Deliberately

Yes, I did a bit of a redesign on the blog. (And by "redesign", I mean I clicked a few little buttons; I have zero graphic design skills except those that enable to me to make fun of awful graphic design.) I tend to be fairly deliberate, and the new look of my blog follows that tendency.

a) The font of the blog title and the entry title is similar to my handwriting. Like, eerily similar. A few years ago, I helped put together a bachelorette weekend with BFFs Katie and Molly, and one of my contributions was a commemorative T-shirt. (Is there any event that ISN'T improved by a commemorative T-shirt? I mean, for real...) Instead of following the basic schematic of 'use hot pink', 'apply rhinestones', 'use "Curlz" font', we took a more creative route. With just a Sharpie and a piece of printer paper, I hand-wrote a great quote from Jack Kerouac's On The Road:

"...the only people for me are the mad ones, mad to live, mad to talk...desirous of everything at the same time, who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars..."

The printer put my handwriting onto the front of each T-shirt, and then an artist friend of mine worked with BFF Molly to turn a great photo into a BAD-ASS drawing. It is the coolest thing to see a bunch of bachelorette revelers wearing T-shirts with my rendered handwriting on the front.

2) Serif fonts are easier to read than sans-serif ones. Since I am one wordy bitch, I'm doing you a favor. (You're welcome.)

3) The background is dark because it actually uses less of your monitor's power. I acknowledge that this is entirely trivial but it's a tiny step in the responsible direction.

4) There are touches of hot pink in the overall design. I'm not sure how this all began, but somehow, hot pink has become part of my persona. (Hence the hot pink Team Dana T-shirts during Tumorgate. That was BFF Katie's decision, not mine.) Somewhere down the road, when I have to create an identity system for my eponymous empire, hot pink will not be factored into it. Don't think for even a second that I haven't already considered this. (A few years ago, I started making beaded jewelry for myself, and then wearing it to my job at Starbucks. One of my regulars commented on some of the pieces and then commissioned some of her own. I made some grandiose plans from this one sale, and they may or may not have involved a business called "Heart On a String by DKM"...and I may or may not still have some of the labels that I printed in my parents' office...)


This tendency towards being deliberate extends to several areas of my life. I think that might be why I like to cook so much; there are so many little decisions you can make along the way that color the final product, and each decision can have its own reason, every ingredient can have its own explanation. (Usually the explanations are "it's good for you" or "it was on sale", but sometimes they are more interesting-- nostalgia, ambition, love, etc.) Last week, I exchanged belated Christmas gifts with my friend Erin, and she just NAILED IT. She went to an independent, woman-owned shop in Berkley [I'm already on board!], and bought a sterling silver ring [!] for me, made of discarded cutlery [!!] from the Detroit Yacht Club [!!!]. Honestly, could Erin have picked a better gift? I love Detroit history, and the DYC was founded just after the Civil War. I love stuff that you can't find everywhere. I never wear gold. I am a big supporter of small businesses and a big supporter of female entrepreneurs. And, finally, I'm pretty ardent about sustainability and environmental responsibility-- using old silverware to make beautiful jewelry!? Fantastic. I'd much rather have someone devote some thought and consideration to a gift they want to give me as opposed to just a chunk of cash. I love when it takes a whole hand to count the reasons why something is perfect, or perfect for me. (Mama Jan gave me a great handbag for Christmas and it scores a 6 on the Perfect-for-Dana Scale.) I applaud the deliberate.