Tag Archives: grown ups

A New Mercedes-Benz

June 1, 2015 Pamela Stephens

This past weekend Matthew and I made a big, huge step in our grown up lives. We bought a Mercedes. We had been casually shopping for a new vehicle for months and months, yet hadn’t really committed to buying anything. This weekend though, things suddenly got serious.

This story begins as “that time I almost bought a Mustang.” Friday night we brought home one of the new, oh-so-fine Mustang GTs and planned to go back and sign papers on Saturday morning. We wanted something fast and fun while we were still young and didn’t need to make room for car seats and soccer equipment. I’ve never been a Mustang fan, yet this new redesign is simply gorgeous. We decided to buy it. However, after driving it home over the weekend, we realized the ride was just too rough and noisy for my daily life. After all, I’m in my car most of the day. While it would be fun to drive, it wouldn’t be as comfortable as other options or conducive to my business.

Saddened by the thought of not coming home with this fancy Mustang, we decided to drive to Shreveport and test drive four or five other vehicles that Matthew had found. We really had no intention of buying a vehicle at this point. I was coming off of a migraine from the previous evening and felt tired and foggy. Matthew had the day off though, and this seemed like a great way to spend some time together.

We pulled up at the Mercedes dealership first, and I just wandered around a bit while Matthew talked to the salesman. I chose two cars right away that I liked and ruled out all of the others. We drove them both and chatted with the salesman. If I were being honest with myself, I’d say that I knew right away that this black Mercedes C250 was mine. It just felt right. There were so many things I loved about the car, and I felt so much more comfortable there than in any of the other vehicles I had driven. Nonetheless, it took me hours to commit to the idea of buying a Mercedes.

Here’s why:
1. It was the most expensive vehicle either of us had ever bought. That’s a bit scary. There’s something a tad frightening about doubling your car shopping budget, even if the money is there. For me, I was making a mental list of all of the other things I could (and maybe should) do with that extra money.

2. I was genuinely afraid of what people would say. This is probably the hardest one to admit and the most prevalent. I’ve only had the car for a few days now and I’ve already heard things like, “keeping up with the Jones'” and “that’s too expensive for me to ride in.” I didn’t want to suddenly be considered a snob, just because I bought a nice car.

If I were being brave, I’d admit that this was one of the main hesitations that I’ve had with buying a new car. When I was added to the Associate Leadership Council at my office, we talked about this very thing at our initial retreat. I hadn’t bought a nice car (even though I’ve worked very hard for it and spend most of my time there) because I didn’t want people to see me differently. All of these thoughts are simply holding me back and things that I have to deal with on a personal level. I took the first step though…I bought the car. Now, I’ll just hope that people will be happy for me instead of judgmental.

3. I’m deathly afraid that someone is going to hit/scratch/dent it. My last car was banged and bruised to no avail and not one person ever stopped to apologize or offer remedy. It feels like a scratch or dent is going to hurt much more in this car. Guess I’ll be that person parking at the back of the lot…

All in all, I am thrilled to be the owner of this new car. I can’t wait to drive it and take it on trips with Matthew. As simple as it is, my favorite features are the illuminated “Mercedes-Benz” on the door sill when you open it, the adorable blue stitching on the seats, the awesome sound system, and the light-up emblem on the front. (It’s almost always all about the details for me.) The safety features are mind boggling also, and I love how well everything is finished. I can’t wait to get the windows tinted and drive from one appointment to the next.

Let’s talk for a bit about the service we received at Holmes Mercedes. Matthew and I both have bought and sold several vehicles. This was by far one of our best experiences yet. As a matter of fact, it was even enjoyable! Most of the pleasantness can be attributed to our salesman, Kenn Posey. Kenn was the polar opposite of your stereotypical car salesman, and so much more pleasant to work with than anyone at any of the other dealerships…and we’d been to a lot. He knew everything we could possibly want know about the car and was not in the least bit pushy. It was almost like we’d brought a friend along for the experience, not a salesman. We were at Holmes Mercedes for several hours and at no point were we frustrated or rushing to leave. If you’re even remotely considering a Mercedes purchase, I recommend that you talk to Kenn first. I throughly look forward to working with them in the future.

There are two lessons to be learned from this story. The first is to always trust your gut, especially on larger purchases. I tried really, really hard to make that Mustang work. However, something told me that it wasn’t the right fit for us. Second, don’t make a decision for you or your family based upon fear of what someone else will think. All too often we let what friends, family, or even strangers, will think or say stand in the way of doing things that will make us happy. Buy that car. Make that move. Quit that crappy job. Dye your hair blue. Do whatever it is that will make you happy, without worrying about what others will think. They likely won’t remember in the end, yet you certainly will. Life is short and you only get one shot, so make it a good one!

Read more:
Our first car purchase.
When we bought a house.
And mattresses….the most riveting of the grown up decisions.

A New Couch

February 23, 2015 Pamela Stephens

When Matthew and I decided to buy our current house, we knew we’d need to get a few new furniture pieces for the home. This was for a few different reasons, actually. First, our rent house was a combination of his things and my things from before we got married. Most of it was either hand-me-down furniture or pieces that we’d each had for quite some time and that had miraculously survived the college years. It was time for some new furniture. Secondly, our current furniture didn’t really work very well with the new living room layout. Therefore, we knew we’d be purchasing new furniture soon after the move.

