happy thanksgiving

happy thanksgiving, turkeys!

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today my parents are preparing a feast and i am bringing this,

and this.

{thanks, pinterest}

i hope that today you get to eat all of your best things, enjoy a cocktail or four, revel in the comfort of your stretchy pants, and watch your favorite team win.

i am thankful for you, readers.

looking forward to my parents' cornbread dressing and hanging out with my family.

what are you looking forward to?

love,

coco

monday commute

it is cold and wet today.  which means it takes an additional 1,000 minutes to get my children in and out of the car.  and since 97% of drivers in dallas are scared to death of raindrops, the speed limit in town has unofficially dropped to 15mph.  therefore, my commute was a little longer than normal today but that's o.k. because xm did not disappoint.

i have loved this song for a looooong time, and that's o.k. because it withstands the test of time.  gorgeous.

this song reminds me of summer, which i appreciate especially on this 36 degree day.

this one recently landed on my half-marathon playlist. 

 

happy monday, y'all.

stay warm.

 

love,

coco

 

 

this and that

***update on my google reader woes: i left bloglovin' in the dust and decided to use feedly to organize the blogs i read.  i really like it.  however, my google reader hoarding problem has carried over.  i once collected insane amounts of "starred" items, now i collect items that are "saved for later".

so in an attempt to clean out my feedly, it's time to get artsy, y'all.

artist amy friend takes photographs of vintage photos that she has manipulted with light.  i think i've posted about these before, but they are too good not to post again.

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i have decided that i want to stand inside some major art installation.  like this infinity mirrored room by artist yayoi kusama in new york city.  add that to the bucket list.

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oh to have the time and vision to collect seascapes from flea markets and arrange them like this homeowner.  in my dreams.

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korean sculptor do ho suh placed a fabic replica of his childhood home in korea inside a fabric replica of his apartment building in the united states.  how does one execute something like this?

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oh my goodness, these post-partum pictures of new mommas with their one day old babies are honest and refreshing. (photographer: jenny lewis)

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these portraits of well-loved stuffed animals are the sweetest.  they've been through a lot.  pictured is pink teddy.  photos by mark nixon.

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these turquoise "water terraces" are real.  you're killing me, turkey.

 

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artist candy chang's "before I die" project has gone global.  read more about it in the link below.

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and last, but not least, this video made me smile.

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enjoy!

love,

coco

greatest hits

hey y'all.

things are trucking along here.  my brain is kind of all over the place today and i feel like i need to write it all down to clear some space.  y'know?

my big boy was in mid-coversation in the car (with crosby, i assume) when a tribe called quest song came on the radio.  to which he stopped and said, "hey!  it's q-tip!"  be still my heart.  that boy has music in his soul (including quality hip-hop).  proud momma.

i dyed my hair (out of the box) today, as i do from time to time.  not a fan of those "shiny" hairs, know what i'm sayin?  anywho, i went darker because i am wanting a change, and i'm afraid i may look a bit like elvira.  dang.

i am scheduled to run 14 miles at 6am on saturday morning with my training group.  the high temperature that day is in the low 40s.  with the possiblility of freezing rain in the morning.  i would rather cut off my leg.

i want to get my nose pierced.

told you.  all over the place, my brain.

here's our week:

1) our friends had a baby girl last week and we walked the 1/4 mile to their house for a visit.  our boys acted like we were walking to montana.  good grief.

 this is baby lillian.  i don't appreciate how my body looks like i am the one who gave birth.  my belly and chins are loyal.  no matter what i do, they never leave me.

2) ben boy had a case of hand, foot and mouth disease (could there be a worse name for a virus?)  so we played hookey and hung out until the fever was gone.

3) my dad and paw show-off their green thumbs by putting fresh roses on our desks in the office.

4) this kid.  i found his pajamas like this two mornings in a row.

