Personal Gift

Last month was my birthday.

Everyone tells me I'm hard to buy for...which I never understand.  I think I'm fairly easy.  A candle or a magazine and I'm in heaven. :)

But this year I received a gift so personal and so wonderful I can't believe it's taken me this long to post about it.  

I'm a purse girl!!

The more unique the better for me.  I'm not into Coach or Dooney and Burke or any of those other big name brands.  I just want BIG, unique and fun. :)

I showed you before, here, the purse I had been carrying for the last year was this one I purchased off Etsy...which I have adored and has held up extremely well!

I was starting to get the itch for a new purse.  I mean, being the serious bag girl that I am, me carrying the same purse for an entire YEAR is really saying something about how much I loved my handmade bag.


So....after my long story before the story, LOL, let me share with you about my very personal gift I received for my birthday.


A new purse!!!

But not just any purse.  Nope. 


This purse was purchased at a Cancer fund raiser event.  As I just mentioned this weekend in my get-to-know-me award post....my mother died of breast cancer.  What I didn't mention is....my father also died of cancer.  And my step-mom was diagnosed with Stage ZERO breast cancer in January of this year.  (As a side note, it was caught SOOO early, they removed the lump, she did radiation, and has been given a clean bill of health since!!)

This purse is made of ALL recycled materials!!  Recycling is so near and dear to my heart.  I mentioned, here, a long time ago that I pay for curbside recycling and it has made my strong urge to be kind to our Earth so much easier.  It's also why I try to upcycle as much as I can.  I want to stop buying "Made in China" as much as possible and reuse items that might otherwise end up in a landfill.


This purse has old couch fabrics, drapery fabrics, the flowers are made from old sweaters and t-shirts, and the leaves are made from, get this, old dress slips!  I remember the days of wearing slips under your dress. Sad...but true.  LOL  There's even an old skinny tie from the 80's on the front. :)

This bag is handmade!  Being a crafter myself, I try to support other crafters as much as possible as well.  

And last but not least, the proceeds from purchases at the event, goes to the charity the event is being held for!!!  The company is called "Handbags for Healing".  The way I understand it is, they will set up a booth at charity fundraisers and give the proceeds to that charity.  So, it isn't any one charity...it can be a variety of charities.  How cool is that!  


One of the things I don't talk about here on the blog is how important my volunteer work is to me!!  Once a week, I spend 2 hours with the kids at a local Women/Children's homeless shelter.  And once a month, my daughter and I serve dinner there as well.  Those 2 hours with those precious children is the highlight of my week!!!  

That's what makes this gift the most personal gift I've ever received!  The person who got me this purse knew that each piece of this bags story was inline with my own story.


Don't get me wrong, I have received amazing gifts over the years, but everything about this bag is such a personal representation of ME!!  How sweet is that!!


I hope you are all having a great week!!  I have a huge announcement to make later this week....so stay tuned. :)

Recycling

I have a confession - until two months ago, I didn't recycle.

Every week my trash can looked like this, piled high to the brim with things to go to the landfill.

I live in Indianapolis, Indiana.  We do not have curbside recycling.  Or at least, not that I was aware of.  Alot of the Kroger's have recycling bins in the parking lot, but they only take limited stuff and even when I put things to the side to recycle, loading it into my car and dumping it was just too time consuming. 

So, usually I would get frustrated with my garage overflowing and would add my recyclables to my landfill trash just to get it out of my garage!

But more and more I am becoming aware and scared of our consumption and waste.  I WANTED to recycle.

I started a google search and found out that we do indeed have a recycling program here in Indy!!

Granted it's not free.  But it's not expensive either.

All I had to do was call our Mayor's Action Line. 

They took my name and number and put me in contact with the company that does curbside pick up in my area.

For me, it is Republic Waste Services of Indiana.  They brought me a 96 gallon trash can.  No need to bag my recyclables!  Just throw them into the huge can and put it out on the curb every other week.

It costs only $6 a month!!

It's well worth the cost to me.  It's convenient, which had become very clear I needed in order to do it.  I feel better doing it.  I feel like I'm contributing to the solution, instead of being the problem!

And since we started our curbside recycling....we are down to 1, sometimes 2, trash bags a week!

So, along with our dumpster diving, Goodwill hunts, upcycling and revamping to make pleasing home decor...please take the time to recycle just our plain old trash as well! 

Do some research, Google, call your mayor's action line, and find out what your options are for recycling in your area!

One of my absolute favorite sayings in the entire world is by Mahatma Gandhi...

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

Let the changes begin with us, and others will follow suit! :)

Until next time...