esp appreciated the styling by Mary Gleason)

#3) Parish Pecan Company- We thought this squirrel was pretty funny and loved being able to use the name Parish on a tee. Going Nuts since 1979....the year I was born!!! Here is Aulbani and Krislynne modeling out at Double P Farm in Monroe, LA and a pic of the adorable Watson kids in the kid version.

#4) Bear Unplugged- Have you heard the joke about the Bear in the Woods... HAHA Well here is our Bear singing and playing the guitar by himself without a care in the world. We had the Hinton kids and Dad (thank you Jason) who modeled (along with Mattie and Jordyn).They even became a little garage band in a matter of a few minutes!!

#5) The Hummingbird- If you follow us on social media, you have already read about this design (see previous blog  on it). I'll just get to the pics for it... Thank you  Sims, Teller, Jewell and Hally for the gorgeous pics at Plant World in West Monroe,LA.

#6) Im obsessed with Zinnia Flowers!! Love them- and we plan to plant a ton of them this summer. Here we created a Vintage Seed Packet for Zinnias. Thank you Jewell and Hally for modeling it.
Love the green!!

And we will also have our new Union, Justice, Crawfish tees and some of our best sellers like Duck Taylor, King Cotton, Cluck Taylor and a remake of our Cypress Trees on the cutest slouchy sweatshirt.

 Breanna in our V-neck version of the Union, Justice, Crawfish tee. 

Thanks for reading and see you this weekend!! And if you aren't in the North La area, we will have all of these designs online early next week.

Love

Lissy

P.S Make sure to take a close look at our special pecan mini skirt....my mom worked extra hard on this one this year!!! 

And a close up!! 

www.mrpstees.com

The Hummingbird-From Death to Cake

"The sunlight speaks, and its voice is a bird:

It glitters half-guessed, half seen, half heard,

Above the flower bed, over the lawn...

A flashing dip, and it is gone, 

And all it lends to the eye is this-

A sunbeam giving the air a kiss."  

- The Hummingbird by Harry Kemp

On Wed Jan 9th, 2019, I drew a hummingbird while slowly watching my Dad slip away. He died 2 days later. I was left with this pen and ink drawing of a hummingbird hovering above a Zinnia that I had planned to use for a new spring design.

 But after his death, the design changed. I messaged our graphics guy (Thank you Phil) and asked him to just make a copy of my drawing and mirror it towards each other.

Very simple. Two souls facing one another.

 My Dad and Me.

 As you can imagine, this design is special to my heart. All of our designs are connected to us in one way or another, but this one was my first to be inspired by death. 

I posted about this drawing awhile back on my personal facebook page and was surprised to have so many people reach out to me about how symbolic or special hummingbirds were to them. 

I had no idea.

 I was truly just drawing to pass the time because I wasn't sure what else to do. My dad and I didn't have some cool thing happen to us with hummingbirds and it wasn't an animal that we talked about. But now, I watch for them everywhere and think of him. I hope all the flowers I plant this spring attract tons~ like a heaven on Earth of them. 

My dad loved food- especially desserts. Me too! Sweets are my weakness! So when I sent one of our new hummingbird hoodies to one of our new brand reps up in Ohio, I didn't even think about the fact that she would be inspired to make a hummingbird cake.

Suzie loves to bake. And I love seeing what she creates. Her photographs are beautiful and make my mouth water.

Check out her Instagram page at Muddyoakhenhouse

I honestly don't think I have ever had this type of cake before and then I got to wondering why it was even called Hummingbird cake? Or what made it unique?

The history of this cake is interesting. It is said that the cake was first created in Jamaica. The main basis of the cake is bananas and pineapple which are grown in this tropical nation. In 1979, Jamaica was trying to get folks to fly down and come visit their country on vacation. So, the tourism board sent out media packets to the United States promoting their culture and included in it were recipes. One of which was their famous Doctor Bird Cake. Doctor Bird is another name for a Hummingbird, and this is Jamaica's national animal. Wonder why it is also called Doctor Bird??

