My favorite swimsuit this summer is definitely THIS ONE from Leonisa. I love the bold royal blue color and the bust is amazing for adjusting to any sized... well... bust. It's not meant to be a maternity swimsuit, but I have been amazed how it has easily accommodated my growing belly. The other thing I love about the suit is the options for straps. You can use the tie like I am wearing in these pictures, or you can hook straps on the sides and have it come up around your neck. Make sure to check out Leonisa for other suits (For a smoking hot and affordable one piece suit I love this one), bras, and even menswear.
On Wednesday, Greg and I picked out features for our townhome. The place we are buying is being built right now, and we got in at exactly the right time to have some say in the features. We get to choose our counter tops and wall colors!
How exciting!
How fun!
How absolutely terrifying!
Some things I care about. Some things I don't. Paint color? Don't care. Just not lime green. Tile color in the bathroom? Whatever floats your boat dude. Carpet? I'll take the regular. (Also, there is no "regular" carpet. There are 100s and 100s of options. FOR CARPET.) While I don't care about most things, the things I do care about, I care deeply about. I was unwilling to give on the kitchen colors. I dug my heels in and stamped my fist and refused to budge. It was a lovely time for all of us.
I tried to not get too grumpy when the seller was showing us all our options and pushing upgrades on us. Usually I get really mean when people are trying to convince me to spend money. But I tried my darndest to not get stressed out. (Because spending $200k has never stressed anyone out, right?)
I knew we might run into a few kinks and a few disagreements here and there, but guess what? We agreed on absolutely nothing! Nothing! After an hour of trying to come to a decision on every important house option in the book, we pretty much probably kind of hated each other a little bit. Agreeing on 100 decisions about appliances, counter tops, and colors will do that to the healthiest of couples. (Right? RIGHT? The healthiest?!?)
I wanted white kitchen cabinets. He wanted dark.
I wanted the cheap flooring. He wanted the expensive stuff.
I wanted one toned paint. He wanted two.
The single decision we could agree on was the size of our bathtub. Big! (Hot baths are the only thing that gets me through November- February in Utah. It's a survival skill, people.)
But a big bathtub is a $3,000 upgrade. Ouch.
Spending money stresses me out. Really stresses me out. I was born to be a miser. If I could have my perfect world, it would be me in a cave, counting and hoarding money. Never spending it. Just counting, re counting and then maybe hiding it in a safe place so I could take it out tomorrow to count it again. I'm like a freaking dog who always hides his favorite bones- never uses them, but gets a terrific amount of joy out of just knowing they're there.
Greg doesn't have the same problem as I do. If anything, he has the opposite problem. That money burns a hot hole in his pocket until it is good and spent. Two days is two days too long to have an extra $20 bill lying around. And buyer's remorse? You can forget about it for Greg. It does not exist in his world. (I'm so incredibly jealous, can you imagine the feeling of no regret after spending money?!?) I swear, he could lose $50 in his jean pocket and never think about it again. Never miss it. (I know this for a fact because I often raid his pockets when doing the laundry and take all the cash I find. He never asks about it. I figure it's my payment for doing the laundry.)
Naturally, this has made for an interesting marriage. He begs to spend our money, live a little, enjoy life. I beg to save more, put money in retirement, do activities that don't cost a cent. In three years we have come a long ways toward meeting in the middle. I can splurge on popcorn and a full priced movie once in a while, and he's getting better at just making a pb and j sandwich for lunch instead of stopping for fast food. But it's a long process. (Also, interesting fact about Greg: He spends yes, but he doesn't make any big purchases ever. His entire credit card bill is a series of daily or twice daily $2 to $10 transactions at Maverick, Wendy's, Popeye's, etc. Greg could go nowhere for a year but a gas station and a fast food joint and be the happiest man on the planet. It's kind of the cutest thing ever.)
Given our spending habits and backgrounds, you can imagine the trouble that Wednesday presented us. Greg wanted to go with the nicer, more expensive options. I wanted everything standard. As low as we could go. Greg said we'll be able to get more out of resale if we upgrade. I said we'll have a lot more we have to recover if the price of the home keeps going up.
My must haves/ really wants: (Because really, nothing is a "must have." I kind of hate that phrase.)
- White cabinets
- Light countertops
- White tile backsplash in kitchen
- Big bathtub
Greg's must haves/ really wants:
- Hardwood floors
- Ceiling fan in bedroom
- Two toned paint
- Big bathtub
Notice- only one thing in common for our must haves. (Big bathtub ftw!) We are two totally opposite people. Sometimes I have no idea how we are in love.
Greg said he was fine with letting me choose the kitchen colors and going with the oh so important "backsplash" upgrade. Tile on the wall is pretty pointless, yes, but he knew I really wanted it. (It's so purty!) So I let him have the two toned paint. (Which, I mean talk about a useless upgrade. An extra $1500 for two colors in our house instead of one? According to the pros though, it's UBER important in resale. I don't believe them, though. Do you ever notice if a house is two toned paint? I told Greg I'd just get one color and then go in myself and paint all the trim white before we moved in. He laughed in my face and said there was no way I would be doing that at 8 1/2 months pregnant. He might have a point, but you didn't hear it from me.)
The good thing is Greg said he could go without the $3000 fireplace upgrade. I said I'd live without the $1,000 sink in the laundry room.
My kitchen inspiration. Tell me it's not beautiful.
It was two hours of decision decision decision,
upgrades I'd never even heard of that were suddenly of the utmost importance, and an extra $10,000
later we were signing a lot of papers and trying not to be sick.
But guess what?
Somehow we survived the two hour choosing process. It wasn't
easy. I feared for our marriage. But we did it!
At the end of the meeting we walked out holding hands, and with all of our decisions in place. I promise you, there is no way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks we would have been able to do that three years ago. Look at us, growing up, getting mature, learning how to compromise!
I'd call it a victory for everyone! Me, Greg, and most definitely for the man who is getting all of our money.
And now who wants to come over for a big bowl of Top Ramen for dinner? It's on me!
