Subtle Changes...

Or drastic ones?  I revamped some features on my blog.  Firstly, the background.  It's now a picture of some sort of fabric I took with my iPhone once using the lomo app.  It's visually interesting and colorful without being as jarring as the orange background already available via blogger.  I also got rid of the navigation bar at the top of the screen.  It was driving me nuts aesthetically.

Secondly, I added links to my other accounts on Tumblr, Twitter, and Flickr (on the right sidebar).  I am posting my 365 Grateful project to Tumblr as I take the photos (via my trusty iPhone), if you feel like tracking daily instead of waiting till Fridays when I will be posting the images here.  I don't use my Flickr as much as I used to, but I intend on changing that!

The original designs, before cropping them down and making them smaller buttons.

Thirdly, I moved the buttons to many blogs that I follow to their own page "Blogs I Love".  I felt my sidebar was getting too cluttered.  Does anyone know of a way to move my list of blogs I follow via GFC/Blogger to the page instead of as a click-and-drop widget available under the design option?  I'm not a very good coder...yet.

It's been pretty rainy here, but tomorrow is supposed to be sunny!  This makes me happy because, well... my sunroof on my car is jammed slightly open, so every time I park my car I have to stretch a sheet of plastic from the passenger door to the drivers, and close the doors on it to keep it in place.  Not only is it pretty cheaptastic, all the pollen sticks to it and gets to sit on the passenger side of my car as I drive from point A to B.  I am allergic to this pollen, as well as the subsequent mold collecting in my car from any moisture that gets in, so I am hoping to get someone to fix it tomorrow.  I also have to change the motor in the passenger side window (which is currently dead and the window is held up by a bolt wedged under the glass inside the door... wow, my car is a POS!).  Hopefully, the rain will hold off until my garage-less car is better prepared to handle it!

In the meantime, here are some goodies on the interwebs my dears!

This relaxing "bathtub tea"... what a brilliant idea!  I am all about making this. If only I had a beautiful old claw foot tub to relax in, so I could soak up to my cheekbones in warm water (I find modern tubs are disappointingly shallow, unless of course you can afford a lovely spa tub...)!

via: radmegan (in words & pictures)

There is an AMAZING giveaway going on over at One Pearl Button right now!  OPB has been an active blog for 4 years now!  That's a huge commitment!  I am secretly hoping that I will win it, but I seem to have no luck in giveaways.  If you want to enter, click on the link under the photo and follow the instructions!  And good luck... I guess... :)

via: OnePearlButton

I am a HUGE literature nerd, so I am taking this moment to share what I am currently reading: Memory & Dream by Charles de Lint.  Charles is my absolute favorite author of all time, and has been since high school, when I picked up The Blue Girl in 2004, the year it was released.  I have since read about fifteen of his novels.  No, that's not right.  I have DEVOURED them.  I even have Bear hooked!

via: the CdL cover gallery

I purchased this novel from Borders to help cope with my own depression and grief associated with losing someone I love, since the novel is about that... and magic.

The story follows an artist named Isabelle, Izzy for short, who studied under the reclusive but brilliant prestigious artist Vincent Rushkin. Rushkin passed on his technique to painting images with soul to her, bringing magic and wonder in Izzy's life, as well as confusion and great responsibility. Izzy's best friend and roommate in her college years, Kathy, is a brilliant writer and Izzy's biggest fan.  Unfortunately, tragedy strikes, and Izzy returns to her childhood home far from Butler U., her memories, and the paintings she loved to create.  She changes her style dramatically from realistic surrealism to abstract studies of shape and color, the only kind of paintings she produces twenty years later.  A close friend of Izzy's and Kathy's from college, Alan, reaches out to Izzy in her solitude, asking her to illustrate some of Kathy's writings he wishes to publish, in her old style, the one Rushkin helped her to realize.  Izzy is faced with the promise she once made to her friend, the return to the city that holds all her memories and demons, and the possibility of seeing Rushkin again, with whom she parted on less than amicable terms.  But mostly, she is faced with the terrible possibility of the outcome of unleashing the magic of her brush again, and the reciprocations that could entail...

Needless to say, I am enthralled.  I am ALWAYS enthralled with his works.  You can learn more about CdL by visiting the WordWood online (a site originated in the novel Spirits in the Wires, nonetheless!  I was so excited when I tried looking up the link for fun and discovered it was a real site made by super fans like me!).

Anyway, I highly recommend checking out his works.  If you aren't into the fantasy genre already, try checking a book of his out from your public library first.  I find even those who aren't diehard fantasy nerds fall under his spell, but it never hurts to spend time at your library!  If you ARE a fantasy geek like me, you can go buy one of his works.  You probably won't regret it!

Have a wonderful Thursday.  Is anyone else reading something wonderful or have a brilliant author to rave about?  I'd love to know!