2013 Goal Update

Since we're in July and now officially halfway through 2013, I thought I would check in on my Big Hairy Audacious goals that I set in January.  Yes, wayyyy back in January (doesn't it feel like ages ago?). Here's an update on my goals:

1. Finish the Living Room
Status: hmmmm not so different from January. I had big pillow goals, and my mom made fantastic pillow covers....however I (or my pregnancy brain) gave her the wrong dimensions. I needed 2 18x18 and 2 20x20 and I asked for 2 18x18 and 2 16x16. Woops. No wonder there was so much extra fabric left over. Does anyone need 16x16 navy and white pillow covers? Oh, and we are STILL SEARCHING for a coffee table that is "airy" but not glass.

2. Flooring
Status: This is HAPPENING, we ordered the floor yesterday. And it has to happen in August so it's done pre-baby. We decided to only re-do the flooring on the main floor, but it will be great to have consistent flooring throughout the main floor (currently we have carpet, bad quality cherry hardwood, and peach tile. Do you see why we don't love it?). We want to go with a medium stain on the hardwood and I love seeing grain so we are looking for oak floors. I still want tile for the entry way and the kitchen (I like the practicality of tile over hardwood), so I'm on the look out for options. I was thinking charcoal tile in a 3x12 to mimic hardwood planks, the colour along these lines, but with darker grout:

 via

The only thing I am not sure of is if every little water drop will show on the charcoal tile (and thereby drive me crazy). Thoughts?

3. Bathroom Reno
Status: DONE!! This one actually happened, and it was a big one (you can see the full reveal here). We've even hung a towel bar and towel hooks since I did my reveal. We couldn't love this bathroom more. I would say this was the biggest "reno" that we've done in the house, and adding 20" to the bathroom was the smartest move we could have done. I love how everything turned out and am still amazed and how airy it feels (and how the 20" we stole from the guest room pretty much makes NO difference over there, and every difference in the bathroom).

4. First Sundays
Status: This was my plan for the first Sunday of every month, to ensure it didn't include running around to Costco or doing a million errands. It worked pretty well the first few months, but then as it got nicer outside we got busier, and we had some projects on the go so it's fizzled.

One goal that we didn't list at the time was Project Baby. Consider this Goal #5, with the least wiggle room out of all the goals. I'll do another post about how we're fairing in that regard and what progress we've made on the baby room (hint: not much).

How are your 2013 goals coming along? Do you check in with them part way through the year, or is it more of a new year's resolution that gets lost by the time summer comes around? I hope everyone is coping (or loving??) this heat that is finally here - it's summer folks :)

Weekend Recap

Ahhh summer weekends. I think this weekend (in Toronto) was one of the best of the year, if not THE best so far (hopefully it's like this every weekend from here on in). It was beautiful, sunny, hot, clear skies...in other words: perfect. We hosted a BBQ for 12 on Saturday night - beautiful night, and great friends to catch up with. We served grilled chicken, Israeli cous cous greek salad, roasted eggplant dish (Imam Biyaldi), hummus and veggies, cupcakes and watermelon. Yumm. I don't know how some of you manage to capture the table all set, with the food laid out...I took some quick shots with my phone before anyone arrived, but after that it was all about eating and visiting.

 How was your summer weekend?

A couple of weeks in St Lucia...

I'm back...well I have been for a week, but you know what the first week back at work from vacation is like :) Make it a short week and it's both good and bad...

Anyhoo we got back from our vacation to St Lucia on June 29th, and then enjoyed a few BBQ's on the Canada Day long weekend - great way to come home!

Our first week in St Lucia was cloudy and rainy...it bummed us out quite a bit and we seriously considered coming home a week early...but an extra week in St Lucia is better than a week doing stay-cation at home chores anyday, so we stuck to our original plan. Good thing we did as the sun came out and it gave us a chance to re-do everything we did under cloud/rain the first week!
 

Our backyard for the first week - we shared a 3 BR villa with friends and their 1.5 year old daughter, it was great! Usually went to the "big" pool but nice to look at this view over breakfast.

A small bay in the Atlantic on our resort the first week

View from a hike (nature walk) near our first villa

The famous pitons...in the clouds the first week...and the same view in the sun below (SOOO much better the 2nd week!)

It poured rain the first time we went...we tried to make the most of it by doing some snorkeling, but generally we were dying for some sun! The second time we went we climbed the "Gros Piton" - well they only let me go halfway (I guess they don't want people having babies at the top of the hike) but the Mr went up the full way.

We also went to Pigeon Island which is a beautiful national park with a couple of small but gorgeous beaches, and a couple of mini-hikes.

 We went back to this beach on our last day - it's small but so quiet, and on the caribbean side so the water is super refreshing!

 The right side is the Caribbean, and the left is the Atlantic

 

 A view of the "hike" / nature walk on pigeon island

If you're thinking of St Lucia as a destination I would say go if you're a beach person, but a week is likely enough. We thought there would be more to do, and more accessible things to do on our own as opposed to excursions, but we still found some great places to explore. We didn't do the all inclusive as that's not really our thing, but instead we stayed in a couple of villas which are more our style. We did their weekly "jump up" which is a big street party on Friday night - lots of GREAT street food and fun to go for a few hours.

Now we're back to the grind, but it's great to be back for the heart of the summer!