Housekeeping

I've been meaning to do a bit of housekeeping the past couple of days. No I don't mean cleaning my apartment, although that could really use it too, I'm talking about my blog. There are a few things I want to talk about...

First off, has anyone noticed? I updated the layout / design of this here blog. It took a bit of fiddling, but eventually I turned one of the blogger templates into what I wanted. I'm really proud of it, since I really don't know any html. At all. Pat, my live-in computer programmer, was pretty helpful though. I used this pattern for my background (I made it on COLOURlovers): Anyway, I would really like everyone's opinion: what do you think about the new layout? Is it easy on the eyes? Easy to read and follow? Is there anything you think is missing or would be really helpful? I appreciate all of your comments in advance!

I also changed the scheme of my Twitter to match.

Now, I am also very tempted to work on my banner. Originally, when I set out to change my layout, I was going to change the banner too. But the design I had in mind didn't work out, and now I kind of like the old banner on my blog. So I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep it... but I'm still torn over whether I should change the banner in my shop. I don't think they have to match, and I'd like something to reflect my shop a little better. Any ideas?

I've also spent the last week getting a website up and running. I used Googlepages, so I haven't been able to customize much. I mostly wanted to get the content up there. Of course, I read somewhere that Googlepages is being replaced by Google Sites, so I might wait and see before I do too much more with it. But I am keeping all the sections up to date. You can find contests I sign up for here, and a list of all my recipes here. Just click around and see what you can find, there's much more!

Last but not least, this weekend is Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada!
Pat and I have rented a car and are heading home. So I won't have access to the internet, and probably won't be posting in my blog. Unless I can get it to post automatically.. I know it's supposed to be able to somehow..