two sweet things happened...

i wrote a guest post about me and my uncle sugar and how we eloped over here. i do love that little kathryn.

and marta sent me some of her goodies. i do love that little marta.

one problem, though. my lillie's handwriting is currently the bane of my existence. in short, it's insanely illegible and the basis for every bad grade she's ever earned. think "oh! that was a 7?!" and forget spelling tests. lillie has.

but there was something about marta's As and Tees and Esses that spoke to my girl. like, screamed at her. and now she is inspired to write like this.

her teachers will hate me, but man...i love it when my girlies show a little glimmer of artistry. and do you even KNOW the brilliant shop i'll open if lill's successful in recreating marta's penmanship?

it will look a lot like this one, i bet.

inspiration board by mary. have you seen her new site? it's brilliant. by the way, she and i are submitting some of our t.ruffles for some sweet projects, and were asked to take down our site while doing so. a lot of you have asked, but i keep forgetting to tell you. now you can remind me to tell you about our next collaboration together. we have a vague but completely cool plan. i'm kind of in love with it already.

new inspiration...

or would you say it's old? because i think i've had denim like this in my closet at some point in my life, yes?

esmé strolled up to me last all matter-of-fact and told me basically? i can't do without you.

better than any love letter ever written by me. and i've written a few...

pure detox all week and up to as close as i can get to christmas. think i can do it? say yes. i need the encouragement. covetable denim found here.

making stuff...

it's been such a sweet week that i forgot to wish you a happy thanksgiving.

don't feel too badly; i didn't even call my mom. {i. know.}

it's just that we've been eating each other up over here. doing nothing everything. and today? today, i made marshmallows.

you don't know the back story on that, and now's certainly not the season to tell it. but once upon a time, my homemade marshmallows meant...happiness. but way better than that.

i haven't made them since. until about one hour ago. and i had to tell someone.

sometimes, do you ever whisper to yourself i'm having such a fun little life! i do, too. but then i worry about karma or voodoo or something equally insane, so i always add the disclaimer ...this week!

just in case it all flies into hell in that handbasket. it's been known to happen, you know.

those are not my marshmallows. i found them here and here. and here's the recipe i tried today because i couldn't find my old one. i don't even care how it tastes. xoxo.

moving out...

we've had it, uncle sugar and i.

after a weekend of both our oldest and our youngest girlies in our bed, we made a decision. we'd stand up to our five-year babe. we may also have to stop sneaking up on lillie to scare the britches off of her and telling her tales about axe murderers who chop up girlies who don't do their math homework.

mézie, uncle sugar began. you've got your own fluffy bed and your own room. you can't sleep with us anymore, ok?

you guys...it worked. no drama, no tears, no nothing! minus the axe murderer thing? we're awesome parents!

that little thing nodded her head once, as though she was resigned to the fact that we meant business. this time. and she crawled out of our bed and walked all straight-backed proud to her room.

and returned thirty seconds later. with her toothbrush and special toothpaste.

i think it's better if i put my toothbrush in our bathroom, she said as she passed by her awesome parents.

our. bathroom.

awesome.

i am in love with the steward. more in love with the girlies three, with whom i will be spending the week. lazy posting ahead! xoxo. oh! and just so there's no confusion...the little enemy is still sleeping with us. she just moved in harder with the addition of her toothbrush.

hi...

i'm knee-deep in a few deadlines, and my eyes are absolutely cashed.

i tried to help grae with her spelling words this morning - as well as east coast geography - and i blamed my dumb on blurry eyes.

oh, what? montpelier is not the capital of maine? yeah yeah yeah. now i remember. vermont. bangor is maine. yeah yeah yeah. i meant augusta. sorry! my eyes are all blurred up.

and then i popped into middle school with esmé in tow, and someone had the nerve to say that OUR. HAIRCHOPS. LOOKED. THE. SAME.

ok. the woman was trying to compliment us, which didn't warrant my aghast face. nor my aghast blurt DOES MY HAIR LOOK LIKE THAT?! SHE CUTS HER OWN HAIR WITH CRAFT SCISSORS!

