I am so proud once again to share that For The Love of Teachers was nominated for  another award, The Blogger Recognition Award. I feel so fortunate because For The Love of Teachers was just recently nominated for The Sunshine Blogger Award last month. This means that For The Love of Teachers is reaching out to more and more viewers who value the content of this website and blog dedicated to teacher collaboration, professional growth and useful resources.

There are 2 bloggers to thank for this recognition. First, I’d like to thank Sheryl Whitmer at Traveling Sisters of The Jam-A-Lot Inn, a blog about RV living. Be sure to visit this blog and embark on their amazing journey. Second, I’d like to also thank Cheryl at The Simple Mum, a blog about parenting simple and appreciating family, who nominated For The Love of Teachers for the Blogger Recognition Award for the post, 7 Summer Reads. Check out The Simple Mum’s blog and join her journey of parenthood. WOW! TWO Blogger Recognition Awards from two amazing bloggers. I feel so honored and privileged to be recognized by talented people and I am grateful for their support and encouragement.

Teachers love rules! So here are the rules for the Blogger Recognition Award.

• Thank the blogger who nominated you and give a link to their blog.

• Write a post to show your award.

• Give a brief story of how your blog started.

• Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.

• Select 15 other bloggers you want to give this award to.

• Comment on each blog to let them know you have nominated them and give the link to the post you created.

How For The Love of Teachers Started

After the long journey of having my second child, I was feeling extremely indecisive and anxious as my 6 month maternity leave was coming to a close. I am a worker bee. I worked my entire life and have worked extremely hard to get to where I am today. Even though I had dreamed about the idea of staying home, I knew deep down that I was never cut out to be a stay at home mom and I felt like I was going to lose part of myself if I did. But the busy morning rushes with a baby and a 6 year old, drop offs to daycare, teaching and multitasking all day, daycare pick up, coming up with some kind of decent dinner, completing homework, bedtime routine, etc., (you get the gist!), for 5 days straight seemed so unbearable and utterly exhausting.  Anyone knows that being a teacher is not just a job, it is part of who you are and it takes up much of your personal family time on the weeknights and weekends and I knew it was going to be a challenge to manage. So with many sleepless nights, my husband Jay and I made the decision that I’d take a break from the fast paced life of that New Yorker inside me, and stay home with my new baby just a little while longer. Jay, who has always been incredibly supportive and wiser beyond his years, suggested to take this break as an opportunity to explore new challenges and new possibilities. I am not a risk taker. I am a planner. I like planning what is to come next, feeling like I have some control over it. I was very uncomfortable with this idea of change, even though I am no stranger to change after relocating to another state. With two steady incomes we were always planning for life and our retirement and not having that stability really scared me. But many experiences in life taught me that life is not always about what you plan because plans change. Plans don’t always pan out the way you thought they were going to.  Many times, plans fall through. Now there is this part of me that feels really excited for what’s to come even though for the first time ever I don’t really have a plan.

I still felt anxious and kept questioning myself about my decision to leave my teaching position. Jay encouraged me to try different things, like going back to school to get my doctorate, start my own consultant business or better yet, start a blog. ‘A what?’ I thought. He sent me a few links about blogging and creating a website. At first I kind of looked at him like he was crazy!! I don’t know a thing about creating a website or blog. I’m not even that tech savvy. Who would even read my blog when there are so many out there? But I took the challenge because I like a good challenge, and spent hours pinning and reading EVERYTHING about blogging and website making. And sure enough, I was on my way to my new venture…creating a website and blog for my favorite group of people, teachers!

Tip #1 – Blogging is NOT easy. It is a full time job and takes up ALL of my free time. I take it very seriously and not just as a hobby. So if you are going to get into blogging decide if it is going to be a hobby for you or if you are going to work your butt off to make it a full time job/career. I had no idea that this website and blog was going to become bigger than me. However, the pros out way the cons. I have been networking with so many amazing bloggers and teachers and I would never have had the opportunity to do so if I hadn’t embarked on this incredible journey. So stick with it and give it a go. Your hard work will pay off!

Tip #2 – Make sure you are passionate about your niche and have a purpose for writing. Is it to help others, inspire others, inform others? Tie your purpose in with your niche so people will WANT to read your blog because it is meaningful and purposeful for them. You’ll see your engagement and traffic grow if you tie your passion and purpose together.

Now this was tough for me because I just recently nominated 11 amazing bloggers after receiving The Sunshine Blogger Award, so I was on a mission to find 15 even more amazing bloggers to recognize. My mission was to recognize bloggers that did have both a passion and a purpose in helping and inspiring others. These are blogs that I have come across while networking and some of them I have been following. Here they are in no particular order:

1. Eva at Health and Beauty Quest, helps others practice self-care in a holistic way. A place where YOU matter most. She offers help to others with work like balance, practicing self care and coping with burnout. THANK YOU for helping others take care of themselves. This is so very important for us all.

