Pilgrimage to IKEA

I visited IKEA for the first time ever yesterday afternoon (on my seemingly never ending quest to furnish and decorate my apartment) and I felt like religous woman on a trip to Mecca. This feeling didn't wash over me until I seen the building from the freeway - gleaming all bright blue with GIGANTIC yield sign yellow lettering.

Once inside the doors I stood in the entryway gazing at everything, being completely overwhelmed and confused. "How am I ever going to look through ALL THIS STUFF?" I thought while my boyfriend started nudging me; then I remembered "Oh god, he's going to not like this at all."

I bought a total of only $79 worth of shelving, tupperware, octopus hanger for my bras (which my boyfriend did not understand since I'm sure he's never hand washed a $50 bra before), curtains (which the extra fabric will make excellent pillowcases), pizza cutter, peeler, tropical fish bathroom mat (bought to appease boyfriend who has an obssession with his aquarium), and stoneware custard dishes.

I really, really got annoyed pretty quickly that anything you'd want to buy had a least 3 parts to it that were always located a few sections away. I mean is it too much to ask if you want the paper lantern globe lamp that hangs for the ceiling that you could perhaps get the paper lanten globe "shade" along with the cord and fixture for the lightbulb. I understand I wouldn't get a lightbulb in the kit...but c'mon - no cord?

And it took two of us with an extensive background in retail to figure out how to get all the correct shelving I wanted. I cannot even begin to fathom my mother in this store.