Before masdufourachaux, I had a side hustle from my day job called Wanderin Gypsy Designs. Shout out to the OG's who have been with me since those days! We've come a long way, that is for sure. I sold 4 things during my Wanderin Gypsy days. The first item was serape & fabric backed shorts. Yeah, those shorts that a company that is two letters with an & in the middle sells, those were my original designs, any-who I digress. The second item was tops I called Cantina Tops that I was importing from Mexico. Third was flannels, yes I have been making distressed flannels since 2016, crazy I know! And lastly was Christmas stockings, I cried when I received an order of 50 Christmas stockings, because back then I had to make them all and I hated sewing.

Out of those 4 items the one I enjoyed, wore and had the most request for were the Cantina Tops. The Cantina Tops were the stiff and stuffy cotton that are itchy and don't breathe well. I couldn't get the same tops twice, all the colors varied every time I received an order and I never knew what I was going to get. I knew I loved to wear them and received tons of compliments but I also knew there was a better way to make them. 

Fast forward to May 2018, when I decided it was time for me to launch Layerz. I turned to my own personal closet and looked for the items I had the most of but could be made differently and better. It was the Cantina Tops, I owned 10 different one's and had a beef with all of them. That is how the Fiesta Top was born. Soft fabric, stunning embroidery, bright colors and a wonderful fit were my criteria for creating what is now our best selling top. I created black first and received a sample and LOVED how it turned out. Then with a huge leap of faith I decided to create white without sampling. I jumped in and had my manufacturer make black and white and went all in. I honestly have to say I was just naive (ignorance is bliss right?). Knowing what I know now and all the things I have created in this last year I would NEVER do that again. But the good Lord was looking out for me. I received my first order of black and white Fiesta Tops in June of last year and those are what I launched Layerz with. The fact that the item I launched this company with is now our best selling product that we can't keep in stock is so awesome. I'm so thrilled you love them as much as I do. Every single order we receive I am beyond thankful for and because of you we have been able to continue designing and creating new products. 

I hope to see you at Dallas Market August 21st-24th on the 12th floor booth 4208. We are launching our fall line and we can't wait to show it to you. Layerz will be in a booth with Agave Sky and Sterling Brands and we are all excited to see you and hug your neck. 

Until Next Friday Friends! 
XOXO
-Courtney

I'm the owner and designer here at masdufourachaux and lets just say I LOVE what I do! Before I started Layerz I was a buyer for mid-large scale western lifestyle companies. I've bought for men's departments to women's departments and everything in between. My passion is women's clothing, especially helping women who might find it challenging to feel comfortable in their own skin! I've loved clothes as long as I can remember. As someone who has struggled with self-confidence all my life I finally realized that I had the most confidence when I wore cute clothes. I noticed I would always get stopped and asked, "Where did you get your outfit?", "Oh you look so cute!", "Can I buy your shirt!" (Yes, that really happened!). That is when it clicked, to start my very own clothing line. I draw inspiration from my very own closet and the styles I enjoy wearing. Our mission here at masdufourachaux is to bring awareness to women who battle with anxiety and depression, which is why Philippians 4:6 is on the back of every single hang tag. We have big plans to further our mission this fall and I can't wait to share the details. 

A few fun facts about me:

#1 I'm scared to death of cats. I haven't always been, I just suddenly became afraid of them a few years ago. I know I should probably talk to my therapist as to why this happened lol.

#2 If I could one day own a bakery I totally would. I love to bake but I'm not very good at it so I would defiantly have to only be the owner and not work in it daily but it just sounds so fun!

#3 I recently started taking Pure Barre classes and love them.

#4 My favorite food on earth is PIZZA, but only the homemade or freshly made kind, I could seriously eat it everyday of my life. Don't worry I don't but somedays are tempting. 

#5 My husband and I are high school sweethearts and have been together for almost ten years. He is also our CFO here at Layerz!

#6 I had a side hustle wholesale company a few years ago that was called Wanderin Gypsy Designs. I was the original creator of the fabric backed distressed shorts. 

#7 I'm a podcast junkie and at any given time you can most-likely find me listening to RISE by Rachel Hollis, RISE Together with Rachel & Dave Hollis, Boutique Chat with Ashley Alderson, For the Love with Jen Hatmaker, The Big Boo Cast with Melanie Shankle & Sophie Hudson, Dream Big with Bob Goff, Goal Digger with Jenna Kutcher or The Happy Hour LIVE with Jamie Ivey

#8 My favorite TV show is the Real Housewives. My favorite county is Real Housewives of Orange County but I watch them all, multiple times, whenever I get a chance. 

