end of August.

July was our time to relax. August has been filled with family, friends, and home projects. September will take us back to our full speed ahead mode soon enough.

I have about a week left now until my school year officially begins. There's so much I want to get done before then.

I have cleared out my home office and it's ready to be painted. Going from an icy blue gray to a very soft brown. Should go nicely with the dark wood floors, white trim, and my new neutrals big floral print area rug from Crate and Barrel.

J is working hard on turning two old oak wood doors into a head board for our bed. It's a major project and he's doing really well with it. I'm so excited! :)

J tore up and re-built the front porch stairs. They had some serious rot. Now they look great and are sturdy too. The neighbor men all gathered for the fun tearing it up part - so funny.

We re-did the hallway windows with some cool wisteria faux stained glass in the top bits and a frosted bottom pane. I think it looks pretty cool. (photos above)

I made my first 3 batches of freezer jam and was pleased with them. The spicy mixed berry was chunky and good. The ginger peach was a little runny, but still yummy. I'm going to try this again soon, b/c I've given nearly all of my first jars away.

I also really wanted to find time to fit a little scrapbooking in, but that will have to wait until my office is all back together. We'll see.

Amidst these fun home projects we've still managed to schedule time to see family and friends and that has been wonderful! What a great summer! :)