Summer Goals Up-date

I can't believe summer is on its way out.  Tomorrow school starts and summer vacation is officially over, although we do have one last long weekend to enjoy.  Way back in June, I posted the goals that I would like to accomplish this summer (which you can read about here), so I thought I would do a little recap on how things have gone - mostly 'yeses', a few 'nos'.

1. go to the cottages.  We got to enjoy some relaxing and rejuvenating time at both cottages, although ended up with only a long weekend at the Georgian Bay cottage.  You can see some photos here. 

2.  paint the kitchen cabinets white.  Well in the end it was white and gray - you can read all about this project here (including before-and-after photos).  We are completely thrilled with the change that $250 has made in our kitchen.  There are still things to be done to finish it, but we are loving the difference so far.
 

3.  go to Stratford with hubby and see "The Tempest".  I wrote about our lovely Sunday in Stratford with Christopher Plummer here.  We had such a fantastic time and both thought the play was the best we had ever seen, so we bought tickets for Malcolm and his fiance, Christie, to attend.  They loved it too!

 

4.  go on a Moonlight-and-Cheesecake date.  We went for a walk in a nearby town with coffees and a cookie in hand.  The photos I took when it was darker didn't work out well, so this one will have to do, although it is more light and less moonlight.  I would like to go into Toronto and do another walk-around-drinking-coffee-and-talking date.  Hopefully soon.

5.  plan a series of fun summer daytrips/weekend trips since hubby likely doesn't have a chunk of time off this summer.  We went on several lovely relaxing day-trips and mini-vacations to Stratford, St. Jacobs, Grafton, and Prince Edward County.

 Macaulay House in Picton, Ontario

6.  enjoy time with my brother and my sister and her family who are came to visit us from Winnipeg this summer.

  My brother at the lookout near our cottage

Juno with my sister's dog, Sunny, sitting in their respective beds.  They didn't usually get along this well I might add.

7.  enjoy the weeklong visit with our French guests (the parents of the exchange student who lived with us for three months 3 years ago).

Hiking the look-out trail near the cottage

8.  deep clean the house - see #7.  It's as done as it's going to get.

9.  organize the storage room in the basement.  You can read about it here.  I won't repost the photo as it really isn't that interesting.

10.  hem a pair of dress pants that I bought last November.  Nope - not done!

11.  finish a blackboard project that I started in May.  Nope - not done!

12.  paint the dining room table black.  Nope - not done!

13.  touch-up the basement playroom paint where the wall was patched because of water damage.  Done - you can see the basement tour here.  Of course, it is one of those things that just looks like it should have always been that way.

14.  paint the upstairs hall and hang the photos we had framed last December.  Done - I'm loving seeing my daughter's photos every time I step out of our bedroom.

 Photos taken by my daughter when she was an exchange student in France 2 years ago

15.  read at least 5 books.  Done - yah me.  I read:

1. The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbury - loved it.  Probably the best novel I read this summer.
2. March, by Geraldine Brooks - very interesting novel about Mr March, the father in the Little Woman books, who was off at war.
3. Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott - of course, then I had to re-read the Little Woman book.
4. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel - liked it but didn't love it -being on a lifeboat for most of the story was a limited setting in my mind.
5. Cesar's Way by Cesar Millan - Juno is a new dog now that I have implemented my pack leadership skills.
   

It was a fun summer, but somehow it seemed to roar past in a blur of activity and business.  How about you?  Did you accomplish what you set out to do in the summer?