my weekly wrist{ish}...

this little piggy reminds me to run my miles...

i prefer the little piggy who encourages me to eat jelly beans.

also, i've been raving about gel manicures for a while now. they are usually genius and last forever, unless you're in the pool every day. this past mani lasted about a week and a half before the polish started peeling off.

however, as is my motto for pretty much everything, when things go to hell in a hand-basket...just add shimmer.

i think maya angelou said that.

my weekly wrist...

i love it when my girlies make me happy.




i love it even more when they make me bangles.

loosely based on this project. very loosely.

my weekly wrist...

i have so much to tell you, but my girlies three and the sunshine are calling me away from this little rectangle.

that's not really true. the sunshine is simply shining and my girlies three are actually throwing fits. and the only call i've gotten today thus far is from uncle sugar. who is still talking about his birthday present to me.

did i tell you? it was a new york surprise. two nights and lots of bright lights, genius sights, killer food, and lots of hobos. esmé is a little obsessed with hobos. as if you didn't know this.

oh, heck. while i'm here, let me tell you my fave thing about new york: everything. we stayed right in times square because pat wanted the girlies to have that experience. that suck-the-air-right-out-of-you, blink-a-million-times-at-all-the-sights kind of an experience.

in two days and in no rush whatsoever, we saw a lot. central park, the statue of liberty, ellis island, the financial district, chinatown, and a killer birthday late lunch in little italy. we zoomed to the top of the empire state building where they sadly informed us that there was zero visibility.




they were ill-prepared for my girlies three screams. "WE GET TO EAT A CLOUD!" they gobbled up at least four.

on the way home, we stopped in hoboken to grab some pastries. the line was outrageous, but who cares? it was a moment. and it also gave esmé some spare time to write new lyrics for lady gaga's edge of glory.

"i'm on the bus...to jersey! and i'm hanging in hoboken with you. the bus the bus the bus the bus the bus the bus the bus! i'm on the bus...to jersey! and i'm hanging in hoboken with you."

try to get that one out of your head. i have.

pat keeps asking my favorite moment. i have to say, it was falling in love with america all over again. i mean, it honestly gutted me to see how many foreigners waited all day to see some of our most significant spots. the way they stopped to stare at the statue of liberty. ugh. makes me cry just thinking about it. and that movie you can see on ellis island? important. just important.

when you understand that people - pat's grandparents and mine, really - came here on a hope...

i can't imagine that bravery. to leave everything for maybe-something? i can't really put it into words how that changes me.

we've been on a lot of vacations. that's kind of an understatement, i guess. this one was different.

it's nice to return home from a holiday with more than a tan.

wrist styled and photographed by my grae-girl. she is a shimmer gypsy, that one. i told her that all my blondie hair sticking up on my wrist is not cute, but she informed me that blondie hair is always cute. i asked where she heard that, and she said "my mirror." oh! and see my friendship bracelet? it's from my hella cool friend. i like her so much.

my weekly wrist...

our fancy camera broke. we're not sure how or why or what or all those other questions that make a story more interesting and detailed, but we are pretty certain of the when.

the first day of our beach holiday.

no worries. after every gorgeous sunshine or sunset or plain old sandy moment, i just tried not to blink so the image would stick to my eyeballs. {yeah. pat didn't think that was funny, either. until he nearly broke his neck and had a bloody tiptop of his head. then i think he didn't mind that i didn't have a camera.}

a quick shot via my phone, then, of what i'm wearing on my wrist these days.




i'm making lots of noise.

the cuff on the end and the four bangles are from a souk jeweler in saudi arabia just after esmé was born. i wore them every day back then for at least her first year. there was probably another gift for my wrist that replaced them as my dailies, and they've sat in an emerald green velvet box ever since.

i took them out again for the beach, and the first time esmé heard them...i swear, she was doing her latest ravensburger and she sat back, looked at me with the roundest little ice-blue circles like she maybe remembered, and kind of shook her head.

"where did you get those?" she asked. but not in her usual "ooh! where'd you get that?" way.

"daddy picked these out for me when you came to us," i explained. "i wore them every day when you were a baby."

she shook her head again and asked, "i can't remember that, can i?" all the while, thinking that she honestly remembered that jangle and clangle.

i told her i didn't know, but i pretty much believe that we get to keep one or two memories from when we were brand new. and that she's lucky if this is her one...because mine is made of chicken pox scabs on my bum.

it's my birthday on july third. i usually start announcing it way earlier than this, but time has been escaping me lately. like, i missed our wedding anniversary last week. when uncle sugar reminded me of how long we've been married, i gasped and said "we've known each other for THAT LONG?!" he scowled and replied fake-patiently, "no, karey. {he never calls me karey.} we knew each other for five years before we got married." whoa. that is weird math. anyway. i have a sweet reader who wanted to sponsor one of my weekly wrist posts. i'm sure we can arrange something. that something might involve one of these diamond bracelets from birks. or these! doesn't it give you chills when jewelry has significance? if you ever could, would you buy something like that? oh! and here's another question i'm dying to have you answer: what's your most expensive piece of jewelry? tell me, please? p.s. my green beads were $4.99. there. xoxo.

my weekly wrist...

i've finally given uncle sugar back his watch, but i stole his wedding band. i just feel like wearing it for a minute. i'm sure he doesn't mind...we never really wear those things, anyway.

do you? do they matter a lot a lot a lot to you?

i've known women who measure their love by the ones they've been gifted, i've known men who measure their wasta by the ones they've given, and i've known people who still do really crappy things when they're married and wearing those rings. they just take them off and put them in their pockets while they're being naughty.




i've never really thought it was about the ring. at all.

