The Fall Project Preview

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You guys, HOW is it September already? Oh, right, I know how… because the whole of August went by in a blur. Between working on the giant backyard project, speaking at the Haven conference, and the other small projects I’ve been working on, I’ve barely had enough time to sit down. I’m also trying to get my butt into gear for some OCR and 5k races this fall, but more on that later (I’ve got some running gear I’d like to recommend to you in a future post, so that’s coming up).

Last week, I spent a few days up in New York (fourth visit in two years!) with one of my annual blog sponsors. I danced in a kick line with the Rockettes, decorated a cake at Carlo’s Bakery (sorry, I didn’t meet the Cake Boss himself, but I did snag one good pic with Mauro and learned how to drape a cake in fondant… and turns out, my artistic abilities can be translated into edible form), and got a few more glimpses of the Hearst Tower (I love this building!). It was an adult field trip basically, but I really enjoyed it and got to see a few blog friends that I met during last year’s orientation.

We’re just a few weeks away from the first official day of fall, but I can already feel it in the air. Pine straw is already falling all over the back yard, which probably means it’s not too bad of a time to start thinking about putting in some grass seed. I just spread a bag shortly after finishing the grading project (final post comin’ at ya soon), and some of it is already starting to grow in!

Fall has a tendency to kick things up a notch around the UDH. I suppose it’s just that the weather becomes a little less unbearable (Georgia summers = practically hugging the sun), but it’s also just that things start to get so exciting. There’s a palpable buzz. For a moment, I thought I might be making it all up and just getting a little optimistic about the months ahead… until I actually looked through the list of things I did around this time last year.

Last Fall’s Accomplishments:

• Recapped my trip to Black Feather Farm (parts 1, 2, and tiling Kit’s bathroom shower… because I can’t just visit someone else’s home and hang out, apparently)
• Replaced my front doorbell and hardware
• Added fall flowers to the mailbox
• Added hanging planters to the front stoop and planted mums in the front garden bed
• Repaired the exterior siding
• Trimmed and pruned trees in the front yard
• Finished up with the skim coat in the kitchen
• Battled (and nearly got my ass kicked by) a squirrel
• Added LED lights to the garage
• Made the best Katy Perry costume ever
• Painted the kitchen walls
• Bought a new Christmas tree
• Installed tile in the master bath (which I still have to fix, ugh)
• Created a couple DIY scrap wood magnetic bottle openers (great DIY gift idea)
• Made a new tree skirt for Christmas

So, yeah… I suppose that in the span of three months, shit is going to change quite a bit. So, I might as well just set a few goals to know where I stand this coming year.

2016 Goals

• Make a new Halloween costume (topping last year is going to be tough, IMO)
• Finish the kitchen bar oil job
• Add some art above the kitchen bar
• Make progress on the crown molding
• Fix the master bathroom floor tile
• Build Charlie a dog feeder (I am sick of how she turns over her food bowl… time to do something about it!)
• Figure out the back yard design
• Seed the backyard lawn
• Add lighting to the back yard?
• Put in a few slabs for the future backyard shed and the area where I want to hide my trash can
• Fix the part of the fence that dad broke with the backhoe (yep… that happened)
• Teach myself something new
• More tutorials!

What are your fall goals this year? More tutorials coming later this week (writing them as we speak), so stick around!