It's been almost 1 month since I graduated with my Master's degree. I am still looking for a full time job, and I am working part time for the office that I did my internship with. Job searching has been hit or miss, because I am in a really specialized field, and I don't have much leeway in terms of location. There have been 2 or 3 postings that really excited me, and the rest have been things I could take or leave. I actually had two interviews for one position, but was ultimately not chosen. They had 80 applicants and only interviewed 5, so that's kind of cool, but, it would have been a really great opportunity.
While this ongoing job search is always lingering in the back of my mind, I have been looking for distractions. Matt and I are moving to a new apartment very soon, and I cannot wait to set it up and decorate it.
We will be downsizing significantly, as we are moving from a 4-bedroom house with a garage and basement, to a 2-bedroom apartment. We have been working on getting rid of things by: selling, donating, recycling, giving away, and throwing things away. There's always more we could do, but we have made some pretty good progress.
This past weekend we found ourselves talking about getting a smaller dining room table. We aren't sure yet how much room we will have, but we know it will be less than we are used to. Our table we used in this house is on loan from the Tinseys, and it's great, but we don't need it for the two of us for day to day use.
We talked about finding a small table with wings, and we decided to start thrift store shopping. Ann Arbor has SOO many thrift stores!
On our first stop we went to the Ann Arbor Recycling ReUse Center. There were no dining room tables that matched our needs, but something caught my eye. Sitting on top of another table was a coffee table, obviously a little mistreated over the years by children who liked to paint. It was so unique that I just kept coming back to it. We bought it, and we started sanding it almost as soon as we got home.
The next day we went out to buy stain for said coffee table, and we decided to stop at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Let me tell you - this store made me never want to buy something for a house at a retail store again - at least until considering thrift options. They had everything there! Including, a table that was just what we were looking for.
Needless to say, we snatched it up, and we have been hard at work refinishing them both. I will be writing a separate post with before and after pics, and a cost break-down. Stay tuned!
Oh, and our next purchase will be some chairs for our table. We are currently using some straight backs that I don't think anyone who has been over here likes. In addition to the ReUse Center and ReStore, we might go to the Salvation Army and the Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop!
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