Finally, TheBluePurse.com!

Hey friends!

Finally, this website looks like how I have always wanted it to look. It has been quite a long journey, spanning two years, actually. I bought the domain name back in 2011, with the intention of having a separate blog for my interests. I have been blogging since 2002, first on Livejournal, and then eventually on Tumblr, but I then felt the need to keep the Livejournal strictly personal, and the Tumblr strictly for short, random posts. I wanted a place for my many obsessions and I wanted it to be a full-fledged blog. Thus, TheBluePurse.com came to fruition.

Now content wasn't a problem, because that's my forte. Brief history: I've been a print and online magazine person since the start of my career. However, I needed a lot of help with other things, so a few thank yous are in order.

The first person I turned to was my online friend Chrissie aka Kaoko of Kingdom Cow, who I met up with a couple of times to obsess about bento. I bugged her to no end about domain names and hosting in those early days when I was still considering a new blog. Thank you Kao!

I also scouted around for a bit, trying to decide if I wanted hosting and checking if there were good, affordable options. I asked my former officemate Reynard a ton of questions time and again about it, until I came up with a decision. Thank you Nerd!

Then I went to my former officemate Dweky for initial web development help. I may have known about websites a long time ago, but by the time I was contemplating this site, my skills have rusted to the point of no return. He helped me set up the site, from the domain down to embedding. He also helped me with the template of my wedding blog at the same time. Thank you Dwek!

My friend Cielo also helped me out with some search engine-friendly tips. I haven't been able to fully pick her brain about it yet, but I've already started implementing the few things she has advised me on. Thank you Cie!

Next was web design. I have quite a few web designer friends but they were all really busy. Eventually I decided not to be a hassle to them and to look for professional services instead. I stumbled upon Cla of Pixel & Ink, and saw that she was doing graphic design work now. She has actually been an online acquaintance through Kaoko since the Livejournal days, so I got in touch with her, and thankfully, she remembered me. I enlisted her help (and business) officially, and then things started rolling. I have to say that Cla is just awesome. We were done after a couple of drafts and a few minor tweaks, and I only gave her a brief summary of what the site's about and a vague idea of what I wanted -- a header that was minimalist but pretty. Then I sent her pics of my stuff and she came up with this lovely-looking thing. She was very proactive, sending me mock-ups so I could see how things would look, and even made me sidebar images to go with my header. She was also very accommodating with my requests and was helpful when I had questions. Plus she was patient when I got busy with my wedding and took a long time replying to her emails. At the end of it all, I was very surprised that The Blue Purse turned out to be so me, and it's all thanks to her. I thought I'd put this out there in case anyone comes looking on the web, thinking about getting her services. Thank you Cla!

Of course my last thank you would be to my wonderful husband Aleq, who always encourages me to pursue my interests and always looks out for my happiness. He has been very supportive throughout this whole process. Thank you bubub!

p.s. A big thank you also to all my friends (especially Sheva and Alex) who have been supportive of The Blue Purse, even during its initial stages. You peeps rock!

Now that's done, here we go.