necked as a jay-bird with crystal clear insight. A bloggy revamp.

Pardon my mess, or lack thereof.  I got a little carried away last night trying to tool around with my wordpress theme and -BAM- I accidentally deleted all of my widgets and plug-ins.

Oops.

I feel neked as a jaybird.

On the upside, I’d been meaning to spend some time considering what I want to do with this place based on a 12 week blog shape up plan from my new fave online mag, Mom Bloggers Club.

For the last 6 months, I was considering starting a new personal blog and keeping gabbingwithgrace.com focused only on culture, race & faith issues.  Partly, because my readership is all over the map in terms of faith, gender & age but also because I’ve felt a bit schizophrenic.

I found myself asking: what in the world is my blog about?  Is it a “mommy blog,” or something else?  I don’t know, y’all don’t know and the truth is my stats are stagnant.  I want to grow.

I need a revamp.

I spent some time last night journaling through the blog shape up questions and determined to sit tight and keep my blog here but with a tighter focus.

I’m going the way of the Mommy blogger, y’all.

No more, “life.  faith.  culture.  relationships.”

I hope you’ll stay around!  I redid my “ABOUT” page to give you a feel for where I’m headed.

Also, I used my new Picnik program to make myself a new banner, blog name & new tagline.

(I REFUSE to pay any one else obnoxious gobs of money to do something I can teach myself to do in about 60 hours time! =)

Want to see it?

(Because I am so doggone proud of myself it’s ridiculous)

Isn’t it beautiful?   This is about the 12th one I’ve made in the last 4 weeks.  It’s been super fun to do.  To think about.  To consider who I am and how to best represent myself.

AND… I like this one too…

AND…here’s my new button.  Eventually, I’ll have it for you to grab! =)

My husband took one look at the istock photo & said, “do you really want people to think of you like that?”

If you mean fashionable, confident, perky -and I mean personality not boobs, people- fun & smiley all the while juggling a life in ministry a toddler & a baby?  Then, um, yeah.”

His response?  “Well, look at her butt.”

Um, okay.  I’m still not seeing the problem here.

Dave: “Well, okay if it’s okay with you.”

Yep.

Dave: “All right.  It’s just very hippy”

Me: ?!?!

World out there, I’m okay with you thinking I’m hippy.

ANYWAY, so my new direction is to focus on my life in ministry & home life.  I AM KEEPING MY www.gabbingwithgrace.com URL, so if you haven’t yet, please subscribe via Google feedburner.

My new categories are 7: (as opposed to the 43 I currently have)! =)

1.  Ministry / MDiv-Ordination

2.  Parenting / Family

3. African-American Issues

4. Hair & Fashion

5. Human Advocacy

6. Personal Growth & Health.

And of course, all of these 7 categories will be filtered through the lens and feel of a personal blog.

It’s what I enjoy writing most at this stage of life, and consequently it’s what you guys love reading the most and commenting on the most.

So, in the spirit of the New Year I hope to get to work on a new wordpress theme, my new banner of course & a very focused, streamlined blog.

Lastly, I’ve got a TON of giveaways lined up.  (Seriously, like 10) so COMMENT, COMMENT, COMMENT.  I’ll be picking some random winners. =)

I would LOVE to know what you think about the changes?  Will you stick around as a reader?  What posts do you really enjoy or likewise are annoyed with?  Any feedback is welcome!  Just be nice about it, I’m so sensitive, y’all! =)

Signing out with my new signature, =)