IKEA!

We had our first Ikea experience, I'm a changed person!  It was like walking into a magazine or a 3-D dream...is this real?  Wake me up!  As if the exposure to food in Seattle isn't overwhelming enough, now it's overdosing on home furnishing in a 3-D magazine maze.  You lose all sense of time and space, direction or where you even are.  It's like Disneyland for home furnishings.

There are signs everywhere telling you what to do so that's a good thing since you are a little out of sorts when you're there.  Fortunately, we had gotten advice at our family barbecue the night before on how to approach the shopping experience at Ikea.  Last night, Lauren and her roommate discussed what they needed and looked on the internet at items on the Ikea website so when we picked up Lauren this morning, she had her list ready.  You must go with a list and preferably measurements.  I saw people there with tape measures, too.  Very organized!  Bruce and I went cold turkey.  We mainly just observed and helped Lauren find what she needed at her new apartment.  We were told which freeway to take but nobody was really sure which exit to take but we were told "you'll see the big sign from the freeway" and we sure did.

After that, we just followed signs on where to go and what to do.

We immediately got a map so we wouldn't get lost.

But to tell you the truth, you don't really need a map because there is only one way to go and that is where the arrows tell you to go.

There is only one way to go and that is the direction of the arrows.  It's like floating down a river and you really can't swim up-stream, you must follow the arrows.  It may sound harsh, but you really don't want to go any other way!  You are taken up by the flow of over-abundance and you are driven to keep going to see what is around the corner to more over-abundance!  All the little scenes of super cute, ultra modern, and just plain beautiful home decor is so compelling and uplifting...you must just keep going!

And if you want to try any of the furnishing, just feel free to try it out, everybody does.

The bedding seemed especially popular.  

I liked the kitchen section the most, of course.  

Seeing all this kitchen stuff made us hungry so it was time to take a break at the cafe in Ikea.

We had to go to the cafe because the sign said so.  Plus, the food was free today so how could we resist?

If we spent $100 they would deduct the total from the cafe from our bill at check out.  O.K!

And like everything else, the cafe was huge and furnished with Ikea items so you could try them out, too!  What I liked was that they put the calorie content on all menu items.  So smart.

We all ordered something different. Since Ikea is a store from Sweden, I got their Swedish Meatballs.

Bruce got a buffalo chicken wrap

and Lauren got their organic mushroom and cheese crepes

with a big salad.

They had interesting drinks like lingonberry juice and blueberry juice.

The Swedish must like interesting fruit juices.

Dessert was an apple cake/pie -a Swedish version - with an interesting custard for dessert.

After our lunch, we had more energy to carry on with our mission of completing Lauren's list.  But first we had to check out their food.  They did have a few grocery items you can purchase, most from Sweden like Swedish fish

and Swedish pancakes

and lots of interesting fish food products.

The best was yet to come as we entered the lighting section.

There were the most beautiful and interesting lighting ever!

Then it was time to get organized by entering the container section. Pretty much any size and shape container for all your storage needs here.

I want to go home and organize my pantry RIGHT NOW!  

And our office and all our files.  The boxes and files are all so cute and decorative.

Next we approached the pillow section.  

Another attractive display.  This one with a very Zen feel to it. 

Anybody need any candles?

or a clock?

In Australia, the Ikea stores have created the "Manroom" for the retail-weary man complete with Foosball table

 and Xbox consoles, pinball machines, continuous televised sport and free hot dogs.

O.K.  Enough is enough.  It was time to move on to the warehouse where you pick up your larger items.  When you find a large item you want to buy, you must write down the number so you can find it in the warehouse.   Lauren found some shelves and a butcher-block shelving unit for her kitchen.  So you look for the number of the aisle where it is located.

As you enter the warehouse, there are pallets for you to pick up to load your larger items so now we had two things to push.

Sometimes the larger items are out-of-stock in the warehouse and that is a real bummer!  Lauren was nervous but both her items were there and she was so happy!

Ikea does not miss a beat!  We were totally impressed with this shopping experience.  We are motivated to go home and get organized so we can come again and shop for all that Ikea has to offer for an ultra modern and super decorative home!  We love Ikea!!