My list of fears is pretty short. Number 1 would be heights. I’m not really great at being on a ladder or anything that is more than 5 feet off the ground. Number 2 would be web design and coding. It’s not my forte. I have no clue what I’m doing, except for the fact that if you open a bracket, you’ve got to close a bracket. I really hate the tech side of having a blog (and wanting to make it look pretty).

But I do not back down from a challenge and will attempt to face my fears head on. Case in point, I took rock climbing as a PE class at NC State one semester. Let me preface this with the fact that the climbing “rock” for this class looks exactly like a mountain. There are NO color coded fake foot holds like you see at other places. It was the most mentally and physically exhausting thing I’ve ever done. I passed and made a climb at every class. But it did not cure my fear; I dread the rope climbs at crossfit.

When it comes to the design of this here blog, my gut says that this is a job I need to outsource. And one day I will probably do that, but being the DIY woman that I am, today is not that day. I’ve been itching for a blog redesign for a couple of months. It’s like needing a new hair style, when you want to chop off 5 inches or go Emma Stone red….I may have done both of these things as well this past week. Sometimes you just need a fresh clean slate and a different style to reflect a new you.

I chose a new theme called Activello. I like the clean crisp design. When it comes to blog design a lot of the work is done for you with a theme template. It’s like the framing of a house; it’s bare bones and it’s up to you to finish it off into something pretty and functional. I did NOT enjoy the blog design process the first time around 2 years ago and it wasn’t enjoyable this time either. I know more than I did when I started and was able to get a lot of the things back in place relatively quickly once this new theme went live. You would think everything would magically stay in place when you switch themes, but that didn’t happen. There were a couple of updates I wanted to incorporate with the new design and changes I wanted to make with the new theme that I didn’t like. My solution for these is to Google and search forums for similar questions where someone has offered up some code to solve the problem. I copy and paste the code into my admin site, hit save, cross my fingers and hit refresh on my site and hope it magically turns out like I want it to. I really should have diversified my friend base while at NC State and gotten to know those computer science majors better on Sullivan’s 7th floor my freshman year.

But enough of the boring details of updating a blog theme. Let me give you a tour around the place and point out some things:

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I got some fabulous new professional head shots from Jonathan at J Armada Photography. After 2 years it was time for an update. Jonathan really knows his stuff when it comes to lighting and I’m pretty jealous of his photo equipment.

That about concludes the tour for now; I’ve still got some tweaks to do around the place, but the bulk of the update is done and everything is functional (I think). I can say that I have given web design my all for the second time. I still don’t like it and it stresses me out. It’s not perfect and I’m sure there’s a link or two broken around this site somewhere that I have no clue about. If you find it let me know!

It’s crazy to think about how fast time has flown with this blog. I started Living on Saltwater exactly two years ago. My intent was to share my DIY projects with friends and family, but it has evolved into so much more. I love that it’s a place that I can share about real life, where I can rant and ramble, and be me.

Here’s a quick peak back at what the blog use to look like: