Birthday 'weekend': Day 1

I treated myself to an extra day off this week.  Today is my birthday and I took it as my regular day off; but, I also requested tomorrow off for a mini vacation.  To top it all off, I only worked until 11 a.m. yesterday.  By the time we were headed back home from the store, I said, 'oh! I totally forgot I was at work this morning!!'
We have been wanting to go to Ikea to replace some stuff around the house. 

This is the set we have.  They have, of course changed to bowls, but there were still some blue and brown in the old shape, so we got those.

We had a couple bowls to replace, and our duvet cover was thread-bare.



This one's not on their website or in the catalog, but we happened upon it in the store!

It seems that, if you are the type of person who doesn't regularly buy things for yourself, the list is fairly long when you do eventually break down and go shopping.  As we were wandering around the store, we found several other things that we've been wanting to replace.  We have just a couple pots/pans left with Teflon, and they are peeling.  So, we took the opportunity to buy a shiny new skillet, so that we can completely rid ourselves of that nasty Teflon!
I sat in a chair (one I have, that my mom gave me when she moved) and put my feet up...I decided that I would use some of my birthday money from my MIL to buy myself a footstool. 



I got a beige cushion, though.  There was an adorable cushion with acorns on it, but the chair cushion I have is already a crazy pattern, so it would've looked ridiculous!

While wandering around the dining room sets, I spotted a cute outdoor set.  Now, Ikea has some really cute sets this year, including one that has a great canopy thingy.  But they are all priced per piece and we just don't have the money to spend on something just because I think it's beautiful.  However, the set I spotted was sold as a set: table, bench, and 2 chairs.  For $99!!

Not a great picture, but it's from the Ikea.com website.



Sure, it's a luxury item, but it's something we have been talking about for years.  We thought we'd just get a cheap picnic table, but we haven't had any luck finding one under $100 anyway!  Now we just have to find a flat area to put it...that'll be the hard part.
The very difficult part about shopping at Ikea, is that there are so many things that 'we could use' or have been 'meaning to get' that are really great deals.  We don't NEED them desperately, but the store is an hour and a half away...it's not a regular trip.  In fact, it had been two years since our last visit!  All of the displays, oddly enough, make me wish for a tiny city apartment to decorate!  Hubby says he likes going there because it reminds him of when we bought our house, and when we had to go for stuff for our Nantucket apartment.  It's a strangely romantic place for us to spend the day.
I had checked out the website before we went, to see if there was anything I wanted to find at the store.  I signed up for their 'Ikea Family' card.  I could've gotten a free coffee, but didn't.  I did, however, get a free vanilla cone!  They have some deals around the store, where members save on certain items...usually around $5 off.  The deals are scattered and you really have to look for them, but of course nothing we bought was 'member priced'.  They did have a set of the dishes we already use for $5 off, though.

So, that was yesterday.  Today we are headed out of our little town AGAIN to grab lunch at a French restaurant my friend has been talking up.  They have a 4 cheese and Linguica mac&cheese, so that was enough to get my hubs there!  It's in a shopping complex that also has the cute place we went for New Year's Eve AND a cupcake bakery.  Looks like we may have a nice day for shopping and cocktails!