2. Bronx Beyond Borders– This Bronxite wears many hats as an educator, mom, consumer, lifelong learner, fellow New Yorker 😉 and an inspirational writer. THANK YOU for sharing your love of writing and for inspiring others with your words of wisdom.

3. NanoQueen, has a passion for helping others with mental health and raising awareness through her story and helping others do the same. I love all the volunteer work she does for mental health charities and for promoting STEM, two very important causes for youths and girls. THANK YOU for helping others get back to feeling and being their best.

4. Christopher at Type Me Diabetes, shares his experiences and is knowledge about living with type 1 diabetes providing useful information and helping others living with this disease. THANK YOU Christopher for creating this blog to help others. What a fantastic things to do for yourself and others living with Diabetes.

5. Kari at Teaching Sunny Side Up is a teacher (YAY!) who is energetic and positive. Kari also blogs about travel and health too. THANK YOU Kari for your service in this challenging profession.

6. Erika at Dream, Do and Shine, is a dreamer, a believer, a goal setter and a go getter. Erika helps others dream big and shine to reach success. THANK YOU for helping others believe in their goals and follow their dreams. Your story is an inspiration to others.

7. Both Sarah and Hepsi at Women Inspiring Together (WIT), have a mission to build a network of real women, to help them find what inspires them, to identify inspiration in others and most important, to pay it forward and make it a mission to inspire. THANK YOU for believing in, helping and inspiring women. Truly fantastic!

8. Cassidy at Life on Cass Lane, is a strong and amazing woman, mom, wife and a leukemia survivor sharing her story with the rest of the world. She inspires me and others with her strength through this difficult time in her life. THANK YOU for sharing your story and for being a role model for people who are struggling with Cancer. Much love and prayers to Cassidy. xx

9. A family of women, a mom and her daughters From Under a Palm Tree, is a lifestyle blog focusing on sustainable & creative living for every woman. Their goal is to help women lead full lives while making the most of all their resources. They blog about wellness, beauty, nutritious recipes, DIYs, family life, and green living. I love the collaborative effort from this family. THANK YOU for your contributions, different roles and perspectives which contribute to the wide range of content you share.

10. Caitlin at Real Mom Recs at is a mom of 4, both an adoptive mom and a biological mom, and describes herself as a slacker mom, Disney mom, and above all things a REAL mom. Everyone knows that being a mom is the hardest job out there and being a stay at home mom is even harder. THANK YOU for being a great mom and for sharing what you know and learn about “mommyhood” along your journey with the rest of us.

11. Courtney at My Neiss Life, is a mom who transitioned from a working mom to a stay at home mom, plus moved to a new place 2500 miles away. Courtney blogs as a way to challenge herself. She shares recipes, crafts, home remodeling, and tales about raising her son. THANK YOU for sharing great ideas and advice with others.

12. Jessie from Two Little Homeschoolers, is a wife, a mom to two, a blogger, a book lover, and describes herself as a Netflix binge watcher, a yoga pant wearer and a consumer of way too much caffeine. She blogs about parenting, organization and most of all, her adventures in homeschooling. THANK YOU for helping other parents by sharing your ideas and adventures in parenting and homeschooling.

13. Nadalie at It’s All You Boo, has mission is to help dreamers “slay” their goals and to live their dream life. Nadalia helps others embrace “awesomeness” to live life with confidence. THANK YOU for motivating others to believe in themselves, their goals and their dreams. You inspire others to be their best and I love it!

14. Jessie at Nerdy Book Life, loves books and life. She blogs to share her passion of books, and love of life with people. She shares adventures through books and wants people to fall in love with books. She also wants everyone to see why life is important and that life is beautiful. THANK YOU for sharing your passion for books and life with the rest of us.

15. Shelby at Fit As A Mama Bear is a strength coach, nutrition coach & chronic foodie, who now stays at home with her baby bears. On Fit As A Mama Bear you’ll find fitness advice geared towards moms, healthy (and tasty!) recipes, some parenting tips and of course her attempts (and fails!) at creating a holistic, natural home. THANK YOU Shelby for helping and reminding moms that fitness, food and family matter a whole lot.

And there you have it…15 fabulous and amazing bloggers that change lives everyday! I bet you now understand why I chose them. 😉 Check out their amazing blogs! I can’t wait to see which bloggers these nominees choose next to receive this award. What a great way to pay it forward and to support others.

Again, thanks for all the support and encouragement here at For The Love of Teachers. Be sure to visit the blog and join the “growing” forums to collaborate with other teachers.

With Much Appreciation,