What I am Thinking About the Most

Sitting here, drinking my coffee on this second day of 2012, there is one thought that keeps swirling around my head. It is aways there, and makes me really excited about this year.

The thought is: My Big House.

I have this house that is under renovation. And I love this Big House. I also have a Carriage House, and I currently live in the apartment on the second floor of the Carriage House. It, in the day of horses and carriages, used to be the hay mow for the stable that was on the ground floor.

But I long to live in the Big House. I think it longs for somebody to live in it too.

In November 2011, I hosted a neighborhood party in the Big House - even in it's unfinished slpendor. It has no functioning bathroom, and the only sink that works is a utility sink in my rather creepy basement (think 1865 era house basement. Yes - that is creepy).

At any rate, I was the third stop on a progressive dinner tour, so I provided coffee and desserts to about 35 guests. I spiffed up the house as much as possible, set up chairs and makeshift tables on the first floor, blocked off the steps so that guests did not go upstairs, set up a fire pit and chairs in the backyard, invited some friends before hand to help set up the desserts in a nice presentation.

Then the guests came.

My house did something neat. It took on the aroma of those desserts and coffee. That sweet smell of desserts filled the entire house as the voices and laughter of my guests filled the house too. Even in its unfinished state, people raved about what a great house it was, and how it had so much potential and how lucky I was to have such a great house.

Me, lucky, to have this house.

I am lucky to have such a nice house. I think the Big House enjoyed having a party in it too, after so many years of being empty. I think houses get lonely, because they are built to house people, and fun occasions, and create beautiful memories.

A couple weeks went by and it still had the aroma of sweets and coffee in it.

This year will be the year that I finish the house, move into it permanently and create fun times and memories for the house, for my family and friends and for me.

As my good friend always tells me:

"Onward and upward, Christina."

He is right.

Let's do this.