IKEAdventure

This weekend I embarked on my maiden voyage to the "Swedish House of Deals."  (That's a fancy way of saying I went to IKEA for the first time).  This may be a regular occurence for some folks, but for me it was an "event." 

The nearest IKEA is more than 2 hours away, so shopping there calls for a roadtrip!  It also means that since we're going ALL that way, it would only make sense to visit Ballard Designs, Frontgate and Grandin Road as well.  Luckily, I had 5 fun friends who were up for the adventure (and a night away from kids!).  On Saturday morning, my shopping companions piled into a minivan armed with coffee, overnight bags, wine, wallets, decorating ideas and dreams of great deals.  And away they went.

Unfortunately, I could not ride with them because I had to coach my son's basketball team.  I'm sure they really missed having me with them, because I am an awesome backseat driver.  Just ask my husband.

After my team won (Go Seahawks!), I hopped in my car and drove down there like a bat out of drove at 10 and 2, obeying all traffic laws until I met up with my friends at our destination.  They were kind enough to have shopped at other outlet locations until I was able to join them.  Word on the street is that IKEA is INSANE on Saturday, so we opted to shop at Ballard, Frontgate and GrandinRoad, and save IKEA for Sunday. 

The shopping gods were not favoring me on Saturday, but Rhonda scored two lighted topiaries from Ballard.  They were eventually dubbed "Lionel" and "Bertie" (from The King's Speech, which we saw later that evening)...

(Good thing I drove separately.  Looks like we're going to need the extra trunk space.)

After a great evening involving dinner, the movie, and the wine I mentioned earlier, we awoke ready to shop til we dropped. 

We approached the Mother of all Megastores ...

Got our carts and bags and hopped on the elevator...



And shopped til our carts were filled...

and our stomachs were grumbling.  We ended our Swedish shopping excursion with true international flavor... Swedish meatballs... Yum! 

Perhaps you are wondering what I brought home from IKEA, aside from indigestion.  Well, here are a few of my finds...

IKEA was a "great deal" of fun, and we got some great deals.  I would definitely venture there again.  Stay tuned for my next roadtrip to a completely different destination coming this Spring.

Also, I'll be back soon with an update on the bathroom remodel.  Dare I say we're getting close to the big reveal...