There was only one thing I wanted for Christmas this year - a new bag, but this year I was lucky enough to get 2. Now let me back up by saying that like most women out there, I love bags and shoes and when I had more money pre-kids, I’d buy a bag every year, sometimes even 2. But then I fell into the whole diaperbag-as-handbag thing when Mia was born. I mean why would you carry 2 bags when you can just shove your wallet and keys into a diaper bag which is huge to begin with anyway? But after awhile, it’s was also kind of awful in that “I’m such a mom now and I’m losing my identity and style” kind of way. So I pretty much ran the other way from diaper bags when Claudine was born and bought a large, roomy handbag with 3 interior pockets. It’s the last bag I’ve bought and I’ve used it every day since.

So my new bags? The black one is a custom order from valhallabrooklyn and I adore it. Lots of pockets and the leather is soft. I haven’t carried around a black bag in ages so even if the color is safe, it’s new to me.

The nubuck navy bag in the second photo is from ClareVivier. No interior or exterior pockets. No lining. Completely minimal except for the brass hardware and that fantastically yummy color. It fits my laptop. Really, what more could I want?

These new bags are roughly the same size and weight - they aren’t very structured and they are smaller than my old bag, which is what I wanted. I’m happy to say that after 2 kids and almost 5 years of carrying around diapers, a travel package of wipes, burp cloths, bottles, snacks, toys, a change of clothes and a changing pad, the only thing in my bag these days are my wallet, keys, phone, lip gloss and a metro card.

See these shoes? Could be kinda tacky with the wrong outfit, right? (or maybe you think they’re just tacky, lol). I forgot I had these funny leopard ballet flats I bought years ago, so I wore them one day last week with slim gray cords, a hoodie and a blazer. Shopping in your own closet…cheap fixes when you’re trying not to spend money. These black boots I did purchase recently, but they were cheap(ish) and so not the kind of shoes I normally wear (and quite honestly I still don’t really know what I’m supposed to wear with them other than really skinny jeans and that would sort of makes me feel like I was trying too hard, but at what I don’t know). I had every intention of returning them, but I kept them and have worn them out a few times and they are surprisingly comfortable. Goes to show you, you never know. This total impulse buy was a reminder that it’s a good thing to step out of your comfort zone once in awhile. We all get into ruts. I’m in another one now, but sometimes something as simple as putting on something different to wear shakes things up. Makes you walk differently. I think I am just bored these days. Life is generally fine, things are fine, but nothing is really exciting, you know? So I’ve taken to getting out and walking around the city by myself when I have the opportunity to get away, which is a little more often these days given my current schedule. This may just be a distraction, but it reminds me of the days when I used to walk all over the city, pre-kids, pre-busines, pre-everything-my-life-is-now.

(* Oh, and for those waiting for an email from me, I lost my emails at this address one day and I know a few of you wrote with questions. I don’t have your address anymore. I am sorry. )

Rainy. A little chilly. I wore a scarf, hat and boots. Today was Mia’s first day of full-day Kindergarten. No half-day crap which I understand is necessary to ease kids in, but it leaves you with as much time to come home, empty the dishwasher and that’s it. Back you go to pick up the kid. Not to be overshadowed by Mia’s big transition into school, Claudine had a milestone of her own today. It was her first day of her one day a week drop off playgroup - not quite daycare, not quite a preschool. Run by an energetic and *magical* Brazilian woman in the garden floor of a brownstone, this was the first time that Claudine would be dropped off anywhere…and we were somewhat dreading it as she tends to be very clingy with us. I could tell that she’s getting better about new situations since earlier this year. The old Claudine wouldn’t even want to come through the doorway for a good 15 minutes and then when she did, she would sit on my lap for a good while longer before becoming even the least bit comfortable with making her way around a room. Today she walked in on her own and immediately went to the fish tank to see if the yellow fish she named “Beef” on her second visit to the playgroup 4 months ago was still there. It was. As comfortable as she was when we got there, she ended up crying and screaming when we left. My baby. The teacher emailed us to say that she cried for awhile but then was ok. When Mark picked her up and got home, she was all smiles and told me all about her time with her new teacher and friends. We’ll see how next week goes.

