today was fun

after a nutso opening, 2 friday day off storms (snow and snow/sleet/ice), i have finally experienced Ikea. i've seen the catalog (which i forgot to grab on the way out, oh well, i'll be back) but never actually been to Ikea before, and i didn't know quite what to expect. all i've heard is that they are always busy, and most of the stuff isn't bad.

so bright and early, M picked me up and we headed south to pick up F and the 3 of us were headed go Ikea. the first order of business was to get something to eat, and as it happens, Ikea has a restaurant. cafeteria style, but for $0.99, you get scrambled eggs, home fries and bacon. and it's pretty good, and rather filling. so, for short money, we had a full bfast w/coffee and juice (lingonberry, i liked it). a quick pit stop and off we went. it's a VERY big store with LOTS AND LOTS of stuff to look at. some of it quite nice, some, less nice, some a little overly country (but if you like that look, i'm sure it's very nice), some of it nifty, and all in all, a lot of it very affordable. and i even managed to get some presents for mom.

i'm not sure quite how to describe it, other than it's quite an experience the first time you go to ikea. there's a ton of stuff to take in, and for the most part, it's actually pretty nice. i liked some of the kitchens they had set up. picked up a new paper towel thing (we'll see how long it takes me not to cut myself), some roman shades for the bedroom ($7 each!), and a few other odds and ends. now i need to start looking around and see what i may want to look for.

so after we paid for our stuff, i brought it out to the car, and we headed upstairs for lunch. the swedish meatballs w/gravy and lingonberries was quite tasty. so was the salmon and lox and deserts. so we finally left ikea at ~230. we got there just before 10am. like i said, it's a BIG store. very cool tho. i can certainly see why people like it so much. and i certainly don't mind putting stuff together.

afterwards, we went to see The Chronicles of Narnia. i wasn't sure i wanted to see it or not, but i enjoyed it. i haven't read the book, so i can't say how faithful it is to the book, but it was certainly quite entertaining (in the good way). i liked the gryphons. the battle scene was hard not to compare to Lord of the Rings, and M thought the coronation scene reminded her of Star Wars (w/o the wookie roar). but all of us enjoyed it, and if you get a chance to see it, it's worth seeing. and the beavers were certainly very nicely done. they were funny :)

dinner at bugaboo where we had to endure 2 1/2 birthday claps (2 next to us, 1 on the other side of the restaurant, hence the 1/2) so it wasn't that bad. dinner wasn't bad. steak and baked tater.

and home we went. got a real xmas tree from the landlords (it's a 12" colorado spruce) w/bon bons. it's nice because M&i hadn't gotten around to setting up and decorating my tree, so i'll use this instead. i'll pull a few ornaments out, but this year i'm not going fancy.

and now i'm tired. it's been a long day.