Ikea Initiation

What do you do when your best pal calls you up and says "Hey girl, Since we are headed to Atlanta anyway - do you want to go by Ikea before we head to the museum*?"
Well if you are me you can't say "Yes, Yes, Yes." and "What time do we leave?" fast enough. You see until yesterday I was an I.V = Ikea Virgin!!. *hangs head* Yes I am 37 years old and I have never been to Ikea before -- sad isn't it. It actually always made me laugh when I told people that because I do like to shop so it was a shock that I had never experienced the fabulousness of Ikea before now.

I simply can not Thank my pal Heather from TwentySomething enough for introducing me to my new favorite place. YOU ROCK H!!! I tend not to say this around TheHandyman because he will think it is due to the furniture(he is a furniture builder after all so it is a little sacrilegious to purchase that elsewhere) but in reality it is due to all the wonderful accessories. If you have not been then you totally need to go and quick. They have the coolest items there.

Below are some of my favorites of the day.

 

1. Letter Bookends -- just happened to be displaying the best one -- B

2. Wavy Light Shade - so pretty.

3. Fabulous wall of photos. Even though white is not my color I could so see this in Black!

4. Baskets GALORE -- I was in heaven!

1. This light consisted of wires(sparkler size), Paper flowers, and buttons -- crazy!!

2. Pillow of the Day -- loving the colors and it had Birds on it which is always an extra plus :)

3. Dresser and Nightstand - these beauties were an lovely gray color with the cutest teardrop pulls <3

4. I am totally coveting this sink. The shape is so different and unique it was hard for me to resist haha

LOVE the colors!

This lamp was simply stunning..thin wood strips - loved it!
Above photo linked to Sweet Shot Tuesdays because I LOVE it!
 

Heather with her $19.99 find.

I know she will talk herself into it so we will get to go back soon and pick this baby up!

Emma was our photographer for part of the day and had to get the requisite self-portrait - love this girl!

 Our lunches for the day :)

Needless to say it was an awesome trip and I can not wait to go back. 

When all was said and done my total purchases equaled $3.60 -- see proof positive that I have awesome restraint!!

*Sidenote: If you are in the Atlanta area you should check out the Breman Holocaust Museum. After the Ikea visit we went and heard a Survivor speak then toured the museum. Very moving!

Do you have one of those friends who introduces you to new and fabulous places? If so - what was your favorite?

Thriftiquing 2.1

I am so behind on this post that it is sad -- but I have actually been doing crafting so in my eyes at least that makes up for the delay!

A few weeks ago I was able to spend a Sunday afternoon with Heather just hanging out. Now if you have been reading the past few weeks you know that when H and I hang out it really means spending time doing our fave kind of shopping ~~ Thriftiquing!

Here are a few of the things we spotted:

-- The Metal Chest was a tad pricey but it would be too cute to hold office supplies!

-- I have a secret plan for that fish basket ;) (hopefully it is still there HA)

-- I have seen better priced Spritzers but I loved all these green ones.

-- Vintage Chalkboard -- 'Nuff said!!

-- Cute little Kodak Photo Cutter -- LOVED it!

-- These Acorns were such a sweet pair.

-- Not sure what this huge wooden hand was made for but I give it props for originality.

-- Vintage travel banners and a fabulous old shutter!!

BEST PHOTO OF THE DAY AWARD

-Awarded to Heather@TwentySomething for not being afraid

to very loudly voice her shock at finding great prices on items

and for freely showing love to new found treasures!!  Love you girl!

Are you a lone thriftiquer or you do you like to hunt in pairs or groups? 

Are you a spur of the moment shopper or do you plan the trip for days?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Can't wait till the next trip!!

Part Madness, Part Inspiration

Sometimes I wonder why I always look forward to spending a day at Mart aka AmericasMart in Atlanta, because when it is over I am simply exhausted. However, despite the sore feet and tiredness a Day at Mart is typically a great day no matter what.

This is January Market at Mart which is one of the Big Shows with over 4,000 showrooms in the 3 large buildings. If you have never had the pleasure of experiencing a Market then it is extremely hard to explain. We have been going for over 10 years and each time find new things to check out.

While "technically" cameras are not allowed in Mart I was able to sneak in a few. *wink* 
Please excuse the poor quality - I was using my very ancient p-n-s ;)

This first one is a small sample of a few of the floors in Building 3. There are 13 floors in this building(the smallest of the 3) and here there are between 4-6 rows in each of the 4 sections. Each row has between 6 and 8 showrooms. If you do the math that is around 24+ showrooms in a section plus 4 sections that equals 96 showrooms on one floor -- and that is a small floor. It can be overwhelming((but I love it!!))

Here are the girls on our way in :)

 These are some masks Miss.B found in one of the booths.
Made us want to have a masquerade party!

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This was one thing I saw that I fell in LOVE with and it wasn't even in a showroom haha
It was a display in the lobby and each side had a Peace sign made with different items. There was one with pasta, one with crayons, one with soldiers and flowers. My very favorite however was one made with Light Bright bulbs! I am totally going to do something in our house using these soon!!

I did get some great ideas for the house and am loving the colors that I seen this year and I am looking forward to sharing more on that later. 

As much as I do enjoy Mart my feet and my wallet are happy that it only comes along 4 times a year :)

All in all it was another successful day at Mart!