Blog Background Overhaul -

Hi! :) If you read this blog regularly, and you just got on here ... do not panic. Breathe in, breathe out. :)
I know you might be doing this, because it's what I do when I go somewhere and it is different. Things run across my mind like "Did I mix up my links? Didn't I bookmark it right? What if I've been attacked by some weird linky thing, and nothing will look right again? What IS this place? Where did everything normal go? Everything is....changed!" and then I realize that the blog background is different. :)

Welcome!!!

I'm so so soooo excited about this overhaul. :) It's been long overdue, and long desired. I had my old background for 2.5 years, and that was a long long time. A long time for a background, anyways. And friends, it had really started bothering me. See, I've blogged sooo many memories and sooo much pain and it was getting so overwhelming even to look to the sides anymore. It seriously started putting me in tears. Think of it like reading a really sad paragraph in a book every time you went to write something. Seeing everything through the light of what had hurt so much.

Not that there has not been some of the sweetest and most overwhelming joys on here, with that background, but it was feeling ... attaching. And my dear ones, there is so much joy here too. And I really wanted something that calmed me down and brought instant joy and peace when I got here. And now I can't stop smiling. It's so downright gorgeous. I love the colors and the background and everything. :)

So today EmilyBrower and I talked over chat, and browsed through backgrounds and things....I looked through about 20, but ended up going back to the very 1st one. It just fit so so well. And then EmilyBrower and I picked out colors and then......after 3 hours of work, my computer crashed from lack of internet, and I spent the next 15 minutes praying my little heart out that it was saved. It wasn't. ;) But it was on g-mail, because I had e-mailed Emily the colors and sent her screenshots! So it WAS saved, and the edits went in, and viola! New blog.

We loved playing with the colors, and just agreed hands down that we were recreating the beach in our heads. haha. Everything is blue, teal, aquamarine, and some sand thrown in. :) These are the colors I dream in. I love them. God made them so beautifully, perfectly well. Then I added a new picture of me laughing (courtesy of Lauren with my camera at St. A's), and put it all up. I might move some things around later, but for now, this is the new design. I also added color to the lines around the blog title, I felt that it made it pop even more. The name of it was perfect too: "At the Cottage". :) SO great!

I love that it opens up the space, being white and unrestricted, and makes it seem so big.
I love that when I listen to my beach music, it perfectly fits my blog.
I love that Em and I had the greatest time making it, and spending time laughing at each other.
I love that EmilyBrower loves it. ;)
I love that I sigh with joy when I get on here, and I love that it is new and just Jean Marie right. :)

So there we have it! Leave a comment if you want, or three! haha, and tell me what you think!
With so much love,
~ Jean Marie ~


March 22nd at the Ponce DeLeon Lighthouse