the lovely poppy [[the blog]]

a little more about the lovely poppy

i'm so happy today to be posting a little intro about the lovely poppy.
the lovely poppy has been around since may of this year and i've already learned an incredible amount and have connected with some pretty amazing bloggers/indie business owners.

currently my husband and i live in milwaukee, wisconsin, with our puppy (treated like a child) bailey.

Source: thelovelypoppy.blogspot.com via Nicole on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Nicole on Pinterest

during the day i work for a local non-profit, managing an early intervention program for children with autism. i absolutely love what i do and helping children with disabilities is a huge passion of mine. i recently blogged about a football camp that i put together with a local high school.

Source: jsonline.com via Nicole on Pinterest

at night and on the weekends i run the lovely poppy. i decided to open up a shop because of my obsession with dressing bailey in a new collar every week and my love for shopping for fabric. the shop now focuses on accessories, such as necklaces, headbands, blossom pins, camera strap slipcovers, key fobs, pacifier clips, and a few new products are released each month. i enjoy being able to create things for others and have them feel confident wearing it.

Source: etsy.com via Nicole on Pinterest

i've recently started focusing more on blogging and connecting with other bloggers. i love waking up in morning and reading posts- which continue to inspire me and help come up with new ideas to grow the lovely poppy. i'm currently hosting a giveaway to increase followers and have had an overwhelmingly awesome amount of new followers.

i've shared a few quick and easy tutorials...

Source: thelovelypoppy.blogspot.com via Nicole on Pinterest

and love linking up for what i wore wednesdays and instafridays.

thank you so much for stopping by, let me know if you follow me, so i can make sure to follow you back. xoxo nicole

Labels: b, bailey, giveaway, instafriday, milwaukee, products, tutorial, wiww, work

see the person, not the disability

yesterday was a life changing day for me. i've spent the last six months preparing to teach social skills groups to children with autism. i woke up yesterday morning, feeling like it was christmas. i was so excited to be able to spend an afternoon with some of my favorite kids and help teach them lifelong skills. overall the class went well. the kids i taught were great and had great senses of humor. i wanted to spend the rest of the day with them, and then come back tomorrow.
while we were practicing the skills they learned with neurotypical kids, a young man with cerebral palsy came over to me and handed me his iPod. he uses his iPod to communicate with others and had typed "you should come here more often, you seem nice". i smiled and started a conversation with him. he understood everything i was saying and we had a nice discussion. later on, after he started feeling more comfortable with me, he typed "i have cerebral palsy, i try really hard but sometimes it's hard for me not to live a normal life". working with parents and being surrounded with a variety of families with disabilities, i've learned that sometimes it's not appropriate to focus on the positives. sometimes you need to acknowledge that it's difficult and that they are doing the best they can.
i walked away from this young man thinking about how i was going to help change his life. so much potential and talent, yet he was sitting in the corner of a gymnasium- with no one to talk to. been thinking about him ever since i left. he's such a smart young man, who has some great skills. his language and communication skills through his iPod were clearly higher than the average child his age. maybe it's part of my job, but i've been thinking non-stop about all of the great contributions he can make to society. one of my biggest pet peeves and saddest things is that most of society underestimates what a lot of people with disabilities can do. i'm a dreamer.. thinking this man could be a great computer programmer, design video games, or apps for iPods.. the possibilities are endless.