her blog

in a crazy turn of events, my husband has become a rock star. he's on tour right now with one band and will be coming back for a show with the other band and then leaving again. one band is opening for a band that was kind of big when we were younger and opening for one of our absolute favorite bands. he played at a record release party for the other band last week. it really is crazy. i am incredibly excited for him. 

i tried to find an appropriate picture for this post and couldn't. i have plenty of pictures of him playing guitar at shows. i have pictures of him playing with both of his new bands. there are pictures of him soaked in sweat, screaming into a microphone as though his life depends on it. there are pictures of him making the face only i know, the face he makes when he hits a wrong note. there are pictures of him hamming it up on stage, posing like 80s heavy metal guy. i love them all but what i want for this post doesn't exist. 

i want a picture from his high school battle of the bands. it was the first time i saw him play in front of an audience. i wonder what that guy would think of all of this.

prom. so young, so funny looking.

after a few weeks of really hard work and cancelling one trip because of that work load, shawn found himself with a little bit of breathing room this week. so, we made a break for it and went to the coast. it may not have been the trip to the redwoods we were hoping for but it turned out to be just what we needed. i think i may be ready to face the holiday season and he is definitely ready to finish his current project.

its shawn's birthday. here's a few reason why he's awesome this week:

• he's making pixellated ice cream cones for pixel party. just because i told him he should.
• he's in not one but TWO bands now - love bomb go go and the harvey girls. he's pretty much always on his way to band practice. he keeps asking what he's gotten himself into but we both know he's loving it.
• he helped launch oregon beer country this week. 
• he made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt last night.
• he's 37 now. i hear all the cool kids are doing it. turning 37. 

last night we visited the photobooth at the ace to commemorate our anniversary. here's a few of my favorites:

shawn & i love trees. i know, i know - who doesn't? we are tree nerds though. we totally dork out over trees. last spring we joked about starting a zine called "tree fancy." a couple of months ago shawn told me he registered a domain for a tree project. 

once my new website was finished i wanted to do something for him. so, i asked a bunch of people for help. you can see the beginning of our new project over here.

i want to shout it from the rooftops! its done! the new www.cookoorikoo.com is DONE! i'm so happy with it that if i could do a cartwheel, i would. actually, i may need to relearn how to do a cartwheel - that's how happy i am.

its got links to all the places cookoorikoo inhabits around the internet, a link to my etsy shop and a link to a brand new shop, cookoorikoo couture. 

this shop is going to be for the oddball but beautiful (i think) one of a kind things i make - the things that sometimes sit unnoticed in my etsy shop for months while i renew them again and again, hoping that their person will someday find them and purchase them. even though they don't sell like hotcakes, i don't want to stop making them. they're fun and when they do find their new homes (sometimes with someone on etsy, sometimes with someone at a show) - i'm thrilled to bits. 

speaking of being thrilled, have i mentioned i love the new site?

big thanks to shawn, husband and website maker extraordinaire. anyone who has ever launched a website knows its not an easy task and when it came time, he GOT IT DONE - despite preparing for a trip and an already heavy workload and a million other things. he sort of dropped everything and made it happen. you, shampton, are the best. sorry if i was the WORST. CLIENT. EVER. 

cartwheels, people. i want to do cartwheels.

dear shawn,

i miss you today. while we don't normally make a big fuss over valentine's day, it does feel weird to be away from you. it feels especially odd to be in new orleans without you. even though i've been to new orleans many times without you, this feels different. i'm not volunteering. i'm not here for a quick weekend visit. i'm spending an entire week here, the longest we've been apart in a year. a really good year in portland. 

more than one person said something to me about whether or not visiting new orleans would leave me questioning our decision to move to portland because new orleans always seemed my perfect place. last night phil told emily that i was part new orleanian. these things are true, yes, but ultimately, home is where you are. 

happy valentine's day, shampton. i miss you and can't wait to come HOME.

xo

this guy. because this picture from our trip to the beach yesterday is giving me the giggles.

this guy. its his birthday. we've been together forever. still can't get enough of him.