First things first: THANK YOU to everyone who chimed in on the new look here at Rachelskirts.com. I'm blushing! Y'all are too kind.

Secondly, I've been chided for not ever telling you what the Gilmore Girls quote was in this entry. As the first two ladies guessed, it was the "hunky, hunky boyfriend" line. Great episode from season two, featuring Lorelai and Rory's adventures in a terrifyingly cutesy bed-and-breakfast. Watch it.

And now on to the real story:

I recently took a week-long vacation to Texas to see some of my good friends graduate. As I was packing my bags, I came to the unsettling realization that I have become one of those "pink people." It's not exactly the newest of news; I'd seen this day coming for a while. However, the bulk of my pink possessions seem to be related to travel:

SEND HELP. (And a microfiber cloth for that slightly filthy laptop and seriously gross iPhone.)

I was literally so freaked out by the blatant colorism (like racism; work with me here) at my feet that I actually had second thoughts about getting on the flight the next day. I could not imagine what an entire dorm floor's worth of guys would have to say when I showed up with my frilly ways so garrishly on display. I was a living, breathing manifestation of the toy store's Barbie aisle. You know the one.

It took less than a day for someone to muster the courage to call me out on this unhealthy obsession. I was flustered, but I remained good-natured. The boys teased me a bit, but by the end of the week, I was comfortably wearing my pink sweatpants around a friend's apartment during breakfast with the group. We had all come to accept this new element of my insanity.

But a week later, I woke up in my own bed (on pink sheets) with a groan-inducing development to the story. That's right — PINKEYE.

Kill me quickly.

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.

Pet names I adore:

• Cupcake
• Lovebird
• Dollface

Pet peeves:

• untrimmed nose hair
• people who say "alls"
• the law that dictates that we can never stock whatever type of battery I need at the moment
• how the title of this blog entry is equal parts perfect and terrible

Dream pets:

• white tiger
• orange tiger
• sugar glider
• miniature panda (if such a thing exists)