So I almost didn’t realize today was sept 11 until way after breakfast, which is odd, but telling. I don’t want to say that the heaviness of the day is fading, but as each year goes by, it is fading just a little bit. But just like any other seminal event in your life, the feelings and memories just burn and I spent a bit of time in our new chair in the bedroom looking out the window thinking about them. As a native New Yorker, I was almost pissed that I wasn’t here when it happened. I don’t travel a whole lot so it was ironic that it happened on the few times that I traveled that year. But being in a foreign country on a business trip and not being able to speak the language and dealing with these emotions was probably the loneliest I ever felt in my life. Our client thought it would be best to “distract” us from the news by planning all these trips and tours within the country (we were in Venezuela) while we waited for a flight home. And so we were shuttled on these small airplanes and helicopters with no airport security whatsoever which is probably the most ironic thing about the whole trip. Who wanted to get on a plane at that time except to go home? All I wanted to do was watch CNN, and then when I couldn’t find any more news in English on the TV in my hotel room, I watched endless episodes of Friends dubbed in Spanish. Funny, huh? I found it immensely comforting to watch a show that I knew so well, set in NYC even if it was a fictitious NY. So as cheeseball as that show is, I’ll always have a special fondness for Monica, Chandler, Rachel and friends.

If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile or have talked to me about it, then you know I don’t cook. This goes for most grocery shopping as well. Mark takes care of that too. But yesterday when we were staying at my parent’s house for Labor Day Weekend after our trip to Central Park, we all went grocery shopping together as a family at HMart, the Korean grocery chain (OMG, they have a website?!?). I actually do enjoy shopping at an Asian grocery store as opposed to a regular old supermarket which I find really boring - I usually just end up aimlessly wandering the aisles, not helping Mark pick out the family groceries if I do happen to go food shopping with him (I know, I know). But at HMart, there’s loads of fun stuff to look at, especially all the Engrish and funny little illustrated characters that are on almost every label and logo. Had we not been so utterly and ridiculously stuffed from our buffet lunch just prior to our shopping trip we would have tossed more stuff in our cart (no, seriously. Like we had 3 heaping plates of food each plus bubble tea and we were so full that we didn’t even eat dinner. And this was no late lunch either).

At the store, Mark got excited about cheap pork belly, the girls got excited about Hello Kitty crackers in peel-off cups, my dad was excited to find multi-pack $1 lightbulbs and I…got in trouble for taking pictures inside the store. 3 employees came after me, but after I explained that I was just taking photos of my children, they got seriously embarrassed and offered us 2 free boxes of plastic gloves to compensate for the harassment. I’m not really sure what they thought I was doing, but they did say that I had to erase all my pictures. I’m not having any of that. What’s with Asians and their suspicions about photography? Reminds me of the times my friends and I got chased out of stores in Chinatown for taking photos when I ran my webzine. I mean look at me…do I look suspicious?

Finally, after years of wanting one, I snagged a vintage George Nelson lamp on eBay the other week. I know I could have bought a new reproduction but this one came with 20 feet of cord which means that we don’t have to hire an electrician to rewire and move our ceiling lights so that it can hang above our table. So what did the girls say when we first turned on the light? “We can see our food!!!”. Seriously. I don’t know how we lived without a light above our dining table all these years. Seems crazy now that we see the difference.

