the hammons nest story

One of my favorite quotes is “the only thing that stays the same is everything changes”. It’s a truly profound thought & is honestly one of my life mantras. That & “perfectly imperfect” haha! My point being that life isn’t meant to be the same each minute, day, month or year! Now I know some change isn’t as easy to adjust to as others, but if you approach change as a beautiful journey it does make it a tad easier to embrace.

I say all this to say….my life & my family’s life just made the biggest pivot (cue the Friends Season 5 Episode 16 lol) & we entered yet another beautiful season of life. I am happily sharing my story & how I came to now have this blog and my creative community on social media.

I can never remember a time in my adult life that creative expression & customer service wasn’t a huge part of my world. My love for people & their stories first stems from my many years in the restaurant industry. I loved meeting new people, serving them & giving them a beautiful experience while out dining. I worked & actually met my husband, Justin at the good ole’ Red Lobster (he was my one of my very best friends first though)! Some of my greatest memories & friendships were formed during this time. I also worked at locally owned places, even a fine dining place where I moved up to banquet manager for special events, mostly wedding receptions. In 2006, I married that best friend of mine…… so that meant I myself was a newlywed when I started there. I really enjoyed decorating and floor planning for those special events!

Then it was time for my husband, Justin & I to start a sweet family of our own. My first daughter, Elle was born in 2009 & we chose to settle down in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana (I’m originally from Ouachita Parish, just a short drive away).

I then started the next most meaningful job I would EVER have as an Activities & Marketing Director for an Assisted Living & Dementia home. Y’all, I mean this with every part of my heart…… my few years in this environment were the most impactful to my life. I came to work each day to encourage these amazing people to stay as active as possible. I did my absolute best at committing to them and the fun they would have every day. We took country drives, had a party for every holiday (even the ones you never heard of haha), did arts/crafts, shopping & Bingo of course being the most favorite lol.

As I’m writing this now, I am brought to tears thinking of all the precious time I was gifted with them. I was raised by a single mom, no grandparents in the picture and I know the Lord gave me this opportunity to bond with the older generation. I never had an appreciation like I do now for history and life stories. When I say it was the most impactful, no truer words have been spoken. They were all like the grandparents I never had. And since many of them did have Alzheimers/dementia, my heart was to serve them in a greater way. As a volunteer, I became an official advocate for the Alzheimers Association. This opportunity even had my husband & I traveling to Washington DC to advocate and lobby on their behalf……a beautiful experience to say the least.

Fast forward to 2014, we decided to purchase a fixer upper home on 14 beautiful country acres…no neighbors within a stone’s throw (still in Lincoln Parish). Shortly after this move, we were blessed with another beautiful baby girl, Laynie…lovingly named after my husband’s late father Layne Hammons. I decided to stay home to care for her & Elle and that’s when the crafting for a living was born. I had a booth inside a local shop and I was really loving the extra income and creative outlet it provided.

Fast forward again & in the fall of 2015, life brought me to opening my very own brick & mortar shop, named My Happy Place {a collaborative vintage market+DIY Studio} I had never met so many talented people in all my life and I knew this was exactly where I was supposed to be.

I was able to help sweet customers find the perfect things for home and gifts, plus encourage them to create beautiful items of their own inside my DIY Studio. The store itself was in an older home right outside the Ruston, LA city limits. It was quaint and cozy & had a beautiful yard with an iconic rusty truck in the front yard. The joy was plentiful and I could go on and on about how much purpose I felt at that time in my life.

My family & friends were all so supportive and encouraging through it all. In 2019, I began to imagine what life would look like without the store….because if I’m being totally honest, it was a lot to manage and it really took a lot of attention and energy that I thought should really be given to my family and friends. As much as I loved it, I thought that maybe I could shift a little and do some of the same things from home.

Let’s chat about spring 2020……Covid pandemic broke out, small businesses were totally stunned and without any sort of precedent on how to handle staying afloat, I pushed harder than I ever had before to be sure my family & my vendors were still taken care of financially. Everything was amazing, my community continued to support and I couldn’t believe how incredible business was. I was making home deliveries, doing curbside, doing live sales, packaging paint at home kits etc. It was a crazy time, but it made me second guess my decision of closing.

I’m telling you right now that God had the biggest hand in my final decision.. He wanted me to come home, shift my focus and I feel he literally wrote the closing announcement Himself. I definitely fought the decision….the most bittersweet decision I felt I’ve ever made & closed the doors to My Happy Place in June 2020.

I moved my craft studio home and it is definitely an inspirational space, with a southern/vintage vibe. I will continue to build my creative community and hopefully inspire people to craft, decorate & love their home! My favorite part is being able to connect with people all over the world!

Most importantly, I’m thoroughly enjoying being there more my girls, husband & friends and the flexibility this new season is providing. I appreciate the past, embracing the present & excited for the future!

I hope you’ll all stay creative & treasure each new season of life!

Thank you so much for reading my story! –Summer 🙂