greatest hits

happy new year, my loves!

i am drawing up a storm again for valentine's orders (good news!) so i'm a little behind.

let's catch up, shall we?

1) bonner family traditional new years eve dinner consists of: the four of us, spaghetti carbonara, wine and "wine" in fancy glasses, eating in the dining room (faaaaaancy), roasting marshmallows, me and chris drinking wine until midnight after the kids go to bed.

good times.

2) i found this recipe from garden & gun on facebook and decided to give it a shot on christmas day.  it's called 'luck and money' and it's delicious.  i used mustard greens instead of collards, because that's all they had at the store, and it was divine.  adding this one to the new year's recipe line-up.

3) my sister is getting married!  hooray!! and she has asked me to stand up in her wedding.  i said yes!  i love weddings!!!  dancing! booze! romance!  so many exclamation points!!

4) ben plays basketball (my new favorite).  he mentioned his game to a classmate one day and she showed up to cheer him on.  sweet friends.  warms my heart, and his too.

5) one of the million perks of working with every member of your family is that many of them are great cooks and one in particular is ninety years old and still brings giant pots of gumbo for everyone to enjoy for lunch.  thanks, paw paw.

6) this picture actually deserves it's own post, but long story short, chris makes ben's lunch everyday and includes little love notes/words of encouragement on his napkin.  ben comes home with food still on his face because he doesn't want to ruin his napkin by actually using it.  i've saved every single one. my heart, y'all.

7) we had gift cards to spend, so we took a family trip to good records where ben air-drummed to the white stripes and crosby got to know weezer's newest album.

8) dallas is experiencing earthquakes.  it's so bizarre (not cool, fracking).  three of us think it's a pretty cool feeling.  one of us does not.  little dude thought the small tremor he felt was actually ghosts playing on the roof.  bless his heart.

9) we tried to tell cros that buzz-cuts are best suited for summertime. he thinks that is ridiculous, per usual.

many things happened that are not pictured, like marcy's birthday celebrations, but i was too lazy to snap a shot.  but trust, we had a good time. 

how has january treated you so far?  we have been pounding our resolutions recently, more on that later.

looking forward to finishing up my orders and a weekend with no plans.  

what are you looking forward to?

love,

coco

the motherload

for those of you on facebook, i started a business page for coco custom.  click this link to take you there.  if you like coco custom on facebook, you have seen my holiday motherload already.  this is where i post all of my portraits, promos, tips, etc.  it just occcurred to me, however, that my blog readers may not be my friend on facebook, or be on facebook at all.  duh, cortney.  so since i neglected my sweet readers while i drew all of my holiday orders, the least i can do is show you the finished products.

here goes, joes.

1) a lakewood home in dallas, texas

{i adore this one.  look at all of those curves.  hubba, hubba.}

2) a charming cottage in east rome, georgia

3) l street home in lake highlands

dallas, texas

4) another lake highlands home

dallas, texas

5) a southern charmer in marietta, georgia

{this one is special because this customer found me!  i did not go to elementary, middle, high school or college with them.  i never worked with/for them.  i never taught them.  i am not related to them by blood or marriage.  this means, they saw my portraits and liked them enough to order one.  exciting stuff, amiright?}

6) a church in indiana

7) a condominium complex in encinitas, california

8) a sweet house in the burbs

frisco, texas

9) a sprawling plantation in louisiana

10) a canopied ranch in lakewood

dallas, texas

11) a family home in arkansas

12) another stunning plantation home

13) a north dallas modern

and there you have it.  it took many many nights by the fire with a grapefruit vodka and soda to crank these puppies out.  and thanks to these portraits, i afforded christmas.  so THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

much love forever and ever,

coco

coco custom etsy shop here.

new favorite song

happy monday!  i owe you guys a greatest hits, so while i gather what i need to do that, here is my new favorite song/obsession.

remember when i discovered that jimmy fallon and i are soulmates?  well, i fiiiiiiiiinally got around to buying sylvan esso's album.  

verdict: i love it.  and i'm sure fallon/bff does, too.

here's my favorite song from it, for now.

i'll be back soon.

