Remember the dreaded grade school writing assignment “What I did this summer”?

You might wonder what brings up that old memory. It comes from my mentoring some of the kids from First Glance who are studying to take their GED tests through classes sponsored by Project Learn. (First Glance is a not for profit youth outreach program for at risk kids located in Akron, Ohio.)

Their struggles with writing the “What I did this summer” essays, reminded me of my own long ago struggle to try to make a typical summer sound interesting when condensed into a few short paragraphs. So in the spirit of practicing what you teach, here are the highlights of my summer past.

It has been a busy summer, between trying to keep up with the gardening (the weeds won), doing the marketing for my husband’s real estate endeavors, being involved in volunteer projects, and helping with family events.

The major family event was my nephew’s August wedding. I helped by designing three huge floral column displays for the reception and the live flower arrangements, bridal party bouquets, and the boutonnieres.  It was nice to know that although dusty, the skills were still there from when I used to do décor for major corporate events.

Most of my time has been spent in putting on a marketing push for my husband’s real estate business. Things seem to be breaking loose with houses -- other than just foreclosures --now starting to sell.

Implementing his marketing campaign has meant refining old creative skills and developing new ones in online marketing. I have learned more about social media, website development, website maintenance, blogging, and on-line chatting than I ever thought I would need to know. Add in a new android “smart phone” with thousands of app choices, and I am becoming real techno pro – well sort of.

The photo below shows one of our few rare cruises on our pontoon boat. Hopefully next summer there will be more time for boating.