Eight years ago, I signed up for an account at Diaryland.com and introduced myself to the internet as TiggerSnail. My quest for a "grown-up" blog led me to LiveJournal, but thankfully, I was rescued from that inanity in 2006 when I started posting as Rachelskirts here at this website.

Since then, I have been using essentially the same exact template over and over again with slight modifications. I have also been posting with less and less frequency, but we'll get to that in a moment.

First, queue the montage and the epic soundtrack.

Today, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a brand new look at Rachelskirts.com. Is it perfect? No. Is it revolutionary? Maybe. Have I given myself a gold star for not falling into the "blogger's sidebar" trap? Yes.

Here's what the crowds have been saying so far:

• "It's pretty!" — Mom
• "Very nice, sweetheart." — Dad
• "Ooo." — the boyfriend
• "I think it looks pretty snazzy." — the little brother

For years, I have been telling people that Dooce has my dream job. I want to make a living by taking pictures and writing about my life! I want to be able to travel the world with no other responsibilities than to share my happiness with online friends and strangers! But as one of my closest friends recently pointed out, I'm doing a terrible job of setting myself up for that opportunity. I sincerely hope that this new look will spark my interest in writing again (and your interest in reading again).

Annnnyway, the point here is that I am very interested in bringing this site back to life, and I hope you'll enjoy the ride with me. Poke around a bit and let me know if you find any glaring mistakes. Give me feedback and suggestions. Sign up for Gravatar, so you have a cool image to go with all of your comments. Leave more comments. (Try out the new "reply" feature! It's fun!) Laugh at how stupid the site occasionally looks in Safari for Windows (thanks, Typekit). Send me packages to the new address listed on the Contact page. And then make yourself some chocolate milk and watch a bit of Lord of the Rings.You deserve it, champ.

P.S. No, I don't think the title to this entry makes sense. It just makes me think of the Jay-Z / Linkin Park album, which brings back fond memories of my college roommate and our sweet white-girl rap sessions. Don't ask.