It’s been a while since an actual human being entrusted her blog design to me. Truth be told, the last time a stranger contacted me to redesign her Blogger template was two years ago, back in May 2005 when tables were the in-thing; CSS was alien; and the blogosphere, simpler. Overwhelmingly enough, that girl, Maan, still has that froggy layout on. And I often wonder why. :P Hehe.

Since then, however, it’s either I became too busy with other things that I had no choice but to turn down requests for redesign, or, I simply became too self-conscious about my craft that I preferred to just have my mess on my own domains for my own enjoyment or disgust. Hehe.

And then she came along, and after a few months of knowing her through her blog, a dinner date and coffee at Cravings, and some texts and emails here and there, I knew that I just couldn’t turn down her request. And what an honor it was to tweak the online journal of a renown journalist and blogger, not to mention a very kind-hearted 40something such as her.

And what more of an honor (horror??!) to be called the “wisest 20something I know” by The Cathy Babao herself. (Wow, the pressure! LOL.) Seeing my link on her blogroll, lined up with highly respectable people who blog about life, careers, politics, charity work, family, and faith, (you get the drift), brings this sudden weight of pressure on me. I mean, imagine Kuya Bojie of Batibot singing, “alin, alin, alin ang naiba..” and everyone’s finger would point at my link. Get the picture?? Que horror!

Ohwells, at least the disclaimer is right there on the link text itself — “20something” being the operative word. 20somethings are still somehow entitled to be stupid and immature at times anyway, right? :P

Creating the design was a breeze, I actually had fun playing with Photoshop again. But the hardcoding part was more difficult than I thought. I originally made this really complicated layout using tables, hoping that I could make it work with the new Blogger set-up, but after hours of trying, I had to accept the grim reality that I’m not ready for complex CSS and table-less coding just yet. So I ended up just modifying an existing Blogger template and incorporating with it the header that I made. All things considered, I was kindof satisfied na rin with how things turned out.

So hey, check it out. I’m no Joni Ang or Liz Buenaflor or Mae Paulino. But well, I can always try. LOL. At the very least, I can help out modify Blogger layouts and make blog headers, if you’re sick of the usual Blogger template choices. Nope, no Wordpress themes and table-less stuff for me yet. I have a lot to learn.

In the end, it was a win-win case for me. I got a breather from all the SEO and writing I have to do, but more importantly, getting to know a new friend, getting a glimpse of mid-life through her, and being inspired, was the icing on the cake. It was lovely meeting you, Miss Cathy, and let me just say.. the feeling is mutual as I see you to be one of the wisest women I know online and offline as well. :)