The Sarcrifices of Sharing Your Space

I moved into a newly renovated one bedroom apartment in March.  It was my first apartment that was not shared and I was so excited to finally decorate it the way I wanted.  I took time to choose my beautiful mahogany furniture and it took me months to find my peacock rug and my ivory leather chair...

I never thought that this apartment would be the first apartment that I lived in with my husband.  I knew we wanted to get engaged but I didn't think it would happen so fast.  One of the biggest adjustments has been sharing the space with him.

When he first came I remember laughing when he opened one of the closets to try to fit some clothes in.  I could barely fit my stuff in my two closets so why would he think there would be room for him?  Ale, the creative genius that he is, waited until I was at work to walk himself to Bed Bath & Beyond and buy extra shelves and storage bins for his clothes.  When I came home that night, I had no idea of the crime that had been committed to my beautiful clothing because all appeared normal from the outside.  When I finally opened one of my closet doors I was more surprised then horrified.  Surprised that this man was just moving me over to make a home for himself.

Things have since been appearing that have been a little bit more disruptive than the rearranged closet... Some people may even walk into my apartment and think I have a small child living inside.

First there was the candy shelf.  Ale has only sweet teeth while I have always tried to not eat as much sugar.  Every time he has visited in the past, he has always toted his bags of candy with him.  By the end of his trip, I was 5 pounds heavier and addicted to sugar and he was on his merry way.  I warned him that if he was coming for longer there would be no Nutella, Reeses or Lindt in my house.  One day I came home from work to find him rearranging my dishes.  I didn't think much of it as he is a chef and likes to have the kitchen a particular way.  When I went back to check and see his progress later on, I found two cabinets completely emptied out and boxes of Godiva, Lindt, Reeses, Snickers and Hershey Chocolates in it's place. In an effort for compromise, I try to forget about his shelf and in return he cannot leave his sweets anywhere else. It seems to be working fine, except for the fact that my dishes no longer fit in my cabinets.

After that lovely redesign, and many other pieces of candy "falling" into my grocery cart. There have also been a few other changes, such as clothes on my beautiful ivory chair, an action figure of Thor looking down on the shelf over the kitchen table and a hot pockets doll laying on the side of my bed.

My apartment may no longer be the beautifully designed home that I spent so long building but it's now a place of love and laughter for me and my husband.  The Thor over my kitchen table has become a conversation piece and when I'm just dying for a piece of chocolate, I know where to find it.