can i ask you a favor?

say yes. will you click on this link and vote, please?

my little cousin's little girlie has rett syndrome, which is in the running to receive 250k from the pepsi refresh project.

they're currently in tenth place. i hope they win.

thank you for voting. i mean that. and if you don't? please keep it a secret from me, as i'd be awfully disappointed.

speaking of disappointed, yesterday was, like, my millionth anniversary of life with uncle sugar. and we both forgot.

his mom called me in the afternoon to announce that it was one of the most important, significant, and greatest days of her life: the day she became my mother-in-law, so many years ago.

i think she said important, significant, and greatest. i can't be sure. she's difficult to understand when she's sobbing.

i was naughty and did not remind pat until just before midnight. when he couldn't really do much about forgetting, you know? i do enjoy busting that boy's chops.

his response sort of went like this: kar...think about it. we spent the night at the girlies' swim meet. cheered for them until our throats hurt. esmé ate her weight in ring pops, the girlies were fast, and even though lill was disqualified from a few races for forgetting at her flip turns which stroke she'd been swimming, we laughed the whole night. and we were proud of what we've made together. i think we celebrated our anniversary perfectly.

well. when he puts it like that - and adds his devil of a smile - i don't even miss the shiny presents.

ok. catch you soon, friends. will you remember to vote once a day? and if it rains on my holiday, i may catch you even sooner. xoxo. photos found here first.

just a pop-in...

esmé's been packing her own satchel for our upcoming holiday. i've been unpacking said satchel every night, only because i'm quite certain her popsicles and salami sandwishes will not make it to saturday.

as for me, i'm packing this suit in white and this one in dark fog. plus a few black dresses and piles of tomatoes and mozzarella and balsamic. i can't wait for the über simplicity of it all.

last night, i found esmé with a tiny silk bag full of some our most beautiful shells from muscat and taba heights and phuket and probably some other random beaches along the way.

why would you pack shells? i asked, shaking my head and thinking popsicles weren't so silly an option anymore.

the look she threw me was honestly one of the purest i've ever seen. overflowing with...i don't know...care, maybe.

i want to take them back to the sea, she shrugged.

i'm letting her.

paul schmidt's work makes me hum. i may see you again before my birthday, but if not? happy fourth. be sure to sing the anthem at least a few times loudly. i cry every time, don't you? xoxo.

things i learned this weekend...

this is my newest obsession. i'm a wee bitter that it wasn't my own concept, but i'm getting over that.

speaking of envy, allow me to introduce a most covetable wrist.

this wrist inspired me to switch up my own usual suspects this weekend for a few events. i snatched back a very cool watch that uncle sugar pretends he bought for me, and brought out some kukui bracelets which turned out to be a huge success. babes tried to eat them, littles asked if they could touch them, and there was even one grandly awkward moment involving the phrase i love brown nuts!

{sigh.}

this month marks the twentieth year my dad's been gone. did i ever tell you the one dream i had about him after he died? it was so real, i still feel it. he was sitting in a booth at a restaurant, looking exactly like the marlboro man that he was with his tan face and strong hands and just chill attitude. i couldn't believe he was back. it was both the happiest and most painful moment all at once.

i was floundering at the time. working at a ridiculous job in chicago while trying to finish an impossible thesis, and i was honestly directionless.

you know, he told me, you don't have to do anything you don't want to do.

and with that, i woke up.

i'm learning more and more that some projects and proposals are getting in the way of you. and this worries me to no end. because between you and me? i'm thinking it's not as much the proposals and projects, and much more that i'm outgrowing this space.

some days, i think i've used up all my words that will fit here. today is one of those days.

so i'm thinking of a little hiatus. there are a few things i want to do before my birthday - the third of july...mark your calendars! - and a lot of things i want to do outside of mackin ink.

take care, you. i'll be back soon. and xoxo.

my girlies two...

just spent a lovely few hours with my first and littlest at appointments and other unspecified and extremely official-sounding they'll-be-very-late-to-school sort of events.

like, a sushi lunch.

my mom kept me home from school all the time. she loved spending time with me. still does, in fact, which makes me feel pretty lucky.

i hope i'm stuffing that sweet feeling into my girlies' hearts. sometimes, yelling about chores gets in the way.

hope you all catch a dip or two this weekend. xoxo. and oops! originally posted a goldfish by a soft surrender, but was just ordered to remove it. no worries. this one, titled a different view from wbg232's flickr, is even cooler.

wildlife...

there's a raccoon in front of our house. it comes out to play during the day.

during. the. day.

now. i grew up on a farm. back then, when a raccoon came out to play during the day? it usually meant that my dad would be coming home at lunchtime for a sandwich and a shootfest.

terribly exciting, yes? i think i even wrote a t.ruffles about it. the only more gruesome adventure is when a cow went crazy one summer. that. did. not. end. well.

wait. that's wrong. the worst farm story i have is when my pet goat, heidi, got gobbled up by a pack of dobermans.

uncle sugar still tells that sweet little anecdote every once in a while to ensure no one thinks i'm too fancy. "she grew up with a goat! as a pet! and then it got attacked! by a pack of dobermans!"

nice.

anyway. i called animal control. after listening to a five-minute recording on how to help injured wildlife, i finally reached a real person.

"are you calling about an injured mammal?" she asked brightly.

"no, ma'am." i replied politely. "i'm calling about a mammal i'd like to injure."

i thought that was hilarious. i'm sure she was laughing. silently.

after telling her the story of the raccoon - and, admittedly, the one about heidi - there was more silence. lots more.

"in the state of virginia," she informed me in a clenched jaw kind of judgy voice, "wildlife is protected."

"so can i..." i tried to interrupt, because this was not going anywhere i needed it to go.

"PROTECTED," nothing silent about her now, "WHICH MEANS YOU MUST LEARN TO CO-EXIST WITH WILDLIFE. AND WHICH MEANS YOU CANNOT KILL THEM. UNLESS THE RACCOON IS SHOWING SIGNS OF RABIES OR AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR..."

"oh! rabies! yes yes yes!" i mean, i've seen old yeller. or was it to kill a mockingbird? "it's all foaming at the mouth and walking sideways..."

"it is?" super incredulous judgy now.

"no."

we agreed to disagree. i might have also agreed to buy some mothballs, but only after she assured me they wouldn't make my house smell old lady.

so i'm sitting here, thinking that this has been a ridiculous waste of a morning. and that i miss my armed guards in jordan. and i miss my dad. and also? i wonder what stash couture could do with raccoon hide.

our newest...

petite t.ruffles, designed for your littles.

so fresh, they're not even in the shoppe.

they sort of choke me up every time i see them. brand new true love tends to have that effect on me, though. you, too?

if you'd like some of my words on top of mary's flat-out happy shots, just ask. we mostly always say yes.

overload...

don't you feel like you need a long weekend to recover from the long weekend?

it was very much too much, at least for me.

my fingers are even too weary to write you all about it. xoxo and happy tuesday.