i survived my first round of tests!

one in every class last week, and they're over! at least until midterms in a month, but one week at a time!

classes have been great. i actually enjoy them all, but it's still hard to get used to working with freshmen on group projects. they're almost 10 years younger than me and are in a different place in their lives. the thought of finishing college and getting a job and then going back for fun is pretty unfathomable to them, so it takes a little work to ignore it sometimes. i have to resist the urge to talk like the experienced old lady. i can't be too upset though; when i was a freshman, i may have thought about rolling my eyes at the strange older person in my class too...

in any event, things are good. i have started an internship for credit hours at the greenhouses on campus, and it's like having a private teacher 6 hours a week. last week i learned how to water (there is a very serious technique), how to test for pH, and that i need to bring a change of shoes on the days that i'm working. also, sunscreen. i need to stash some in my backpack. i have a sweet racerback tan on my back from all the time spent outside the greenhouses washing pot after tray after pot then spraying the dirt from the pots down the drain like some opposite form of vaccuming. i like it though. hopefully, i'll be able to get some pictures of the conservatories at the greenhouses. they're beautiful, and an inspiration every time i go to work.

speaking of inspiration, here are pictures of our finished plant shelf, as promised! andrew did a great job. whatcha makin next, love?!

work in progress: plant shelf!

this weekend, andrew made major progress creating a shelf for our plants made entirely out of reclaimed materials! let me break it down: 

wood from pallets

our old back door

model t running board

jeep cj5 tailgate

sounds like a bunch of junk, eh? well, i thought so too. until the sawhorses came out and the tools were lined up on an old blanket in the backyard. in just a few hours it seemed, andrew had put together the skeleton for the shelves and asking for my opinion. i was so proud.

right now it's all put together, and andrew is sanding and finishing. once it's all done, we'll put the plants on it and take some more pictures. it looks great!

update: chairs and avocados and bridal showers

chairs!
andrew continues to work hard on our vintage patio chairs! we are several layers of primer into our first chair, and will be ready to add the color soon. the chairs sat in the backyard over night one night last week, and we woke up to a couple wet and dirty chair pieces. before we could paint the next coat of primer, we had to clean them. i set the pieces in the shower with the intention of getting to them later in the day.. but looks like a couple of other goobers got to them first.

avocados!
less than thrilling news. it is still a brown pit on two toothpicks in a yellow glass. however, i must admit we had a slight mishap. let's just say the present pit is not the same pit as the one i photographed several weeks ago. a less than perfect tooth-picking job, mixed with a high-cat-traffic area, caused the pit to fall and sit submerged in the water for a while. the pit eventually split, and so i went on the search for a new pit. we found one, and it's doing quite fine so far. no roots. will photograph as soon as some excitement hapens.

bridal shower!
it's happening this saturday. it will not be outside in the backyard. awful mosquitoes (what is a cheap way to get rid of those jerks?!), deconstructed metal chairs with gray primer, HOT, mosquitoes, and a landscape-work-in-progress. however, the inside of the house is shaping up nicely, so i'm looking forward to having people over. we'll have some quesadillas, spinach and artichoke dip, chips and salsa, cupcakes, sangria and more. i am pretty pumped, but busy getting it all together. i'll post some pictures after it all goes down.

oh, and once again, SCHOOL STARTS TOMORROW! my backpack is packed, my clothes are picked out, and the coffee maker is ready to go. let's gooooooo.

heat advisory.

leave it to my love to pick one of the hottest weekends of the summer to spend the day outside playing with power tools. works for me though - we've taken our first baby step towards the revamping of the vintage metal lawn chairs. andrew made major progress while i was running errands by workin on that rust, then he taught me about cleaning the piece and applying the primer. we've got our work cut out for us, folks.

in the beginning.

supplies!

after andrew wire-brushed. little pitbull is helpin.

stalker shot: andrew brushin away!

andrew showed me how to apply the primer.