Yesterday was a day of firsts for me. First time at an IKEA store and first time actually sitting down to watch monster trucks at Monster Jam. The former was completely overwhelming and the latter was amazingly enjoyable; I was actually surprised by my reactions both times.
Maybe it was the fact that it was warm in there, or maybe there were just too many people, but I had to get a hold of myself yesterday at IKEA before I had a mini panic attack. I went with my parents, sister and boyfriend for two reasons: 1) I'd never gone and it sounded neat, and 2) Ryan wanted to buy bookshelves and some tables.
First stop inside was the restaurant, which is (like everything else there) surprisingly affordable. I got my mom whatever she wanted while I grabbed all sorts of fizzy drinks, strange juices and colorful food, and Ryan and my dad got the Swedish meatballs and some other varied Swedish foods. (Sister abstained from eating at all because she said the last time she had the chicken nuggets, - the only thing on the menu that is appetizing to her distinguished palate - they disagreed violently with her the next day and second chances with food items are not her forte.)
When I sat down to partake of my brightly colored stuffed salmon, potato and broccoli medallions, steamed vegetables, Ligonberry juice and fizzy apple drink, I felt a little apprehensive about eating food from a mostly-furniture store, but I dove in and was rewarded with that weird, joyous full feeling that comes after eating something foreign. Suffice to say that when Ryan was paying for the side table, magazine files and lamp he ended up buying, I scooted past the register to the tiny little IKEA market and stuffed my arms with frozen meatballs, Ligonberry preserves, Elderflower juice, Ryan's favorite "äppelkaka" (apple cake), etc. and ended up spending $40 on Swedish foodstuffs. Oh well...at least that's one day that I won't have to buy for at the grocery store today.
As for the furniture side of IKEA, I was overwhelmed, impressed, inspired, frustrated, confused and a few other "-ed" things as well. The store was more massive than I thought and there were so many different combinations of room layouts that I could never make up my mind what I liked best. My indecision problem was heightened in the store so much that Ryan is still under the impression that I didn't like it, despite my protestations to the contrary. Rather frustrating to say the least, but I'm pretty sure I enjoyed it. Oh, and I now know that when Ryan buys a house in the near or slightly distant future, we will be refurnishing it with plenty of IKEA furniture and organizing thingies...which is actually quite pleasant to think about.
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