a short or not so short narration of adventures at ikea

IKEA is a wonderous place. When I think of it, I always picture Summer and Tom running through the store and falling in love. (Which makes it sound like the perfect date idea to me. And yet, is it now cliche?) Here's the thing. I got a town house. I don't have a bed. I'm on a budget. So, what do I do? Decide to buy a bed at IKEA of course. My mom and I got there at about 6:30 on Friday and we were starving. So, our first goal was to grab some Swedish meatballs, because people seem to really like those. (I've also heard good things about the hot dogs, which are honestly maybe more my style? Anyway.) The thing about IKEA is that it makes you do things without thinking. You are like a little sheep being herded around the store. They have it mapped out so perfectly, that you do whatever IKEA says, even if you don't realize it. For instance, right when you walk in the doors, you go up the escalator. You don't question yourself. You don't think for a moment that you should go left or right, you just get on that escalator like your life depended on it. And then you CAN'T GET DOWN. There is only an UP escalator! They tricked you! It's all very exciting.
So, we were hungry. When we got to the top of the escalator, we defied all odds and turned left. Now, this is where things get crazy. We were told that the restaurant was closed for a party, but maybe, just MAYBE we could still get tickets. This was an exclusive event, people. So, we meandered on over and bought some tickets. (I don't think it was close to being sold out... but whatever.) It turned out IKEA was having a midsummer celebration! Fancy! We got Swedish food in the buffet, and a Swedish drink, and sat down to watch people run around in Swedish costumes! There was a drawing with our ticket stubs for prizes, which we were sure that we had won, because, come on! Why else would we have stumbled upon this? However, we did not. But THEN, they asked us to fill out a survey, so we did, and we won two free meals at IKEA. Which is all right with me. Here are some pictures.

is this really happening?!

exclusive party buffet. my hands were probably shaking with excitement which would explain the blurriness.

SWEDISH FOOD?! How did we get here?! (my mom took this picture. So we cannot excuse the blurriness.

my mom. and our plate of desserts to share. See that chocolate covered marshmallow behind the slice of pie? That thing was HEAVEN.

our survey. I read each of these questions to my mom, and acted out the faces so that she would know which answer to choose.

After all of that fancy magic, we remembered that we went there to buy a bed. So we found the arrows at IKEA and dutifully followed them wherever they asked us to go. Although we did cheat by walking quickly through the places without beds. Buying a bed is super overwhelming. There is so much to consider! After asking an employee a million questions, laying on many dirty mattresses, and pondering over bed frames and foundations pieces or slats or box springs, I was completely exhausted. But I found what I wanted! I bought a bed! All by my little 22 year old self! (with my mom, I guess, but I paid for it!)

see that stuff in front of me? BED.

Oh, and then we had to fit it all into our car. Which, you know, everything fit except the foundation piece. By like, a quarter of an inch. So my mom and I spent half an hour tying it to the top of the car with this little twiney string from IKEA because they aren't allowed to tie things to your car. I had a heart attack the whole way home. But we made it without incident!

So, now I have a bed, and two free meals at IKEA. Date, anyone? :)

p.s. it took me two days to get this post finished! wow!