greatest hits

i am off my game.

i've lost my mojo.

my rhythm is gone.

i have started working on fridays, which means all of my non-work time is spent in the company of children.  my blog has suffered.  i'm sorry.

BUT, i don't plan on quitting this blog, so i just need to find a new rhythm.  i work best on a schedule, so i'll just have to figure out a new greatest hits day and go from there.  i also want to bring back other posts, like this and that and on my radar.  and for sure i want to incorporate little reviews of some local favorites.  how does this sound?  is there anything you'd like to see on this blog?  i would love your input.  on the real.

but for now, here is a photo dump of the past week or so.

1) i should've used my zoom lense to adequately capture crosby's shenanigans during his end-of-the-year program at school.  you know the kid that is always on the front row (whhhhy?) who, instead of singing, makes silly mouth faces?  or instead of doing the cute hand gestures that accompany the lyrics "put you hand in myyyyy hand, i will be your friiieeend", he shoves his hands dramatically in his pockets?  yep, that's crosby.  he's in the striped shirt on the front row (of course).

2) mimi had a birthday!  we celebrated at the rustic, pat green's new place.  it's pretty rad (more on that in a later post).

3) instead of field day, ben's school calls it "buddy fun day".  they have partners and complete all of the events together.  this is ben and his buddy cameron (or "cam", as ben informed me that you give your closest friends nicknames and call them cousin).

4) addy had a bubble guppies birthday party.  if you are unfamiliar with bubble guppies, then don't worry about it.  ignorance is bliss.  here she is on her big day with her swimsuit wedgie.  i love that little nugget.

5) and finally, finally, finally we made it to the lakehouse to celebrate memorial day.  i feel my blood pressure lower on the drive there.  it's divine.

even though these kids were try to harsh my mellow by acting like a couple of insane people.

and for the first time in a loooong time, the lake had enough water to get the boat out.  yay, rain!  keep it coming!

looking forward to redeeming my mother's day gift this weekend, a massage and a mani/pedi here.  happy dance for days!

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

love,

coco

grace

at the lakehouse over the fourth of july holiday, i read this peom by jake adam york in the editor's notes of southern living magazine.  not my first reading choice, as i had already read all of mom's us weekly's and people mags, but i ended up dog-earing this poem and a recipe or two.  this poem made me feel nostalgic (not sure if that's the right word but it's the only one i can think of that comes close).  i am proud to be southern and i love food, especially food prepared by my family and particularly if it's a recipe that generations of my family have enjoyed.  it made me proud that i make my great-uncle pete's old army pancake recipe for my boys every weekend.  it made me miss my mawmaw and want more than anything to hug her neck and taste her peach cobbler and fried chicken again.  it made me miss my pop who would use a slice of white bread as a utensil to sop the brown gravy from nanan's smothered chicken off of his plate.  it made me think of paw-paw to whom no meal is complete with out either a fresh sliced onion or tomato or both.  this poem got me.  i hope you like it, too.

Grace

Because my grandmother made me

the breakfast her mother made her,

when I crack the eggs, pat the butter

on the toast, and remember the bacon

to cast iron, to fork, to plate, to tongue,

my great grandmother moves my hands

to whisk, to spatula, to biscuit ring,

and I move her hands too, making

her mess, so the syllable of batter

I’ll find tomorrow beneath the fridge

and the strew of salt and oil are all

memorials, like the pan-fried chicken

that whistles in the grease in the voice

of my best friend’s grandmother

like a midnight mockingbird,

and the smoke from the grill

is the smell of my father coming home

from the furnace and the tang

of vinegar and char is the smell

of Birmingham, the smell

of coming home, of history, redolent

as the salt of black-and-white film

when I unwrap the sandwich

from the wax-paper the wax-paper

crackling like the cold grass

along the Selma to Montgomery road,

like the foil that held

Medgar’s last meal, a square of tin

that is just the ghost of that barbecue

I can imagine to my tongue

when I stand at the pit with my brother

and think of all the hands and mouths

and breaths of air that sharpened

this flavor and handed it down to us,

I feel all those hands inside

my hands when it’s time to spread

the table linen or lift a coffin rail

and when the smoke billows from the pit

I think of my uncle, I think of my uncle

rising, not falling, when I raise

the buttermilk and the cornmeal to the light

before giving them to the skillet

and sometimes I say the recipe

to the air and sometimes I say his name

or her name or her name

and sometimes I just set the table

because meals are memorials

that teach us how to move,

history moves in us as we raise

our voices and then our glasses

to pour a little out for those

who poured out everything for us,

we pour ourselves for them,

so they can eat again.

****
speaking of fourth of july and eating too much, we went to the lakehouse and had the most amazing time despite the jet-ski breaking down, a nasty wasp sting, rogue fireworks, and lake levels too low to get the boat out.  here's a peek:

how was your fourth?

xoxoxo,
coco

instaweekend

our holiday weekend began with a 24 hour jaunt to houston to attend a friend's wedding.  and seeing as i forgot my camera at home like a big ol' loser, the weekend was documented solely by instagram.

our instaweekend began with some instructions from the wise graffitti artists of harris county.

we'll do our best, h-town.

the groom's family reserved some rooms at the four seasons (swanky) at a special wedding rate, which was shockingly comparable to holiday inn.  ummmm, it was a-mah-zing.  i wanted to move in, lay by the pool everyday, wear only the robe they provided and spend the majority of my hours in the most comfortable bed i have ever had the pleasure of laying on.

i tried to act out this fantasy after my handsome groom left for the wedding earlier than me to perform his groomsman responsibilites.

but instead, i gussied up in my finest head-to-toe target outfit (complete with my fake LV clutch from nyc chinatown) to show those fine folk at the four seasons just how fancy we really are.

the wedding was a blast.  we didn't know a soul, but that didn't stop us from dancing like a couple of crazies and acting-a-fool in the photobooth.

 congratulations, clint and angie!

after sleeping in until 9:30 (holla!  black-out curtains, y'all!), we headed to the lakehouse to meet my parents and our boys.

we spent 24 hours in the sun and water, enjoying each other's company.  it exceeded all of our expectations.

hello, summer.  i've missed you.

don't you love it when things are even better than you knew they would be?

how was your holiday weekend?  i'd love to know.

love,

coco