“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” – John F. Kennedy
My sisters accused me of mischief when I told them I was doing a blog makeover. “Didn’t you just do that?” (I think they were remembering my header change) “Why do you have to change it – I’m used to the way it is!?” I jokingly told them they were getting too set in their ways in their old age (we were celebrating a BIG birthday for my oldest sister, I won’t say which one, so some teasing was in order).
That got me thinking about change (and looking up quotes). Let’s face it; especially in the computer/social media world, you have to stay up with the times. Other blogs were doing makeovers and I was loving what I saw. One thing that had always bothered me about my old blog theme was that the post area was narrow. I would have a photo edited and pretty and then post it the blog, and watch it shrink before my eyes in order to fit in there! I wanted a new theme that made the area wider. I also wanted a cleaner look with a home page that was different than all of the other pages, and some new design features – fancier is what I wanted.
I thought about this for quite a while, but never did anything. I was scared to, the bottom line is that I really do find change scary. The process was what put me off me the most. After signing up to go to the BlogPaws pet blogger conference, I read the advice that if you were thinking of updating your blog, now was the time to do it, since many more eyes would be on it after the conference. I had an offer from another blogger friend, Christina from The Lazy Pit Bull, to help if I needed it; she has a business as a Virtual Assistant.
Even though I set up my own self-hosted WordPress blog all by myself in the beginning, it wasn’t easy, and I knew I didn’t want to take this project on by myself. I wasn’t rushed when setting up the original, but I couldn’t relax and take all the time in the world for this change. So help was in order, and now was the time to do it. I needed a smaller header for this theme and I knew going to another blog friend who had designed the previous header (which as it turned out I could still keep on my home page which made me happy), and my business cards, was the way to go. I’m thrilled with what Debbie from Glogirly Design came up with for me. It is a change but not a complete one and that’s just what I wanted. I also love the idea Christina had to have rotating headers, so you’ll see just the simple title sometimes as well.
This was my original header, way back in the beginning! We’ve come a long way, baby!
“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr
When I set up my blog originally over two years ago, my brother and I had been talking about opening some type of retail pet supply store. He had retired from his longtime job, and I had just given up my pet sitting business. I started the blog as something to do while we considered that, and I chose a name we could use for a store and store website as well if we decided to do it. I went with an American theme because our store would have sold mostly Made in USA products. Our store idea got lost by the wayside somewhere, since the blog has taken over my life; but I’m glad to still be able to keep that color scheme and theme for my blog. I was raised in a patriotic family; my Dad proudly served in the Navy, so I’m happy to still have that as a part of my blog.
I tend to welcome change, even if it scares me at first, and my dogs also seem to handle it well. You will read that dogs need routine, and that is true to an extent, but my crew can be pretty flexible as long as they end up back in bed with Mom and Dad at the end of the night. Which is pretty good considering we stick to our routines for the most part, and changes to it are not frequent. I was thinking how the same goes for the blog: we may look different but at the end of the day we’re still the same All American crew in the same place sharing our lives with you.
Some of you have already commented that you like our new look, thank you! If you’re seeing it for the first time now, I hope you enjoy it as well (I think my sisters are even OK with it!!). I also added some new pages, which you can see on the menu bars, and I think it’s easier to navigate around to see different things now. If you come in directly to a post from email, be sure to check out the home page to see what’s there! I am so happy I decided to do this, and want to give a huge shout of thanks to Christina and Debbie for their help. I highly recommend their services to all of my fellow bloggers. You can find them here: Inspired VA Services (Virtual Assistance and Social Media Management), and Glogirly Design.
We are joining the Monday Mischief blog hop. Thank you to our hosts: My Brown Newfies, Alfie’s Blog, and Snoopy’s Dog Blog . Please visit other blogs through the links below for more mischief fun!
Great new look and very clean. It’s a lot of fun to change things up once in awhile. Nice!
Oh I think it looks fabulous!!!! Well done you!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
It looks much cleaner! I’m glad I redesigned mine too although there is still some stuff I need to tweak.
Yes, I’m still tweaking and updating a bit too! Some of my pages still need work.
I really like your change and the quotes. Interesting what you said about changing now before you go to blog paws and having it ready for all the new views, good for you, kudos for thinking of that.
Congrats on the new design. I like it.
Looks great! 🙂
We think the new look is great. Good job!
Great, clean new look. A changeover takes a lot of effort, so good for you!
–Wags (and purrs) from Life with Dogs and Cats
I like the look too! Very clean.
Love it!
Your blog looks great.
Love the new look! I keep “flirting” with the idea of changing Sam’s blog but whenever I come close, I don’t. HAHA One of these days I’ll just DO IT!
Pam
Take the plunge, Pam, you’ll be glad you did! 🙂
Love it! just love it ..bright and fun and the pictures look super..i love that you can get a bigger picture as i spent a lot of time finding themes i could have that would not shrink my pics! Bravo on change Jan..i did my recently and am super glad i did too! hugs BEV XX
Thank you so much, Bev! It was difficult to find themes where the photos were larger, and that was another reason I was glad I got help…she knew exactly where to send me to find just what I was looking for!
Your photos are so gorgeous, I’d hate to see them all tiny on a page. I think photos are so important to a blog and that they really need to stand out. xxoo
I so agree Jan and finding the themes does my head in..i lose side bar widgets and all sorts..i am getting better hahahaa 🙂 loves Bev xx
Change is good! I love the new look. 🙂
We don’t mind change and kind of enjoy it, BUT changing the blog is always scary because what if something goes wrong. We may not be able to fix things on our own which is what scares us. Christina did a great job making everything run smoothly with our new look too. I’m guessing you just love your new look!
That’s what happened when I originally set up my blog too….I got stuck and couldn’t figure out how to move forward! I had to contact the WebHost and luckily they were a big help and got me through it! It’s easier to have help from the beginning, than to try to find it later.
Christina was great to work with, and yes, I do absolutely love my new look!
I love it! Congratulations! It’s crisp – it’s fresh – and the photo is just the right size. Have fun in your new internet home!
I like it too, it’s a kind of spring cleaning and it brings good mood :o) and it’s better than to change some things in the house :o)
We love your new look! Change is good, we’ve been making a lot of changes on ours as well. It can be stressful doing it yourself but worth it in the end. Some day I am hoping to make the big change over to wordpress which I will not be taking on by myself! lol
I like your new look! And I also like change, as long as it’s a change that’s positive, of course! I’ve never liked routine and I enjoy changing things to a fresh new look or feel, so I used to change my blog theme a few times a year. But it became a little annoying that most of the themes I liked didn’t have the features I wanted, so I’ve stuck with the same one longer than usual. I’m looking to design my author website, so I appreciate your recommendation for Glogirly Design. 🙂
I think it is a nice change and I am due to change my own blog someday soon! I am with you, I don’t love the change!