I began searching high and low for a new sofa and was rather unsuccessful for quite some time. Everything that I liked was either crazy expensive or didn’t really work any better with the layout. Finally, I decided that a 3 piece sectional would suit our needs the best. In the beginning, I was quite firmly against purchasing a sectional, because I really wanted something more sleek looking. Most of my struggle in the sofa search was that I really wanted something with a mid-century modern look but that was also comfortable. As far as I can tell, this combination doesn’t exist…at least not for someone with our budget. Finally, I decided that I would give a sectional more thought. It would really work best for the room layout and give us the comfort we were looking for. Besides, I’m wanting to host more parties, and a sectional would give us more seating.

After searching high and low on the internet, I finally decided to give our local Haverty’s a shot. I browsed their website and selected a few options to check out in the store. Both Matthew and I agreed that the Piedmont was our favorite. Here’s a tip to consider before shopping for furniture: always, always measure your space before you go. Practically every piece of furniture looks much smaller in a gigantic warehouse than it will in your home. We knew that the Piedmont would be a tad larger than what we were originally looking for, but it still fit our needs.

As soon as Matthew and I decided to purchase this couch, I couldn’t hardly contain my excitement. I really felt like this sofa was what I needed to finally pull our living room decor together. Wrong. I had a general idea of what I wanted to do with the space when the sofa arrived, but none of it really worked out as I planned. Even though I was excited about our new sofa, I was struggling to pull things together in the room. If you’ve ever had a similar experience, you know that it’s pretty frustrating. I basically had to start from scratch.

I still haven’t quite decided what I’m going to do with the room. Do I want only black, white, and gray pillows? Do I want to add an assortment of colors as I had originally planned? Gallery walls? Book shelves? I’m just not sure yet. However, I’ve learned over the years that I can’t force myself to make such decisions right away. Instead, I’ll need to find that one piece that’s missing that’ll give me the necessary inspiration for the whole room. However, I’ll try to make it as beautiful as possible while we wait for my inspiration to strike.

Even though the new sofa has shaken up my decor plans a bit, I’m still very pleased with our purchase. I like the texture of the fabric and the color is just what I was hoping for (if we went with a neutral, that is). I also really liked that the pillows that came with it were the same color and fabric as the couch. Most of the time, sofas come with a patterned pillow, and they’re almost always not my style. If you’re in the market for a new sofa, I’d give Haverty’s a shot. I was thoroughly pleased with their customer service, delivery options, product selection, and price.

Now, who wants to come help me figure out what to do in this living room?? Also, if you’re interested in our other fascinating grown up purchases, be sure to read about our new mattresses…which I’m still sooo crazy about…and our first car to purchase together. Next up, a discussion on retirement planning and dentures! Just kidding…or maybe not.

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Grown Ups Buy New Mattresses

October 28, 2014 Pamela Stephens

If you were to make a list of those totally non-glamorous adult decisions/purchases that you have to do when you’re a grown up, buying a mattress would be on the top of that list. As a matter of fact, it’s a little disheartening to spend your hard earned money on something that no one else will even see! Buying a car is exciting…you can show that off. Fabulous new living room furniture…people will see and use that. Even new bedding can be exciting…you can share a pic on Instagram and folks will see it when you give a tour of your home. Spending thousands of dollars on a new mattress? Not that exciting.

However, I can honestly say that spending what I’d consider a large amount of money on this hidden gem has been one of the best decisions we’ve made! Neither Matthew nor I have ever bought a new mattress. (Raise your hand if you’ve lived with hand-me-down mattresses too!) Even the king sized mattress we got when we were first married was given to us by his parents when they had to buy a new one. Personally, I just couldn’t ever justify spending my money on something like a mattress when there were cool shoes to buy and vacations to take.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with hand-me-down mattresses, but Matthew and I were in desperate need of a new one. You see, my wonderful husband doesn’t roll over gently when he sleeps. Instead, he flops. There are seriously no words to describe the way in which he does this. With our old mattress, I’d bounce around like a little baby on grandpa’s knee and wake up every. single. time. he rolled over. Not only was the bouncing an issue, but I’d constantly be pulled into the dip in the middle. With Matthew being so much bigger than me, I’d have to fight being pulled to the middle whenever he’d get into bed. All night, I’d fight gravity pulling me into a hole and trying to stay asleep when he decided to roll over. I don’t even need to mention how badly our backs hurt when we woke up in the morning and how we were the exact opposite of well-rested. Needless to say, it was time.

It took us months to make the commitment, be we finally selected a Temperpedic mattress with Breeze Technology. (I get terribly hot when I sleep, so anything that’ll help me to be cooler when I sleep is a blessing.) When I say that this mattress has changed my life, I am only barely exaggerating. It does take a bit to adjust to the feel of a Temperpedic mattress, but within just a week or so, I was adjusted and in heaven. I do NOT feel Matthew flopping around and sleep peaceful through the night. Most days, I don’t even wake up when he gets out of bed! We both wake up feeling much more rested and without all of the aches and pains.