A year earlier, a lady names Mrs L. H. Wiggins from Greensboro, North Carolina sent in a her recipe for a layered Hummingbird cake to Southern Living Magazine. They printed this now famous recipe in the Feb 1978 issue, and it is now their #1 most requested recipe of all time.

 So I wonder how she knew about the recipe? Or did the have friends or family in Jamaica? Or did she just invent it herself? There is not much info on Mrs Wiggins except she was a widow and a house mother at the University of North Carolina and died in 1995 at the age of 81. 

I can't wait to try it. How many of you out there have had Hummingbird cake?? Maybe I will attempt to make it for Easter?? So fast forward to Suzie with the most beautiful hummingbird cake ever and wearing her hummingbird hoodie. 

Suzie was so sweet to write down and share her recipe with us!! 

For the cake

And for the icing. 

I love all of this so much!!! And I think my Dad would have too. 

Thank you for reading-

Lissy

P.S. We will have this design and 5 other brand new ones available for the first time at our hometown's Junior League Spring Market March 15th-17th in Monroe, LA and then online at www.mrpstees.com the following week. 


P.S.S. Besides the light weight hoodie you saw on Suzie, we also printed the hummingbird design on a crew neck tee, a v-neck tee and on a kids tee in purple.  Here are a few of pics of Hally, Jewell and Sims modeling those styles over at Plant World in West Monroe, LA. 

Photo creds to Heather Land. Select shorts/skirts provided by Rodeo Boutique in Ruston, LA. 

And the Winners are.......#MrPsRep2019

"He's a cold hearted snake" (singing in the voice of Paula Abdul).

You youngsters out there probably have no idea who she is!! HAHA

This was sung over and over and over to my husband when we were making cuts on the folks who entered to be one of our reps. It was sooo hard to narrow it down. I was about in tears over it all and he is just so black and white. How do guys do that??

  We had around 350 people enter ranging from babies to adults and from all parts of the country. Of course, the majority were from North Louisiana, and so many of you we knew personally.... which made it even tougher!! 

  First, let me say THANK YOU for even applying and wanting to rep our little company (and score some free shirts too). We take it serious!!! I looked at every single photo that you entered (all 1500+ of them) and then I looked at them again. I made a list of all the ones that interested me and then went back and looked through ALL of your personal photos on your page. 

I felt very stalker-ish!!!!! 

I then printed out my top 60 or so. And then Brent went through like Freddy Krueger and slashed at that list.

"yes, yes, yes, no, no, yes, no, no !!"

How does he do that so quickly?

 I asked him and he said "I just know who I like".

So then, the list shrunk again and that is when the arguing started. I went to bat for soooo many people ( like a crazy person!!!) that I didn't even know.

"BUT I LOVE HER!" hahahahah

We finally narrowed it down to 18, and it stayed that 18 all weekend.

I wouldn't budge.

He thought it was a little excessive, but I couldn't imagine "cutting" any of them!

I'd already cut folks who I felt terrible about but we couldn't have 50 something reps.

And then, he finally gave in!

Thank you Hubs!! He took a deep breath and told me to keep them all. So yes- we have 18 people (or groups because some of them are brothers/sisters/twins).

This is THE MOST we have ever had. 

7 more than last year. But let me tell you, I am so excited. I can't wait to get to know all of these people. I have loved all of our reps in the past few years and consider them to be friends. 

  If you weren't selected, please please know how very sorry I am. I know some of you have tried out multiple times. It was so tough. I went to bed last night worrying about the folks we didn't pick. Please know that we may be calling you for a photoshoot this year. We keep all the entries on file and constantly use the list to pick out models for different shoots.

Sooooo, I know you are dying to know....here are the winners.......

The Little People:

1)Ace McDaniel- This little red headed handsome is from West Monroe and is 3. He likes cookies, candy, swinging and wearing hats!! (he sounds like me!!- Ha!)

