This is what happens when you go into Whole Foods hungry and depressed...

You come out with twenty dollars worth of chocolate and cheese, and you eat half a loaf of bread before you get home...

My roommate and I frequently eat dinner together. Often it is a sort of "graze-y" meal where we are trying to clear out the fridge. One of our favorite things, (and the meal we brought to the rally to Restore Sanity) is simple sandwiches, just sliced tomatoes on good quality bread with fresh mozzarella, melted. They are supper good, because we use really good ingredients. Anyway our bread from the last week hadn't been refrigerated (my bad) so I volunteered to pick up a new loaf from the Whole Foods that is next to metro. Bad idea, not only was I hungry because it had been a long day, but more importantly I was overwhelmed by a slough of bad information and the pressure of impending finals. As anyone who knows me knows, I deal with stress and sadness by eating and shopping (not necessarily at the same time- not that I would say no), preferably for luxury goods and rich foods (not a good thing for someone who is living on government loans.) So Whole Foods for me is like a crack den for a junkie, lets just say the results were tasty but not good for my wallet. I left excited about my meal but wondering how I had managed to do so much damage and only come out with a single bag? So now I have the existing stress and sadness coupled with guilt over my inability to restrain myself.

What do I do?

I eat half the baguette I bought on the way home.
 (Technically an arrest-able offence on DC metro.)

Also, on a somewhat side note, I find it a little depressing that the cookies that are advertised as "chocolate chewies" are actually crunchie cookies. In the box they look deceptively like my grandmother's "chocolate gooey cookies" but no they are actually crunchy. (The law student in me thinks that this is a breach of the contract they formed. Wait you say, they were just poorly advertised, there wasn't any contract- I say oh no. Quick law school 101 moment: there are three elements for a contract to be formed: Offer, Acceptance and Consideration. Whole foods offered to contract for chewy cookies, (this was a unilateral contract which I could only accept through performance) I accepted when I gave consideration for in the form of money. The offer was for chewy cookies and that was not delivered therefore I am entitled to restitution damages, but only if I want to go through the trouble of taking them back, and I am not sure if I am motivated enough to do that.) The rhetor in me says, why not call them that Chocolate Crunchies- It is still an alliteration, and then they wouldn't be lying. Honestly though none of it matters because I left them on the dining room table and Grace jumped up and ate the whole box, mostly I am relived that I didn't kill my roommate's dog.

An ode to Ikea

Or maybe a lament...
So I finally have all my furniture. My house came furnished, which was a big plus but it was certainly not completely done. My room had a bed, made comfortable with the addition of a foam topper-thank you mom and dad-and two bedside tables. I also have a miss-matched dresser that belongs in my roommate's set but which she didn't want because she thought it would be too small.  Needless to say not furnished to the point that I could use it easily as a study/living space. So the search was on...
I started on Craig's list which appeals to me not only as a poor graduate student, (yea cheap stuff other people don't want any more, even bigger cheer to free stuff people REALLY don't want any more!) but also as a slightly hippy northern Californian (yea recycling!) But alas there wasn't really anything that struck my fancy. Also while my roommate has a car, it is a miata, as in a teeny little two seater that comfortably sits us and most of our groceries in any given week. So if we want to actually acquire any of the furniture we have to be motivated enough to either rent a zip car (aka free stuff suddenly isn't so free) or I have to beg Dip Girl or Surrogate Parents to use their vehicles. While hunting around looking for deals can make for a fun afternoon, only if it is for your own stuff and if the weather is nice and if gas isn't too expensive. But lets be honest DC gas is almost as expensive as California gas and it has been in the nineties and humid here, not weather that anyone wants to lug furniture around in.
Needless to say I didn't find anything that I liked enough to actually drag someone out of their house to help me get it. We also looked at Goodwill with little luck, a couple local thrift stores and even a salvation army (although it would have taken allot for me to actually spend money there as I ABHOR their discriminatory policies!) Anyway I wasn't having much luck.
I will admit that much of my not having luck probably has something to with the fact that I don't do well with hodge podge, and I get frustrated that places want as much for particle board as they do for solidly constructed wood. So I gave in, much earlier than my roommate who doesn't seem to have quite the same insane need for cleanliness, order and coordination that I do, and called Dip Girl, who has recently acquired a rather large all terrain vehicle so that she can navigate dirt roads during a monsoon (seriously.) So appealing to her friendship and her desire to shop in giant super stores before she is shipped off the the developing world I got her to join me on an Ikea trip.
I love Ikea, honestly it is a little sick, but I do. I love shopping there, the top floor full of little living spaces, each of them so easy to imagine northern European Alexander Skarsgard look a likes popping out of their hip, modern, color coordinated spaces.  Little blonde families, inhabiting the space without any of the clutter that real life brings along. (Like furnished show houses in new developments or people who have done a really good job for an open house.) I also like that they make no bones about what they are selling, attractive pieces that will serve you well but will not last forever. You are paying for functionality and appearance but not art or timelessness. They are also socially responsible. But mostly I just really like that I am able to find a ton of pieces in the same color that won't cost me an arm and a leg. So that I can create a space to come home to that is clean with good light and well ordered.
So Dip Girl and I are waltzing around Ikea, well I am waltzing, making her a bit uncomfortable as I ooh and ahh over the little pieces I love in each room, and test out way more of the spaces than she is comfortable while she is just trying to make like she doesn't know me, I finally decide what I will do with my room. I decide, after much back and forth over which bookcase and which desk, that I will get the desk bookcase option, with optional drawers (which is actually called some unrecognizable Swedish thing that means all of that in one word I am sure.) And a dresser.

My desk (but not in white) 

But Kate don't you have a dresser, you ask. Well sort of, my dresser actually matches my roommate's set and she was letting me have it because she didn't think her things would fit in it. After unpacking she decided that her stuff would fit in it if I wanted to give it back. She continued to hunt for a dresser and I decided that I would get one that matched my desk and give her the one that matches her bed. Finally I have all the furniture I need. Now it is just a matter of loading it onto a cart. (At which point Dip girl and I decided that we both need to work on our upper body strength, and that maybe we don't actually like Ikea as much as we though we did) From the cart we have to check out, where, after heavy lifting, cinnamon buns are being baked as you are rung up just to tempt you. (I am never quite sure if I love or hate this about Ikea.) We decided to be good and resist the baked goods and began to load all of my stuff into Dip Girl's car. After a quick run back in for blackout shades- my room has great natural light, downside it has great natural light at 6:20 when the sun rises, we are ready to go.

The Dresser 

So now the real joy of Ikea begins, the building. Anyone who knew me in high school will tell you that I fell woefully short wherever power tools were concerned. (probably because of my predilection for accidents, I stayed away from set building and stuck to painting, costuming and makeup) Thankfully my DC dad, Jim has power tools, patience and is willing to help me, but for now my boxes sit in a pile in the corner of my room tempting me with how amazing my room will be.