#9 All things farmhouse are my weekend and it is my dream to have a white farmhouse one day. 

#10 I have a small (Brandon would say large but I disagree) obsession with vintage furniture. For example: I have a giant, like so big I don't even know the dimensions pink mirror in storage (aka my parents garage) that I kept from when my mom and I had a boutique. My dream is to one day have it in my closet with black and white title floors and a vintage couch. A girl can dream right...

Well that is enough random fun facts about me. I would like to personally thank you for #1 reading this blog and #2 following masdufourachaux! I'm beyond blessed to have you as a customer. We are so excited to see what fall holds for us and have some pretty exciting things up our sleeves so defiantly stay tuned. 

If you have have any questions regarding our line feel free to email us at [email protected] and our team will get back to you as soon as they can. 

Until next Friday (don't worry these will not all be about me), I hope you have a wonderful weekend! 

XOXO

It is Round Top week y’all! Holy smokes I don’t even know how this week is even here! I was telling my mom the other day how every year in January I think Round Top is coming and then it feels like two days later bam it is here, and I didn’t get anything done like I had planned.

 In case you are not familiar with Texas Antique Week I will give you the 411. Every spring and fall the tiny towns of Round Top and Warrenton, Texas host Texas Antique Week which is Texas largest antique show. Located down the country road of 237 is about a 20 mile stretch of anything and everything you can image. Cowhide rugs, vintage linens, windmills, old china, handmade furniture, boutique clothing, handmade jewelry, artwork, I could keep going on for days because if you can image it, it’s at Texas Antique Week. All these items are located in fields, on front porches, on the town square, in barns and more fields. You could spend a solid week in Round Top and Warrenton during this time and not see it all. Celebrity spotting’s like Joanna Gains, Miranda Lambert and Sandra Bullock are just a few who have been spotted shopping the fields. Texas Antique Week has grown tremendously over the years and is now two weeks and three weekends full of shopping. This spring the show runs from March 23^rdto April 6^th.

 Some of the places that I love to shop and check out while I am out and about during the show:

The square in Round Top (which is where masdufourachaux will be set up) there is a great mix of vendors on the square from clothing, to jewelry, to crafts and rugs.

Royer’s Pie Haven inside Henkel Square (A slice of Texas Trash please!)

A stop at The Compound, this is where Brandon and I got married so I love to go here to relive memories and get ideas. However, I typically don’t buy anything because the items here are very high end but awesome to look at.

Junk Gypsy Company, have you heard of these gals, they are so awesome, and their store is just as cool!

Bar W Field (now we have worked our way to Warrenton) this is the field that I buy all the junk, tailgates, window panes, windmills, vintage linens, Fiesta Wear dishes, and just dang good junk.

The Marketplace Warrenton, covered shopping that features boutiques and home décor. Agave Sky will be set up there this show.

Zapp Hall I love to eat lunch at Royer’s set up at Zapp Hall and shop the booths around like Two Bar West, Bling A Gogo, and lots of other fun finds.

LoneStar Gallery where the amazing Punchy’s is set up.

And last but not least Punky’s Place which is the big white house on the hill painted with lots of fun bright colors. Go in and check out all the amazing finds inside that house, if anything I promise it will just make you happy.

Now everything I listed above is about a weekend’s worth of shopping! So, you need somewhere to stay for your awesome trip! Now I could go on for days about awesome places to stay in Round Top but in order to keep this from turning into a travel blog I will list out three great options:

 Wander INN- this adorable bed and breakfast on the property at Junk Gypsy Company is the perfect place to stay. It is located in the perfect location right in between Round Top and Warrenton so that you can shop both places.

 LoneStar Glamp Inn- How does Glamping sound? You can stay in a vintage trailer for the weekend without the worry of what the weather is going to be. We rented this place for the weekend of our wedding and everything about this place is perfection. You can stay in a camper or a teepee whatever you heart desires!

 FlopHouze- These shipping containers are built out for the perfect weekend getaway. Beautifully furnished and super fun to stay in them. Brandon and I stayed in these during our wedding weekend and I want to go back because they just made me happy!

