my week in photos — week 29

My week in photos is a weekly post where I share some of the photos that I took during the week that (mostly) didn’t make it to my Instagram feed. I’m always looking for ways to improve my photography skills and welcome any comments.

It was a lovely week here in Smith Land. My favorite kind of weeks are the ones where nothing too exceptional or crazy happened. It was a regular week with regular week stuff like going to yoga, having dinner with my brother, and volunteering at the pet pantry. I say not “too exceptional,” but we did get some pretty big news this week, but I’ll talk more about that below.

It’s been super warm here during the day and we’ve had to take most of our walks in the evening as the dog and I aren’t fans of being miserable. I’m in the middle of a StepBet challenge though so I have to get out and walk. For those not familiar, StepBet is an app where you “bet” money that you will meet your walking goals for six weeks. The most common bet is $40 which is just enough to hurt if you don’t meet your goals. I’ve been doing lots of evening walks and lots of pacing around the apartment. While I love the heat and the sun, I do wish it was just a few degrees lower.

Of course, the extra heat and longer days have benefitted my strawberry plants. I was about to give up on this year’s growing season because we just weren’t getting any signs of new life or growth from my plants. To date, I had only been able to pick nine sad, tiny strawberries. That all turned around early this week. All five plants seem to be much happier and there is new growth and lots of berries starting to ripen. I last counted seventeen strawberries in the process!

This is my first year of strawberry growing and I’ve already learned quite a bit. The most important thing I’ve learned is that strawberries really do need LOTS of sunshine and the few hours per day that the planter is getting on the balcony isn’t enough. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to extend their growing season by getting them more sunlight at the new house after we move there next month. That’s right! We got a closing date for the house. We’re moving on August 30th and I couldn’t be happier.

Moving always causes me a fair amount of anxiety. I’m pretty good at preparing for a move, but the day of usually causes me a lot of stress. My plan is to have as much of the apartment packed as possible before we leave for our next adventure. Did I forget to mention that we’re starting the closing process the day after we get back from South Africa? Oh goodness, am I going to be jet lagged! I’m just going to keep reminding myself to take deep breaths and remember that sometimes bridges flood.

Justin has also been preparing for our trip. He’s taking two online class right now. His plan is to have them both wrapped up before we go. We’re both trying to cross as much off our collective lists as possible!

Lastly, I found this mama turtle laying her eggs while we were on a walk the other night. By the time we walked by the next day, you could hardly tell that the ground had been disturbed and that new life was doing its thing.

I’m very much looking forward to next week. My lifelong best friend is coming for a visit for a few days! I’m looking forward to some uninterrupted time with her.

How did your week go?