blog banner retrospective

I've been wanting to post about all of my blog banners so that if (when) I do a Blurb book(s) I'll have a record of them all.

It was fun to look back, although I actually thought there would be more!

I kept this first one for almost two years. I knew nothing about Photoshop, so Marc helped me figure out how to do it. I liked it, so I didn't see the need to change.

Suddenly, I felt the need to change. (September 2007)

(December 2007)

(January 2008)

(February 2008)

My birthday month, thus the all-about-me theme. (March 2008)

(April 2008)

(May 2008)

(June 2008)

(September 2008)

(November 2008)

(December 2008)

(January 2009)
Inspired by a Real Simple cover. Probably my all-time favorite.

(March 2009)

This was taken from inside the car wash. (April 2009)

(June 2009)

(July 2009)

(August 2009)

(November 2009)

(December 2009)

(December 2009)

(January 2010)

(February 2010)

(March 2010)

Obviously, I don't get around to making a new one each month, either because I'm too busy, out of ideas, or I just like the one I have and want to keep it around awhile longer.

How many of these do you remember?
Any favorites?

spt -- What's in a name?

When I first saw Lelly's challenge for this week, I thought it was going to be about our names. I was all set to tell about how my mom wanted to name me Tiffany, but fortunately my dad overruled her on that one. I think names are powerful, and I feel sure that I would have turned out to be a different person had they named me Tiffany. So while I haven't always loved my name, I am glad to be Michelle. But I digress.

As I read on, I saw that it was about our blog names. Oh, that name!

Jill had finally convinced me to start a blog, and I had no idea what I was doing. I hadn't given it any thought and then realized that I had to come up with a name and a profile. Since Marc and I met through French and it has been a big part of our lives, my mind immediately went in that direction. "Chez Moi" just seemed like the obvious choice! Literally, it means "my house", but it also has a nuance of "with me", and since my blog is all about what's going on with me on any given day, it just works.

And, like Jill said, it's funny about my profile. I wrote it so quickly, just to have something, thinking I would come back and revise. But every time I read it, it seems to sum things up pretty well.


My blog has gone through a number of transformations, color-wise. Marc helped me to make my first banner, which included one of my first ever self-portraits (taken with an old, low-res digital camera!). As much as I liked it, I eventually started to get the itch to change it up.

I tried this one on my own, then Marc helped me to tweak it and make it better. (photo taken from inside the Musée d'Orsay)


My Christmas banner was the first one I did all on my own, and I must say I am hooked! I may be changing my banner frequently from now on... somehow I am enjoying the idea of having a little "library" of them, to show the evolution of things chez moi.