 If you haven’t shopped Texas Antique week before I want to give you just a few tips so that you can be prepared to shop at your full potential.

Shopping Tips:

• Layer, it is chilly in the morning, but it warms up quick. Wear a light jacket that you can tie around your waist when the sun starts shining.
• A wagon or cart. Girl you don’t want to carry all your finds. Bring a cart or wagon so that you can put all your goodies in there and wheel it around.
• Ice chest with WATER, WATER, WATER put your ice chest in your cart or wagon filled with water and maybe even some margs and you are set
• Tennis Shoes I promise you will thank me for this tip after you walk 10 miles a day
• Sunscreen, even if it is only 75, I promise you will get some sun being out and about all day
• Last but not least CASH, cell service doesn’t always work therefore credit card readers don’t always work either. Bring CASH and vendors will love you.

If you have read this far you should win a prize. Come by our booth on the square in Round Top and show us this blog for 20% off your entire purchase! We can’t wait to see you!

(If you just read the first paragraph and thought, it's definitly Friday! I know, I know, I wrote this Tuesday and guess what I am just now getting a chance to post it.)

This Denver Market was my first market as an exhibitor, I have attended WESA as a buyer for three years prior. Agave Sky and masdufourachaux shared a booth and we are so thankful they allowed us to be in their booth. Since it was our first market we unfortunately had the worst booth location at the market. Last row, in the deepest darkest corner of the building. (So that was loads of fun!) Many people would finally find us and say I didn’t even know this was back here. Considering our booth was very hard to locate we had a very successful market. We are so thankful for all the new stores we met and chatted with.

Every morning since I stepped foot in Colorado I woke up with a headache. Saturday morning was no different except my stomach hurt along with it. I had a not so wonderful dinner the night before (it was a salad, I tried to be good, however, it wasn’t a good salad and they didn’t put dressing on it) so I just thought it was from that. I went about my day however, I noticed at 2:30 I never got hungry for lunch so I made myself eat some chili I had made and brought with me. We finished up market for the day and right as I went to put my phone in my purse it hit me I didn’t feel good at all. We were headed to dinner with friends so I thought I could power through the dinner. We get to dinner and the restaurant is packed with people waiting for a table. I look at Brandon and tell him, "I’m about to pass out". I go outside and start feeling better in the cool air and less people.

After about an hour of waiting and self power talk that I can make it through this dinner, I convinced myself I was good to go. We get seated and I eat a few chips, sip some water and start chatting. We order and before we order I have to go to the bathroom. The whole time I am trying to convince myself to not puke my guts up in this Mexican food restaurants bathroom. I go back to the table and Brandon says, "your not okay and I’m not okay either". Come to find out he felt strange too. Right about that time they deliver our food and I think, okay I just have to eat a little and then we will be done and can go. I took my first bite of rice and beans and it tasted like it had been drenched in butter. I haven’t been eating dairy so my stomach instantly became worse. They also put ranch all over my tacos (that is not how we do it in Texas folks) so I was trying to think through how I could politely eat them. About that time Brandon, "says are you okay?" I said, "no I’m not." I get up and just leave. A few minutes later he came outside to the rescue and said let’s go.

I recently got seasick this summer on a deep sea fishing trip and this felt exactly like that expect about 10 times worse. I didn’t sleep and in fact didn’t even make it to the booth the next day until 3:30pm. Thank goodness for my sweet husband who did feel better and was able to go to the booth.

Did I mention that the lovely dinner that I just got up and left from I was sitting next to one of the individuals who started Cinch Jeans. I’m sure he won’t forget this blonde that didn’t touch the food he bought her. At least I made an impression I suppose.

Until next time friends, maybe, just maybe, I will get this dang blog posted on Tuesday. I sure am trying! 

XOXO

-Courtney

Well sister, I am here to tell you I fell flat on my New Year’s goals face yesterday! Not literally but you want to talk about drop the ball, I did it.

One of my goals was to have quiet time and journal every day. I usually am pretty good Monday through Friday but Saturday and Sunday it wasn’t happening. On Monday I was so proud because I had made it a whole 7 days in a row journaling. Yesterday, I woke up and hit the ground running getting ready to leave for Denver. We left the house around 8am and were on the road until about 6pm. Then we went to dinner, came back, I booked my Vegas Market trip (whoop whoop, just going for fun not to be an exhibitor) and went to bed. Not once did it cross my mind to journal and it was Tuesday! I woke up at 3:50am this morning and realized I had dropped the ball.