I’m in a bit of a frenzy because I have to make some decisions about the apartment quickly. We’re going away next Friday to our rented beach house (YAY!) and have decided to close our shops a few extra days after we come back to tackle the paint job and reassembly of the girls room and the new office. I’m totally undecided about a rug in our livingroom - something that can withstand kids and a cat - but I *think* I narrowed the gray paint choices down to BM’s Gray Owl or Silver Satin. I purchased a little bottle of Stonington Gray and decided that it was too dark, that I liked the room to still read as light, particularly when a friend of mine told me that her living room, which I’ve always admired as a gray I love, is painted with BM’s Sebring White which reads as so pale on a paint chip. I still have to decide on a color for the girls’ room but what I can’t get my head around is the logistics of painting and setting up the room while still trying to maintain normal bedtimes. Can anyone tell me how this is going to work?? Do we move Mia’s bed into Caludine’s room (tight fit!!) while we work on their room? Do we paint first before the bunk bed gets delivered? What? Help!

Here’s another question…I’ve suddenly got into my head that instead of painting the kitchen backsplash I might want to wallpaper it with something like Ferm Living’s Forest Flower. Is this a crazy idea? I’ve ordered samples and the site saids the wallpaper is washable….but…is this crazy?

By the way, you can see more details of our home over on my guest post at Decor8 which is up today. I also forgot to mention a fun interview that we did last month on Heart Handmade called the “Other Half” which interviews the significant other of an artist/business owner, but since Mark and I co-own our biz, Marichelle interviewed both of us. I’ll hopefully have some other exciting press mentions for the fall that I’m working on lately. Happy Friday!

Last summer, we made a plan to take evening walks after dinner. We weren’t too successful in keeping the promise so we vowed to try to take as many family evening walks this summer. There have been a few, but can’t say that we are any more successful this year than last. For one, now that Claudine is mostly walking (just got rid of our double stroller!) she thinks she can just run down the street without us. Never mind the tantrum that followed after Mark caught up with her one evening after we went for ice cream. I remember when Mia was a runner at this age - she’d take off, particularly in the meadow during a picnic at the park, and then I’d have no choice but to leave Claudine, then a baby, on the blanket unattended to run after her. She outgrew this eventually, but I had forgotten about this little burst of defiance until Claudine started the same behavior. Fun times.

It’s true that most days we get junk and bills in the mail, but in the few day before our trip, we received a bounty of happy packages. My friend Tami, designer/owner at Ismodern, was generous as usual with her package of samples for the girls, including the elephant print dress that Claudine was wearing on day 2 of our trip which I love love love. But the best news of all? Tami is packing up her life in LA and relocating her family to NYC this summer, yay! I get asked many times what I dress the girls in. People! Head over to the Ismodern site now where Tami always has past seasons on sale and help her lighten her load for her cross-country move.

The other question I get asked a lot (actually the number 1 question) is about the camera that I use. I recently bought my first DSLR - a Canon t1i, which I’m still learning how to use. I debated for a long time between Canon and Nikon, but the decision to go with Canon suddenly became clear when I realized that an overwhelming number of photographers that I admire all used Canons. The answer then became quite easy. But as any photo enthusiast and professional can tell you, it’s all about the lenses and I knew I wanted the 50mm EF 1.4, which arrived and is pictured below. The danger of buying lenses, however, is that you want more and more. Not so easy when they are so expensive.

Two more packages - a Mark Jacobs dress marked way down on clearance. Not so sure about the loose cut and shape, but love the print. And we don’t buy other sweets very often because we are around it so much, but I WILL buy artisan, handmade chocolate bars from our friend Nina’s company BonBonBar. These were for Mark for Father’s Day. We are savoring and sharing 1 bar a day till they’re gone.

I think it’s some kind of rite of passage when a kid gets their first pair of converse sneakers. Saw these at the mall over the weekend and couldn’t pass them up. First, the gray M&M’s and then these super bright orange/pink stitching Converse with black laces. So freaking cool. Mia wasn’t too excited about them at the store as she was so distracted by the Crocs (what is with Crocs and kids??), but as soon as she put them on for school the next day, she jumped around the apartment when she saw how colorful they were on her feet.

Very rainy Friday today, but hopefully it will clear for the weekend. Got some fun plans tomorrow, stay tuned…