love,

coco

my friend liz

liz was my first mom friend at ben's elementary school.  my family was new to the neighborhood and knew no one.  i met liz, she was also new, and she was warm and funny and a pleasure to chat with at the millions of kindergarten functions we attended last year.

she is an incredibly talented photographer.  seriously, i am obsessed with the light in her photos.  it looks like a dream.  this christmas, we decided to swap talents.  we met her at white rock lake one afternoon and she snapped away.  i am so, so pleased with how they turned out.  she had her work cut out for her with crosby's bad mood, but managed to get him to cooperate by the time it was all said and done.  

and that ain't easy.

bravo, friend.

to see more, check out elizabethan photography on facebook.

website here.

p.s. another favorite local photographer and east dallas original is melissa of melmarie photography.

remember this?

facebook.

website.

do you have a favorite local photographer?  i'd love to know.

greatest hits

you cannot tell by these photos, but we have been sick.  homebound.  out for the count.

although ben (the originator) tested negative for the flu, this devil-virus has passed from one member of this family to another, so that there has been at least one person sick at all times since the kids got out of school.

we are home today (again), watching movies (again), while crosby yells pitifully from the couch that he needs more water, or that he needs me to fix his covers, because according to him, no one can cover him in a blanket as well as momma.  it's flattering and all, but...

i gotta break out of here soon.

i'm going nuts.

and just when i start to wallow in a pity-party of germs, i decide to blog and upload pictures from the holiday and realize that i have absolutely nothing to complain about.  we have escaped the house (in spurts), we have seen family and friends, we have celebrated this holiday and we have a million blessings to count.

so shut up, cortney.

psa: since i could chew solid food (and really since my mom could chew solid food), i/we have eaten "macaroni and tomatoes", or more affectionately called "mac-n-maters', when i/we am/are sick.  i am never one of those people who lose their appetite while sick, btw.  eat through the illness, that's my motto.

here is the (very loose) recipe.  cook macaroni according to package directions (as much as you would like).  drain pasta. add a can of tomatoes and a small can of tomato juice (don't skip the juice).  double this if you want.  add salt, pepper, and a generous amount of butter.  i have butter guilt, so i put in less that my mom and nanan.  theirs tastes better, not gonna lie.  treat yourself.  you're sick, remember?

enjoy!

here's a peek at our week (or so):

1) crosby had his christmas celebration at school.  he was pumped, can you tell?

 2) this year we hired slow bone to cater the company christmas lunch.  best decision ever.

 3) once a year, we are ladies who lunch.  our annual neiman's christmas brunch did not disappoint.  never does.

4) chris was sick and slept the majority of the day on christmas eve, so in an effort to feel the-reason-for-the-season, i drug my kids to the children's service at church.  crosby fell asleep on the way there and woke up on the way out, but ben got a kick out of almost setting his bangs on fire.  we tried.

 5) we celebrate with my family (mom's side) on christmas eve at my parents' house.  my little cousins are not little anymore.  kami wore acid-wash overalls (jealous) and jake texted his girlfriend all night.  when did that happen?  weren't they just babies???

 6) santa got "grandma weber cookies" this year, the lucky duck.  i'll share sarah's recipe soon.  you must have these cookies in your life.

 7) santa came!  kids rejoiced!

santa drank!

8) we celebrate with my dad's side of the family on christmas night at paw-paw's house.

i adore this picture.

9) chris and i celebrate new years eve early every year by going to see our sweetheart, robert earl keen, at bass hall in ft. worth.  usually it's a big to-do, dress-up, fancy dinner, drinks, concert and sometimes a hotel room.  this year, crosby was sick as a dog and my dad (aka our sitter) was running fever. 

i was ready to sell our tickets until marcy convinced us to go anyway.

it wasn't a fancy date like usual, but we got to see our favorite guy from three rows back.  sure am glad we didn't skip it.

my baby is now crying and kicking a screaming about an ipad, so i am going to sign-off now and lock myself in another room (i kid, i kid).  my rule is that you aren't allowed to cry over something that is supposed to be fun.  this needs to stop, for real.

looking forward to health.

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

have a happy, happy new year.

love,

coco

p.s. we also had our annual girls christmas party this year at hg sply.  my robin and jessica were in town, hooray!  i was sick in this picture but was still in denial.  i was trying to kill my virus with cocktails.