It’s time to be brutally honest with you guys…blogging is a struggle for me.  I mean a real struggle.  Half the time when I write I think, “well jeez, who even reads this”… and then I think… “how many grammatical errors am I making?” (Like that, does the question mark go before or after the quotation mark?)   My good friend Leslie has offered to be my unofficial editor multiple times for these posts because she notices each missing or misplaced comma.  I have to admit I am seriously thinking of taking her up on this because ugh I’m terrible.  🙂  This doesn’t even begin to get into the time piece of blogging.  I have found myself putting the blog on the end of my to do list after editing, lesson planning, packaging, laundry, making dinner etc.     

What I love about blogging is the chance to showcase images of families that burst with love and fun!  Or images of my own adventures that have stories to go along with them!  Plus why would anyone want to work with me if they didn’t really know me?  Not just the end result but the person who is going to show up and hang out with you for a few hours, interact with you and your loved ones and take pictures of you.  How awkward to meet with and work with a complete stranger, especially in such an intimate way.   

So here is my first winter break goal: fix my blogging strategy.  Being an super nerd I’ve made this a smart goal.  I’ve realized that I need to think simple, plan ahead and start off with small commitments to make this work.  I’d love to be one of those people that blogs five days a week with loads of interesting material and commentary but I wouldn’t be able to maintain the time commitment and would in turn let myself down.  I’m going to also make a blogging calendar with topics so that I can think ahead.  By drafting the posts ahead of time I can add to them when I have a few minutes here and there.  Lastly, I need to get out of my own head and just blog simple.  I don’t need to always have words of wisdom or poetic verses (let’s be honest, I’ve never had poetry here), I just need to blog my reality, the simple things that make me glad to be alive.   

Here I am, not the perfect blogger, and strapped for free time in my day to day life, but I’m going to try.   🙂  

Now that I’ve given you my spoonful of honesty about blogging here are the rest of my winter break goals.  

• Pre-blog my sessions from November and December.  I’m so excited to share these!  
• Create a new unit model for Chemical Bonding.  Our team is going to try and restructure our next unit that we teach after break by breaking down our skills into short mini stations for practice and then self paced work.  Hopefully it will be more efficient while also reaching more students.  (I’ll keep you posted)

Personal:

• Go outside and get some nature images.  I love being outside, especially with my camera.  With it being winter I find myself cooped up inside curled up with blankets, hot chocolate and Netflix.  While this is so nice, I need to get outside. 
• Take more pictures for me. 
• Enjoy time with family and friends.