planting roots, ya'll

i know this is crazy town, since in the last 3 years we have lived in 3 different places, but it's looking like we will be here for a while. which is great because we are very happy here. even though i still get a pit in my stomach every time my friends back east instagram NYC photos, or pictures in the woods, it's been surprisingly nice to live here. obviously the best thing is being close to our families, that is YUUUGGGEEEE (#dumptrump), and brad's amazing job is definitely another bonus.
sooo since we'll be here for a while, we've decided it's high time we buy a home.
which is cray cray. i can't even decide on a t shirt to buy, how does the universe expect me to be qualified to buy a house..?! but here we are.
we've spent the past while renting a single family home. it's a split level, which is pretty annoying, but it's got the right amount of space, even a little too much, given our history with small spaces, and it's in an amazing location. it also has a cute little backyard, but a huge front yard where the grass can never seem to stay alive.
if it's taught us anything, it's that we just aren't cut out for single family home living. we don't love it. i always used to say in our hip soNo apartment (south norwalk guys. google it, it's the perfect town), that i never wanted anything bigger than an 1150 sq foot 2 bedroom apartment, and that i could last in that apartment til my dying days. and everyone told me i was crazy, so i drank the koolaid and went for a real live 4 bedroom house once we got here. and guys, i'm just not about that life.
we're buying a townhome, which i feel like needs some explaining, because a lot of people are left super puzzled when they see we're making the switch from single family to townhome.
so here's the explanation. (with alliterated topics. you're welcome.)

style
most of the city of sandy (with the exception of more expensive custom homes) was built between the 60s and early 90s. with our budget there were a handful of styles available. the 60s homes sounded promising with the mystique of mid-mod style, but those are nowhere to be found. instead, all of the 60s homes around here are just little square rectangles with no intrigue. they are actually pretty ugly and most of them have *CARPORTS* #gasp. and most of them are in not so great neighborhoods, so no, those were out. and then the 70s homes are literally ALL bi-levels. all of them. split level after split level after split level. you can update those all you want but at the end of the day, they are still split levels. no thanks. and then in the 80s and 90s, they got a little more creative and brought in the tri-level (formal living room up front, kitchen behind, step down to a family room off the kitchen, 3 bedrooms upstairs, maybe another in the basement. they are literally all the same.) so we didn't like those either. after that, there were literally no other options. we didn't want a split/multi level. but that's literally all there is here. i know a townhome seems like it would be even more cookie cutter, but since they are newer (ours is from 2010), they have more open floor plans that are much more functional and organic than those other styles.

surroundings
in our old apartment, we had people living above us and on either side of our apartment. we never heard our neighbors to the left. our neighbors to the right, next to our bedroom, had a shouting match like once a week. above us, they had parties until 2 am and their guests all wore heels, and we heard the plumbing every time they flushed the toilet or used their washer and dryer. and you know what, yall? i loved it. i love being surrounded by people. i like to know that if i died, someone would smell it and call the cops. i love that if our power went out, we had neighbors a door away to commiserate with us. i loved seeing the same people in the hallways every day (or in our new case, on the sidewalk), having them smile at my kids, and not even know their names but know we had each other's backs. i love having the insulation of other people's lives around me, to help me feel less alone. i love hearing a bump in the night and just knowing it's the neighbors and not a murderer in my basement (because obviously that's always what it is when you live alone in a house). i know it's not for everyone, but i'm not everyone. i'm me. the first night i spent here in our stand-alone house, i cried. i hated the quiet and i felt so alone.

size
technically the new house is larger than our house now, but it feels a bit cozier. it has a smaller living room at the expense of bigger bedrooms and an unfinished basement (that we intend to personalize later), and currently only has one living area, since the basement isn't done. but i am looking forward to the change. in our old apartment, bea would never play with her toys unless they were in the same room as me. we loved playing with her toys in her bedroom,  and we had her play kitchen in the living area, and she loved to be by me while she played with it. we have a playroom here and we never use it because bea doesn't like to go down there alone. it doesn't even have that many toys in it either. i know that once we consolidate our space, the kids and i will have more time in the same place, which will make us all happier. and their toys will fit in their larger bedrooms, so if friends come over, they will still have a place to play. i don't like to accumulate stuff. i hate stuff. having a smaller living space, we won't be tempted to fill space with STUFF.
oh and we'll finally have a proper master bath suite with garden tub, glass shower, walk in closet and large vanity. so nice.
side note: we have a large yard here in our split level. the front yard is huge and the backyard is medium/smallish. it costs a fortune to water (read: $350 a month; yet still somehow always looks dead) and takes a lot of landscaping upkeep with weeding and stuff. that's just not our jam. i don't want to spend my money on sprinklers and my saturdays on yard work. the new house has a bit of a small backyard that's fenced off, with a fence that opens up to a large community green space and a playground which is close enough that we can walk to it in 30 seconds, but far enough away that we won't hear anyone on it from our house. it's really the best setup. we'll basically have an enormous backyard with our own playground and zero upkeep.

spot
the spot the new house we're in is REALLY close to where we are now. i call this area the "corridor of convenience". it is a quiet residential area nestled between the two main roads of the area with literally every single thing you could possibly need, all 5 minutes away. 3 grocery stores, costco, car washes, restaurants, dry cleaners, sporting goods store (with a ferris wheel inside!), the aquarium, craft stores, home depot, best buy, ikea, movie megaplex, clothes shopping (carters for the kids, nordstrom rack for mom), swig (my new addiction, dirty diet cokes and cookie drive through?! sign me up!) PLUS 9 min from brad's work, 9 min from target,  15 min from children's museum, 15 min from farm/nature center. it seriously does not get any better, not anywhere else in the country even. we have it so good.

savings
even though single family homes and townhomes in this location are roughly the same price, our utilities are about to go down, drastically. our HOA fee will cover half of the utilities we pay now, at a lower price, and our electric and gas bills will go down, since being insulated by other homes on either side of us will keep us warmer in winter, and cooler in summer.

so there's our reasoning. after spending more and more time in the house we're in, the more we realized that we just wanted a different lifestyle. i know it doesn't make sense to a lot of people, but it makes sense for us and that's all that matters!! and now, after 5 reschedulings of our closing date (I AM SO OVER THE RESCHEDULING!!!!) i'm really excited to get into the new house!!! we just need to paint it and change the carpet. yellow paint plus chocolate carpet looks like you're living in a rotting banana. not cute. if you feel like helping a sister paint.....feel free to come over...! :D

also....keep an eye out for us on house hunters on HGTV!! we got accepted and are so excited!!!!