i studied more for the structures exam than i have the others, and while i didn't leave the exam feeling confident, i wasn't sure what else i could have done to prepare.  glad that one is over with!


i'm taking a short break from studying but plan to start studying for the last test soon.  meanwhile, i've been loving the fall weather, we've been taking the dogs on long walks and sleeping with the windows open (my favorite!).  the photo above is taken from our deck a few nights ago.

one other random update - check out the crack in this tree that is in front of our house!  we had a pretty bad storm the other night, and at one point heard a very loud snap sound - the tree was struck by lightening.  since it was pouring, we couldn't really see how bad the damage was (although all of the neighbors moved their cars away from the tree just to be safe).  the next morning we discovered that the lightening had caused a split in the entire length of the trunk!  there were giant splinters of tree trunk all over the street and in the yards.  we think the tree might actually survive because it's not very deep, but are waiting on the city to come out to inspect it.  i'm glad that no one was hurt!