yeah, I would do just what you are thinking, wait for the performance mods and bling until you can fly it confidently without crashing. Otherwise you could just be frustrated and spending alot in repairs.

The only other thing you might consider that I can think of right now is flat bottomed blades. I personally don't think they make all that much difference, but they do provide more lift.

Some people like to do the auto rotation gear right away because the shaft is harder and less likely to bend, but probably the first mod I would do is the dual tail (or DD tail see http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5553620), then you will need the hh gro before you get the brushless, and CF blades would be right about the same time. A CNC head looks aweosme, but doesn't add any performance, but does add quite a bit of weight, yso you'll have to decide if it is worth the money for what it does for you. I would get a computer Tx before I got a CNC head, but probably after the brushless. Futaba's 72mhz radios are a straight swap, and don't require you to change out the receiver, which can be nice. You'll want to take off the super skids by the time you get to full aerobatics because they add quite a bit of weight.

I think those are pretty much the main mods. Some people also upgrade to like a hdx cnc or carbon fiber frame, but they don't really fly all tht well, and are really just for the bling. You can see this site for videos on the setup. http://www.helifreak.com/viewtopic.php?t=17482

The other thing you might want to think about is some sort of flight sim, even FMS is better than nothing, especially for getting orientation down.
check out this for more info
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5633484