We were in Lafayette a few weekends ago and it was our first time to stay in a hotel since getting our new bed. Not fun. After the first night, I completely remembered what it was like to sleep in our old bed and missed our new one terribly. I told Matthew that there should be a website where you can choose a hotel based on whether or not they offer Temperpedic mattresses. (Take note of that, Temperpedic. Let me know when I can register on the new site.)

For the record, I was not compensated in any way for writing this post. (Although, that would have been nice.) I just wanted to share with you how very much of a difference this mattress has made for me and that I regret not buying it sooner. If you’re considering a new mattress (or other furniture), I highly recommend visiting Sleepy Hollow Furniture at 900 Louisville Avenue in Monroe. Their showroom is great and they’ll let you try different options for hours (speaking from experience). As a matter of a fact, I’d suggest asking for my friend, Benay. She’s the absolutely sweetest and knows her stuff! (She’s also not one of those crazy salesperson types which we all hate.) Y’all know that I always encourage shopping local when you can, and this would be my top suggestion for furniture after just going through the process myself.

If you’re interested in reading about other grown up purchases that Matthew and I have made, check out the post about buying a car and of course all of the posts about our first house. Guess I’ll go shop around for some 401k packages and car insurance…

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Our First House – Before

July 3, 2014 Pamela Stephens

Yesterday Matthew and I closed on our very first house together! It’s such an exciting time, but we have a bit of work to go before we make this house into our home. As a matter of a fact, it’ll be several weeks before we even move into the house, which is sort of sad.

Nonetheless, we are very excited to have a new place to call our own that we will make into a home that we love. I wanted to go ahead and share these before photos, so everyone could see what we’re starting with. These are the photos from the MLS listing (taken by my sweet friend, Anna Kay), so you can see the home just as Matthew and I saw it when we made the decision to purchase this home.

We have several big ideas in mind for this home, so you’ll have to stay tuned for the final product (if there’s actually such a thing as a “final” product). My biggest goal for this home is to create a place that we love to come home to. We’ve thought a lot about what that means, and I plan to be very intentional about every decision that’s made for this home. The ultimate goal is to create a space that reflects our personalities, is free of clutter and excess, and full things that we love. I’ll certainly be sharing our journey here, and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Now I’m off to choose more paint colors!

Before Dining Room Before Living Room Before Master Bedroom

Photo credit: Anna Kay Springer, Realtor

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What Married People Do: Buy a car.

May 2, 2013 Pamela Stephens

We bought a car! I’m more excited than usual over a new car, because this was mine and Matt’s first big purchase as a married couple.

Funny side note: Matt has learned a very valuable lesson. At first, he didn’t understand that our first of everything was vitally important…our first Christmas, first vacation, first house…I’m obsessed with it all. In the beginning he wouldn’t get very excited about all of the little firsts here and there. After about 6 months in, he realized that I want to make a big deal of all of those things. Now, as soon as I say, “Aww…it’s our first {insert random item/holiday/experience}” – he immediately follows with, “You’re right, it’s our first {repeat random item/holiday/experience} and it’s important because all of our firsts are important.” He figured it out! On a serious note, I’m very happy that my husband will play along with my silly notions.

That being said, I made quite a big deal of our car-buying process. (If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you already know this because I posted 3 pics of the process…more than I usually allow.) However, it felt like a huge deal to me. We had just made our first big decisions as a couple and worked amazingly together…I felt like celebrating!

Our car-buying strategy was a tad more elaborate than most. We spent 2+ weeks analyzing different options…Accords, Altimas, Camrys. New, used, certified. Future trade in values, mpg, insurance, down payments…you name it. If it could be considered, then I guarantee we talked it through. We even had a spreadsheet…a color-coded spreadsheet at that! After analyzing the numbers to death, we finally decided to write which car we really wanted down on a note card and show each other at the same time. (That’s how all big decisions are made right??) Luckily, it was the same car!

Why were we buying a new car? Matt is driving 60 miles round trip to Ruston everyday. Our original plan was for him to drive my car to school instead of his big Dodge with a whopping 16mpg. However, my 6′ tall husband didn’t fit so well into my little g6. So, we decided to buy me a slightly bigger car that he can drive on school days.

I think we knocked this one out of the park. We got a great car with awesome features (You can thumbs up/thumbs down your Pandora from the screen – my fav! Plus, it has back up & lane watch cameras.), and Matt driving it to school is going to save us a ton of money each month.

When I married my husband, one of the biggest draws was that I felt like we could work together through anything. This car-buying experience has shown me that yet again, we make an amazing team. Ladies, when you’re picking a husband, be sure it’s someone you can work through both little and big things with. And someone that you can enjoy the process of making these sorts of decisions with. It will make a huge difference in your overall happiness.

So here it is…the newest addition to the Petrus family – our 2013 Honda Accord EX! We love it’s long list of fun features, the crazy good gas mileage, and the fact that there’s only 3 of this color in the state of Louisiana. Plus, apparently a carseat will fit easily in the back. 🙂

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