the planner

Hmmmm how about a buncha' farms? And some custom content wouldn't hurt

 i use a fair bit of custom content but they dont show up

Have you put the custom content in the Plugins folder correctly?
And I agree with Innovations comment, build some farms, if you don't like agriculture then at least get some factories up, Sims need jobs!

I'd,
A. build some rec areas in the area were u have the 1x1 res.
B. add Res. to the west of the town
C add some farms to the south east of the town.

I like your idea of presenting the Journal natural growth style.

A simple thing you can do to make your screenshots look better is turn of the U-drive-it zots. Click "My Sims" then click the car icon.

The reason everyone is saying you need agriculture and industry is because early on there is much more demand for those kinds of jobs, rather than commercial. Get some dirty industry up and running, and your city will grow much faster.

Keep up your work....I've been playing this game for the seven years it's been out, and I'm still learning. Good luck with your city.

 lol yeah i forgot to turn off the drive it zones but i'll keep that in mind next time