after lillie and grae-rose came to stay, pat bought me one of those tiffany charm bracelets and had their names engraved on one side, his on the other. i stopped wearing it as soon as esmé arrived. just tossed it in a drawer and forgot about it.

she found it again a few months ago. i saw her keep turning it over and turning it over. surely there must be another side on this thing with MY NAME ON IT, she seemed to be thinking. with her little doll-face all scrunched up. it felt like i had cheated on her. isn't that strange?

anyway. i had these charms made over five and a half years ago. don't even remember the artist, but i do remember she had never done shapes other than circles. i said something like, "but they're not all circles." because not everyone is, you know. so she tried something new just for me. don't you love it when people try something new just for you? me, too.

i've been wearing my babies all week. i hear them clink around and i smile, and it seems to take some of the panic away. jellybeans are having a similar effect.

one of my sweet readers knows how uncle sugar feels about rolexes, and introduced me to mayors' selection of pre-owned rolexes. whoa. we knew a guy in jordan who wore this one, and i never could focus when he'd talk with his hands and it would fly around in the air. crow. i think it would be perfect for pat.

my weekly wrist....

when uncle sugar is away, i wear his watch.

the exchange always goes the same way. he clasps it on my wrist and says don't lose it like he's not talking about the watch. and i wave my hand and say oh, pat...it's insured! and then he says don't lose it like he's actually talking about the watch.

it is a leetle stressful, but far less so than...say...the nightmare i had last night.

we were living in the next place where we're set to live, and the girlies were playing lacrosse catch on the back lawn. all of a sudden, an anaconda slithered into the scene.

{note: this morning, i wiki'd whether or not there are any anacondas in the next place where we're set to live. there are not. however, there are reticulated pythons that can grow as long or longer as anacondas. also, they are faster and more agile. and that news kind of stinks.}

i screamed for the girlies to come. and they turned and looked at me and asked why? or what? i can't remember and both words honestly make my blood turn black.

used to be, i could fake-whistle {i can't whistle. did you know this? so i make this sound like psst-psst. and then my girlies and everyone else in the universe who can't whistle turn and look at me. it's the best i can do.} and the girlies would come running. no questions.

used to be, they told their teachers that, no, in fact there are six senses. the sixth one is the one that tells you when someone's going to kidnap you. now? their sixth sense is a creepy whisper from the top bunk...i see dead people.

used to be, we'd head back to the states for a visit and they'd ask their nona why the heck she was driving with her windows open. someone can throw a bomb in your car, nona! did she not know this? illinois is a dangerous place.

oh dear. i'm trying to think of an ending for this post and i'm all why am i telling these poor things about fake whistles and reticulated pythons?! how did i end up here? i was supposed to walk in, show you my wrist, maybe tell you how i am missing my uncle sugar and how i wear his watch and these ridiculous kukui beads he bought from a gift shop and how someone yesterday asked why i never wear my wedding rings and how i answered ummm. the guy's name is tattooed on my foot. i need the rings, as well?!

oh dear. the end.

my other wrist...

my morning's already been a little crazed.

mostly due to a sleepless night worrying over esmé's naughtiness, a two a.m. search for a stinkbug in the pitch black, three girlies to three schools, and finding my new neighbor's lost dog on my front lawn. eating a rabbit. that had probably been eating my front lawn a few minutes earlier. circle of life. plus ants.

i think there are two types of people in the world. those who spray their counter-tops and entire kitchens with raid until everyone's coughing...and those who do not.

cough.

i'm having a heck of a time finding joy in this wednesday. i just am. i'm laughing about it, but also kind of rolling my eyes and sighing a little, too. and then! the woman called to remind me about my mammogram tomorrow and my response was honestly "uhhh...like i've been thinking about anything else all week!"

so smart and kind.




anyway. my right wrist cheers me up immensely. i wear this bauble mostly when i shouldn't. with tee shirts and flip-flops.

the stones race all the way 'round in varying degrees of blue. uncle sugar said it reminded him of my eyes.

we should all remember that...telling someone that you gave them this particular gift because it reminded you of their something-whatevers. it makes the gift sound more like i love you.

{esmé's taken to mixing all her puzzles together to make it more of a challenge. this is an endearing quirk, i think.}

my weekly wrist...

one of my favorite questions ever in the history of questions is is it real?

because then i know you're kind of a jerk.

kidding. {not really.}

my standard answer is can you see it? then it's real.

do you have a more grown up answer than that? share, please...



uncle sugar loves real. when he gave me my first fancy watch, i burst into tears. i think i didn't want to be that girl in a fancy watch. and it wasn't until i insured it and the guy from usaa told me how his father had given him a fancy watch that his father had given to him...that i understood the meaning behind it.

i'd say anytime someone's scheduling you into their forever happily ever after...well...it's pretty wonderful, if you think about it.

and before you even ask. the bracelets? i think one might be real, but i can't be sure. pat won't tell me anymore lest i start crying again. the rings? umm. can you see them?

{i was going to add comma jerk, but i can't even joke about that with you! you're my sweethearts, through and through. you just are. going to play fancy lady with esmé now. have a sweetheart wednesday, you. xoxo.}

my weekly wrist...

i think i'm probably kidding. this is not a new feature. unless it is.

i just promised my kelly i'd show her the bracelets she found for me.



but between me and you, i would've rather she'd bought them for me...

{if you're reading this and your name is kelly from design crush, i'm only kidding. everyone else? totally serious.}

oh, and please forgive the red ribbon. it's a friendship bracelet from esmé. perhaps i will post diy instructions later? kidding again. sigh. i have a giant sinking feeling that i'm the only one who's going to find myself amusing today. happy tuesday, you. xoxo.