HYACINTHS FOR THE SOUL

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

5 Years of Traveling Totes ~ A Big Surprise

Celebrating Five Years with my Traveling Tote Friends

Five years ago, Debbie @ Mountain Breaths and I received emails from Patti @ Pandora's Box alerting us to an amazing Courtly Check

tote listed in the MacKenzie-Childs clearance section.

We each jumped at the chance to own one of these roomy totes in our favorite "color" and decided it might be fun to blog about where

we traveled with our totes. As they say, "The rest is history!"

Tales of the Traveling Tote

Thanks to all my readers for following along on these adventures!

Miss Merri Mac and I love to travel and appreciate every one

for your interest and very thoughtful comments.

Our group is scattered across the US, literally from "sea to shining sea". Collectively, the Traveling Tote girls have traveled to 43 of the states in the US. Across the globe, the bags have traveled in France, Italy,

the United Kingdom, South Africa, Honduras, Mexico,

Grand Caymen, and cruised the Caribbean Islands.

In November, a huge box with a fabulous surprise arrived.

A Gift From MacKenzie-Childs

In recognition of the five year anniversary of the Traveling Totes,

MacKenzie-Chids generously surprised us with custom bags.

Each bags' fabrics were selected to represent the individuality of

each of us who are part of the Traveling Totes.

Ten "one-of-a-kind" bags!

Clockwise from top left:

Patti with Miss Tizzy@ Pandora's Box

Debbie with Miss Tassie @ Mountain Breaths

Sarah with Miss Poppy @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Rita with Miss Penny @ Panoply

Jenna with Miss Hello Gorgeous @ The Painted Apron

Cherry Kay with Miss Waverly @ Entertaining Women

Ricki Jill with Miss Square Peggy @The Sketchy Reader

Linda P with Miss Gigi @ Life and Linda

Jackie with Miss Pansy @ Purple Chocolat Home

Emily with Miss Lulu @ The French Hutch

I couldn't be more pleased with this very special tote.

It perfectly reflects my love of flowers and plaids

and pairs beautifully with much in my closet.

I chose to name my, one of a kind tote, Miss Poppy.

She definitely symbolizes the beauty, success, and lively imagination of my favorite company, MacKenzie-Childs.

Austin enacted a city ordinance in 2013 to ban the use of plastic bags.

While the ordinance was overturned in the summer of 2018,

most of us here in Austin are in the habit of taking our

own reusable bags when out shopping.

"We go together like milk and cookies!"

Miss Poppy makes the perfect shopping companion!

She is right by my side as we "pop" in and out of

my favorite places around town.

Just this past weekend, Miss Poppy did needlepoint duty
when I met my Stitch Club Austin friends for our
monthly gathering to stitch.
If you are a stitcher and want to find others
who enjoy the art of needlepoint,
look for a Stitch Club in you community. It's a movement across the country that started because of an Instragram account @millennial-needlepointer.
Word is stitch clubs are the new book club!

We met at one of my favorite spots, Fluff Meringue and More.
I ordered a cappuccino with a meringue topper drizzled
with ginger caramel and a side of gingerbread madeleines.