web design 101

i took a web design class this spring semester. as an employee of a college/seminary, it's one of our benefits and i figured it was high time i took advantage of it! the course really challenged me. i went in with very limited understanding of HTML, no understanding of CSS and absolutely no experience working with Dreamweaver. web design is essentially another language. i joked with a coworker the other day about how the class should also be listed under the foreign language component of a liberal arts education! 

i struggled because i usually get tech-y stuff quite quickly, but languages, on the other hand, are not my forte. there were a lot of terms and jargon i had to learn to just begin to grasp the implementation of the sweet designs i had in my head or sketched out on paper. it was a lot of work, and i feel like i've only scratched the surface of the field of web design.

i've reached the end of the semester. my final exam is tomorrow evening. for the exam, i will be presenting my final project to my instructor - a live website.

i finished my site earlier this evening. i have to admit... i feel pretty accomplished. there is SO MUCH more out there for me to learn. the things that people are doing in web design these days are truly incredible and inspiring. there are many things i need to learn and work at to make this site what i envision it to be, but for my first website, i am happy. putting this project together showed me that i really had learned something.

my sister and i have decided to try our hands at starting a jewelry business. she makes gorgeous necklaces and, since she's got that part of it down so well, i have to continue to learn the web so i can market us. (:

we're not sure where it's going to take us, but it's been exciting to have a creative outlet and to challenge myself to do more and to do it well.

so, here she is! welcome to the world wide web, birchdesignshop.com!

[and can i just say how flippin' excited i am to actually have my own website?!]

i'm kind of sad that the class is over, and i'm really kind of not. (: i'm looking forward to having more time to blog more and work on my writing. and to get this business rolling, of course!