Friday, April 25, 2014

I Dyed My Hair and No One Noticed, So I'll Be Doggone If No One Notices My New Blog Design!

OK, there's a teeny tiny little white lie in that title; my husband noticed (my hair, immediately, because the "white streaks" were gone. "White streaks" he claimed not to have really noticed before. Yep). Ladies, there's a lesson in this somewhere. But, I veer off to the left a little...

Where was I?

Oh yes! HAVE YOU SEEN MY NEW BLOG DESIGN?! (I know a few of you have.) But for those who only see the blog in a reader, or email, or Triberr (or wherever - other than on the actual blog), or maybe you only stop by when the headline is particularly juicy for a pet blog (hair dye, anyone?), YOU'VE GOTTA SEE MY NEW BLOG DESIGN, STAT!

Note: Link goes to Glogirly Design, where the talented Debbie G. (aka Glogirly) hones her craft. And, to whom I owe all the credit for my blog's terrific new "do." What a pleasurable experience that was - working with "Glogirly"! And (I kid you not), the entire process - from my first email to the final product - only took a week!
Here's the header, because I like you (even if you're still looking at this post from inside a reader, etc.). But you've gotta click to the blog to see the whole thing!

OK, I see it and it's fab (omg, isn't it?!), but why the heck did you do this, Elizabeth? 

Well, I'll tell you: It's been forever over two years since I updated the design (all by myself, I might add), and since then, I'd outgrown a few things: like my column widths, and the space allotted for my page tabs, and my three little ole social icons (when I really needed twice that many). And frankly, because of my inexperience in designing blog pages (namely my previous header, which I made at the now defunct Picnic.com, and will always treasure, by the way), I simply didn't have the tech nor design skills to do what needed to be done (while keeping the previous design in tact).

♫♪ Make new blog header, but save the old (in a digital scrapbook). Some are silver and the others, gold.♫♪
(Gone, but to be forever treasured.☺)

That, and I've evolved as a writer (aka oft-ridiculous, pet-centric weblog article engineer?) and I really, really needed the design scheme (header/colors/tagline) to reflect where I draw inspiration today - and in the foreseeable future.

What the heck does that mean, Elizabeth?

Oh frell, I don't know! I was just trying to sound like I knew what I was talking about up there! But if you're wondering whether I'm about to change up what I do here, NOPE! Not gonna do that. But dang it, I have a bunch* of cats (*six one way, half-a-dozen the other, really), and if I wanna let people know about their fuzzy butts right off the bat, then I will! And if the mood strikes, I'll write about 'em, too. (Just the way it's always been. humph.)


Oh, and you haven't expressly asked me this, but I'm gonna tell you: Here's what I told the brilliant Debbie G. at Glogirly Design that I wanted my blog to "look like": "Retro" I Love Lucy with warm, Panera (or coffee house) colors. And the vintage TV (from my previous background) had to remain prominent. And a kitty (Maddox) MUST be somewhere where people can see him. And, doggone it, DIDN'T SHE DO A KNOCK-OUT JOB?! But wait! She even worked in some design/mood elements that I was thinking, but never told her (how did she do that?), like: Veggie Tales (yes, really!) and Bewitched (graphics) with a dash of The Benny Hill Show thrown in to taste! Yum! (Uh, never mind about Benny Hill. I might have imagined that part. Or, secretly wished it. ;)

And, most importantly, MY NEW DIGS MAKE ME SMILE AND WANT TO WRITE EVEN MORE OFT-RIDICULOUS, PET-CENTRIC WEBLOG ARTICLES! Yay!

So, there you go. Class dismissed. Thanks for attending.

Oh, next time? I'm gonna get a critter (or two, three...) to teach, which means absolutely NO food or drinks allowed in the classroom. No exceptions. ☺

Have you recently updated your blog design, or are you thinking about it? If you don't have a blog, is design/layout a factor in whether you choose to regularly visit a blog or not? Do you like me? Yes or no. ;)

**Psst. Even if it's true (for the sake of my emotional stability), please refrain from telling me you never noticed my previous blog design, and therefore, have no idea why I made a big deal about people coming over here to "notice" the new.  Also, I'm too young at heart to have "white streaks." (Which is why hair dye was invented. duh.)

33 comments:

  1. We love your new design and we think Debbie did a wonderful job. Looking good. Have a super Saturday.
    Best wishes Molly

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  2. Love it! Next to my retro one its my favorite! Glogirly rocks! Love Dolly

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    1. Thanks, Dolly! I checked out your design a few times before I reached out to Glogirly. :) Nice to meet a fellow retro girl!

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  3. Absolutley noticed the new design and love it. Glogirly does great work! We recently just updated our colors, but didn't change much else - it's always a work-in-progress. Didn't know you had cats too! Would they like to be contributors to our new SlimKitty site? We don't have cats, so we're building a community of SlimDoggy/SlimKitty friends to help us get the fit-cat message out. Just email if interested :)

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    1. Thanks, @SlimDoggy! It's interesting that you didn't know I had cats. (Neither did @Glogirly; imagine her surprise!) I guess they're out of the bag, so to speak.

