Photo shoots.
Packing.
Moving.
More photo shoots.
Unpacking...sorta.
Painting.
Gardening.
Working in between all.
For the short version of what I've been up to the last 6 weeks, that pretty much sums it up : )
I was really nervous for finals this semester...because I had a chance to get an A in one of my classes for the first time in 3 years! Being that "A" student in high school and through most of my community college days, it has been rough getting B's and C's ever since my second semester at PLU. I was starting to think there was something wrong with my brain, I just didn't understand why I wasn't capable of getting A's on tests, let alone classes anymore. Yes, the content was difficult in some (O. Chem), but I finally realized that I lived a much different life outside of the classroom than most students at PLU--a house to keep up, a fiance to keep sane with his school fiascos, bills to pay and therefore shifts to be picked up at work. We are nothing short of busy!
I've never been a fan of self help books, but one that I read dealing with success in college gave me something new to try, and overall I think it's worked. This semester had plenty of me working and drama with my senior project, but I managed to pull an A in Biochemistry II, a B in Wildlife Ecology, a B in Comparative Anatomy (thank you God! lol) and a B- in Capstone.....which should have been an A. I am so darn bitter about what took place in that class as far as my grades, but I didn't get a C like I thought was going to happen so I'm not going to complain at the moment. I'm pretty sure another stern WTF visit to the professor's office was being avoided with that final grade assignment : )
As soon as finals were over we started packing up the house to move in with Cody's mom.....not my first choice of a move--let's be honest, it wasn't my second, either--but, we need to save money for a wedding and not having to put most of our stuff in storage to afford a place to live do it is a plus. The house needs a lot of work, which Cody is thrilled about doing. I know that it will eventually look better, I just don't like that it's not going to be a quick process. I decided to channel my annoyances into making our room and office those places that I would enjoy spending time in and feel like it was our space. It's hard to feel like this is "my" house too. After lots of paint on my hands and face, new dressers, curtains and hooking up the TV, our room looks pretty good! No, the floor isn't done yet, which is one of my annoyances but there's nothing we can do about it at the moment, but it was nice to not have to care if I got paint on it or not : ) Up until this weekend we were living out of storage totes and suitcases, and after a few days laundry baskets were thrown into the mix! haha It was not a pleasant experience, but I am so thankful for Cody through it all. He very well knows that I didn't really want to be moving in here, and I know that he's tried to make it as easy as possible for me. Most importantly, he let me be mad and kinda freak out a little some days ; ) We spent the whole week and a half he had off of school getting things done around here, and we have an 80% completed room (bathroom completely nonfunctional right now--no shower, toilet, OR sinks lol), a finished office, and a garden to boot ; )
Before pictures...sortof. I kept forgetting my camera, so this was the best I could do with a phone : P
The "in progress" stages...
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| Most of the room was painted light gray--looks kinda blue here |
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| Cody pausing hanging up the blinds to admire his no wires showing project : ) |
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| After a long day of painting and many other projects.. |
The almost finished product:
I have lots more planned for decoration in our room. I am on the prowl for a simple armchair and I have schematics in my head for a NYC collage of picture frames and keepsakes, plus some accent curtains and pillows. It's going to look awesome : )
The rest of the house is still in disarray...things piled in the living room and dining room till they find a place/floors get done, and our couch is currently residing in the garage. The OCD in me tries to stay out of those rooms as much as possible for now : P
Because we were changing up the colors of our bedroom furniture and I love our IKEA night stands, I decided to attempt to paint them. Hindsight is 20/20, and I got so frustrated I'm pretty sure I should have just found some black ones! lol It wasn't THAT bad, but it just didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped, and in my eyes they are not done yet. But, I needed to walk away from that project and call it good for now : P I found a blog that talked about the specific kind of primer to use and everything for painting IKEA stuff. Maybe it's just because it's black paint, but these things just did not want to hold the color. Cody said rolling the paint would be better, which I agreed with at first, but after 3 coats of black I'm getting spray paint for when I come back to touching it up. The best part is one of them held the paint and primer better than the other! I don't get it.
I've done a couple photo shoots since school has been out and I'm looking forward to the couple more I am scheduled to do this month--they've been a lot of fun and I've enjoyed the escape with my camera!
And last but definitely not least, Cody and I had our engagement pictures taken by Tasha Owen Photography last week and I cannot wait to get them back!!! We had the "usual" pictures done, of course, but we topped it off with a mini shoot in PLU's chemistry lab....they are going to be unique and absolutely awesome, Tasha and her husband Tom were SO much fun to work with, I'm already so pleased with them knowing the quality of work that they produce!
Well, that's my summer so far in a nutshell....throw in working almost full time and it's been a busy one : ) I am working on getting myself into an exercise routine while I have the "time" to do so. Hopefully the nice weather will be staying a little more permanently soon, but I have no excuse with this beautiful trail in practically in my back yard now!
Just for fun--I have enjoyed watching this little guy grow into such a fun and thoughtful person. I can't believe I met him when he was about 1 1/2 years old, and now he's about to be a big bad kindergartner this fall! He came over to stay the night with Grandma the other night and we had a little fun with the camera--if he sees it, pictures must be taken : ) He marched into our room after using the bathroom and says "Hey Ashley, I really like the way you decorated the bathroom, it looks nice!" Hahaha Oh, Joey...I love this kid : )
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| Joey: "Okay lets close our eyes for this picture!" Me: "Alright let's do it--ready?" *Click* Joey: "Oops I opened my eyes just a little.." : ) |
