August 4, 2014

The Happiest Place on Earth

This weekend I got to visit the happiest place on earth - and no I'm not talking Disney.
 
IKEA!!!!
 

For some of you who live in more metropolis areas, IKEA is no big deal. But when the nearest one to you is at least a 5 hour drive, getting to go there is EXTRA special.
 
This past weekend, as a send off to the summer (and my sister who's going back to school) my mom, sister and I went on a girls shopping trip to Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the closest "big" city to us and the location of the nearest IKEA so it was a natural choice.
 
Did I mention that SLC is beautiful? Look at these mountains you can see from the IKEA lot.
Part of the reason for the shopping trip was the fact that my little sister has lost 30+ lbs this summer. What better way to celebrate than going shopping for new smaller sized clothes for her!? My mom has also lost weight - they both joined Weight Watchers at the beginning of the summer. They asked me to do it as well and I decided against it, mostly due to cost. Now I'm wishing I would have!! Has anyone else had a lot of success with WW?
 
Anyways, we had more than enough reasons to go - IKEA, new clothes and some much needed girl time!

This marked my third trip to an IKEA, but it was both my mom and sister's first time. Getting to see them experience it for the first time was so worth the drive! We spent 3 and a half HOURS at IKEA. It was a very long time to be there, especially after a 5+ hour drive. But we survived and drove off with the back of the Tahoe filled to the top...and we hadn't even hit any other stores yet!
Post IKEA - in much need of food and drink
That night we had a nice dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and browsed around one small mall the restaurant was located in. After that we were too pooped to do anything and called it a night.

The next day we hit the Outlets at Traverse Mountain. This mall was amazing! It was an open air outlet mall, pretty new and beautifully designed. The restrooms were so big and plush that you could fit two of my house in just the ladies room! It was nuts. The stores weren't bad either. I could have spent all day at the LOFT outlet but had to make time for Coach Factory, Gap Outlet and of course Nike among others. What was supposed to be a morning stop before the drive home turned into all day at the mall. We didn't have lunch till after 4:30! 
$125 jacket for $24.97? Winning!
After two full days shopping we hit the road and drove home. It was a quick trip, but such a success. I haven't ever done a trip with just my mom and sister before, and I now know it won't be the last time we do it. It was such a good trip and we were constantly laughing.
You can kind of see the fancy glass ceiling of the outlet mall - it was a gorgeous day too!

The weekend didn't end there though - I had two of my dearest friends in town, one from Washington and one in all the way from Texas. I got my exhausted ass out Saturday night after we got back into town super late, and it was worth it! I could have used a lot more sleep but a night out with some girlfriends and then a Sunday spent recovering made the weekend even better.
Ted lounged with us all day Sunday
Now if I could just seem to recover from my weekends during the work week....

How was your weekend?

TTFN
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4 comments:

  1. I was at the same IKEA (this past Friday). I live only 15 min away so I go often enough for it not to be a big deal anymore but I still love it! I swear they set the store up so there is no way you can spend less than an hour in there.

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    1. That's crazy that you were at the same place Friday! If I lived only 15 minutes away that would be dangerous for me - I'd be there every weekend and spend way too much money!

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  3. IKEA is really the best place on earth.Plus, cheap food and $1 ice cream cones = sold.

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