Permalink issues with custom navigation

Hello, I am having some issues with permalinks and a custom navigation menu.
Quick rundown:

Created a custom horizontal menu based on the WP lesson…structured like this:

<div id="navmenu">
<ul>
	<li><a href="<?php echo get_settings('home'); ?>">HOME</a></li>
	<li><a href="<?php echo home_url( '/about' ) ?>">ABOUT</a></li>
    <li><a href="<?php echo home_url( '/process' ) ?>">PROCESS</a></li>
    <li><a href="<?php echo home_url( '/projects' ) ?>">PROJECTS</a></li>
    <li><a href="<?php echo home_url( '/contact' ) ?>">CONTACT</a></li>
</ul>

</div>

Under the permalink settings in the admin panel, I created a custom structure:
/%category%/%postname%/

Problem:

Clicking on a post takes me to that specified URL (/%category%/%postname%/) just fine, but now my pages permalinks i.e.(‘/’contact’) goes to a blank page…no 404 error…nothing. Im stumped, can anyone show me what im overlooking/doing wrong?

thanks much
ryan