Let’s be honest: it’s really the flagship, charter-member-type design, because the visual stuff I had up here before simply screamed “Amateur!!” Give me a cross-stitch pattern, and I can duplicate it. Give me some jute, and I’ll macrame something cool, possibly functional, but definitely not “in.” But web design? XML and CSS are even more beyond my core competencies than, say, oh, I don’t know….. bricklaying. Or choosing winning lottery tickets. Or KEEPING A SECRET!
On that note, I’d like to point out that beyond my husband and one very dear friend, I have kept this whole project largely under wraps. For me, that is EPIC! I can keep really big secrets, like that we have waaaaay too many alcoholics in our family in various stages of recovery, or that I knew someone who stuffed her bra with Kleenex into the latter years of college (*GASP!*). But the little ones, like “shhh – don’t tell him that I have a huge crush on him!” or how gullible my darling third-grader is, well, I want to tell those so badly that my body practically twitches until I can hurry up and share it.
There is an ongoing family joke (that a few people just won’t let go of) that goes something like this:
Dad: So, Melissa, what did you and Mom get me for my birthday?
Four-year-old Me, thinking hard, acting smug: I cannot tell you that, Dad!
Dad: Oh, sure you can!
Me: Nope! (picture me pretending to zip my lips and throw away the key)
Dad: Awwww, come on, just gimme a hint!
Me, more thinking, more smugness: OK. Here ya go: it’s for your feet, but it’s not shoes.
Somehow that puts my parents and brother into hysterics that even Disney animation couldn’t top. (The answer is slippers, by the way. And hey, it could have been SOCKS, right??)
But I digress. So the blog design is here, and I successfully kept it secret, so you could see it in its finished glory!
By the bye, Sumy Designs’ Susan and Amy are not only talented, professional, and outstandingly creative, they are very, VERY patient! I’m not sure they realized when I hired them that they’d not only be doing all the back-end and artistic-design work, but that they’d be holding my hand via email, helping me figure out what I actually wanted. And this was no small feat, believe you-me.
And so, with the re-design almost complete, you will find me populating a few of the new sections over the next couple of days with some fresh content as well as some re-written stuff. With the aesthetic finally present and accounted for, I’ll get back to regular posting, instead of getting mired in the technical detail of making things look better.
Come along for the ride, OK?
