September 2011 Goals

I know, I know.  I skipped August goals — but friends, this is why.  Say hello to the house we just bought.  I’m going to put the punctuation for this sentence in a separate paragraph:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We bought a house!  And not just any house, but MY DREAM HOUSE.  The type of house I have wanted for as long as I can remember.  The type of house I assumed I would never own.  An Eichler.

It needs a TON of work, as it was essentially abandoned for the last three years (which coincidentally has helped me make great strides in my fight against arachnophobia — eew).  The first time we saw it, it was like walking into a mint condition 1965 time capsule, and I am really not exaggerating in any way, shape or form when I say that.  From the carpet, to the fixtures and furniture, EVERYTHING was from the mid-1960s.  Mad Men could have set up cameras and filmed there with no extra work.  But in more of a gross way than a neat way.  Seriously.

So far we’ve ripped out the 50-year-old carpet (all FIVE different types), the asbestos tile and mastic underneath, the built-ins in the laundry room that looked like my Nana’s 1957 kitchen, the built-ins in the “library,” and a LOT of overgrown plants.  Next week we’ll be getting our new washer and dryer, a new floor and painting.  And hopefully the week after that, we’ll be MOVING.

Did I mention we have a pool?  And an atrium?  And that I am one seriously happy camper?

Life is good. :)

September Goals (July holdovers in italics):

• Get our new floor
• Paint the interior of the house (it hasn’t been painted since 1963 — the white walls are no longer white)
• Landscape our atrium
• MOVE
• Set up the new office / studio
• Pick up my wedding dress :)
• Book our honeymoonlet (the real thing — three weeks in China + Tibet — has been pushed to 2012)
• Finish all the major planning and prep for our wedding
• Meet a new photography friend for coffee
• Repaint our coffee table — Turns out old paint is kind of gross.  Must get new paint!
• Shoot a little film — Gotta hunt out a new battery

Completed July Goals:

• Meet my goddaughter — Obviously, this is SO taken care of
• Photograph the heck out of that new baby
• Spend some time with my Connecticut family
• Play with my niece until she tires of me (this isn’t actually possible)
• Take some photos of some lovely Connecticut pals
• Finish up that enormous secret from last month, which, if everything goes according to plan, I should be able to talk about at the start of August (This is the one I wasn’t allowed to be excited about.  I’M EXCITED NOW.)
• Celebrate my mother and father’s birthdays
• Design my wedding invitations