Opening this site I realized that it was done with the dreaded Blogger “Scribe” template. The template continually reminds me of someone’s Last Will and Testament or something a treasure map would be drawn on. After cringing at the template I saw a photo of a middle-aged woman and assumed that this blog would fit into the “Mom Blog” category. After reading only a few posts, I would be pleasantly surprised that I was wrong.
Laurie Anderson is the author of Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans. She describes herself as a “eternal optimist,” and in her blog she proves that a middle-aged woman who has been divorced for twenty years can still get her groove on. Laurie does an excellent job at writing many of her posts in story form. It makes you feel like you are reading a book as opposed to someone’s personal diary. Many of Laurie’s posts were witty and fun to read. They reminded me of the stories that the “crazy aunt” in everyone’s family tells.
Design wise the modest Blogger template is okay for now. Since many of the posts are about the great city of New Orleans, it would be nice to see a theme that includes in some way “the city that never sleeps.”. I see beads, Mardi Gras masks, and Anne Rice dancing in my head. The “Scribe” template is just such a downer, and the author’s posts are full of enthusiasm and charisma. Laurie is just too colorful to have such a drab looking blog.
It seems that Laurie has just started this blog. There were only a month’s worth of posts to read. There were no extras on the site other than a counter that was hard to read and a few misplaced buttons. I little bit of personalization could go a long way. However I always tried to remember that in many cases less is more.
I would recommend this blog to middle aged women who think their lives are over for one reason or another. Women who have not remarried after a divorce, raised their children, and all of the sudden feel like there is no longer a need to wake up in the morning. Laurie knows how to have fun, and she is also good at writing about it. I am assuming that this is the author’s first stab at blogging. I have a feeling that she will catch on fast and make her blog her own as soon as she figures a few of the blogging extras out. The quality of writing gives this blog great potential and something tells me that the author of Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans will never be short on stories to tell.