I was growing increasingly bored with my old Tumblr theme. It was originally a Wordpress theme called “Press Row” converted by StumblePeach that I changed up some. Most of what I changed on Press Row I kept for this new theme. The header now features an excerpt from one of my most favorite books as a child, The Velveteen Rabbit, upon which the title of this tumblog is based (the division of the child’s toys after he contracted and recovered from Scarlet Fever—just in case you were curious and all):

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse.  “It’s a thing that happens to you.  When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful.  “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse.  “You become.  It takes a long time.  That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.  Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby.  But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

A map of the Moscow Metro also makes an appearance. It’s my most favorite thing in the whole world (the actual Metro, not the map … although it’s impressive, too).

Anyhow, I hope you like it (which you may not if you’re using IE6 since I haven’t tested in it and probably won’t).