January 8th, 2017

Today Michael & I decided to go out for lunch to Cracker Barrel—one of my favorite places. Cracker Barrel is definitely underrated. Not only is the food delicious, but it's super affordable. I can get a whole buffett's worth for less than $10! :)

The meal was just lovely. The food was good, as usual, and then the two of us just sat around talking for awhile. I love our long, quality talks. We always share in so many laughs together. Plus I just love listening to Mike's voice in general. ;)

After we had finished our meal, we decided last-minute to make a stop somewhere since we were in the same area. I was very skeptical and definitely feeling out-of-place just showing up unannounced. But it ended up being the best choice we could've ever made.

Sometimes, things don't go according to plan. Sometimes, plans change. And sometimes, that isn't always a bad thing.

Let me give some more context. Remember that townhouse we were waiting to hear back on? Well, we hadn't heard back yet (which makes sense since it had only been four days). Although our hearts seemed set on that place, we did know you always should check all your options. Rule number one when looking for a place to live is to make sure to check everywhere.

In addition to the Naperville place, we sent a few emails out to some other apartments in nearby suburbs. Two had replied, and we were in the processing of emailing back and forth to find out more information and pricing. As we drove for home, Mike pointed out one of the apartment complexes we'd been emailing with. On a whim (as I mentioned above) we decided to stop in.

As someone who is an avid-planner and very schedule-orientated, any changes in plans or last minutes edits definitely do not sit well with me. It's actually one of my biggest pet peeves and something that can easily get me pretty flustered.

But for once in my life, a spur-of-the-moment decision ended up causing some of the greatest changes in plans I could have ever asked for.

We went inside and talked with this lovely womam named Katia. She gave us all kinds of information and even took us on a tour. The place is so beautiful! And it had so many amenities: a pool, a hot tub, tennis courts, a beautiful lake with a gazebo, a park, and even a gorgeous clubhouse that included a workout facility. They would give us not one, not two, but four parking passes. And the price for rent... wow was it unbeatable. While the townhouse we were looking at had a "lower" rate, adding in all the utilities made the price much higher than desired. The price for these apartments was incredible, especially because it included the utilities.

Katia gave us some information to take home and we left with happy, hopeful smiles and plans to fill out an official application that night. Again, we don't want to get our hopes up. And we don't want to jump to conclusions. But after talking to Katia this place seems like much more of a sure thing than the other. As long as everything checks out with our application, we may have a place to call our own real soon! :)