An Impromptu Shopping Trip

Happy Monday everyone! It seems like I was just saying it's the weekend, but that came and went fast enough! That's o.k., the sun is shining for the eighth day in a row, I've got the front door open and am loving it! This week Evan is on Spring Break since it's MSU Spring Break so no running back and forth to school. It'll be nice to have him home everyday. Yesterday Greg comes downstairs and shows me this picture on his phone of a couch he found online. For those of you that don't know, we've been thinking about getting a new couch and have recently started looking, but haven't found anything yet. We saw one at Art Van that's on the "like" list and then he showed me this one yesterday online that was at IKEA. So after talking about it and saying we should go there sometime soon and check it out we decided sometime soon would be yesterday. So within a half hour of looking at the couch online we loaded up the car and headed to IKEA. We got there around noon which of course meant lunchtime so we decided we'd grab something from the cafeteria there. We lucked out with a special they were having for the weekend that was only a $1. Yes, that's right $1! it included 10 meatballs, mashed potatoes, & lingonberries. Can't beat that price for all of us to eat there for lunch. It was yummy too. Love the Swedish meatballs at IKEA!

After we ate we shopped around and of course it was crazy busy there. We looked at the couch and did like it. We're not sure if we like it better than the one at Art Van or not. We want a leather couch and are kind of picky about the style of it. Too many leather couches have the big buttons on them and we're just not into that. This one at IKEA and the one at Art Van don't have the buttons so that's a plus! As we wandered our way through the store we came upon the kitchen department and remember I said I wanted cabinets for the laundry room? Well, since we were there, we looked at their cabinets. Although Greg wanted them to kind of match the other one's I on the other hand didn't care because for one they're in the laundry room and for two nobody is really gonna see them much. It's not like I show off my "exciting" laundry room when people are over. So after convincing him to go with the one's that were just plain white with no design on the door he agreed and we got the cheaper one's. I had to convince Greg to go with something cheaper, go figure! Usually it's me that likes the more expensive item! So I'm happy to say that soon (once Greg puts them together and hangs them) I'll have some extra storage in the laundry room! Yeah!!! I know it's a little pathetic that I'm excited about cabinets, but believe me it will make me very happy. I've always wanted them in there! I also got a few things to use for my UL parties to put some expressions on so I guess that means I can write off the trip to IKEA, huh?

Of course since we were over that way and went right by it, we had to make a stop at Trader Joe's. Love, love, love Trader Joe's! I really wish they'd put one around here! When we walked in I discovered some little shopping carts that the kids didn't see. So when I walked up behind them with their size carts they were more than thrilled. Shopping for a few groceries suddenly didn't seem so bad and boring. Here's our two little helpers that were all set to shop! It was nice, I didn't have to push a cart.


Em got so excited she just started grabbing stuff off the shelves and put them in her cart. I had to remind her several times to wait until we got something we actually wanted to buy and then she could put it in her cart. Here are my happy little shoppers all done shopping and ready to go checkout! They had a blast with their little shopping carts.


After Trader Joe's we headed towards home, but had to make one last stop in Howell at the Outlet Mall. We went into the Coach store to look for my birthday present and some little girl who takes after my own heart was all set to make her purchase. Take a look...


My little princess Emmaline loves purses just like me! Sorry Daddy, but she is a girlie girl! I couldn't believe how into the purses she was. She became quite attached to them and really wanted to buy one, or two, or three. Oh and she needed a wallet too she said. It was the cutest thing. The ladies working in the store thought she was so adorable. She really wanted this pink one in the picture, and had a little melt down when we put it back, but at $90 on clearance I don't think so for a two year old. Maybe if I win the lotto, but sorry Emmaline, mommy is getting a $90 purse before you. I almost got a bigger version of this pink one, and I could just picture it for a moment at how cute it would be for us to have matching purses. She melted my heart carrying it around. It was the cutest thing! I did love the bigger pink/tan one, but I decided to be practical and go with all brown instead of the pink. I figured in the winter time I didn't know if I wanted to be carrying around a pink purse even though I'm a huge fan of the color, so brown it was. They had an extra 20% off too so we stopped on a good day! Here's my birthday present from the kids and Greg for my 35th!


It's so nice and new and clean I'm a little nervous to use it, but my other purse really needs a good cleaning so I'm thinking it's a good time to switch over. Thanks to my three favorite people for my early birthday present! I love you all bunches! So I'd say we had a successful trip to IKEA, TJ's and the outlet mall! Unfortunately we didn't have time to make a Home Goods stop. Bummer, but next time for sure! Ann you'll get a kick out of knowing that Evan wanted to go visit you yesterday after we walked out of IKEA. He asked me, "Can we go see your friend with the orange basement?" I told him we couldn't just bust in on you and show up! He really wanted to see Sylvia and play with her in the orange basement. Too funny! Before I leave you today I'd like to wish our neighbor Jenn a very happy birthday! She's joining Club 35 like I will be next week! Happy Birthday Jenn! Can't wait to celebrate our birthdays together this weekend!