greatest hits

holy crap.  i am still reeling from the aggie victory over arkansas!

did you see that game?!?!?

an overtime win.  so, so good.

and what made it even better was watching the game with a room full of aggies at a game watching party.  there's something about jumping up and down with glee in a room full of friends and strangers.

dang!

good times.

anyways, let's play catch up, per usual.

i miss you folks!  how is everyone?

thanks for sharing your meditation tips (not).

i love you anyway.

here's a peek:

1) benjamin was the "special person of the week" in his class and he put together this precious poster.  i might never take it down (is that last sentence grammatically correct??  not sure.  i used to be a teacher, btw.)

2) we went to the second annual staff softball game for ben's school.  our teacher's got whipped by the other team, it was chaotic and crowded, and ben was so mad that the game ended and we had to leave that tears welled up in his eyes.

his teacher noticed and managed to cheer him up in a way that we never could.

i love teachers.

3) the clown, the princess and i ate lunch with ben.

4) chris and i went to TWO weddings in the same weekend.  say what?  we had to lean heavily on our village to make it happen, and i'm so glad we did.

i grew up with the family of the bride of friday night's wedding.  the bride was stunning, the venue was adorable, the details looked like a pinterest board.  did i take any pictures?  no.  i was too tipsy and excited.

but i did get a pic with one of my favorite people in the world, my friend since sixth grade and brother-of-the-bride, ryan.

we haven't hung out in years and it did my heart good to spend a little time with him and his gorgeous family.  i'm still smiling.

oh, and i met one of my blog readers there.  hi juliana!

4) wedding #2 took place on a gorgeous farm in dublin, texas.  the groom is chris' best friend's brother.

he is a chef and is moving to chile with his bride to open a restaurant, so it was a wedding and a farewell party rolled into one.

think: victorian house, strung lights, mason jars, burlap runners, an all-girl band, tecate, smoked brisket, hand-cased sausage, homemade pickles and sauce (all by the groom, mind you), old friends, a sixties motown playlist, wildflowers.

beyooooootiful.

this is chris' god-daughter, cameron, who is FIFTEEN!  wtf?  she was five at our wedding, which was like, yesterday.

5) i am not gonna lie, the recovery from our wedding weekend extravaganza was no joke.

we were staying in neighboring stephenville, texas (which is the no. 1 dairy county in texas, in case you were wondering) and managed to find that really awesome cow statue AND some amazing tex-mex to cure all of our ills.

i'll have a cheese enchilada with cheese sauce, please.

and a side of cheese.  thanks.

looking forward to acl weekend!!!  it's here, it's here!

how are you?  what are you looking forward to?

love,
coco

breathe, repeat

at the risk of sounding dramatic (who me?), my thursday morning yoga class picks me up and carries me through the remainder of the week.  it recharges me and when i miss it, i feel off.  i have been going to the same class for long enough now to really see visible progress in my practice and i leave every week wanting more. 

yoga keeps me from feeling like this:

and helps me feel more like this:

via

so basically, me taking yoga is good for everybody, mkay?

 

as challenging as some of the most absurd poses can be, my biggest obstacle in the entire practice is my brain.  turning that sucker off is nearly impossible.  i have a couple of tried and true strategies that i turn to regularly that i'll share with you.  but i am really writing this post for you to share your tricks with me! 

do you meditate?

how do you quiet your brain?

via

1) ocean waves.

i imagine my thoughts as writing in the sand.  with every inhale, i imagine a gentle tide pulling back toward the ocean.  as i exhale, the tide comes in as a wave to wash all my thoughts clean.  the noisier my brain, the stronger my waves.  last week, my waves were crashing all over the place.

via

2) white board.

i learned this strategy from an old friend who is now a life coach (yep, that's what i said. check her out here).  acknowledge the thoughts as the pop up in your brain.  write them down on a whiteboard (a whiteboard in your mind, not in reality), and erase them. 

 

courtney also advises to remember that you are the host.  you can politely invite your thoughts in, offer them tea if you'd like, then show them to the door.  you are the host, you are in charge. a polite "hi" and "bye" will suffice.

via

ha!  is this post too new agey yet?

 

3) silent film.

my yoga teacher told us to pretend that our thoughts are a movie playing on a giant screen in our head.  except there is no sound and we have no idea the plot.  the movie keeps playing but we can't follow along.

this year my practice landed on 9/11.  i wanted to use that time to remember, not the awful images that we all have of that day, but of something peaceful.

so i thought of this:

i am dying to know, how do you quiet your brain?

 

chris wakes up early to meditate and we both swear it helps with mood and anger (i happen to love my sleep more than meditation).

do you?  if so, how does it help you?

how do you turn down the volume?

 

thanks for participating in my little research project :)

 

love,

coco

 

 

 

my cup overfloweth

oh you guys, i feel so spoiled rotten when it comes to this whole friendship gig.

i have really hit the jackpot.

i've told you about my gorgeous friend, robin.  she's my soul sister and my biggest cheerleader (since we were fourteen, mind you).  here's my love letter to her, remember?

she wrote the most generous post on her (very successful) blog, society bride, about my little etsy shop coco custom.  orders have been rolling in lately and i feel overwhelmed with gratitude to have the support of my friends and family and even strangers for my little side business/hobby.

if you have ordered a portrait, thank you.

if you have visited my etsy shop, thank you. 

if you have liked coco custom on facebook, thank you.

if you read this little blog, thank you, thank you, thank you.

love,

coco

p.s. i have added digital files to the shop.  that way, you can keep (or gift) the original portrait and also have the ability to print copies for family, invitations or stationery.

p.p.s. if you need references or inspiration for any and all things bridal, please check out society bride.  it reflects my beautiful friend to a t.

p.p.s. love instagram?  need cards or invitations?  visit robin's other brainchild, mailagrams.  they have partnered with walgreens!  holy crap!  that's where my christmas cards will come from, most definitely. yours should, too.

greatest hits

last week was all about crosby.  he went back to school.  he started soccer.  he was equal parts charming and hell on wheels.

age three is tough.  it was hard with ben and is proving to be difficult with crosby as well.  there is a lot of flailing, whining, refusing to move, and bad attitudes going on around here.  but somehow this boy manages to balance it with hilarity, dancing, singing and general adorableness.

i love this little dude.

1) i bought a used piano for pennies.  it's a little banged up and needs to be tuned, but cros doesn't care. he makes up nosensical songs with words that aren't in the english language and performs them at the top of his lungs complete with a bow at the end.

2)  this school year crosby will be at the children's center full-time.  this is great news because this means he is now reunited with his soulmate, liam.

3) here's my boy in soccer class.  he was either super pumped to play or begging me to take him home. equal parts. no in-between.

4) here he is charming my socks off at lunch.  he is too much.

5) first day of school.  i swear he was excited.

6) i mean....

7) at white rock local market, we donated food at the reverse food truck.  what a genius idea. 

8) the bee man (and his honey) is the main reason we frequent the market.  he can talk aggie football and the grateful dead, so he's pretty high on chris' list as well.

9) when crosby wasn't busy having the time of his life at a bounce-house birthday party, he was rolling around on the ground crying about....well, i'm not sure.

i'm looking forward to possibly going to a high school football game on friday!

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

love,

coco