How Life Lessons of a Smart Blonde got started.
Welcome to Life Lessons of a Smart Blonde! I am so excited you are here!
First of all, I am not your mother's home economics teacher.
I am a FACS (Family and Consumer Sciences) professional. You may know this better as Home Economics, but believe me, it’s so much more than knowing how to bake a cake and properly sort laundry. I was blessed to grow up in a home where cooking, sewing, child development, finance, nutrition, and all other aspects of FACS were taught. I made the most out of every chance I got to take a FACS course when I was in high school (they even created a FACS class just for me to assist the teacher with monogramming.) However, I knew many of my classmates in high school and later in college did not learn these same life skills, and I began to realize just how important this information was.
During my freshman year of college, I debated majoring in Biology (to do research), Nutrition (to become a RD), Nursing, and a double major in Secondary Education (to teach Biology and FACS). After praying for months to get a clear sign of what I was meant to do, my advisor informed me there was a massive shortage of FACS teachers and that the need for people to teach the material was growing rapidly. After many long discussions and meetings with both her and my parents, we agreed that FACS was a perfect fit for me. Soon after I started my studies in college, I began to realize even more the need for FACS teachers and the material that they taught.
After 3.5 years, I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Secondary Education with a concentration in Family and Consumer Sciences. I accepted a job right after graduation and taught Family and Consumer Sciences at the high school level until my health no longer allowed me to do so. I have battled migraines since seventh grade, but nothing prepared me for teaching 3 subjects to 100+ students while having a migraine on a daily basis. After having a migraine for 14 days straight with little relief, I finally took a morning off to drive 1.5 hours to my neurologist. At the appointment I found out my blood pressure and heart rate were dangerously high, and I weighed 88 pounds. She put me on bed rest for one week, increased dosages and added stronger medications, and scheduled me for a follow up one week later. I cried as I drove back to Birmingham because I was so worried about not being there for my students.
The follow up appointment the next week shocked me more than the first. While I had improved, she was not happy with the amount of progress I had made. She increased dosages again and put me on medical leave for the rest of the school year. I was so invested in teaching my students and being the best teacher I could be, I had failed to realize how much I had neglected my own health. I had no idea how bad it had gotten.
Over the next few months my health slowly improved from 5-6 migraines a week to 1-2. As the new school year approached my husband and I had to decide what was going to be best for my health: continue teaching or change careers. We prayed for months and felt it was best for me to leave my teaching career. Over the last few months I realized how much I miss teaching as well as the content I taught, and contemplated how to teach my content through social media in my spare time. And so, Life Lessons of a Smart Blonde was born. The name comes from a blog I started as an assignment in college, but it could not be more perfect for the content I share now.
*You may notice the URL doesn’t include Smart. You can blame that on the character limit set by wix.*
I will teach you how to hem clothes, repair holes, sew garments from scratch, bake and cook from scratch, and so much more.
I have a full time job I absolutely love and am married to my high school sweetheart. Our life is busy, but I am so excited for this new journey and will share more about me over time.
Courtney
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