ScrapsByGracie: Back To School Blog Hop

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Back To School Blog Hop

Welcome to the "Back To School" Blog Hop.

If you'd like to start at the beginning of the hop, click the graphic above.

If you are following the hop, you should have arrived here from Madge's blog.

This blog hop is a one day blog hop that is jam packed full of some amazing projects. We have had so much fun creating this hop and we have a wonderful line up with some oh-so-talented creators.

You will see some amazing projects having to do with a school related theme and have a chance to win some blog candy along the way.

In order to be eligible for the blog candy in today's hop you must leave a comment on every blog in the hop and become followers to all the ladies in the hop.

We have four terrific sponsor's for today's hop.

Pretty Cute Stamps - http://www.prettycutestamps.com/

They will be sponsoring a $15.00 Gift Card for the Pretty Cute Stamps store

SVGAttic - http://www.svgattic.com/

They will be sponsoring a $15.00 Gift Card for the SVG Attic store

Pink and Main - http://pinkandmain.com/

A free stamp set

Treasure Box Designs - http://treasureboxdesigns.com/

Is giving the winner three FREE files of their choice.

Now on with my project!

So as many of my readers know, I'm a photographer by trade.

I own my own business as well as work 9 months a year for Lifetouch National School Portraits.

My kids are grownup, the baby is 19 and a sophomore at the University of Dayton and the oldest will be 21 in December and she too works at Lifetouch. She is the third generation to work for this great company. Her grandmother, my incredible mother-in-law, worked there for many years before her death and my hubby worked there too for a year after college.

I've been with the company for seven years and Taylor just started her third year.

So back to school to us means something totally different now than what most people think of.

Here is a layout I did when I worked in a different territory than the one Taylor and I work in now.

The layout shows pics of one of our training sessions for a new season.

That's me in the orange.

Every day I miss working with this crazy crew of people.

They are some of my dearest friends and we keep in touch regularly.

Whenever I have a not so great day at a school, I know that these folks will understand!

Whether it be the fact that it was 60 degrees in July and is now in the upper 90's and the school (most of them) is not air conditioned or a student was uncooperative or a teacher was having an off day. These folks are the ones I vent too, because they get it. They know what it's like to get up at 3 a.m. and be on the road by 3:30 or 4 to drive a hundred miles to a school and photograph at few hundred students before lunch. I love them and wouldn't want to do my job without them.

But...all that said, we all love our jobs! We wouldn't come back year after year for the pay (LOL) but the amazing satisfaction of taking the autistic boys picture and actually getting a smile or taking the photo of the teacher year after year and today is the very last one as they are retiring at the end of the year. Those are the reasons we come back. Those are the reasons for the early mornings.