when mike and i first pooled our furniture at our first apartment, we realized that we didn't own a couch. i was busy with week-before-wedding preparations, so i didn't have time to stress over it. mike, on the other hand, just didn't stress over it.

"something will come up," he told me.

because luck apparently favors the cute, something did. two days before the wedding, mike found a couch on the curb just a block from our apartment and voila, we had a couch.

you read that right, folks. the couch in our living room came off the curb three and a half years ago.

i've never liked it. (the couch or the circumstances through which it had been acquired)

yesterday, we were walking through the west village and mike suggested we stop at a thrift store. (big mistake) they had a big white couch there for a ridiculously low price AND everything in the store was 40% off! we had to get it.

that's when things got really exciting. in a flurry of activity (and thanks in large part to my brother who was sitting by a computer and answering his phone), we rented a uhaul, drove the couch home, unloaded it, and returned the van before the end of the day. we found the couch at 2:30 p.m. we were both home sitting on it by 5:15. not bad, not bad at all. (we also discovered the driving a van up and down the island is preferable to driving a truck. but knowing that we could do truck certainly bolstered our courage for this particular driving adventure)

first a curb couch and now a thrift store couch.... i think this is what they mean when they talk about moving up in the world.