Yeah.
I’m bored.
A Sunday and I’m thinking lets change the look of the blog.
Note: Have already crashed the blog twice installing random plugins and it wasn’t broke in the first place.
So expect some changes peeps.
blog
So it’s nine o’clock on a Saturday morning.
I feel runover.
Not from excessive partying… We went out to the new state theatre last night and a civilised affair it was too.
And even though yes, I did indulge in a mojito in the late afternoon with Ali… She of the sculpture, I stopped at one.
(In fact we walked out without paying… Realised on the train going to Northbridge… Rang and apologised… Because hey, the guy made a great cocktail and we want to go back again. Havana has become our regular. He was very nice about it btw.)
So, not feeling tired because of the cocktail…
I hate having my hair done when I look crap.
Hours of staring in the mirror looking at the bags under my eyes.
At least they serve decent coffee.
It is the western suburbs darling.
Sitting next to me is a rather dishy fellow. Whose conversation I eavesdrop on while I’m waiting for the dye to process.
Very cute.
Shame I’m not looking my best.
He has a lovely deep voice which is hard to hear over the hair dryers.
He makes eye contact with me as we listen to our cute blonde stylist chatting. Yes we share a stylist. He is getting his hair cut while my hair dye does it’s funky wild grey covering thing.
He is very cute actually.
Business has something to do with South Africa.
Ah well.
Do you read the magazines at the hairdressers?
It’s about the only time I read fashion mags.
Today’s selection is Madison and Vogue.
I don’t bother opening them.
The stylist goes to get the clippers and he says… Must be boring waiting…
Yes.
He has a cute smile and knows it.
We chat for about two minutes as she tidies up his sideburns and then he takes off his gown and goes.
Hmmm tats.
But looking pretty pumped in his thin white tee.
…
Not my type.
Ah time for the hair wash.
My favourite bit is when they massage your scalp.
Niiiiice.
Cutting time.
The worst bit is after she dries it off she chops into it to thin it out a bit. Apparently I have very thick hair.
Ouch ouch ouch.
Still at least that means it’s nearly over for another six weeks.
So what’s left for the day… Grocery shopping, dress sale, and the writers festival.
And that’s enough to be getting on with.
The things I do for this blog. The extremes I will go to.
Take the other night. Hugamuga suggested we have a family swim down the beach.
Never mind that the news had been full of shark sightings and that someone had actually been taken.
Never mind that sea breeze was in big time and sea was choppy and rough.
Never mind that it was after seven o’clock and all the lifeguards had gone home.
Never mind that we have a perfectly good, and recently cleaned pool in our backyard.
We went to the beach.
Once in, I was determined not to swim above my depth. Staying in the shallows getting wet was enough.
Groover had other ideas:
“Hey want to swim around the pylon with me?”
“No way! Swim in shark infested waters, when the visibility is zero and no lifeguards… you must be joking!!”
“You could blog about it…”
“Hmmm. Okay then.”
Brave or tragic?
And I can report that the pylon looks even worse from the seaward side.
Too tired. So sue me. I’m human.
I can’t tell you how often people ask me how I find the time to blog, but the truth is where others might meditate, or do some yoga, or pray… I blog.
I find it relaxing. To let my consciousness stream via the keyboard onto a white screen. To play with the words. To shape and reshape my thoughts.
Blogging opens my mind and releases the frantic thoughts that buzz inside my head.
When I blog, I’m not thinking about all the jobs I haven’t done, the mountain of work awaiting me. How I might approach a meeting tomorrow, what words to achieve my goal with that report. Not to mention the housework piling up, the kids’ dinner, health, glasses… and where is Groover anyway?
I just blog.
I just am.
I add a photo. I jot down a few tags. I select the categories. I hit publish.
My thought bubble, now words on a screen, floats away into the sunset.
My mind is clear.
Nirvana.
I wasn’t going to change my theme for a while but then I won this groovy new theme called Revolution Pro and I just couldn’t help myself but play with it.
I’ve been using Theme Test Drive to see how it looks and changing bits and pieces every night until it got to the point where I just wanted to look at my new site more than the old. Even though there are bits to fix and fiddle with.
So here you are world – my new look.
Revolution Pro makes use of things called Custom Fields for the images on the home page. Previously ignored by me in the past what you do is add say images in the custom fields and then call them up via CSS to appear where you want in relation to a specific post.
My new little logo I created at SP-Studio where you too can create your own little South Park character. I liked the way I could get books and cards into it – two of my favourite things. You might have seen an earlier version in an avatar I use around the place – it’s a bit racier – I’m (it is) wearing a red bikini.
I downloaded some new fonts from Simply the Best Fonts just for fun too.
There are still a few to do jobs.
- Look at changing the colour behind the H2 tag
- Incorporate my Flickr feed into the blog posts – done!
- Re-configure the sidebar on the blog posts
- Reorganise the categories and decide whether or not to keep the sub-nav bar
- Think about a redesign of the logo.
