Blog Review: Not The Girl You Think You Are

Not The Girl You Think You Are
http://liss76.blogspot.com

Description of site:
The author, Liss76, provides short snippets about her everyday life and routine in Canada. Occasional comment on current affairs, politics and entertainment but predominantly another lifestyle blog. A recurring theme in these lifestyle blogs is a love of cookery and Not The Girl You Think You Are is no exception. At the very top of the sidebar you’ll find a list of recipes. The title comes from one of Liss76’s favourite Crowded House songs.

Appearance:
Light green and yellow columns on a sky blue background. Blurred floral header. I like the dashed borders around the page elements - it reminds me of making cut-out models while watching Blue Peter (a UK TV program) when I was much younger.

Organisation:
Yellow sidebar to the left of a green central column. The author is to be commended on her regular, often lengthy entries. A slight negative is that in some parts of the archive too many posts are showing per page. The result is that the posts run much longer than the sidebar and there is a lot of wasted space as you scroll towards the bottom. I recommend posting only 4 or 5 entries per page to keep the sidebar in proportion.

Navigation and Functionality:
Sidebar links. Blog archive at foot of page.

Advertising:
None. A totally organic and wholesome blog, which is nice to see in these days of venture capitalism.

Comments:
This is a well-established blog, dating back to March 2004. The author continues to post fairly regularly, at least twice a week. There are a few months in the archive where she has only managed one or two posts.

The first few ‘10 year catch-up’ posts provide a very useful foundation for the reader. From these we learn that Liss76 lives in Ottawa, Canada in a house and location she adores, with a husband she’s shared rocky times with, has two young children and likes cats. She met her husband at university and it was pretty much love at first sight.

The early archives are dominated by posts about her children, as you would expect from a doting mother. These are also accompanied by regular posts about cookery, book reviews and comments about the family. There is an educational element too – Liss often gives motherly advice on topics like breast-feeding and weaning. Liss76 is also partial to a good rant once in a while - these usually stem from house related troubles like when the shower breaks. Health-related posts also feature highly throughout, probably because of Liss76’s concern about her kids, particularly the youngest.

In conclusion, this is a solid ‘hobby’ blog. It is pleasing to see no commercialisation whatsoever. Liss76 only writes entries when she has something worthwhile to write about, leaving the uneventful/uninteresting days bare. Despite the attractive design, high-quality family type posts and educational nature I can’t give too high a rating because of the sparse entries in the archive.

Rating:
6/10

Reviewer:
Sam