This is my tenth year of teaching—one year teaching 4th grade and nine years teaching 1st grade—and I finally feel like I'm getting the hang of this work-life balance thing. This past year I started a food Instagram account called @yesplsdc to tie together my two loves of food and photography, as well as explore fun new places in Washington, D.C.
I visit local restaurants and, in addition to enjoying the food, take photos and share them with my followers. (I'm close to 2,500!) This project of mine has some perks—restaurants have already invited me to special events, and I get the occasional free dish—but mostly it's been an exciting way to be creative outside the classroom. Teaching is such a rewarding job, and I can't imagine doing anything else, but having this outlet has really been great for me. It keeps me energized and excited to go to work every day. When I'm teaching, I always want to put the students first—I'm always very tuned in to what they need to be their best. With photography, I get to focus on me a little bit more and think about what I find fun and inspiring. That's a nice change of pace.
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Kelli Scott combines her love of food and photography outside of the classroom with a creative Instagram account.Photos courtesy of Kelli Scott