- Try out other background colours – I’m thinking the red is a bit much… what do you think?
And there are probably more things to look at as I get into it.
I know there is a lot of controversy surrounding magazine style blogs so I’ll be interested to read your feedback.
: )
UPDATE: You’ll see I’ve already moved away from the magazine style – simply to make it easier for bloggers to navigate. I know I know seems a waste of Brian’s lovely theme but I am using quite a lot of the elements. The review section in the sidebar for example, the flickr feed in the posts. If I could work it out I’d still have the home magazine page somewhere – but I’m having trouble with it…
My Country by Dorothea McKellar
a poem about Australia
The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins.
Strong love of grey-blue distance,
Brown streams and soft, dim skies -
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of rugged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!
The stark white ring-barked forests,
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon,
Green tangle of the brushes
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops,
And ferns the warm dark soil.
Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When, sick at heart, around us
We see the cattle die
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady soaking rain.
Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine
She pays us back threefold.
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.
An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.
I don’t think I’ve ever read the whole poem. It’s quite inspiring isn’t it?
And in this spirit of nationalist fervour, in a country who has a country music singer as their top Australian (no not Keith Urban), can I direct you to our favourite online forum and blog just for Aussie bloggers and friends. 
Yaaaay! I made it onto the top 100 Aussie Blogger list. Thanks Meg for organising the list!
I’m so excited!
In other news… I’M. ON. HOLIDAYS! W00t!
But don’t worry your intrepid reporter will be keeping you updated will all SultanaNews as we trek to climes cold.
And the news is white:
Snow Alert
I think it might be a white Christmas this year. We will have up to a foot of snow tomorrow and more on the weekend.
But first we have a river cruise to do.
You know, I’m not a fan of the river cruise. Especially one during the day. For a start the food is always disappointing. The wine starts too early and I feel like having a nap by 2pm which is a pity really as there is still hours to go. Can you take a book on a river cruise?
I suspect as it is for my mother-in-law’s 80th birthday that I had better not. Not quite the done thing darling.
Still you never know. This river cruise could be the exception. Instead of being an overpriced, squalid, putt up the river to a second rate winery and over-rated food, it might be the epicurian journey of a lifetime.
It might.
On the other hand, a pack of cards would fit more easily in my handbag…
Meg at Blogpond has created a list for those of us who don’t quite crack the Top 100 Aussie Bloggers. And W00T!!!!* I made the list!
So I just wanted to say THANK YOU to all of you who have come here to read and maybe even comment.
The ranking is a combination of the Technorati and Alexa ratings.
And thank you to everyone -whether you’re on the list or not – you make my internet world friendly, fun and interesting.
Champers for all?
*In an earlier edition of this post I revealed my complete dag – W00t now correctly spelled.
Thanks to the Community Blogger Award I’ve been stretching my wings somewhat and finding lots of new blogs to sample and enjoy and one of the things I’ve noticed is that a lot of bloggers are very organised in their blogs.
There’s Menu Plan Monday, Monday Missions, Fun Monday, Tackle It Tuesday, Jump One Jump Twosday, Philanthropy Tuesday, Wordless Wednesday, Heads and Tails, Flashback Friday… it goes on and on.
Now I have nothing against having a plan – I plan at least two blogs a week – and they both revolve around Australian Idol – Sunday and Monday – I know… tragic. And my other “thing” that I do is every time I finish a book I blog a “review”. I say “review” advisedly as sometimes they are simply. “I read this book. I didn’t hate it.” And this is for me so I can look back and think to myself – hey I did read a few novels this year by gum!
I note that most of these theme memes (and I’m sure there are others for the rest of the week) are for the start of the week which I think could act as a good kickstart to your blogging week. They also give you an “assignment” and sometimes having some restrictions on what to blog makes you more creative rather than overwhelmed with the possibilities. It forces you for example to find “that photo” for Wordless Wednesday or Flashback Friday.
Some of them like Menu Plan Monday and Tackle it Tuesday – give acknowledgement and encouragement to do those mindless and unthanked tasks we might avoid otherwise.
(In fact I’ve been toying with the idea of Menu Plan Monday because really, it would be a good thing if I planned beyond the one day occasionally… And if I did Tackle it Tuesday there would be a lot fewer half empty packets of cereal in my larder and not so many moths.)
But I don’t want to feel hemmed in on my blog.
It’s my place for freedom of expression. Where I get to just, you know, hang.
And my fear is that if I started doing the weekly meme-theme thang that it would soon become not a daily blog but daily slog. That I would come to resent the computer and my blog because it was giving me homework.
I’ve never been good at homework. Or housework come to think of it.
I’m also fearful that I’d get stuck in a routine and my blog would become less interesting… at least, less interesting to me.
Are my fears groundless?
Are you a fan of the weekly task blog? Do you find it helps your writing/planning/life?
Do you like to read other meme/theme blogs?
