UncategorizedThe Summer of the Blog June 5, 2012Hey everybody! I hope you all had a great weekend. We definitely did (if you follow us on Twitter or Instagram – we’re lifeofsplendor, follow us! – you know we were doing some building – I’ll have more on this later!), but I must admit, I’m a little confused as to what day it even is. As I said last week, finishing up the school year was a bit harder than I expected. There was just a lot to close up, but it’s now done. Yesterday was my final day!!! I want to take just a moment to reflect and tell you guys what’s ahead for me and this little blog (and hopefully y’all as my readers 🙂 ). For those of you who are new around here and don’t know, I am a High School teacher and not just a teacher, but up until yesterday, I was a FIRST YEAR TEACHER! It’s been a whirlwind. This time last year, I didn’t even know I was going to be a teacher. Growing up, I said the one thing I would never do was be a teacher! Isn’t it funny how God surprises us and it ends up being the best thing for us??? I love writing and it has so awesome to teach it and make relationships with my students. As the Yearbook Advisor, I was able to work really closely with a small staff, some of who were seniors. I didn’t expect how hard it would be to say goodbye to them after just one year. I got pretty sad on my last day with them. I’ve seen each of them grow in the year and feel so blessed that I got to witness and take part in that! It really shows me why God called me to be a teacher. I wanted to leave a little advice with them and wanted to give them something small for graduation. I thought a lot about what it should be and then I remembered one of my favorite quotes. I decided to make an art print in Photoshop and frame it for each of them. Life should be an adventure. This is one thing I’ve really been learning and wanted to share with these kids as they embark on a huge adventure: college. For me, college was where I really began to discover who I was and what I was going to be about. My hope for each of them is that they discover who they are, what they believe in, and what their own unique adventure will be. As I made this print for them, I started thinking about our family’s adventure and how much I needed this as a reminder. This blog is a huge part of our adventure. This was a dream for quite a while, but I had some anxiety and fear about putting myself out there in this way. I took a leap of faith and couldn’t be happier with how God is using this opportunity. Thank y’all for joining in with me and being part of this piece of our adventure! So, now that I am off for the summer, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how I will use this time. I’ve decided to declare this time “The Summer of the Blog!”. There are a lot of house projects that I’ve been ready to start and I can’t wait to share it with y’all. So, here’s a bit of what you’ll see around here this summer: 1.) Lots of finishing projects and decorating – for those of you who were here for my 31 Days of Finishing Rooms series last October, you know that I struggle with starting a room redo and never finishing the small details because I’ve already moved onto the next project. So, this summer, I’m hoping to keep decorating and adding small details that I love and that make a huge impact. 2.) Mudroom – There is a section of our sunroom that we are going to use as a mudroom. That’s the only part of this room redo left and I’ll be finishing up this area and getting it ready for us to use and enjoy. 3.) Outdoor Areas – We don’t really have any outdoor furniture and our yard needs some major work. I’m hoping to get a little bit of furntiure ready to enjoy outside and pretty up the outside of our house a little bit. 4.) Getting Organized – Do y’all struggle with this? I definitely do – I like things organized, but I’m usually so busy redoing things that I don’t take the time to clean out and organize. I’m hoping to do a bit of this. 5.) Family Gallery Wall – We started to redo our hallway earlier this year and the walls are still blank. I’m going to fill up those walls with a black and white family gallery wall. 6.) Starting Guest Bathroom – This is one of our last HUGE projects to get to in this house. We’re going to gut it and redo the whole thing. It’ll take a good bit of time and money, but we’re hoping to start it this summer and finish it by the fall. I’m so excited to go on this adventure this summer and hope y’all will hang in there with me. Tomorrow, I’m starting to work on adding some summer to our house. I love sprucing up the house for each season and haven’t done it yet for summer. See y’all then!
Heather says June 5, 2012 at 6:46 pm Congratulations on your first year as a teacher. I can relate with how hard it is to leave a class when summer vacation comes. I was always ‘room mom’ in my kids’ elementary classrooms and really bonded with the kids every year. The classroom becomes like a family and it is so hard to just leave when the school year is over. I think you left your kids with some great advice. High school kids need the encouragement to go after their dreams and not just take the easy, comfortable way through life. Reply
Ashley says June 6, 2012 at 7:05 am Today is my last day, so we have both finished our first year of teaching. Who would have thought we would both be teachers and both finishing up our first year at the same time? Of course we’ve always done everything together, haven’t we? I am so proud of you for starting your blog. You are doing such a wonderful job with it! I love the art print you gave your students. I want to make something like that for our house. I’ll have to figure out what I want it to say and then get you to help me make it. Love you!!! Enjoy your summer sister! 🙂 Reply
Angie says June 6, 2012 at 8:13 am Yay! That sounds so exciting! And I completely hear ya about not finishing rooms! I do the same thing. Love the idea of 31 Days Of Finishing Rooms. I may need to adopt that mantra! Happy summer to you! Reply
Lorri says June 6, 2012 at 9:54 am Love your plan! I can’t wait to see your projects in action! So funny, I am EXACTLY the same way about projects – I have so much enthusiasm at first and then before you know it I’m on to the next thing without finishing the first! Reply
Lindsay says June 6, 2012 at 10:05 am Thanks Lorri! I’m glad to hear that someone else struggles with that! Reply
Rosemary says June 6, 2012 at 2:56 pm I too suffer from project ADD. We just bought a fixer upper in December and my husband works a LOT. We have 3 little ones so I am really good at starting stuff during nap times and after bed time but finishing…. well not so much. I have 1 room that I actually have finished painting, 2 that are about 1/2 done and we are starting another one in hopes of having a usable guest room so that we can actually have guests. I started a blog in hopes that it would help to keep me accountable and it helps a little. Mostly I think I just need more hours in a day. 🙂 Reply
Kelly @ Talk of the House says June 18, 2012 at 9:24 am Bless your heart as a first year teacher! But you made it through. You have a lot of great plans on here. Best of luck with them all. Love the art you made for your students. How wonderful! Reply