I have been working for a long time on this little re-design. I was very lucky to have the wonderful women at The SITS Girls give me some much needed advice.  I took a good long look at my blog and made some updates and changes I hope you will all enjoy.

Here are some of the changes you might notice:

• The logo, well the lack of logo. I loved my little chick but it was time for a change. My previous design was launched in 2010 and as a new blogger it was a great way to help people remember The Coastal Chick. So why change my design so drastically and kill off the chick?  Plain and simple it was time.  I wanted a simple design that didn’t distract from the content.
• The header.  The photo was taken by me and is from a very small beach in town.  I am trying to use more of my own photography going forward so I started with the header.  I enjoy how it still represents The Coastal Chick but in a simple, real way.
• Kathryn Doran vs The Coastal Chick.  As you know I am working in Social Media.  I am also doing some Social Media Consulting on my own.  It was time to put myself front and center since this is my personal blog. Not to worry, I will always be The Coastal Chick.
• New Pages:  The SITS Girls were right, the menu bar needed a little beefing up.  I have new places to visit.  The menu bar will be updated depending on my focus.  This month we are working on The March Madness Photo Challenge.
• Layout.  One Column.  Easier to read on-line, on a tablet and on your phone.  Also?  I just liked the clean look of it.  This theme is called Twenty-Eleven downloaded from WordPress.
• Content.  I will try to focus on what I know.  Being a Mother (Mother Roar), Rocking Out (Chick Tune Tuesdays), Social Media (SMM Mondays), Pretty Pictures (Wordy Wednesdays and The 366 Project) and now and again I am sure I’ll torture you with stories from the hood.

A big THANK YOU to Patti Wunder of Easton Place Designs for my social media buttons, header help (ie she finally just made it pretty for me) and Coastal Chick Blog Button.

My beautiful background was created by the very talented Jo Klima of August Empress.

I still have little bits and pieces to fix regarding the re-design.  It’s been a lot of hard work and a huge learning curve to take on a re-design.  I hope you like the new feel of The Chick, I am very proud of the new look.