I is for Ikea...

... and I should have been more prepared.

More prepared for this monstrosity that is closer to Six Flags than a home decor store. Do people go there on a regular basis or is this a place to weave your aerodynamic cart around for a special trip for a 99 cent potato peeler once every 10 years?

I is also for I was completely confused. From the store maps, to the custom granite, to the weird meatballs, to the warehouse at the end... my mind is still overwhelmed 24 hours later.

There was of course a slight issiue that made the whole trip just that much more challenging. While walking thru the VERY FIRST ROOM (there are about 500), I tripped and broke my flip flop, making it unwearable. Thankfully the floors are really slick, so I just drug my shoe underneath my foot the whole time, not being able to pick up my foot or else I'd lose my shoe and the herd of super saver shoppers would completely flatten me. YES, this did wreck havok on my cankle, thanks for asking. And YES, wagging this extremity behind me the entire time did have a very club-foot feel to it, which is always awesome.

The best part was after we went thru the entire store, got our $1 ice cream cones (only 1 weight watcher point!) and were headed out into the parking lot, I realized I couldn't scoot my foot along the pavement like I could inside, so I just walked barefoot... until I realized the ground was a LITERAL 128 degrees. So that wouldn't work. But this did:

Action Shot:

thanks for the lift, jay-bird. never dull moment on a lea family outing.

also- huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge highlight to my life last night. my mom and i had a date night to go see none other than...

oh it was just SO GOOD!!! who needs NYC... we like it when the stars come to us. the woman who played elphaba deserves an oscar, tony, grammy, dundie- you name it- she is THAT good. what a TREAT to get to hang with my mom and escape to emerald city for a few hours. thanks lutie & roxie :) seeing that makes me wonder if i completely missed my life's calling and should be on stage somewhere. surely i've mentioned i played molly in the vive les arts production of annie for the killeen community theater when i was 7? i was hoping the wicked cast would come out to meet and greet after the performance so i could tell them alllllll about my stage history. and then they'd immediately percieve my natural talent and ask me to fill in as elphie's understudy and then she'd mention she's bored and wanted to quit anyway, so she's just going to give the part to me and off i would go into the broadway sunset. too bad that cast didn't come out.......