{blink. blink.}

so i'm planning not-so-much for this weekend. just to round out a perfectly tragic trifecta of a geographically-dopey, mangled messed-out hairchopped karey m. with the addition of shiftless.

awesome.

sweetest pair from telecommunication. in other news, i want a perm so my hair could look like this. yes?

about last night...

so i was chatting with joslyn {all the best stories begin like this}, when all hell busted out of its handbasket.

the doorbell rang. esmé ran for it. lillie was faster. because she is twelve. she should've known better. because she is twelve.

there may have been a buttface from my youngest girlie three, and a priceless from my joslyn.

then, after everyone was calmed, my grae girl initiated small talk. this is the natural progression in our home after tears; there's the initial ENOUGH!, then sniffles and hugs, about thirty-two seconds of silence, and then small talk to officially break the drama.

grae is the master of small talk. so is lillie. but do not - i repeat, do not - reply to esmé's small talk or you're stuck for hours talking about why god invented stuffy noses and whether he has a pony or a dog. or both. and do you think he's allergic to cats? does he have to brush his teeth every night? does he have a best friend?

for the record, uncle sugar told her he went to high school with god and santa and that guy from the allstate commercials. they were all in algebra together. they still keep in touch.

so grae's small talk? wouldn't it be horrible if we had a deaf grandpa?

umm. that's what we like to call, in the small-talk business, an ender.

there was more to this day that i hated, like my baby's banged-up head, a lost race, a cold, candy wrappers, bills, and a pressing deadline. yep...that was the sort of day i had. with my forehead all crinkled up. and it ended with esmé asking for help finding her giant farm puzzle.

i threw it away, remember?

why would you throw it away?

because it was broken, remember?

she looked at me as though i was insane. and wasteful. honestly? it was the wasteful that got to me most.

but that's the way with puzzles. they break, and then you put them back together.

oh. exactly.

it would be easy for me to throw away yesterday. just erase the day, as my mom likes to say. but, in the end, i kind of like how my girlies three know how to put it all back together.

can you tell i'm cuh-raving old-school quality today? all from apostrophe...9, found via cayenne kisses. how into picasso are you? me, very. and how into hot tumblrs are you? me, very. xoxo.

only two posts in...

and i want mackin ink to be this blog.

surely, they won't notice if i swipe it.

drive-by post while waiting for everyone to get ready for lillie's concert. we are a ruffly sea of black and boots and one giant tutu. uncle sugar is not so ruffly. but, man, he smells lovely. thank you, gucci.

who lives like this...

i was vacuuming doritos from behind the chaise last night, all incredulous that this was my reality.

who throws doritos behind a chaise?! shocked and peeved, for sure. uncle sugar loves when i'm in that sort of a mood.

more importantly! who! eats! doritos!

then i started old lady mumbling. who lives like this? seriously. tell me. because i'd like to know who. lives. like. this.

uncle sugar shook his head at me like i was crazy. which...yes.

you were a slob when we got married, he said.

huh?

don't you remember? you'd throw your clothes all over the floor? i'd do the laundry? every saturday i'd clean the house top to bottom? you complained when the bathrooms smelled like bleach? like, clean?

no. way. YOU GUYS! I WAS A SLOB! i honestly thought i was PERFECT! i am not, it turns out. and do you know how lovely a feeling that is?

i can't explain it, but i think it has to do with taking a lot of pressure off of me and my girlies three.

later, i was talking to my mom, happily telling her the news. mom! i used to be a slob! do you remember this?

yes, she told me. also, you were not a very nice child. today you'd be called a bully. back then, we just said you were mean.

huh?

turquoise overload via would you stay? she likes shiny as much as i do.

this is why...

lillie? your concert is this weekend. when are practices going to begin?

they started last week, mom. before school. but you wouldn't take me.

but. i. wouldn't. take. her.

and this is why i screamed all night.

legs via invisible monster. because in other news, esmé told me i am dressing lately like a ballerina. i am? i smiled. yup, she answered. 'cept your legs are chubbah lubbah. increasing treadmill time today. ugh.

oh, polly...

lately, it's not the young girls' inventive styles that thrill me.

anyone can take a chance.

nah. it's that long-established taste cultivated by cool women of substance that makes my mouth water. a nearly impossible self-assurance that comes only with class and age. neither of which is guaranteed. only earned, if you're lucky enough.

polly? you're eighty-six. and i'm flabbergasted. in total awe. and a little smitten.

tell me about you...is it the new or the established girls who inspire you? and i wonder what our choices say about us?

devour polly mellen's not-to-be-missed words here. i'm on my third reading. in related news, from now on i'm going to applaud genius as she's always done. do not be surprised when you see me at alt summit and think i resemble a seal. i will take that as a compliment. i would also like to be known hereafter as too noisy. that is all. xoxo.

alt design summit...

so last night was the sort of night when everyone who lives in my house pronounced no with at least two syllables.

at one point, i even hisspered i. am. not. digging. your. nos. girls.

esmé's hand flew straight-away to feel her nose. i could see that little wheel creaking as she wondered what the heck was wrong with it. and then she segued into full-on fighting mode.

well...i don't like your nose, either!

