Saturday morning and waking up from a drunken birthday evening across downtown the night before. Time to switch from twentysomething student mode into playing grown-up suburban mode. Boyfriend and I had plans to go to the bank to join accounts, then maybe to Wal-Mart, maybe Ikea. Telling my friends my plans, I felt just like Frank the Tank in “Old School” telling the kids, “We’ll go to Home Depot, maybe Bed, Bath and Beyond, it’s shaping up to be a nice little Saturday.”
Boyfriend and I first went to Ikea. En route, I found out he had never been before. I was excited to accompany him on his first bout through the one-direction only Euro furniture store, but leery as to how enthused he would be about shopping, let alone furniture shopping. We had to pick out some furniture for our new place that wouldn’t rock our newly jointed bank accounts, but also wouldn’t look like it was a hand-me-down reject piece from an aunt.
As we circled round the model bedrooms, through the lighting and couches, I saw genuine happiness on his face. He was actually quite excited at the different faux-wood finishes on the bookshelves, and imagining his computer atop one of the $200-and under desks. We picked out kitchens we liked (for our future imaginary purposes) and found out what kind of furniture look each other liked. (He likes minimalist wood, I like dark and homey). He followed right behind me as I went back and forth in the bedding section between the blue striped and the orange patterned duvet cover (we went with orange, he has great taste). No “gawd, it’s just a blanket,” or exaggerated sighing, he was a willing participant in the shopping game! We found some economical and might I say wonderful bedside tables, a study desk, pasta jars, floor mats and picture frame. Remember, he’d never been there before, so as we rounded the corner following the blue arrows on the floor into the kids’ section, his blue eyes lit up. I could see the workings of his mind through his eyes as he imagined how cool it would be to have a room with a stuffed blue snake hanging from a bunk bed, a peephole like a submarine window, a frog floor rug. I have always wished I knew him as a young child because I imagine he would be quite fun. This was as close as I’ve ever got.
He excitedly pointed out an orange stuffed cartoon crab that is supposed to be a sit-upon for wood chairs. After negotiating how much fun it would be and how well it would of course accent our new duvet cover, we got only one (he pressed for two, haha).
We checked out the As-is section, loaded our cart with flat boxes that will one day become bedside tables and a desk and headed for the lines (which were not too daunting.) I realized then I had left my wallet somewhere in the store. I raced around and checked customer service while he held my hand and sympathized kindly. Defeated without success, we made our purchase and left, but got a call minutes after leaving the giant parking lot saying they’d found it. A good end to the trip!
We went home not tired from shopping, which for him typically is about as much fun as watching me paint my toes, but excited to one day soon put this stuff in “our” place. We capped off our nice little Saturday swimming at his aunt’s pool while she was away. (The temperatures in Ottawa have reached a staggering, consistent 40 degrees Celsius. Quel d’hommage).
Move in day is August 15, where we will first paint our bedroom a warm caramel colour, then move in what will become “our” stuff.