What?? Summer's over!!??

Excuse me, but, what the heck happened to summer? It seems as though it passed me by just as I was getting to the point that I could really enjoy it. As the spring was coming to an end, Blake and I decided to take on some projects. Most of them were home-improvement related. We dug up the lower half of our front yard so that I can begin filling it with a mixed garden. The area was just too steep to mow, and Blake actually fell a couple of times last summer trying to mow it. In addition to that, I have a few other small gardens that needed to be filled with trees, shrubs, and perennials. I had a wonderful time planning what to plant, where to plant it, and researching and discovering new plants. Oh, yes, I also really enjoyed the part where you get to shop for plants!! I think I may have missed my calling - I should have pursued a degree in horticulture. This photo above is one of my favorite new additions: Agastache 'Blue Fortune'. The bumble bees love it, and they work at collecting the pollen from sunrise to sunset. It was a lot of fun watching them.
Other than gardening, we decided to paint the first floor of our house, including the ceilings. It was quite a job, and took us a total of 5 days. Most of the time was spent doing prep work - taping, moving furniture, protecting the floor, etc. We are both really happy with the results of our hard work, and with the fact that we're finished. It's nice to have some color for a change!! The upstairs now looks really naked with its white walls... but I think it may be a little while before Blake and I are ready to take on another painting project.
It doesn't appear that I have been accepted into the hygiene program for this year. And, I'm really feeling okay with it. I am going to take two more classes this fall - and then there really isn't much else that I can take as far as pre-requisites are concerned. So, I'll cross my fingers and hope for next year. I will be submitting my application this winter.
I hope everyone is doing well... I'll blog again soon!!