Ack, so it's been over a week since I posted. It seems like longer, so I'm actually happy that it's only been a week. (Okay, 8 days.) Anyway, let me catch you up...

TS and I are moving in together!

It's official. Well, it'll be really, really official once the lease is signed and we unpack the moving van, but our application was approved today. We are SO super excited about getting our own place. We ended up compromising on living in a high rise, although we both would have preferred renting a house or condo with a yard, but that was just out of our price range. Well, technically we could have afforded it, but we're hoping to save money over the next year so that we can buy a house! Eek! We had been looking at houses since the new year, but we're a little particular (mostly about proximity to the metro since we only have one car) and those we liked are just out of our price range. Well, again, technically we could have afforded a few of them, but we don't want to be house-poor. We certainly do not live extravagantly by any means, but we'd like to be able to maintain our current lifestyle and not live off ramen noodles and be unable to take semi-spontaneous weekend trips to visit friends and family.

So, we ended up selecting a high-rise that is very close to where we both currently live now. It's not in as "neighborhood-y" an area as my current place, but it's walkable to a lot of restaurants and stores, which I like. I can still walk to work and we're a half mile from the metro so he can commute easily to his job. It's a two bedroom (although the second one is a bit on the small side), has a gorgeous kitchen, a small rooftop pool, a well-equipped gym, and views of D.C. from all the rooms. It's a new building and we're the first tenants in our unit. It's also a "green" building, which is pretty darn cool. TS downloaded an interior designing program and we've already set up how we want the apartment to look on his computer. The hardest part is going to be making it not look too sterile with the standard off-white walls. (I'm sure we could paint, but we don't want to pay for that if we're only staying a year. Any tips on covering up the blandness cheaply and easily would be greatly appreciated.) I already have a lot of furniture from my current place, so we're just looking for another couch, a new arm chair and some end tables... hopefully from freecycle or craigslist.

So, that's the big news there. I'm probably going to disappear again for several days... I'm going snowboarding this weekend! Should be lots of fun, let's hope I don't end up with any broken bones!