2) Sims May- She is 3 years old (and sisters to one of our pre teen reps, Teller May). She lives out in Luna, LA and attends daycare at First United Methodist.

3) Maggie Keyes- Little Maggie loves to be outside and is from West Monroe, LA. She always looks so cute and her Mama is the assistant principal out at Sterlington Elementary.

4) Laken McClain- This stylish little bitty is in Pre K and loves LOL dolls and fashion. She also plays soccer and t-ball. Another one from West Monroe, LA

5) Twins Hayden and Harper Gavitt from Lantana, Texas. They are 2 1/2 years old and both take gymnastics.

6) Brother /Sister Adon and Ruthie Anderson from Littleton, Colorado. Adon is in kindergarten and loves biking at the skate park, drawing and legos. Ruthie is in Pre-K and loves dancing, cooking with Mom and unicorns.

7) Brother/Sister Jackson (6) and Brookelyn (10) Hinton from West Monroe, LA. They attend Clairborne Christian School. Jackson loves the xBox and Brookelyn loves to cook.

8) Brothers Jude (4) and Reed (3) Plummer from Russellville, Arkansas. They love to play baseball and follow and track deer through the woods.  Jude dislikes naps, and Reed loves naps! Im with Reed :) HA!

For Pre Teens

1) Teller May- 12 years old and in 6th grade at Pinecrest Middle School. She loves art and plays basketball. (her little sister is Sims who is a toddler rep)

2) Adisyn Fuller is in 6th grade at Good Hope Middle. She loves to cheer, photography, softball and animal care.

For High School:

1) Jewell McGuffee- She is a senior at West Ouachita High School where she runs track. She also plays the piano and is the cheer coach at Pinecrest Middle School.

2) Ryah Johnson- She is a junior from Savannah, Georgia. She loves sunshine, Disney, Halloween, movies and dislikes alarm clocks! She also enjoys theatre, skateboarding and reading.

3) Mattie Day- She is from Monroe, LA and is a sophomore at Ouachita High School where she plays softball. She also plays the piano and sings at her church.

4) Shelby Rambo- She is sophomore at West Monroe High School. She dances with Linda Lavender School of Dance/Twin City Ballet and is a very talented artist.

For College/Adults:

1) Hannah McClure AKA "Suzie" the Homemaker- This mother of 3 is from Amherst, Ohio and loves the outdoors, chickens, baking and leather working. She is a stay at home mom who enjoys gardening, sewing and photography. This girl can cook!!!

2) Rachel Smith- She is from Choudrant, LA and attends Louisiana Tech with a major in Family Child Studies. She is in Sigma Kappa Sorority. In the Summer, she works at Camp Ozark and during the school year, she works at Log Cabin.

3) Breanna Crow- She is from Sterlington, LA and attends University of Louisiana at Monroe where she is an education major. She also coaches the Sterlington Softball team.

4) Hally Poole- She is from Columbia, LA and is a freshman at Louisiana Delta Community College where she is studying Elementary Education. She loves traveling and seeing new places with friends.

And....there is one more.....

We are excited to introduce our very first Canine Rep!!!

Meet Magnolia.

She is a gorgeous 10 month old Golden Retriever who lives on 40 acres in Choudrant, LA. She loves to play sports with her humans (The Jeffords family) and her special talent is giving hugs!!

So there you have it!!

 Our newest Brand Reps for 2018-19. To recap, this year we had 5 out of staters from Texas, Colorado, Arkansas, Georgia and Ohio and the rest from Louisiana.

We can't wait to see them in our tees!!!

We are busy working on all of our new spring designs and can't wait to introduce them in person for the first time in a couple of weeks. Come see us at the Monroe,LA Junior League Spring Market at the Civic Center

 from Friday March 15th-Sunday March 17th.

We are doing some crazy things with pecans!!

We will then have these new styles available online after that opening weekend 

Thanks for reading!!!

Love

Lissy


P.S. Happy Taco Tuesday!!! #ComingSoon #SlooowwwCookedTacos

www.mrpstees.com