What a WILD summer! I ended the school year thinking that I would relax a bit before I made the transition into full time blogging and boy, was I WRONG! I don’t think that I have ever been this busy in my entire life!
This was my summer in a nutshell…
1. Staged nine classroom themes and created printables to coordinate.
2. Videotaped my first decorating presentation for the Virtual Teaching Expo.
3. Created a media kit for the new advertising section on my blog.
4. Coordinated the first ever teacher EMagazine, Teacher Smart, with my friend, April McNair from A Modern Teacher blog.
5. Created a ton of custom designs for my wonderful customers.
6. Shipped thousands of poms, daisies, and lanterns all over the country.
7. Answered a zillion emails about products and decorating.
8. I would occasionally blog, but was often pulled away to finish a project.
9. I opened a new Schoolgirl Style Shop that will be revealed to you SOON!
10. Had two gigantic garage sales to sell all of my teaching supplies.
11. Cleaned out my nasty, crowded basement and turned it into Schoolgirl Style Headquarters to allow for my large shipments of inventory.
12. I hired a new assistant, Christy! You will meet her soon!
13. Changed my blog around a bit…did you notice the color change?
14. Changed all of my printables to editable files.
15. Worked on a few things for Creative Teaching Press.
16. Oh…and I almost forgot…my husband was our district’s summer school principal and I planned and created a luau for the students and their parents.
WHEW!!!
It was not easy. In fact, it was really really hard. I am lucky to have a supportive husband that helped out a ton. I also have supportive parents that helped out quite a bit. My mother showed up for every photo shoot and gave up so much of her free time to help me out. My mother-in-law has also been here whenever I needed help – thank you, Nell! My neighbor, Kandin, was a lifesaver too.
I also had a little angel that came into my life right when I needed it – her name is Amy Oswalt. Amy is a teacher who ordered from me. In the midst of all the craziness, I screwed up her order a couple times. I was stretched to my limit and started to make mistakes like crazy. I was tired. I expected Amy to yell at me and to tell me how awful I was, but instead, this sweet girl lifted me up when I needed it the most. She sent me such a heartfelt and personal email about her teaching partner that had passed away and her new teaching partner’s tragedies. She helped me to appreciate the craziness and to stop and enjoy the moment. She put everything into perspective that night. Her email brought me to my knees – I sobbed and sobbed. I needed her kindness and her words of wisdom at that moment. She kept me going. Without that gesture of kindness, I could have been curled up in a ball in the corner of my bedroom, yelling “I QUIT!”
So, thank you, Amy. You will never know how much that email meant to me.
MY LAST WEEK OF SUMMER VACATION
To end the summer, I decided to head back to school and decorate a teacher’s classroom for free. I created a new classroom theme and I worked like crazy to get it finished before their Open House. I’ve neglected my blog and my email to finish this large project. I finished today and have the most amazing classroom that I plan to reveal shortly!
Needless to say, I am ready for a VACATION!!!
After I publish the post, I plan to go through my emails and then shut off the computer until next Tuesday. I miss my family terribly. I want to hug my kids. I want to enjoy this last week with my family TOGETHER.
I will be back next Tuesday and ready to blog!
I can’t thank you enough for all of your support! Looking forward to “seeing” all of you here next week!
~Melanie~
I noticed your color changes!! I hope you enjoy your vacation, you deserve a restful break 🙂
Loved this post. I hope you have a relaxing vacation. You DESERVE it!
You definitely deserve a vacation! Enjoy your family time and thank you for all of your inspiring ideas!
You are amazing! I watched your Teaching Expo videos and WOW, what an inspiration you are. You have taught me so much! When you get exhausted and think you just can’t do it anymore, remember you are inspiring classrooms everywhere! Thank you!
Thank you for sharing your ideas and wonderful posts! Enjoy your time off!
Awwww… this time you brought tears to MY eyes! It makes my heart happy to know that I made a difference in your life! I cannot adequately express how grateful I am for your kind and thoughtful words. It’s been a long day. Today is my precious friend LeeAnne’s birthday. She would have been 50. So how fitting is it that YOU shared with the world that her presence in my life was immeasurable??? It’s been the most challenging “beginning of the school year” that I’ve had in over fifteen years. I came home tonight feeling very defeated and worthless, and YOU made me feel that my life has value! Thank you, Melanie! From the bottom of my heart, sending you hugs and lots of love!
My goodness Melanie! You HAVE been busy!! You totally deserve a vacations! Hug you sweet girls and enjoy your husband. Time goes by too quickly and the blog will always be there:) You are an amazing woman, full of awesome talent! You are obviously a great mom too!
By the way… I totally wish I was there when you had your garage sale!
Awe, I hear you Melanie! Hopefully things will slow down for you now 🙂
I must admit – I did not notice the changes until I read your post. The new colors look like YOU! Enjoy your labor-free weekend 🙂 I’ll be back Tuesday!
I love all of your ideas. I did a blue backing paper with black and white polka dot accents this year! I wish I was as creative as you are! My Kindergarten classroom is the model room and I have been teaching this grade for 8 years. I love it but it keeps me on my toes…… with my blood clott issue and with my 18 yr old sister passsing away 9 yrs ago when I was just about to get married has put many things into prespective… however I am like you and like doing school related items when I can. Enjoy your time with your family!