Getting Ready

Saturday is our housewarming party. Last weekend I said to Mike, as we were navigating Ikea in reverse, "Next time we buy a house, remind me to never have a house warming party 4 weeks after moving in." What was I thinking???? Well, after that moment of panic and rush of overwhelm, I am happy to say that I am ready for Saturday's party. Sure, there are still some things to do around the house, like filing away all the random paperwork that accumulates in life, and tidying up the room that is currently the staging room for all of our unpacking, but overall I feel ready. Dare I even say that I am glad that we decided to have the housewarming so soon after move in? Sure, I'll tempt fate by saying that. Having a tangible goal to work towards really pushed us to focus and stay on task. It also helped me to let go of my tendency to be so detail oriented and let go a little bit of the high expectations to which I hold myself. Sure, I'd like to have the garden cleaned up a little more and the weeds pulled, but really, when it comes down to it, does that really matter? Really? I am mainly looking forward to sharing some time with family and friends and getting to know some of our neighbors a little better.

One of the things that we did to get ready was have the trees in the front of the house pruned. Here are some before & after pics:

Right side - before:

Right side - after:

Left side - before:

Left side - after:


And here is a picture of the house, from the street - after:

Our house is pretty wee from the front, and I think that having the trees cleaned up and thinned out really made it appear a bit bigger. Now, onto the filing of paperwork!