Regarding the new look

After enjoying our old one for nearly seven years (by which point it had become practically obsolete), Darren and I recently purchased a new desktop computer. When we purchased our last one it was with the intention of writing papers for school and using the internet for e-mail and basic searches. It served its purpose well, but had grown quite weary and slow from the work we subjected it to over the years (and most especially in recent months.) So when we were customizing our order for this new computer, we upgraded nearly every available option. We've got our cable run through it now so we can watch (or record) live TV or DVDs, we've got a much better sound system, tons more memory, and...my FAVORITE!...Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0! I have been having so much fun with this program, playing with it just to explore it's many wonderful features, and what better project to try my hand at than a new blog banner? :)

Really, I put quite a bit of thought into this new banner, and the final product is my sort of "tribute", if you will, to the end of summer. It seems to perfectly capture everything we've so enjoyed these past few months. I just love the main photo, a candid I took a few weeks ago while Darren was tending our herb garden. I love that he is in it, and I love the beauty of the herbs themselves, the fullness of the plants, the rich palette of colors and textures. The butterflies are actually from a picture I took last month, which I extracted and resized and rotated to complement the garden photo. Setting them both against a "sky" background seemed to really tie the images together, and I love it. (I also love the way the purple lettering matches the purple in the Sage!)

Of course, once I designed it, I just had to use it! And if I was going to change my banner, didn't it just make sense to change the entire template? I'm really happy with the unique and personal touch it adds to this blog, and it makes me happy when I see it. I'm sure I'll change it again in the fall...I'm thinking apples and pumpkins! Who knows. We'll see. For now I'll just enjoy the new look!