Home, sweaty home ...

Or, as I'm calling it, Shanty Town, U.S.A.

So, this is where I'll be living for the next year, unless I win the lottery or find a big bag of money.

As I lack the decorating gene, I'm imploring you to offer some tips for maximizing this tiny space. I'll need a desk (maybe a corner desk or one of those Elfa thingies from The Container Store?), a narrow chest of drawers and maybe one more chair. The futon is far more enormous than I expected it to be, and the wood is also not at all the color I thought it would be, so I'm considering selling it (and after only a few days of ownership; how sad is that?) and replacing it with something less bulky. And I'm thinking I'll either buy another futon mattress or one of those uber-thin foam mattresses from Ikea for the sleeping loft. Anyone have experience with such things?

In other news, I start my new job bright and early tomorrow at 9 a.m. After that, my days will start at 8 a.m. Yes, I know it's hard to imagine, but after many, many years of keeping ridiculously late hours, this grammarian will be waking at 6 a.m. each and every workday. I imagine the first week will be pretty tough, but I'm looking forward to being in sync with the masses for once.

On a related note, any suggestions for what to wear on my first day of work? Frankly, I'm pretty damned nervous about tomorrow. I haven't had a first day of work since 2001!

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By the way, today I discovered that through a lucky combination of fever-induced weight loss and a designer's decision to resize everything, I am now a size 2 at Ann Taylor. I just wonder at what point they'll stop this charade.