 Another one of my goals for 2019 was to write a blog post each week and post it every Tuesday. Well, again yesterday was Tuesday and I am just now writing this at 7:22am on Wednesday. Dropped the ball again.

 My husband and I fast something different every January. He is fasting TV and I am fasting all forms of dairy. I have always been a little lactose intolerant, but I have convinced myself I can eat this or that and be oaky. I mostly wanted to see if I could go a whole month with no dairy and how that would make me feel. Well guess what I had Chicken Mini Biscuits at Chick Fila yesterday, dang you Chicken Mini Biscuits you were good, but I realized last night you have butter on your dang good biscuits.

 Last, but not least I started doing yoga and stretching each day. I started out strong with 30 minutes a day. It made me feel so good and relieved so much tension in me. Well the last day I did that was Friday. (SMH)

 On the bright side I drank lots of water yesterday!

 To say I have dropped the ball the past couple days is an understatement but you know what I am getting right back up and starting new today. I am not going to beat myself up over yesterdays slacking. I am going to give myself grace and get right back on the horse today and start new. I think that is why so many New Year’s resolutions fail is because people slip up and then beat themselves up over it and never go back. It is okay to miss a day, we are all human. What matters is if you get right back on track the next day!

I hope the Christmas and New Year's holidays treated you and your family well. The one thing I learned over the holiday break is that I love a good afternoon nap and I am going to try to work those into my schedule more often.

I love starting a new year! It is so wonderful to set new goals, plan and get organized. I prefer to call my new year resolutions goals because I am more likely to stick to them that way, but you do you boo.

This year I took the bull by the horns and really dug into goal setting, not only for myself but for my business. The first thing I always do before a new year is pick a word/phrase that will be my motto for the new year. This year’s phrase is LOVE EVERYONE which is much harder to do than you think. I think the world needs more LOVE and that you can't go wrong with LOVING more. Conveniently my cute planner for 2019 says Love Others/Love More which is so fitting! 

To start my goal writing process, I took a morning and went to a local coffee shop to write my goals for 2019. I took my planner, notebook and my business planner notebook. The one thing I did not take that I feel is important to point out here is my computer. I didn't want to be distracted. I also, left my phone in my purse. Me, all my notebooks, my slice of quiche and amazing peppermint coffee got ready to write. I started with my Layerz goals.

Some people talk about how they break their goals into categories and well I am not that organized. My Layerz goals were just a list of anything and everything that came to mind that I wanted to achieve for 2019. You don't have to be fancy girl! I then took a couple of the goals that needed action or more detail and I made lists about those. Anything and everything that came to mind about that specific goal I wrote it down. I have learned that I think I will remember things and well I don't, so writing down even the simplest thing helps. 

I then did the same exact process of writing down whatever goals came to mind for my personal life and created more detailed list if needed. A great example of this is one of my personal goals for 2019 is to read 12 books this year. I wrote "Read 12 books this year" on my goal list and then I made a list of those 12 books I want to read in 2019. 

Writing down my goals and thoughts was such a freeing process and I ended up writing for two hours. It cleared my mind and helped me really get a good look at my personal goals and business goals separately. I am thinking about revisiting that coffee shop once a week to have an "on-track" meeting with myself to see if I am on track with my goals to keep myself accountable. 

So, if all of that wasn't enough goal setting for you, I said I took the bull by the horns earlier, my husband and I had a Pancake's and Priorities meeting (I am pretty thrilled with that name) to talk about our goals and the goals we want to achieve as a family. We talked about all the things we wanted to achieve and do together in 2019. I also came up with a couple questions for us to ask each other as kind of a year in review. It was a wonderful exercise to do together to start our relationship off on the right track for the new year. Some of the questions we asked each other were:

How can I better serve you in 2019?

Where was I strong for you in 2018?

Where did I let you down in 2018?

What is something you want to do more of in 2019?

How do you want to grow in 2019?

These questions not only are great for couples but can be applied to an individuals as well.

My process of course might not be the perfect process for you, but I do challenge you to at least sit down and write down 5 goals for yourself this year. Post them somewhere you will see them often and really work on achieving those goals in 2019. 2019 is going to be a fantastic year! Wishing you a year full of blessings!