Well, after a bit of a hiatus, I’m back to the blog! Although I didn’t really post over the holidays, I wasn’t completely idle- did you notice that things are looking a little different around here?
I decided that my blog design needed a little bit of a refresh and this is what I came up with! I’d love to hear any of your feedback- let me know what you think in the comments below.
As I slowly ease back into real life here in NYC, I’ve started to think a bit about my New Year’s resolutions. Although my true list is written down in one of my journals (you know I’m old-school), I thought I would also share a few resolutions here on the blog.
1. Food: My goal is to try a new recipe every week. Towards the second half of 2012, I started to cook a lot more of my meals to save money. This year I’d like to continue that trend as well as push myself to try out new things in the kitchen. If it goes well, I’ll share my attempted recipes on the blog!
2. Books: I’m super proud of myself for completing my goal of reading more in 2012- my final total for the year was 26! I’d like to keep that going and push myself to read even more this year. Reading is one of my favorite hobbies and I’m glad I’ve picked it up again.
3. Money: This is an ongoing challenge, but I’d like to be better with my finances. The goal here is to set a reasonable budget and really stick to each month.
I’ll be back to regular posting next week and I’ll have some snapshots and outfits from the holidays to share with you all then!
Tell me: What do you think of the new design? Also, what are some of your New Year’s resolutions?
![It's a very belated book haul! These are the four books I picked up on my trip to Australia back in May. Of course I had to check out some bookstores on my first trip to Sydney and I think I ended up visiting 9 in total (check out my stories to see the mini bookstore vlog I made)!
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It was so fun book shopping over there since majority of the covers are different from our US covers. I couldn't resist this pretty edition of PACHINKO, which I've already read. And when I picked up this copy of PEOPLE PERSON, I was so excited to see it because it wasn't out yet in the US at that time. I also bought two books that I hadn't heard of before I discovered them in the bookstore: IDOL and LOVE AND OTHER PUZZLES.
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Do you tend to prefer US or UK book covers?
[P.S. This is an old photo that includes a HarperCollins UK title, but please note that I support the HarperCollins Union.]
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[ID: A stack of the following books sits on top of white bedding in front of a white wall (from top to bottom): PACHINKO, IDOL, LOVE AND OTHER PUZZLES, PEOPLE PERSON.]
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#Pachinko #Idol #LoveAndOtherPuzzles #PeoplePerson #whattoread #beautifulbooks #bookhaul #booksandtravel #travelandbooks #bookishaesthetic #bookstacks #bookstacklove #ukbookcovers #ukbookhaul #newbooks #bookbuying #bookpurchases #coolgirlsread #readerslife #bookishcommunity #australiatrip #stackofbooks #bookwormlife #booksandbooks](https://starcrossedsmile.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)
Love the new design!! I have similar resolutions…especially the finances one. Yikes!
Thanks Hope! I’ve tried to make a budget before, but I find it so hard to stick to it. Let’s hope this year I’m better!
Awesome new design! I also want to read more books, and exercise more!
Thank you Emily! Awesome, you have to let me know if you read anything good and would recommend it!
Love the new layout! I will say that the font is a little tough to read on my computer. Maybe make it bigger?
Congrats on reading 26 books! I’m somewhere like 10 or 12. I’ll be reading a lot more in grad school.
Thank you Kim! And thanks for your comment about the font- I was feeling the same way and decided I need to change it. Let me know if you think it’s better now!
I like the new design, my blog is long overdue for a facelift, but I don’t have access to photoshop anymore so I’m feeling stuck.
Thanks Lydia! I get restless with my blog design every few months- the last design was the longest one I’ve kept, but I still felt it was time for a change!
BEST WISHES IN 2013!
xx.M
http://www.bellesandrebelles.blogspot.com
Thanks so much and same to you!
i hope you share your recipes with your awesome roommate!!!
Lol, we’ll see about that!
I haven’t stopped by in a while but I did notice your new design! I like it, but the only problem is, the right sidebar is underneath all your posts. I’m not sure why that is. I’m using IE.
Thank you! Also, thanks so much for letting me know! I just viewed my blog in IE on my work computer and it’s looking ok to me. Could you let me know what version you’re using?