{sigh.}

we all hit pause. which is always a good choice when fast forward and rewind are not an option.

also - and here's the only important part of this post - you MUST watch first ascent on the travel channel. you just must. i'll admit i have a thing for heights and adventuresome boys, but this...oh, this. it's a brand new series, so it may be hard to find at first.

find it. you'll die a little after seeing it. plus it may also make you want to climb to higher peaks. and then jump from them.

wait. here's another important part of this post. last night, amid all the grumpy girlies three and their grumpier mom, popped up an email. from her. about alt design summit.

i won't bore you with details {here is where you think really, karey? you'll bore us with stories of homophones and completely gloss over the sweet bits? really?}, but her note made me smile all darn night.

truly important part: if you're at all interested in design and trends and social media and anything creative, you should go to alt.

it's not about who's speaking, really. it's about the magic of the collective group. it's about sitting next to erin from design for mankind, listening to gayla of you grow girl speak and comparing chillbumps on your arms. it's about meeting joy from oh joy! and proudly admitting you know every detail ever written about her life. and then asking about beth. it's about encouraging san francisco girl by the bay before she speaks to a packed room, and thinking how insane it is that she has no idea the impact she has on the design community. it's about taking the seat next to someone you've read, and thinking they're so much sweeter and prettier in person. it's about seeing the sparkle in someone's eye, trading business cards, and keeping in touch.

it's about getting inspired and sharing the energy and transforming these thin air relationships we have into real, tangible, touchable, and very sweet friendships.

if there's a chance you could go but are hesitating because you think i'm not a design blogger or i'm not a good enough design blogger or i don't know anyone from my real life who's going to this thing or i'm scared to just jump?

jump.

because you do know someone who's going to this thing. we've been reading each other for years.

pretty faces from a painted face. i love make-up.

one more thing...

i forgot to tell you about our posters. there are three.

and i can't, for the life of me, tell you which one is my favorite.

there's the one that whispers to me as a dreamer...

and the one that sings to me as the la la la everything should always be perfectly sweet optimist...

and the one that just guts me as a mom and a wife and a woman. because it always comes back to love, doesn't it?

my mary ruffle and i are pretty proud of these babies, available in our shoppe. they're all so sick-saturated with color and kindness that we can't even believe we made them. between you and me? mary ruffle's not that nice. {ohmygosh! mary! did you giggle at that? are you turning pink? oh, good!} xoxo.

a sneak peek...

it's not a clear pic, but i couldn't wait.

can you see that these are absolute fat shots of pure joy? i hope you can...

coming soon to the shoppe. like, tomorrow.

a smidge about halloween...

i don't have much time. the girlies three are still home for some odd reason.

i'm sure other mothers know why school's been closed for the past two days, but you and i both know how details like that bore me to tears. i'm much more interested in knowing that they'll be able to go perfume shopping with me.

i need more tom ford.

when i was a little, i never trick or treated. of course you didn't, karey. you're probably saying right now. you grew up on a farm. and even though you were allergic to the outside, your parents still bought you a goat as a pet.

please. let's not go into the whole pack of dobermans eating heidi story. it's still too soon.

but my non trick or treating histoire has less to do with growing up in the middle of nowhere and way more to do with the fact that i was always sick.

of course you were always sick, karey. you're probably saying right now. you were surely surrounded by loads of people with moles. plus the ones that burrowed in your grandmother's garden.

please. let's not go into the whole finding out at the ripe old age of thirty that it was molds that prompted those weekly allergy shots. it's still too raw.

but i do enjoy how we know all these peccadilloes about each other, don't you?

anyway. my point is that uncle sugar really makes halloween special for our girlies three. that boy knows holidays.

he carves profesh pumpkins, finds two pumpkin seeds molded together in a heart-shape and gives it to me, hides behind corners and scares the bejesus out of all of us, goes on two-hour hikes through the woods and listens to all my chattering nonsense, and bakes and cooks up a total storm.

last night, just after he took the cookies from the oven and just before he turned them into ice-cream sammies, he said the nicest. thing. ever.

something about wanting tons of money so he could spend every day wandering through the woods with me, listening to all my chattering nonsense.

that's a very nice thing. ever.

in other snippets, i am all geeked up that my girlies still don't dress like hoochies for halloween. and i apologize for not throwing up beautiful design-ish photos on this post, but non-hooched girlies three are the most beautiful designs to me. i hope you had a really really excellent halloween! if you want to tell me any stories about yours, i'd smile to read them! xoxo.