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These are serious times, and they call for serious measures.  Like asking ourselves, “If we got rid of the dining room table, could we fit in a 550 square foot efficiency?”

Marques and I desperately want to move away from suburban paradise.  There are pros and cons to moving, obviously - we’d be trading safety for possible muggings, but it also wouldn’t take me 35 minutes to get to work every day.  That in itself I would gladly be mugged for. As long as knives weren’t involved.

It’s a bit moot right now, as we are stuck in our corporate lease until July.  But we are already on the prowl for the perfect apartment.  Happy hour drinks last week with a work friend led us to fall in love with her Friendship Heights efficiency and has us wondering how much junk we would have to get rid of for our lives to fit into her square footage.  Could Marques and I go from a 1 bedroom down to an efficiency without too many problems?  These are questions that I am pondering.  Other than the lack of a wall between the living room and bedroom, her apartment had everything we need sans washer & dryer and was only in the mid-1300s to boot.  Utilities included.  We could potentially pay less to live much closer to my job, albeit in an apartment about 200 square feet smaller.  Who needs all that room anyway?  Haven’t you heard of this green movement?

Then today, I saw an apartment advertised on craigslist in Old Town which I immediately fell in love with.  For one thing, old-timey chandelier!  For another thing, fireplace and built-in bookshelves with hardwood floors!  I am in love with old apartments, the kind with the squeaky floors and uneven doorframes.  However, this place was missing a serious divider between the kitchen and the living room, so unfortunately, it was taken off my list.  Also, I forgot how truly awful parking is in Old Town and it would probably force us to have to move the car every 3 hours to avoid being ticketed.  However, bonus points for being so close to the Dairy Godmother.

Another co-worker of mine is in the Arlington camp, specifically the Courthouse/Rosslyn area.  So much that she made up a cheer for it which is basically just Court! House! Court! House!  I’m not adverse to living in Courthouse or Rosslyn, but I am definitely searching for just the right apartment this time. When we moved here initially, we rented over the internet because we couldn’t visit to apartment hunt.  I want to do things properly this time, with lists and pros and cons and driving around looking for FOR RENT signs.  I want an apartment that allows multiple cats without a multiple cat deposit, a place with hardwood floors and built-in bookshelves, that allows you to paint the walls and doesn’t raise your rent after your initial lease is up.  A place within walking distance to Metro, with a gas stove and big windows.  I don’t think that I’m asking too much, but maybe I am.

But at least I still have 4 months to find it.