Take a look and let me know what you think.
I need to play with the header so that when you make your window smaller, all of the houses still show. (And I need to get rid of some pixely noise that happened for some reason.)
And I think I will probably get rid of the diamonds on the left, right, and bottom. Or maybe just turn them green (like the grass in the header).
Update: I think I’ve fixed the header. Please let me know how it looks with your monitor and browser settings! I’ll worry about the diamonds later… they’re not really bothering me. 
Hi! I'm Emily. I'm a Navy wife and brand new stay at home mom. I cook simple, delicious, grain-free recipes, do crafts, decorate on a budget, and keep a happy home. I breastfeed, babywear, cloth diaper, and co-sleep, but I'm not a hippie.
I think the new layout is an improvement and it’s beautiful. Very soothing colors and pattern.
Twitter: JoyfulAbode
Thanks everyone. YES I need to tweak the banner image… it’ll get fixed in the next few days or so. Stormimay, the houses aren’t gone! What’s your monitor resolution? I need to play with it to see how it looks in various setups.
And Hillary, the food entries WILL keep coming… for now though, I’m trying to “save” my crochet patterns. My crochet domain (hookmeupcrochet.com) will expire in about a month. This year, I’m finally letting it die instead of renewing it, but I’m moving the patterns here.
I like the colors and the new layout! I do miss the houses, though.
I like the new look, but I’m not sure I see houses anywhere – am I supposed to?!
Keep the food entries coming – I’m a fan
I love it. I agree…make the diamonds green. At least ONE of the diamond colors. But what a nice and easy look.
oh this is so much nicer – I don’t have to scroll down so long or wait so long for the actual blog part of the page to load. (but the header doesn’t show up at all unless I’m maximized and then barely 2 houses. The header and the rest of the layout don’t seem to be unified.)
All in all it’s whatever makes you happy though!
I love the new look. The background is especially awesome!