Ms. Shuttergirl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2009
- Messages
- 3,050
Well it feels like forever since I've had a Disney trip to plan but the good news is we will be going back to the US and Canada for Christmas 2012 and then in late March/early April 2013 we plan to head to England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and France. I cannot wait to get planning like the anal crazy person I am 
.
We know where we want to go and the approx. order of things, now just to fine tune how long in each place and I'm hoping you guys can help me with that.
Firstly, can we just pause and do a few little happy dances for me
.
Some background:- Our family has made some big life decisions to make this happen. The main reason we haven't planned any trips since we got back from US in 2010 and Fiji in April 2011 is because we were due to begin building our DREAM home this coming February and as you all know - these things cost money. Plenty of money. And my DH has champagne tastes that is for sure
. After buying the block 2 years ago and waiting patiently for it to be ready to build on, after spending most of this year designing a custom home that would accommodate our family into the future along with my photography business - we have decided not to proceed with the build.
It was a tough decision in some ways but I knew in my heart it was absolutely the right decision. My heart felt lighter the minute we made the decision. All of the stress of how much the actual build would cost and how we would find the money just slipped away. It sounds strange to be so "happy" about not building our dream house but I am absolutely 100% ok with it. The costs were looking to skyrocket way beyond what we had anticipated and whilst it was something we could still afford I began to really question why we were doing this. Why were we going to place ourselves under financial pressure to build a new home? You see, we have a pretty wonderful home as it is. It has so much space for us, the layout we love, doesn't need much in the way of updating and I love my little studio. The main reason we were moving was because my husband was keen to move closer into the city and had talked about it for many years. Frankly I didn't care where we lived but respected his desire to move.
I had expressed my concerns about the cost as the quotes started to roll in but DH was keen to move forward and I knew we could afford to do so, albeit with a little more pressure on our finances so I said, sure. Then one day he was away on business and he emailed me and said "you know what, you are right, we have a wonderful life, why are we placing ourselves under pressure".
He then went on to say he had a couple of conditions though:-
1. He wanted a new kitchen (check, I can do that)
2. He wants to turn our formal living area into a rumpus/theatre room (check I can do that)
3. He wants to travel - CHECK CHECK CHECK CHECK CHECK.
He had me at hello of course
.
This has been happening over the past few months and we have talked about trips and where we would like to go and how exciting and how the world is our oyster - yadda yadda yadda.
The children and their schooling and extracurricular activities, along with my business are big stumbling blocks as to when we can go away but we have managed to hammer out our ideas and we think we have come up with some doable plans.
These are the plans that I hope to share with you along the way, ask your advice on and just generally get excited about everything with you all.
Are ready to chime in with your thoughts, advice, over the top opinions that I love (Queenie my love, I hope you are out there
) and absolutely everything in between. I need you all because you make it much more fun, you give me confidence when I make my decisions and you are wonderful sounding boards.
Are you in?????
.We know where we want to go and the approx. order of things, now just to fine tune how long in each place and I'm hoping you guys can help me with that.
Firstly, can we just pause and do a few little happy dances for me
.Some background:- Our family has made some big life decisions to make this happen. The main reason we haven't planned any trips since we got back from US in 2010 and Fiji in April 2011 is because we were due to begin building our DREAM home this coming February and as you all know - these things cost money. Plenty of money. And my DH has champagne tastes that is for sure
. After buying the block 2 years ago and waiting patiently for it to be ready to build on, after spending most of this year designing a custom home that would accommodate our family into the future along with my photography business - we have decided not to proceed with the build.It was a tough decision in some ways but I knew in my heart it was absolutely the right decision. My heart felt lighter the minute we made the decision. All of the stress of how much the actual build would cost and how we would find the money just slipped away. It sounds strange to be so "happy" about not building our dream house but I am absolutely 100% ok with it. The costs were looking to skyrocket way beyond what we had anticipated and whilst it was something we could still afford I began to really question why we were doing this. Why were we going to place ourselves under financial pressure to build a new home? You see, we have a pretty wonderful home as it is. It has so much space for us, the layout we love, doesn't need much in the way of updating and I love my little studio. The main reason we were moving was because my husband was keen to move closer into the city and had talked about it for many years. Frankly I didn't care where we lived but respected his desire to move.
I had expressed my concerns about the cost as the quotes started to roll in but DH was keen to move forward and I knew we could afford to do so, albeit with a little more pressure on our finances so I said, sure. Then one day he was away on business and he emailed me and said "you know what, you are right, we have a wonderful life, why are we placing ourselves under pressure".
He then went on to say he had a couple of conditions though:-
1. He wanted a new kitchen (check, I can do that)
2. He wants to turn our formal living area into a rumpus/theatre room (check I can do that)
3. He wants to travel - CHECK CHECK CHECK CHECK CHECK.
He had me at hello of course
.This has been happening over the past few months and we have talked about trips and where we would like to go and how exciting and how the world is our oyster - yadda yadda yadda.
The children and their schooling and extracurricular activities, along with my business are big stumbling blocks as to when we can go away but we have managed to hammer out our ideas and we think we have come up with some doable plans.
These are the plans that I hope to share with you along the way, ask your advice on and just generally get excited about everything with you all.
Are ready to chime in with your thoughts, advice, over the top opinions that I love (Queenie my love, I hope you are out there
) and absolutely everything in between. I need you all because you make it much more fun, you give me confidence when I make my decisions and you are wonderful sounding boards.Are you in?????
. Congratulations on making decisions....for you and the family. I think making the decision is always the hardest first step.
But boy was this year a pain,selling our home (which we also loved and originally thought about renovating) but in the end we decided to build our dream home. Looking forward to it, but we have certainly second guessed ourselves along the way
.
). He says I always take him to warm places (and yes, he's right about that 
So, although it's not Disney, at least it's my other top travel love, a cruise. I got a tentative positive response 
