first time building bike! any suggestions?

[polly4711]

Hello all!
It has been quite a while since I have been active here, and I am excited to be back!

I am happy to announce that I am going to order a new Bianchi San Jose frameset tomorrow and build up my bike from there. I have never really chosen all of my components/design a bike befkre... I am both kind of scared. I do have the help of my husband and LBS, but inthe end I do know that esthetics (color of chain, front rank, etc) and function (what type of handle bars, etc) are up to me.

How did you guys figure out the look of your bikes and narrow down choices?
Do you have any bits of advice?

Thanks! So happy to be back!

EDIT: there isalso this same model on ebay. It's an older version, but I like the color better. It also has components on it so at least I could begin riding while changing stuff up. It has some scratches on the top tube. Would you get the new one or ebay? Most likely, there wont be a big price difference...