Blog Redesign

If you've been here before, you have no doubt noticed that I have done a little redecorating.

When I started my blog last spring, I went with Blogger's basic Minima template.

But I soon began to notice tons of blog layouts filled with personality and I began to feel like my blog was a little too Minima. So I went to The Cutest Blog on the Block where I found a boatload of dazzling backgrounds. I have a few male readers, and wanted them to feel comfortable visiting, so I went with a fairly gender-neutral theme - Graisley.

For months, Grailsey helped me to overcome my blog design insecurities. It was an easy way to help my blog stand out from the crowd.

But then a couple of months ago, I began to feel inferior again as I visited more and more blogs, all brilliantly showing their individuality with designs themes that supported their blog themes. I began to dream of the day I could devote time to a blog design that properly expressed what goes on here at Single and Sane.

But the reality is that it's all I can do to write the posts. There never seemed to be enough time to play with the design...until last night, when I impulsively decided to delete the Graisley design and start over with my own creation.

Unfortunately, it wound up reminding me of the time I went to a Superbowl party and an hour later found myself - along with two other women from the party - in the hair color section of a grocery store. An hour after that we had gone to my house to apply the new color and were faced with the results. It would be fair to say that our reactions were less than enthusiastic.

And no, we had not been drinking.

Here you go - take a look at the result my impulsive attempt at the redesign.

Much like the blond shade I had applied to my hair that Superbowl Sunday, it was a step towards my desired results, but it still fell far short of my intended goal. I hated it.

I wanted something a little whimsical, but not over-the-top girly. After all, I still want my male readers to be comfortable at Single and Sane. I wanted a cartoonish woman from another era, but this was not the woman I had in mind. The cross was good, as I wanted the design to convey the faith aspect of my blog without hitting people over the head. That part was a keeper.

But all in all, this was not change I could believe in. It did, however, force me to seriously tackle the design, ready or not, before too many readers found my unwelcome changes. So I went through my giant set of clip art books, perusing one tiny thumbnail after another. And finally I found the cartoonish woman I was looking for. She was close to perfect.

True, ideally I'd like for her hair to be red, or even blond or brown, but she fits the image in my head, and I love the typewriter.

For some reason, I suddenly find myself in the mood to go look for a new hair color...