Return of the Queen

Blog, oh how I've missed you. I cannot believe it has been 23 months, 1 week and 3 days since I last posted. But really, who was counting?  I surely wasn't because that count is not accurate at all.

I started blogging sometime in the early or mid 2000's. It was a medium that fed my narcissism back then. I was going through relationship, work and life issues and it became therapeutic. It was about the time that my insurance ran out on my mental health care and I was tired of writing in my journal "Dear Diary, My life sucks. I suck. My insurance sucks. This diary sucks too. Sorry." The more I wrote, the more I discovered about myself. Like how much I enjoy talking about myself.

I'll never forget my first blog. It was called the Tao of Thao. I wrote about life, love and the pursuit of happiness. Then I got cocky and wrote about things that were happening at my job. I was confident no one read my posts, especially not my highly technical and left-brained peers. I was venting about an individual that I had to train who was not, in my opinion, qualified for his position. I thought I was being clever by not mentioning any names that might incriminate me and using aliases like "Baby Huey" to identify this person. I at least learned something from Dooce. But apparently not enough.

Baby Huey's wife "found" my blog and reported me to management. I got called in and reprimanded. Taking the cockiness a bit further, I told them I was not sorry I wrote it because that is how I truly felt. I was just sorry it was found. I would still have The Tao of Thao if not for that meddling wife of BH. I am not above remorse for hurting someone so I scarfed down my humble pie and apologized to BH. Strangely enough, we developed a good working relationship. I was not angry at BH but more at management and he was the fall guy. I ended up leaving that place but I never revived that blog although I think of it with fondness every now and again.

So much has happened in the last two years, I hope the writing bug keeps biting so that I can continue to document it all. My memory is already starting to fade.

The Unveiling

I finally got a new blog design. After almost three years posting about me, me, me, and sometimes about my offspring, using a freebie template, I went with a professional. After searching high and low for a designer whose style I liked and whose price I liked even better, I chose Cutesie Blog Design. Leah was running a Valentine's special and I jumped on it.

Leah is the creative force behind Cutesie and she offers four different packages. The designs are for blogger and the prices are the most reasonable I have found on the interwebs. You browse through the portfolio of designs to get an idea of how you want your blog to look. Whether it is a simple two column design or an elaborate 3 column design with all the bells, whistles and buttons you heart desire, you will be happy with the results. The next step is filling out the questionnaire to let Leah know what you want your blog title, sidebars, etc to be. Be very detailed about what you are looking for. Leah creates a header and provides two examples. If you like some things and not others, you give her feedback and she makes the changes. And even if you don't like it at all, she will work with you to get you the look you want. After you approve a design, she gets to work on the rest and will let you know when it is ready for the install.

The toughest part for me was selecting the actual design elements. I must have gone through them all 4 times before I settled on Family Ties by Kristin Cronin-Barrow. The tree and the red and blue colors jumped at me. Me being me, I had no idea what I was wanting. I have no eye for style or design but when I see something I like, I go with it. Leah created two designs for me that were nice but were not my style. If I had been more definitive about what I was looking for in the questionnaire, I know Leah would have nailed it. She took my suggestions and wish list and basically did a whole new design which I loved.

When it was finally installed, it turned out better than I could have imagined. I got my tree and the blue and red elements. I love my post divider, the title font and my signature. I loves it all!

If you have been wanting to freshen up your blog or you are just starting one and can't find a decent free template, check out Cutesie Blog Design. You'll definitely find something that is just right for you.