Brave New Bloglook

Woooweee!!

Today, I celebrate my WebWitch, Katherine Koch. Her artistry has given my blog a new lease on life. I sent her a CD of my favorite images, and she poured it all into her cauldron, tossed in eye of newt, toe of frog and tail of Boston terrier, stirred it lovingly under a new moon, and sent me this happy, fabulous template, this lovely and active frame for anything I want to share. I don't know how she does all she does (she's an artist and writer as well as a Web designer), but when she gets done writing her historical novel, I would like her to go ahead and...

hmmm... come in on Sunday so she can... design my entire life. Mmmm, yeah, that would be greeeeaaaat.


She's created a place this blog can live happily ever after. I'm all Oh! Oh! Oh!

Stills and obscure references from the movie Office Space. If you've seen it, you're laughing. If you haven't seen it, you must.


Need a Chetfix? Click on His Chetness and see what happens. Want to read some of my favorite posts? Click around on the quote boxes and pieces of flair and see what you find. Mess around in the archives. Try the search box. Searching my blog has been an exercise in futility for a long time, because Blogger's FUBAR and has been for months. Thanks to a Googlyslick end-run by Katherine, my search box works fabulously once again.

You can get anything you want at Zick's new restaurant. So if you want to see a giant Amazon otter or a manatee or a wild macaw; if you want a Chet Baker fix; if you want to know about orchid care; if you want to look at bluebird nests or box turtles or red-spotted newts or bobcat scat (hey, some people get a hankering for it); or even if you just want that infernal Zick dough recipe again, just type it into the box in the upper left corner and off you go. Egad, it's like having a personal assistant. And it's darn nice for me, too, as I find myself dipping into the archives for all manner of inspiration and assignments. There's four years' worth of good stuff in here.

You can share a favorite post on your social networking sites by clicking "Share This Post" in the toolbar. I'm just getting my feet wet in social networking, but I can see the viral power of that. More readers: good. Please feel free to spread my virus far and wide.

Those who get this blog by RSS feed and have forgotten what my blog even looks like, click on http://juliezickefoose.blogspot.com
and bookmark the page if you want to trade a little convenience for the ever-changing, clickably beautiful fun.

I'm so happy to have a dynamic new template for my stories and pictures. Flippant Office Space references aside, I'm deeply thankful to employ a WebWitch who is not only an artistic genius but who gets me, top to toe. So I asked her to tell us a little bit about her process.

"When Julie asked me to redesign her blog I knew I was in for a challenge. A successful design is like a clear window into another world - you don't pause to think about the glass pane bringing joy into your day when you're immersed in the subject beyond it. In this case that window had to reveal a vast and varied landscape conveying all that Julie brings to the blogosphere - watercolor painting, writing, the wonders of nature, gardening, family life amidst the tranquil rhythms of Appalachia, and a Boston terrier in all his adorable Chetness. Needless to say it was a daunting task.

Mether, here you need to put in a picture of me, Chet Baker, applying my undercarriage to your naked couch. Because I am one of the things that brings you joy every day. Probably the main thing, if my doggly intuition is correct.

"I think it was the mission statement that served as the lightning bolt - 'making room in your life, every day, for the things that bring you joy.' At that point, 'everyday' became the mantra, inspiring post-it notes, papers, a wire-bound journal and paint drops, all elements that hint at the mundane while reveling in the extraordinary. I hope Julie's readers find this nook in the web a place that's as warm, inviting, and illuminating as Julie herself. If I've accomplished that monumental goal in a way that excites her loyal following and draws in a broader readership, then I can rest assured that the resulting design is a grand success. Thanks, JZ, for the challenge!" --Katherine Koch, Web Designer Extraordinaire (I added that, she didn't.)

Thank you, Katherine, for giving this design your extraordinary all. I wouldn't change a thing. 'Cuz we've already done that. And it was just about bang-on perfect from the get-go.

Hit Reload a few times, just for fun. Let us know what you think of the new look. As if you wouldn't.

JZ