"'Cause someday, believe it or not, you'll go 15 rounds over who's gonna get this coffee table. This stupid, wagon wheel, Roy Rogers, garage sale COFFEE TABLE."

I've been apartment hunting! 

My lease isn't up until the end of December, but I absolutely hate being rushed so I started looking for a new place about a month ago.  I have a roommate now, and she's moving with her boyfriend, which means it's time for me to live on my own, really on my own, for the first time.  My mom didn't live on her own until after her marriage ended.  20-something seems like a good time to be self sufficient. 
I think I did find an apartment.  It's cheap enough that I can afford it by myself without giving up luxuries like new pants and take-out pizza.  It's clean, has an old building feel but a redone interior, and the guy who owns it is really nice.  But it's super small.  One room with a kitchen offshoot and a bathroom kind of small. In apartment terms that is a "studio" but in Sarah terms that's called "post-college but still-a-dorm room." 
At some point I want to be an adult.  Someone who owns a washer and dryer and gets super excited about the ice cube maker in the fridge.  I'll become overly excited about tomato plants and overly sad about chipmunks. You know the usual.

For now, all I really want is a place to call my own that has four walls, high speed internet, and feels safe.  Check, sort of check, and probably check.

You might be thinking, "Sarah, as an avid reader of your blog, I know all about your love life.  Why aren't you moving in with Boyfriend?" Stop thinking that.  Stop thinking that right now before the thought exits your brain, enters your keyboard, and becomes my first ever blog comment.  It would be really sad if my first ever blog comment resulted in me reaching through my computer to punch someone in the face. 

I love Boyfriend, but he thinks, and rightly so, that a couple should be together for a few years before living together.  I can't really put a number on how long I think a couple should test run a relationship for before embarking on lease signage, but I can tell you that we aren't there yet.

To be honest, as a child of divorce, I am hesitant to live with someone I'm dating.  I've seen how long it takes to untangle your lives once there's more than emotional interweaving.  I'm also concerned because a study indicated that those who live with more than one partner before marriage have a higher divorce rate.  With that bit of information looming overhead, I want to be reasonably sure my partner is "the one" before living together.  I think I have less trepidation about engagement.  After all, it's easy to give back a ring; it is very hard to break a lease. 

If you don't know where the title of this post comes from, you can watch this.