Yes, that’s right. The Rebeccammendations has a new look, and lucky you, you are experiencing its debut! After eight exciting months of sharing tips, tricks, photos, and ideas to help you have fun, it was time for another, yet bigger change. After first starting my blog on Blogspot, then transferring to a predesigned WordPress theme three months later, the time came to give The Rebeccammendations its own personality and inviting feel. I’m still here to write about entertaining, but hope that this new design is more resourceful and will be your online destination for searching and discovering related information. As the hostess, I invite you to take a look around and make yourself at home. You’ll find some of the following new features:

• Page Layout– The new page layout allows you to view information about a variety of topics and multiple posts at one time on the home page
• Home Page Posts– The most recent and feature post will appear on the top left hand side of the home page, while two previous posts will appear on the right sidebar in case you’ve missed them as the feature.
• Rebeccammendation Request Form– Under the featured post, you will find a place where you can request a “Rebeccammendation” when you need an idea about entertaining. When you feel stumped and have visitors coming in town, or you’re just looking for something fun to do, feel free to visit just to submit a request for an idea. You will receive a “Rebeccammendation” via email in return.
• Entertainment News Flash- On the very top of the homepage, you will see scrolling links related to entertainment news. These will be updated frequently to bring you the latest gratest scoop about Austin fun.
• Calendar– You will find a schedule of entertaining upcoming events on the right sidebar under the previous posts. You can also click on the Calendar tab on the top navigation bar to view the full monthly calendar to stay up to speed on the latest greatest happenings. You can even share this calendar with your personal Google calendar to make sure you never miss out on the fun!
• Categories– About halfway down the home page, you will find the entertainment categories I write about and a summary of and link to the most recent post that fits into that category. Categories include:
  • Events & Activities (organized events or activities)
  • Host with the Most (home entertaining tips, party ideas, tips about being a stellar hostess or guest)
  • Out on the Town (dining, sipping, city hot spots)
  • Shopping and Arts (shopping and arts!) 
  • What’s Cookin‘ (recipes for home entertaining).

       You can click on the title of each category section to view all posts in that category. 

• Bottom Section of the Home Page– On the bottom of the home page, you will find from left to right, links to other blogs or sites I follow, a listing of the pages included in my site, my most recent Twitter updates, and a tag cloud, which features key words I blog about frequently–the most frequent appearing larger in size and all links can be clicked on to see what I’ve written about them. 
• Navigation Bar–Please use the navigation bar under my logo to help you find what you are looking for, including information about me, The Bloggerista and why The Rebeccammendations was started, categories, the calendar, recipes, events I have featured, and a contact form. Also in the navigation bar, you will find a tab called ‘Featured Local Businesses’. Under this tab, you can learn about the businesses I’ve featured in posts, including what I’ve written about them and links to their websites, in the following categories:
  • Dining/Drinking
  • Event Venues/Activity Vendors
  • Health/Recreation
  • Guest Accommodations
  • Shops/Art Destinations
• Search–You can search my site in the search box on the top right-hand corner of each page.
• Logo– If you noticed my new logo, you may be as excited about it as I am! My dear friend, Halley Claire, was kind enough to design it for me, and thanks to her, you can now identify my blog and related events/activities with this new branding element. Thank you, Halley!!

So, family, friends, and loyal readers, let me know what you think! This project is a work in progress, and I write for you! I hope you are as thrilled as I am to start this new chapter of The Rebeccammendations. Happy Entertaining!