Thank you so much everyone for your kind words about my new site! They really mean a lot to me especially after working so hard to make it happen! Of course I didn’t do it alone. Shaz from Swank Web Style was the designer I hired to help me and she was absolutely fabulous to work with. I’ll tell you right now working with me is no easy feat! I’m very particular about what I want and I’m obsessed with the details. Put it this way, I wouldn’t want to work with me…lol. Shaz somehow read my mind though and nailed what I wanted on only the second draft. I’m so happy with it. Thank you Shaz for putting up with my gazillion emails.
Despite loving my old blog design, I decided many months ago that it was time for a change. I was tired of the same old same old, my site was slowing down, I wanted to move to my own domain and I just knew that to continue to grow my blog I needed a little more flexibility than Blogger offered. For instance, I wanted to have static pages (pages that don’t publish to the feeds each time I update them), I wanted to be able to publish pdf files, I wanted to be able to auto post and I generally wanted it be a little more organized. I needed to clear out the clutter.
After reading many reviews about WordPress.org and visiting many WordPress blogs I decided that this platform would meet my needs. I’d only worked on WordPress briefly before with the Compass Life blog and then the Stacks and Stacks blog but I liked what I saw and so far I’m finding it pretty easy to manage. I’m having some trouble working with the pictures though because when I upload them from my hard drive they are much too big and take a long time to load. I’m curious if most people compress their pictures in some type of photo editor before doing the upload. Shaz added the Image Editor plugin for me but I’m still trying to figure it out. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
As for the design I absolutely knew that I would be keeping the bookcase, chair and lamp. I love that picture and the colors are so me. It was important to me that I retain the image of I’m an Organizing Junkie while still infusing a new fresh and fun design. It was Shaz who created and added the flowers and I am thrilled with the way they add a flare of fun to the organized space of the bookshelf. That’s exactly how I hope my readers feel about my site when they visit me here…an organized yet fun place to be!
I also thought with a new look that it might be time to show my face. I’ve added a picture of me to the About Me page, did anyone notice the fact that my baskets match my blog? I told you I was crazy about the details…lol. Clearly that should tell you that you don’t have to worry because even though I have a new look, the Freak is here to stay!
Katy says
Well, your site just looks fantastic Laura! I love it! And it loads much faster than your other one! 🙂
I am not totally familiar with wordpress and the exact issues you are having with the pics…BUT..I know you can download Irfanview for free (I have it) and it lets you resize your pics on your computer and then it may be much easier to download!
[link]http://www.irfanview.com/[/link]
Good luck with everything and i look forward to all the new posts you will be blogging!!! Have a wonderful halloween! 🙂
Multi-tasking Mommy says
I LOVE your signature 🙂 It’s SO cute!!!
As for photos, I reduce the image size using Microsoft Photo Editor and then I upload them to the internet using Photobucket….it’s so fast and easy.
Oh and I love your little green flower and bubbles separators!!! They’re so cute.
Laura says
Your site is lovely, and it was nice to hear your thoughts about designing it so thoughtfully. I’m thrilled you added your picture too.
PS. For some reason, and I don’t know if this is happening to others, when I post a comment, the “name” box seems to limit the number of characters one can type in. So, my normal “My Quotidian Mysteries” sign-on looks like “My Quotidian Mysteri.”
Marcia says
I’m trying again just to see if the comment goes through
Tammy says
It was nice to “see” you! Your new blog looks great!
It looks like you were able to transfer all your old blog posts? How did you do that?
Dawn says
I really like your new site. I’m glad you added a picture, too. I like to picture the person as I’m reading their blog and if there’s no picture of them anywhere on their blog then I have to make up a picture of them in my mind. Then if I actually see a picture of them, the one in my mind and the real one are totally different. It’s funny how you picture someone just based on what they write.
Becca says
I second irfanview. We use it here at work and it’s a keeper! Good luck
Marie says
I’m switching to my own URL soon too, if you have any tips on how to do so seemlessly I would appreciate reading them!
Susanne says
Photobucket will reduce your inmages to several different sizes and it’s super easy to work.
Love your new site, Laura. I did laugh that your baskets in your pic match your header. You are toooo funny.
Mrs. H. says
I recently designed a website for my husband’s boss. I use HP Image Zone. He often sends me pictures to scan for his site, instead of already having them in ditigal format, but the process is the same. I open the pictures, then click on the ‘resize’ button set up for web page format, then save the picture, and upload it to his page.
Carla says
The new design looks fantastic. Glad to see you are keeping the same feel but bringing some new and fresh things to it as well.
Kimco says
Hey Sister!! I am in the airport waiting for our flight and thought I’d open the ‘ol laptop! Congratulations on your new website – I LOVE IT…and you! Thanks again for all your help this past week getting me organized and ready for my surgery – you are such a dear friend. That’s right people, she may be your “freak” but she’s my friend. Well, okay, she’s my freak too! xoxo K.
Gwen says
I have a WordPress blog and I use Picassa to resize my pictures to 800 pixels. It is good to because you can also export the pictures to a folder on your hard drive and resize them at the same time. It is easier to find all the pics you want for a post when they are in the same place. 🙂
Crista says
Laura,
The new website is very nice; unfortunately for me, it still loads slowly. It always starts loading quickly, then there is a 30 to 45 second period where it won’t let me go up or down your page, or even switch to a different website, while it finishes loading. Kind of like it freezes my computer up. This is what your old site did. Didn’t know if you could do anything about that, but your site is so great, it is worth it to read your great ideas. And, if you could see my house right now, you’d see I’m in need of many more ideas from you. We have been schooling all morning, and my kids’ books are everywhere, while my 2 year old has her toys out everywhere. Would you consider homeschooling, so that you could give us homeschoolers some homeschooling organization ideas?? haha! Just my way of saying I love all your great posts! Thanks again!
Crista
Tsoniki says
I love the new look! For pictures I usually upload to Flickr, go to “all sizes” and then use a smaller picture.
Jeanne B. says
The new look is really cute! I love the daisy motif and the little “extras”.
As for image compression: I use PhotoShop to crop, resize, and color correct any images I post to my blog. PhotoShop has a companion app called ImageReady which launches when I choose Save For Web. This takes the image size down to a manageable level (from Mb to Kb).
There are probably some less pricey options out there that will do the same thing, but this is what I do, then I upload to Flickr and paste the URL from Flickr into my blog.
Hollie says
I use photbucket and then load my pics from there..
Sometimes they will of been edited in Paint Shop Pro first if there is a need..
Otherwise I dont like how they load either.
Proverbs31 says
OH. MY. GOSH. I love, love, LOVE your new blog and layout. It’s gorgeous!!
I have to say, though.. My heart skipped a beat – It really did!!- When I started to read “Good bye old friend…” I thought you were leaving us for good!!
I’m so glad you’re not. 🙂
Candace says
Love your new look! Welcome to WordPress. This blog loads so much faster than the Blogger blog. I use WordPress and always compress my pics in Microsoft Photo Editor. That’s about all the advice I can give because I’m the least computer savvy blogger out there.
Lazy Organizer says
It’s beautiful! I need all those features too so I may have to join you on WordPress.
shaz says
Thank you for the kind words Laura! you were great to work with! 🙂
I actually did not notice the baskets matched, but I smiled when I read that. 🙂
Jennifer, Snapshot says
I’m glad you posted a picture. You look so young!! So young in a good way, not so young in a twelve-year-old way. . . .