The IKEA idea
I spent EIGHT HOURS in the car yesterday driving from Tuscaloosa to Charleston, where I am spending the weekend with my bestfriend Britt and her fiancee Wes. They are getting married in a month, and so I figured it's a good chance to spend some quality time with Britt before she moves off to Virginia Beach, and a good time to get to know the guy she's going to be spending the rest of her life with!
I normally like long drives by myself, but I was getting really sick of the car ride by the time we got to Atlanta.. then I saw it. A huge blue and yellow billboard that said "IKEA.. grand opening June 28!!!" I practically stopped in the middle of I-20 when I saw the sign. Holy Crap.. it's an IKEA in ATLANTA!
I've had a long torrid love affair with IKEA. It combines three of my passions.. anything Scandinavian (ok, so it's Swedish and not Norwegian, but it's almost as good!), home decorating and buying bargains. Plus, it has a cafeteria with Scandinavian food and a shop where you can buy Norwegian chocolate and salmon! Ah! pure bliss!
I vividly remember my first trip to IKEA. I was 10, and my dad was shopping in Long Beach, CA. We were in the store wandering through the rooms for hours. Dad bought one thing.. a modern style clock with brightly colored arms.
When he moved out to California my freshman year in college, going to IKEA became one of the highlights of the trip. My sister and I would go through the store with huge shopping carts.. we could get almost anything we wanted, as long as we could get it back to Alabama. (the closest IKEA until now has been in Chicago!) Usually, dad would end up sending back boxes of goodies that we had picked up and couldn't stuff back into our suitcases. We always promise to just bring an empty suitcase with us the next time we come out for IKEA, but we never do.
I was on a subway in Oslo in 2000 when I spotted a mother and daughter who had several bags from IKEA. I had just moved there for 6 months and I got so excited to see something familiar.. something I loved. I jumped up, ran up to them and asked them where there was an IKEA. I think I kind of scared them.. partly because of my enthusiasm and partly because Norwegians are VERY reserved people and avoid talking to strangers. Six months later, I found myself shipping back a rug, a chandlier, a duvet, frying pan, coffee pot and mosquito net.. all from several IKEA trips.
So I was driving down I-20 when my heart skipped a beat. AN IKEA. WITHIN 3 HOURS FROM HOME. I wanted to stop right then to go.. but I knew Britt would shit a brick if we stopped again. So, my dilemma is this.. Should I leave to go back to Tuscaloosa Sunday night so that I can avoid the wrath of Hurricane Dennis? Or, should I leave Charleston at 5 a.m., stop at IKEA on the way home and hopefully get to Tuscaloosa after Dennis hits? (The hurricane is supposed to hit Tuscaloosa at 6 a.m. Monday.) Or, my third option is to wait until I have plenty of money and make a special trip. We shall see... all I know is that when it comes to IKEA, there's little that can hold me back, even a hurricane.
I normally like long drives by myself, but I was getting really sick of the car ride by the time we got to Atlanta.. then I saw it. A huge blue and yellow billboard that said "IKEA.. grand opening June 28!!!" I practically stopped in the middle of I-20 when I saw the sign. Holy Crap.. it's an IKEA in ATLANTA!
I've had a long torrid love affair with IKEA. It combines three of my passions.. anything Scandinavian (ok, so it's Swedish and not Norwegian, but it's almost as good!), home decorating and buying bargains. Plus, it has a cafeteria with Scandinavian food and a shop where you can buy Norwegian chocolate and salmon! Ah! pure bliss!
I vividly remember my first trip to IKEA. I was 10, and my dad was shopping in Long Beach, CA. We were in the store wandering through the rooms for hours. Dad bought one thing.. a modern style clock with brightly colored arms.
When he moved out to California my freshman year in college, going to IKEA became one of the highlights of the trip. My sister and I would go through the store with huge shopping carts.. we could get almost anything we wanted, as long as we could get it back to Alabama. (the closest IKEA until now has been in Chicago!) Usually, dad would end up sending back boxes of goodies that we had picked up and couldn't stuff back into our suitcases. We always promise to just bring an empty suitcase with us the next time we come out for IKEA, but we never do.
I was on a subway in Oslo in 2000 when I spotted a mother and daughter who had several bags from IKEA. I had just moved there for 6 months and I got so excited to see something familiar.. something I loved. I jumped up, ran up to them and asked them where there was an IKEA. I think I kind of scared them.. partly because of my enthusiasm and partly because Norwegians are VERY reserved people and avoid talking to strangers. Six months later, I found myself shipping back a rug, a chandlier, a duvet, frying pan, coffee pot and mosquito net.. all from several IKEA trips.
So I was driving down I-20 when my heart skipped a beat. AN IKEA. WITHIN 3 HOURS FROM HOME. I wanted to stop right then to go.. but I knew Britt would shit a brick if we stopped again. So, my dilemma is this.. Should I leave to go back to Tuscaloosa Sunday night so that I can avoid the wrath of Hurricane Dennis? Or, should I leave Charleston at 5 a.m., stop at IKEA on the way home and hopefully get to Tuscaloosa after Dennis hits? (The hurricane is supposed to hit Tuscaloosa at 6 a.m. Monday.) Or, my third option is to wait until I have plenty of money and make a special trip. We shall see... all I know is that when it comes to IKEA, there's little that can hold me back, even a hurricane.
posted by Lydia at 1:27 PM
1 Comments:
as of right now, it doesn't look like there IS a good time for you to come back in town... Dennis will probably be affecting us fairly hard tonight (at least, it would be enough that you probably wouldn't want to drive in it) up until mid-day tomorrow... so it looks like you're going to have to get creative with how you plan your return.
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