Some Real Therapy

I say it all the time.   Writing is therapy for me.  It helps me to relax and get my thoughts out in the open.  But as much as I love it, it doesn't come close to the therapeutic experience I had this weekend.  The whole weekend was great.  I've been too busy to post everything I did, but I want to share a little with you before I go to bed.
Read more below and see pictures.

I spent Saturday in Orlando with my mother-in-law (MIL/Dawn), my sister-in-law(SIL/Chanda) and my daughter, Austin.  We decided to just get out of Jacksonville and do some shopping.  My SIL moved to South Florida about 8 months ago.  Like us, she is about two hours from Orlando. She met us there for our pilgrimage to one of the best home furnishing stores in the world.  Yes, I do mean the world.  IKEA has any and everything you can imagine for your home.   My MIL absolutely loves this place.  Any chance she gets to make a trip to IKEA, she takes it.  
The first time we went, we literally spent six hours perusing through every single display in the humongous warehouse.  Picture Sam's Club, but twice as big and full of living room, bedroom and kitchen displays.  Everything in every room is for sale, and there are bins in the isles full of accessories and gadgets.  All you have to do is pick  up your item and put it in your big yellow bag.  You can also write it down on an itemized list and pick it up on the way out.
I took a few pictures to share our experience with you.  I should also mention that we left the men at home intentionally.  This trip had no patience for impatience.  :-) We were on a mission!  Oh one more thing!  Just an update on the the birthday planning.  I was also on a separate mission to find part of Lon's birthday gift, but I had zero luck.  Thankfully, I have a couple more days for that.  
 

We started our little excursion with breakfast at a wonderful spot called KeKe's Breakfast  Cafe right around the corner from IKEA.  A special thanks to my other SIL, Nicole, for sending us there.  She couldn't make it this time around, but she made sure we were good and full before heading to the furniture mecca.

Me and Austin

Mom and Chanda

Chanda had the healthiest breakfast - vegetable omelet with wheat toast and sliced tomatoes.

Austin chose the stuffed blueberry French toast.

Mom created her own breakfast and was shocked at the size of her pancake.  It was huge!  She could only eat a couple of bites.  Chanda and I finished her sausage.  Yummy!

And here's the big mama-jama!  I ordered the vegetable omelet with home fries, wheat toast and bacon.  Beyond words!  After this wonderful breakfast, we were ready to go.

IKEA

We walked in and grabbed our bags.  Mom said she was just there to look around and that she wasn't going to buy anything.  You'll see how long that lasted.

I didn't take any pictures of the living or kitchen displays. That would've been overkill.  Here, we've made it to the desks and other accessories.  I'm checking for sturdiness.

While I was opening and shutting drawers, Austin watched on as Mom and Chanda made decisions on a computer desk and stand.  By now, Mom's bag is half full. OK so, all of our bags are half full. :-D

Trying to block my shot.

Austin started out excited and took pictures of every teen room when we walked in.  This is about an hour later.  She is done.  Too bad we still had 4 hours to go...

 

Our shopping bags grew wheels.

Yeah...she's done...almost got kicked out of the girls' club.

Somehow, our bags ended up in this shopping cart along with all this other stuff...

...and then it multiplied. BTW, that's not some random woman sitting there.  Angie is a long-time friend of my MIL from med school.  She recently moved to Orlando from Philadelphia.  She joined us at about the 4th hour.

Mom and Angie

We've gotten everything on our lists from the warehouse shelves.  Now it's time to sort it out and head to the register.

I won't disclose who bought the most stuff.  We all left the store happy and satisfied with our purchases.  We did some other things after we left IKEA, but this was the best part.  

Ladies, anytime you can get away and shop stress-free, I urge you to do it.  Leave the men at home, get your girls together and just do it.  If you're a mom, it's just one way to keep your "happy mom" status.  

Love and Blessing ~