      Hmm, I'll have to check out your blog for more info on the SlimKitty site. We're no strangers to the battle of the kitty bulge (SO much more work than with the dogs, I have to add.) Thanks for asking us to contribute; I'll definitely let you know if I think we can help!

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  4. I truly loved your old design, but this one is amazing! Glogirly knocked it out of the park. Fantastic!!

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  5. We love your new design, and think that "magically retro" was absolutely the way to go when you're talking about a breed as old as Fairy Steeds are! The colors are really nice too--not an eye-shock like some pages end up being. It was great before, but it's amazing now.

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  6. Wow!!! VERY cool! (the new design, that is - we haven't seen your hair recently) We love that it's not like anybody else's.

    Garth & his momma

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  7. I did see this yesterday at Glogirly's blog and think it looks wonderful! Amazing job, you should definitely be proud of your new look :)

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  8. Great design. Though I might have not noticed without it being announced; too much content driven, I guess.

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  9. I LOVE the new design! I'm so jealous - what a great concept! That Glogirly knows her stuff! :)

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  10. I like the new design. I think it's perfect for you guys!

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  11. I love the new design. Very early childhood, er, 1960's. :) And so happy to see Maddox get a nod in the header now. :)

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  12. Thank you so much for noticing and commenting, everybody. :) Your readership (wherever and however often) means A LOT to me! As does whether or not you smile at the visuals once you get here. This is a happy place, after all!

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  13. Awww, shucks.... big blushing going on here.
    Elizabeth, your enthusiasm and imagination are infectious and it was an absolute pleasure helping you with your new 'do! I smile every time I see it!
    Thank you for your positively GUSHING compliments.
    ...now where again do I send the check???
    ; ) GG

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  14. At school I'm at a course called electronic publishing and we are learning html :P So, now I'm really starting to thing if I could really make my blog to look more like me. But because the course sucks I'm not sure if I'm still talented enough to do anything (and ok, the biggest problem is that I don't know what I want it to look like xD I do have people in my class who could easily made something awesome!). But I'm thinking about it!

    -Lilli-

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    1. Lilli, one can know all the HTML there is to know, but darn it, not be able to illustrate "oneself" for all the "schooling" in the world. (And, although I think my blog design accurately reflects "me" on my blog, it doesn't necessarily reflect all of me. And that is FINE.) My point is, your blog should reflect your "voice" and your blog's purpose. It takes TIME to figure out what that is. But in the meantime, make sure you make it a place that YOU like looking at every day! (And that can be as simple as color scheme.)

      As far as the HTML goes, I think it's GREAT that you're learning it! I had to learn it for my job (several years ago), and GOOD GRAVY am I glad I did! Who knew I'd still be using it, and for THIS?

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  15. I really like your new design. Is there anything Glogirly can't do?! Of course, I really liked your old header, too. (I am in love with those adorable dogs.) And hello, Kitty! How cool is that. Then, to top it all off, your posts are great.

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  16. Your new design is really spunky, I love it :) Well done to you and Glogirly!

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  17. The re-design truly is fabulous! If I wasn't losing interest in my blog, I would be very tempted to use Glogirly's services.

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    1. Losing interest?? :( On that note, though, Taryn, when I started this blog it was in the company of you (and SO MANY other Cardigan people) who had paved the way (so to speak) and were such an inspiration to me. It's been strange (and also hard) to see most of those people lose interest in the blogs since then. (I think in favor of Facebook and maybe, the Tumblr platform.) Wonder why that happened? I'd love to know.

      You've gotta do the blog because you want to, though. Not because you think you have to (I nearly kicked this blog to a curb in another state because if that kind of thinking).

      That said, I'd LOVE to know what you'd have Glogirly do for you!

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  18. LOVE the new design and LOVE that Glogirly! She is super-talented and such a delight to work with! This design is very HAPPY...so write your heart out!
    Oz

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  19. Hey, I noticed it and the new design looks fabulous! Love the retro look and feel of it. Glogirly did a great job!

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  20. Your new design is wonderful! Debbie at Glogirly did a fabulous job! Congratulations! Oh and I'm sure your hair is gorgeous!!

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    1. Thank you, M.K. :) I feel better about my hair - that counts for something!

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  21. I noticed right away, I thought perhaps that I had typed in the wrong link (don't you love that)

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    1. Oops! I was wondering whether anyone needed to do a double take.

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  22. Love it! The design has so much personality, and I think you captured the spirit of your voice perfectly in the design! She did an incredible job!

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    1. Thank you, Maggie. It's important to me that my design match (and not overpower) my voice. Glogirly was very receptive to that, I think. :)

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  23. Looking goof! I really love the feel of it and it's kind of zany and "I love lucy"-ish, which I think is a great fit for your voice!

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  24. Thanks, Kolchak and Jodi. :) But what I really want to know is whether you meant to type "Looking gooF" or was that a subconscious slip? ;) Because it's fairly on point. :)

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