New Site Layout is Live!

Like I said last night, it’s not finished. But since the old layout was getting SO messed up as I worked on the new one, I figured I’d get this one up as soon as it was working.

You’ll notice a few things if you’re looking around (if you’re reading this in an RSS reader or email, click through to see now! )

• New navigation at the top of the page. Home, Family, Recipes, Crafts, Home & Garden, Reviews, and Joyful Stuff. It’s all pretty self explanatory except for Joyful Stuff, which is my Amazon store. It’s all products I use, love, and highly recommend. If you’ve ever asked me, “Where can I find coconut flour/almond flour?” or “Which awesome new lens did you get again? I love your latest photos!” or “What’s that soft-structured carrier you use for Anneliese?” the answer is in Joyful Stuff. If you think of something I need to add, let me know!  And if you buy something (anything in all of Amazon) through my store, I’ll get a tiny percentage of the sale (your price won’t increase), so please do! I’d appreciate it a lot.
• A little “about me” blurb on each page, top right, with my smiling face.
• New social media icons, which I drew myself. In order – subscribe via RSS, subscribe by email, contact me, twitter, facebook.
• Further down in the right sidebar are some featured posts you might like to check out. Some new, some “classic.” These change depending on what page you’re looking at.
• Below that, there’s a “button” you can grab and put on your website to show that your abode is a joyful one! If you have another idea for a button you’d like me to make, let me know! Thinking of making one for “non-hippie natural parents.” hehe.

It’s not finished yet though! There are a few things coming:

• Navigation menus for recipes, crafts, family, and home&garden pages. The recipe one will replace the recipe index, and will include categories like breakfast, baked goods, poultry, beef, grain free, etc. It will always be updated, so it’ll be way better than the way I’ve been doing it, which becomes outdated as soon as I add another recipe. In the family one, you’ll be able to select “Anneliese,” “The Guy,” “Zora,” “Babywearing,”  etc. Crafts and home & garden will also be categorized.
• Thumbnail images for each post are coming, but it may take a while. There’s a resizing issue going on so if I use thumbnails right now it actually shows the whole huge image, and makes the page look insane. So I disabled it for now. I may have to go back and manually update the featured image for each post. Each of 605ish posts. It’s going to take a while, but I’ll get it done.

Please take a look around and let me know what you think! I’d also like to hear what ideas you have for how to make it even better (besides thumbnails and more detailed navigation, which are in the works already).

Oh, also? If you’re not subscribed already, now’s the time to do it. From now until the holidays, You’ll have 4 chances to win $100, and a chance to win a $250 Best Buy gift card. You don’t want to miss that, do you? Didn’t think so.