There’s something about the cute-ness in the design of blogs like this that somehow makes me kind of go mushy. It’s not that I expect less or more from it, there’s just something about the design of the blog that kind of makes me smile. Initially you see some bright colors and good artistic work. Then I read the Shel Silverstein poem, and it took me back to childhood. I’ll admit, going into this review, I’m hoping for good things.
I’ve tried to make it a habit to start of with some of the early entries before I dive into the meatier part of a blog. However, the early entries only elude to the fact that Lauren once had a LiveJournal and has moved to her own domain. Knowing this doesn’t actually help in understanding a few of her earliest entries where she talks about bettas (fish, by the way), and Elvis. It doesn’t take a super sleuth to find the information about Elvis, her horse, and not the other guy.
There are a few design flaws, but they’re not major. First of all, some of the “about me” stuff offers a back button to go back to the menu, while others done. Some of the archives got the evil “Not Found” error, while others worked wonderfully. There are frames, so sometimes scrolling can make you a little batty when the entries actually run longer than the “web page” length. On the other hand, the design is very pleasing on the eyes, and easy to read. The colors work well for Lauren’s personality.
There are lots of added bonuses to this site. She has photo galleries, writing galleries, and general “about me” information. There are plenty of pictures to get a feel for the different moods of the author, and lost of interesting outgoing links. There’s a tagboard and comments, and contact information if you’d like to write directly to her. She adds lots of pictures to her entries, which give you a little bit more into the entry itself. She shares her artwork too, which is definitely worth a look.
Like most blogger’s, Lauren loves to write. It’s probably the most common reason why people started blogging in the first place, and I am no exception to the rule. She writes about her day to day trials, but sometimes you get a glimpse into the person beyond the surface words. This blog is worth a read if you enjoy things of the arts or anything to do with horses. Art seems to be a huge part of this author’s life and deservedly so. This blog is good. Though you might have a bit of time finding the diamond in the rough, it’s worth the searching if you do find it. Uptonia