Welcome to the brand new look of Swirling Notions! Many thanks to Shazia Mistry for her hard work and patience with my “tweaks,” and to Easton Ellsworth and MamaBlogga and eMoms at Home for their blogging tips. I’m so happy with how the design turned out (see, Jo . . . no black) and I can’t wait to start playing with all the new bells and whistles waiting in the wings!
As this is, in a sense, a re-naissance of this blog, I figure it’s as fine a time as any to pause and thank you all for making Swirling Notions come to life. You’ve had a profound impact on me.
Writing for magazines is a very introverted affair—you’re working solo in front of your computer and in your kitchen and are quite removed from the end result, both in terms of time and context (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cooked turkey in April and written about tomatoes in January). But I’d gotten used to it. It worked for me (I’m an introvert).
In all honesty, when I first began Swirling Notions I was a bit intimidated at the prospect of having spontaneous conversation crop up around my writing. The closest I’d ever come to that was overhearing someone talk about an article of mine on an airplane (thankfully, they’d liked it). It even took me a while to feel comfortable jumping in to all of your blogs. I always feel like I’m intruding when I don’t know anyone at a cocktail party and there was a similar, sweaty-palm-heart-pounding-I’m-a-stranger-here feeling for me in the beginning.
But all that’s changed.
Now, I look forward—every day—to sharing with you. Here and on your own blogs. You’ve made me laugh, you’ve made me cringe, you’ve made me cry, you’ve made me question, and you sure as heck have given me some fantastic new recipes and wine picks to enjoy at my table. You all have brought new life to my writing life, and for that I am deeply grateful.
Cheers,
Lia
PS . . . Don’t worry about the missing posts and disarray for the moment, we’re still making a few “tweaks”
PSS . . . please remember to update any links that point back to the old Wordpress site to www.swirlingnotions.com. Thank you!
16 Comments
Lia, the site is BEAUTIFUL! Congrats on the redesign!!! Isn’t Shaz great?!
Very nice Lia - I know what you mean about the “intruder” feeling and “sweaty palm heart pounding” . . . . is there a way to email you about reading your adoption blog?
steph (stephheringer@yahoo.com)
Wendy . . . Thank you! Shaz IS great! Thank you so much for all your helpful tips.
Stephanie . . . Absolutely. I’m at lia(at)swirlingnotions(dot)com. Did you have a chance to browse our adoption blog?
I love the new look! I am so jealous. I would really love to change my design from the boring blogger template but I definitely need assistance. One day!
Well this is lovely. And I’m very glad you didn’t go dark! Congrats!
Lia, it looks great! And, don’t ever worry about being an “intruder” - it’s just not possible for you. Thanks for all of your articles - I love reading your work!
How exciting! Looks gorgeous!
BTW, I tried clicking on the Clos du Bois thing - they wouldn’t let me…didn’t like my country. (You are not allowed - was the response) oh well, E for effort!
I love the new look! The photo at the top is absolutely beautiful. Congratulations - it looks great!
I miss the photo of you, the guy (your hubby?) and the wine.
steph
Lia - your email doesn’t like me
steph
Nice look!
I really like the new layout–nice work
Very nice! I’m wondering now if “grape arbor” is synonymous with “vineyard”?
(I’m also wondering, just between us of course, which blog made you cringe..)
Hi Lia, the site looks really great!! Haven’t forgotten about the braise but it still might be a couple weeks before I get around to it!
Lia: Congrats - the site looks awesome!
Thanks for all the kudos on the new look you guys! I’m just giddy!
Now to work out the last of the tweaks so I can actually get something NEW up here. My brain is starting to clog up with ideas . . .