new look, same old nonsense.

Things around here have certainly changed. 

Well not really, but hopefully you've noticed that I finally got around to changing the name of the blog and I've given it a logo.  Apparently I'd been unintentionally misleading people for the last couple of years, so I figured it was about time. 

I thought changing the name from Project 29 to 30 - to Project Formerly Known as Project 29 to 30, along with the subtitle, "I did 365 new things before I turned 30 and I'm not done yet," would signify to newcomers that I had already turned 30 and lacked creativity when it comes to blog names.

But I'd constantly get asked, "Are you 30 yet?" and "Are you STILL not 30?," so maybe I wasn't as clear as I thought.  Or maybe people are stupid.   Maybe a little bit of both.

When I turned 32 last month and someone sincerely wished me a happy 30th, I took it as a sign that I could no longer procrastinate making a change.  I enlisted the help of my friend David, a talented graphic designer who helped me figure out what I wanted the new look to be.

There was a lot of discussion over what to call the blog - for sentimental reasons, saying goodbye to Project 29 to 30 was difficult, as it's under that name that I became a blogger. 

 

I started coming up with names on the complete opposite side of the spectrum. I thought my ideas - Spinning my Wheels, Biding my Time, Work in Progress - were pure genius, but when I shared them with others for feedback, I got a lot of disgusted faces and head shakes.  Most of those names conjured up images of laziness or flakiness, my mom pointed out.

"You sound like you don't care," one person said, "Or that you're an idiot." 

I certainly do act like an idiot sometimes, but I'd prefer someone reading the blog not gather that from the title.  Let them get to know me before they draw that conclusion. 

I thought about using my name, and went ahead an bought my domain www.stephaniegallman.com to make it extra legit.  But using Stephanie just felt cheesy - Stephanie Says?  Stephanie Speaks?  Stephanie Sucks?

I kept coming back to the word, "project."  For the sake of consistency I thought keeping that word would make it easier for people to recognize that this is, in fact, the Project formerly known as Project 29 to 30. 

But also because this is my little project, that despite hitting several milestones along the way, remains unfinished.

I hope the words Unfinished Project convey to an audience that as a woman and as a writer, I am forever a work in progress.  Learning and experiencing new things didn't stop when I turned 30 - I'm not done yet.

So, lucky (or unlucky) for you, I'm not really changing the tone of the blog.  I don't think I could if I wanted to.  I'll still share the stories and pictures of me doing fun and ridiculous things.

Like the other day, I was singing that song, "Rumor Has It," by Adele, which basically meant I just kept repeating the words, "Rumor has it," over and over again, when someone said to me, "Is that Bon Jovi?"

"Uh, no.  That was Adele."

Welcome to my Unfinished Project.



Funny enough, the very week I took this blogging thing to the next level, my friend Shelley came to me asking for blogging advice and guidance on how to start her own.  She is a riot and has a super cute family, all perfect for blogging. 

So I guess we could say Day 1114 's thing I've never done before - show someone else how's it done.