Minimalist Faniciness

If you asked me how I envision my blog, my response would be "minimalist fanciness!" Not too showy, not too flashy, nothing too girly, but definitely a reflection of me! I have been thinking since New Year's about changing up my design. I absolutely love The Young Retiree as it is now, and will miss it when it is gone.

As I approach 30, I felt a need for something a little more grown up. As I began my home business, I was looking for something a little more professional. As I settle into life with Gene at home, not having duty, not going on fast cruises, not deploying (!!!), I wanted something a little less "HI! I'm a NAVY wife!" I wanted to grow on my own.

Imagine my absolute delight when an on-line Facebook, blogging, twittering friend of mine announced she was going into the blog design business! You may have read her blog before: Adventures to Taingamala! Jane designed her space, the space of a few other bloggers, and now she is working on mine! I can't wait to reveal my new Jane Whitney Designs designed blog space!

I honestly don't know how blog designers can work with someone as indecisive as me and turn out a BEAUTIFUL product! Our e-mail interactions started with simple questions from Jane:

Can you send me the picture you want your palette based on? (Since I had mentioned I had one!)Do you want any pictures in the header?Do you want a tagline? Maybe something that encompasses your blog direction better now than Hi I'm a Navy wife! (Since that's the direction I mentioned wanting to go)Do you want an about me blurb? If so, I need the text/picture of you for that.All social media links that you want icons for (including if you want your email as a button).

Those are easy, right? I sat and thought, and thought, and thought about what I wanted, how I wanted it to look, and wrote back this:

This picture of the truffles has been a favorite of mine since I saw it. I love the light blue, the bright pink, the green and orange- all those bright, fun colors without looking too circusy, you know? (Hopefully she would know!)
I don't think I want a picture in the header... you can only look at feet for so long before you get sick of it and I'm just not sure what else I would put there... Maybe just an artistic rendition of "The Young Retiree" would be nice!
I would love a tagline without military things! I'm thinking: "{You'll just have to wait for the big reveal! I think it's puh-retty suh-weet!}"
I would love an about me blurb and sadly only have one or two pictures to work with that aren't instagram favorites. I've attached a few for you to work with that I like, some of which are instagram favorites! I LOVE the one of Gene and I making the duck face, but am not sure that will fit in too well. I'm wanting to show how fun I can be though, you know? For wording: "{Again: You'll have to wait for the reveal! There is nothing I dislike more than trying to come up with something about myself!}"

Oh, and these were the four pictures I sent here:

Top: LINDOR truffles! Don't you just LOVE those colors? That's the image on the back of my moo.com business cards!
Middle Left: A picture Gene snapped before a girl's night. I love it!
Middle Right: A picture after finally getting out and surviving the corn maze last fall!
Bottom Left: DEUCES & DUCKFACE- I seriously LOVE this Navy ball picture!
Bottom Right: Before heading out for our Anniversary dinner!

Then I asked my friend Heather if she would mind taking some REAL headshots for a better picture, and she happily did! So, scratch all of those... and wait for the big reveal!

Jane got right back to me with a Style board that blew me away! All I could say was:

WHAT???!!! To say I am in love with this style board would be a gross understatement! Those fonts are so PERFECTLY me, I love the color palette and those subtle backgrounds! I wrote a fellow blogger last night whom I had never interacted with before, but she was looking for sponsors and I had been silently lurking in the shadows. She came to my blog and told me how professional and approachable it looked and then I got worried about changing it! NOT ANYMORE! I think this is going to be one helluva design!

Friends: it has been a joy working with Jane and I can't wait to show you what she has come up with! All of my readers can save 10% on a design of their own with her since she's right over there in my sidebar! She'll be over talking all about getting into design in a few weeks- be on the lookout to see how someone can turn what I gave her into absolute beauty!