The gorgeous Kera interviewed me over at the Pregnancy & Newborn Magazine blog, Design to Die For. Thanks, Kera!

And I started a Polaroid gallery in my room. Love how it looks. (Abby, you might be able to spot my sad re-creation of your adorable photo shoot) But our cinder block wall is uh, interesting, huh? Still debating if I should paint it or not.

Update: Was brought to my attn. that the links aren’t linking correctly from Google Reader. If you go the original post, everything links the way they should. Thanks!

This morning, as Kai was walking — correction, running — around the house, a fridge magnet, that was for some reason on the ground, got stuck to his foot. He exclaimed to me “Mom, I’m made out of metal!” I love his funny observations and his innocent view on how the world works. It’s moments like these that lighten up my otherwise stressful and harried life.

This week in particular has been particularly trying, and if it were made into a movie, I’d title it Damages. Kai’s proficiency in the use of scissors has been evident in the drapes, the living room sofa, and Ryan’s keyboard cover. When asked as to the location of the offending scissors, Kai explained that a magician used his magic wand to make them disappear. Amusing.

Sweet little Dax is our indoor hurricane. Aside from his usual hobby of pulling things out of drawers and knocking down all the books, he broke two of my terra cotta pots (soil, everywhere), and is fond of picking away at the wall paint that Kai had previously punched a hole into with my craft hammer. You may be wondering where am I during all this destruction. Maybe the bathroom. Maybe putting clothes away. But it’s very likely I was at the washing machine, throwing in yet another load of soaked bedding, as bed-wetting has been a recent problem with Kai. Between the destruction, the bickering, the rapid-fire questioning (Kai), the teething and subsequent crying (Dax), I am just beat at the end of the day.

Anyways, I didn’t mean for this to be such a long-winded “woe is me” post. But it feels therapeutic to complain a little bit instead of trying to keep my game-face on all the time. I love my boys dearly and I love that they’re still little enough to cuddle and kiss and are easily tickled. But I look forward to the day I can order them to scrub the shower and wash their own dishes.

Now dry my clothes and give my husband the tan he’s been wanting all summer.

This evening, the kids didn’t mind too much being dragged around numerous thrift stores, picking up some Holga film, and searching up and down Main Street for my friend Angela because I had forgotten my phone at home. An Auto Trader mag kept Dax busy most of the time. Cars? Boy? Yes, that makes sense.

And the uber-hipster mega-chain has landed in downtown Ventura, following on the heels of American Apparel, which makes me think Anthropologie won’t be too far behind. And as much as I love these stores, especially Urban O, contrived coolness and all, it’s very sad to see all the little boutiques and antique shops slowly going out of business. Such is the evolution of quaint Southern California downtowns.

So happy the blog makeover is finished! It’s been slowly tweaked and tucked the past couple of weeks, but it’s at a place where I can happily walk away from it. Ryan is the superstar that coded the theme, so if any of you are in need of web programming, holler, as he’s always up for freelance.

In addition to a new, super-fat footer, there is a Popular Posts category in my sidebar. Also new is a Superhero Party FAQ section at the bottom of the original post.

And thank you all for leaving comments and reposting my downloads. It really does make my day, and I always enjoy meeting new blogging friends. : )

{Above: A couple of blurry Polaroids of things in my room; mini-carnations and vintage books.}

This is what the view is supposed to look like!

I’ve decided I’m going to start designing and selling stationery again. I tried to stay away, but I just can’t help it. I’m aiming to reopen Ambrosia Paperie in mid-September with brand new products, so I’ll probably be losing my mind and possibly hair over the next few weeks.

My kids must have found out that I’m easily scared, because they collaborated on this little photo shoot and left the images for me to find on my camera.

Over the course of my lifetime, I’ve been scarred by those who I trust most. Everyone from my mom, who claimed that as a child, ghost fingers would grab at her and try to pull her under the bed in the middle of the night, to my best cousin, who swore that bloody Mary visited her in the bathroom numerous times. Even aunts and uncles would tell me stories about legless demons they saw floating around in the Philippines, and also about their supernatural experiences with Ouija boards. Oh, almost forgot about The Hand. Sometimes when I got into trouble, my family thought it’d be funny to tell me that The Hand was going to come out of the dresser and get me. See? You’d be scarred, too. Unless, all families did this?

But now that I’m seasoned and matured, I believed I had left all those fears behind. I do hide behind my hands during some intense scenes during Lost, but with it and all the rest of my silly childhood memories, I can laugh it off and rationalize that it’s not real and to just calm down already. But I forgot that I have two boys. Therefore, I can expect a lifetime of them scaring the _____ out of me.

Because he’s so handsome, I don’t mind baking him chocolate chip cookies at 10:30 pm.

And my latest round of Holga photos came out crazy cool. It must have found out I became slightly disenchanted with it, and was having a fling with my Polaroid because it brought its A-game and came out roaring.

Just in case you haven’t already heard, Kate is updating her shop with yet another round of handmade necklaces! They go really fast, so I’d sign up for her shop update and stay within a 1-foot radius around your computer this Thursday evening. A week ago, I managed to snap up one of the last two. Definitely my favorite necklace right now, which means I freak out whenever the kids get near it.

{Photos by Kate Miss from For Me, For You}