500 Days of Summer

Summer is coming to a close.

I know summer doesn't officially end until Sept. 22, the first day of fall. But since I'm a teacher my summer is determined by the end of one school year and the start of the next. On Monday it's back to the daily grind for me as I head back to school for a week of professional development before the kiddos return on August 19.

On Monday, my colleagues and I will make small talk and ask questions like, "How was your summer?" and inevitably someone, if not everyone, will say, "It just flew by!" And I'll say, "I know!" But that won't really be true.

Yes, I can remember the last day of the 2012-2013 school year like it was yesterday, but I have done so much over the past two months that it felt like two years.

Of course, the biggest thing I did this summer was launch See Jane Write Magazine. I can't believe I was featured in local magazines, on news websites and on TV as I sought to spread the word about this project. There were even announcements made on our local NPR station about the magazine. And the magazine launch party was the most fun I'd had in a long, long time.

Yes, this happened at the See Jane Write Magazine launch party. 

I didn't lose 20 pounds as I had hoped but I did gain a new workout regimen that I love and exercised every day for a month thanks to my new obsession with Jillian Michaels DVDs.

I attended my first BlogHer conference and even though I left feeling like a loser because I foolishly compared myself to the big-time bloggers that were in attendance, I certainly feel like I'm #winning now. This week I wrote openly and honestly about these feelings of inadequacy and my post was featured on the BlogHer website and was one of the site's most popular posts!

I didn't spend as much time with loved ones as I would have liked this summer but I still had a blast with friends and family thanks to holiday cookouts, Birmingham Girls Club events, my church small group, and trips to the movies.

My small group and I were supposed to be cleaning workspace at DISCO, a local creative writing program for kids.
But we got a bit distracted by all the random things we found in the room. 

But the end of summer doesn't mean I'm going to suddenly become a hermit. I mean, most people don't have a two-month vacation each year and they still manage to have active social lives.

Fall simply means I can have just as much fun but with less sweat.