Living Larger in St. Louis

Laura called last Monday.  She asked if I wanted to go furniture shopping with her.  This request is very unusual.  Laura does not like to grocery shop let alone furniture shop.  Then she said she wanted to replace some of her existing furniture that were either hand me downs or left over from her college days.  I believe she said she wanted her living room to look more 'adult' and less college dorm.  I have been waiting for her to say those words since she graduated college and started working a year ago.  Needless to say, I was very excited.

So we agreed to meet in St. Louis on Saturday and go to IKEA.  I invited Mike along.  At this point, I knew that Laura had picked out two pieces of furniture in the IKEA catalog that she wanted and I figured we would probably buy them on Saturday.  I thought it would be helpful to have Mike and his truck to actually get the items home and then he could put them together.  Laura also had a gift from her friend Michelle that needed to be hung on a wall.  It was an old window that she had painted.  I told Mike all this.  What I did not tell him was that there were a few other items Laura wanted that we hoped we would find at IKEA.

Turned out is was Laura's lucky day.  She ended up buying not two items but four from IKEA.  It was definitely a good thing that we had Mike and his truck.  He was able to transport the four items to her apartment but he also was around to take apart the items she was replacing and drive them away in his truck.  He also ended up putting four IKEA items together instead of two.  He is still complaining about this.  He said I got him there under false pretenses.  I do not know what he is talking about.

I, on the other hand, had a great time.  I got to shop at IKEA and spend somebody else's money and then we stopped at Starbucks on the way home and I had my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season. Life is good.

While Mike was busy, Laura vacuumed her apartment, took apart her old desk because she bought a new smaller one, cleaned her guest bedroom, ate some of the chicken pot pie I brought, took out the trash from the packaging, and moved some items off her walls.  I made helpful suggestions and enjoyed my coffee.  All of us were pleased with the results when Mike finished putting everything together.  

New TV stand, new round coffee table and new small stool or ottoman (next to coffee table).
Also rearranged the old couch and chairs.  

Another view.
Michelle's gift is hung on the wall
 above the couch.  

In guest room,
replaced old "L" shaped desk with new sleeker one.  

Mike suggested we go out for one of his favorite foods- Krispy Kreme donuts.  We lucked out there too.  The hot donut sign was on when we showed up at the store.  We got free hot donuts and then bought some more to take back to the pond.  We all agreed.  It had been a good day.