Taking Stock of 2008

Can it be that time of the year already? A time when we take a step back and see how far we've come in a short twelve months. All in all, HandyMan and I managed to get a lot of things marked off our To Do list... though I feel we sort of planned 'on the fly' and priorities got shifted. If you had asked me last December what rooms we hoped to fix up over 2008, I would have said the living room and master bedroom. And guess what - those rooms weren't even touched!! But that's okay, because we did manage to do some other things:

• a complete kitchen renovation. We planned the space, came up with some design options, did the demo, bought the appliances, levelled the floor, installed the floor tile and backsplash, and finally got the galley kitchen of our dreams
• housebound because of the great snowstorms of Winter 2008, HandyMan and I whipped up a bright and graphic Ikea-hack home office.
• did some work on the back deck. We came up with a design scheme and HandyMan and I built the outdoor banquettes. We managed to get some cushions made too though we'll have to wait until next summer to enjoy them
• brightened up the exterior of the house by installing new modern house numbers and removing the storm door
• HandyMan organized "his" room a.k.a. the garage
• we started on the bathroom reno by figuring out the layout and the fixtures, decided on the tile pattern, and laid down some of the tile
• and we got started on our next big project which will certainly preoccupy us most of next year!
  

Now that I look at this list, I can't help but think... ARE WE INSANE!? Obviously HandyMan and I have no life outside of our house, lol. So I'm going to make a new resolution for next year... next year, we're going to stop and smell the roses. We're going to enjoy these spaces we created and live in them. We're still going to finish the bathroom and do the guest bedroom/nursery and finish the back deck... but I promise, somewhere along the way, we'll put down the hammers, put our feet up, and relax - because what's the point of it all if we don't ever just stop and enjoy it?

Here's to 2009, a year to live a simpler and quieter life. Happy New Year!!