Aaaaaand We’re Back!

Did you miss me last week?

Though I hated being away, especially to spend the week up to my elbows in technology, it was well worth it to make the blog more user-friendly.  Someday I’ll do a spiffy redesign.   For now, I hope you’ll find the site easier to navigate.

Here are the changes (drum roll, please):

• Search Button. That’s right, now you can search posts by keywords.  Pass the fainting salts.  5thjoy caught up with the interwebs.

• Pick Your Own Content. Check out the navigation menu.  Now you can select content by topic area. Don’t give a fiddle about my shoe obsession?  Would you rather read about how to cook fiddleheads?  Click on the Food category.

• Twitter and Facebook. See those big bright buttons in the  top right column?  Click on ‘em to fan 5thjoy on Facebook and follow my updates on Twitter.

• Comments. They’re no longer buried, so put down the spelunking gear and jump in.

• Share This! Hover your mouse over the Share This! link at the end of every post to fire it off to friends via a variety of social media.

• Post Teasers. Each page has one feature post.  Scroll down and you’ll see excerpts of the previous nine posts. Go on, dig in.  And please bear with me as I post the thumbnail images.

• About 5thjoy. Expanded for your reading pleasure.

Now for the most important part: What do you think? Are you happy with the changes?  Do you miss the three-column format?  Is there anything else you’d like to see spit-shined?

Sound off in the comments.  Now that we can see them, think of the conversations we’ll have.

P.S. Expect more goodies tomorrow: a new and improved blogroll.

***UPDATE***  It appears my email has been unable to receive messages for the past day or so.  It’s fixed but  you may still have difficulty emailing me (abby@5thjoy) for the next 4-24 hours, while the fix propagates over servers worldwide.