5) chris, marcy and i went to a fancy-shmancy fundraiser for ben's old school on friday night.  we dressed up, drank wine and bid on auction items.  no pictures.  my bad.

but when i was scrambling around town to find heels to wear for the evening, i came across every other non-dress shoe i would ever want.  doc martins are back, baby.

looking forward to the aggies beating lsu this weekend (fingers crossed).

how was your week?  what are you looking forward to?  care to share any random thoughts floating around in your head?

love,

coco

the relatives

yesterday ben told me he wants to be a kxt guy when he grows up.  momma says, go for it, buddy.

kxt is dallas' beloved public radio station.  it's the best.

i keep hearing this song pop up on the radio.  it's by a gospel group called the relatives from right here in dallas.  they have been a band for forty plus years and are now recording their first album.  it's produced by one of the guys from spoon, and from what i understand, has a highly anticipated release.  isn't that a great story?

i kind of love it.  a lot.

love,

coco

greatest hits

while my dad and chris are off being a couple of cool guys guitar nerds tonight at gov't mule, my mom made a giant pot of chicken and dumplins for us girls (+kids) and i ate two giant bowls like i was trying to win an eating contest.  i am a happy lady.

it's been a while.  let's catch up, shall we?

1) halloween happened.  we had a ben skywalker and an incredible hulk.

 ben had the most precious costume parade at his school.  below is his gf, ava the angry bird.  he broke the news to us on the very first day of school.

 our little bee has uncle chris wrapped around her little finger.

 cousin picture fail.

 2) my baby has taken to wearing a cap.  exactly like this.  he's an odd one.

 3) i held baby eli paradise and sniffed his head.  divine.

 4) my baby had a rite of passage.  he has given up his pacifier completely and we celebrated this accomplishment by letting him drop a paci (a.k.a. bite-bite) into the build-a-bear of his choice.  it worked for ben.  so far, so good with cros.

 5) we spent this morning at the museum of art for the first time in way to long.  it's my happy place.

 i thought i was snapping a sweet picture of my children appreciating art, but upon closer inspection, i discover we busted ben with his hands in his pants.  boys are nasty.  whatevs. 

dallasites: fyi, we were blown away by the new jim hodges exhibit at the dma.  go check it out, you won't be sorry.

looking forward to sleeping (does this time change make anyone else want to hibernate???)

how was your week?  what are you looking forward to?

love,

coco

p.s.  in case you didn't know, i opened an etsy shop.  let me know what you think.  xoxo

coco custom

in keeping with the theme of crossing things off my list, i have finally opened my very own little etsy shop.

introducing: coco custom!

for those of you that do not know, for the past few years i have been drawing 'home portraits' as gifts for friends and family.  all that means is i draw a pen and ink sketch of a house and include some sort of personalized message for the recipient on the drawing itself.  last year, my sweetheart marcy, paid me actual dollar bills to draw some portraits for christmas gifts.

this helps me in two ways: i get a little extra christmas cash, and i get to draw.  money and art, two of my favorite things ;)))

i have been wanting to make it official for a while now and with the design help of one of my oldest and dearest and most talented friends, robin, i now have a real-deal etsy shop.  i get by with a little help from my friends, for real.

eventually i plan on adding more custom gifts to the shop.

but for now, home portraits it is!

i would love for you to check it out first (because i love my blog readers the most).

you can get there by clicking the link in this post OR by clicking on my new fancy-shmancy logo on the left side of the blog.

love, love, love,

coco

cross that off the list

from jimmy fallon's thank you notes:

Thank you, the New York City marathon, for letting marathon runners do the one thing they love most: tell people they ran a marathon.

my legs may never be the same, but i did it.  i ran my first half-marathon.  as did my dad.  and sister.  we have run that distance before in training but not "officially".  i must say, i am pretty proud of all of us.  

can someone come massage my legs, please?  
would that be weird?

 all boys need is a field and some sticks to make waiting for runners tolerable.

 my sister killing it.  (she got all of the fast genes from my dad.  those skipped my dna.)

 my dad killing it.

 my cheering section.

 many minutes later, here i come.

 we did it!  hallelujah, thankyoubabyjesus.

 my big boy was so proud,

which is reason alone to keep running.  

(that is, as soon as my legs decide to function properly again).

p.s. my dad isn't sore.  he is 55.

p.p.s.

 

p.p.p.s.

here are some songs that kept me from stopping to walk.

 

 

 

love,

coco