Yesterday, Mr. gave in to my consumerist naggings and took me to the Ikea in Charlotte. It was even busier than I had anticipated - just finding parking was a challenge.
As we neared the building, the familiar mall scent filled our nostrils. By this 'mall scent', what I really mean is the smell of a thousand cinna-buns trying to burn up into our brain.
We first toured around the larger furniture sections/room examples. From afar, I thought I saw a few accessory items that might appeal. However, it was too much work to wade thru the waves of semi-comatose children who were flailing away behind their grazing parents. Ikea clearly hasn't gotten the idea down about just how lazy this American is.
Eventually, the Disney-esque line shuffled us forward to the stairs where you can exit or go down to look at smaller items. All good sense was telling me to run. I should have followed that instinct. Of course, Mr. had driven all that way and there must be something that we needed, right? Right?
I found a pretty melamine/plastic/whatever bowl that we didn't need. After a moment's hesitation, it was returned to the shelf. We snaked along following the arrows on the floor so as not to miss a possible shopping opportunity. The textiles were the only area where I perked up. But, again, it was swarming. Keep trudging on.
We had almost gone thru the whole Ikea store with nothing to show. The oversized bag I was carrying remained empty. I did rather preen my feathers a bit that we had not been suckered into getting a cart or one of those bag-holder-open carts.
As you make your way around, you can see holes thru the walls of merchandise that go back to things you have already passed. One of the last holes framed the display of plastic bowls I had (sort of) admired at the beginning of our downstairs odyssey. Clearly it was meant to be!
Finally we got to the checkout lines with our big purchase. Only the words of my darling companion kept me guilt-ridden enough to not place the bowl with the other discards at the back of the line. I will say that this final check-out line went at a reasonable pace.
In any case, we are not in a rush to go back there again. Perhaps it might be fun to stop early on a Monday morning returning home after a weekend in Charlotte. Somehow I feel as though I gained 5 pounds just inhaling the sugar fumes for so long.
Mr. was fairly good-humored about the whole endeavor. He felt that it was slightly amusing to see how 'normal people' interact. Besides, we got a sunny day driving about together. And I have a new bowl!
