IKEA, Baby!!!

Okay so I'm not sure if we were the last people {in our age bracket} on the planet to visit IKEA or not, but yes, you have to endure an entire post on our maiden voyage to this store!!

We found out there was an IKEA right there in Schaumburg, where our hotel was, so we decided to set apart the entire day on Monday and go explore.

Ta daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

We got inside and just started taking pictures of our whole experience. I present to you the photo essay of our day:

My favorite part of the store? The way they had their merchandise displayed AS actual rooms. I loved this one - a studio apartment, fully equipped with everything. If I HAD a studio that looked like this, I might not ever leave it. Especially if THIS guy was included!!

 Riding the escalator. Yeah the store is three HUGE floors. There's a lot of escalator-ing.

 Any store with its own restaurant? Yes please.

 What happens when you forget to take a picture BEFORE he starts eating:

 Found a little piggly wiggly!! They had some pretty cute stuffed animals. Won't lie about that!!

 We checked out their office furniture. Ryan decided to do a little work while he was there....

 It's an Eastern Comet couch!!! {Our high school colors were green and gold.}

 So we were walking through the store and saw this adorable {older} couple sitting on a couch in one of the living room displays. I told them they looked so cute sitting there, and they asked us to sit with them and talk to them for a while. So we went over to "their house" and sat on the couch and swapped love stories with them.

Turns out they had met exactly one year before, and they spent the day at IKEA on their first date. They had come back to recreate and relive the memories. How much did we love THAT?!?!!?!?!? They were so sweet and offered to take our picture before we parted ways.

 I thought it looked like a salon hair dryer.

 This is about the size of work luggage I need....

 We bought this little guy. Meet Albert.

 Trying to get a view outside, but our halos were being overactive, apparently...HA!!

 We "joined the IKEA family" - so we could get free coffee in the afternoon!!

 One of our favorite things - the cart escalator! They actually have a separate ones just for carts. Ryan wanted to ride IN the cart for this. I well imagine this is why there is a sign that says NO RIDING IN THE CART.

 And then...our crowning glory...THIS couch.

 We fell so in love. Look! It becomes a bed!!!

We WILL own this. We came home and put our own furniture up for sale right away to make room for this bad boy.

Sweet couch, we're comin' back to get you! Just as soon as we can!!!

And that, my friends, is how we fell in love with IKEA.

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday morning, we set out on our mini-getaway for anniversary #2!! We headed north toward Chicago, stopping just outside in the little burg of Willowbrook for lunch at Dell Rhea's, which we learned about on the Duggar show. GOOD chicken! We continued to Schaumburg, which was our home for the duration, and then that evening, we drove right to the heart of Chicago, to Lincoln Park Zoo, to tour the Zoo Lights...even got to witness a proposal! Minus a frustrating end to the day {always has to be some drama...} it was a GREAT start to a getaway!

* Monday morning, we slept in a little and then we set out on our next great adventure: IKEA, baby!! We had never been to IKEA before, and we were so excited. We went in with a completely open mind and were absolutely in love before we even got out of the first floor. We fell most in love with a couch that we have ever intention of purchasing if and when our house in Greentown ever sells. We also enjoyed eating lunch there in the store - and the free coffee in the afternoon. Let's move into IKEA!!!

* Tuesday was our actual anniversary, and it was a lovely day. We took the train into Chicago and went up to the 103rd floor of the Willis Tower to check out the observation deck, and then we trekked up and down the Magnificent Mile in the freezing cold. Did photo opps with the Bean and then we ended up at Ryan's surprise for me...dinner on the 95th floor at the Signature Room. GORGEOUS views - and so many surprises for me!!

* We left Chicago to come home on Wednesday - BOOOOOO - via a Christmas tree farm in DeMotte, Indiana, where we picked out our newest tree. We named her Penelope! We came home to find sparkling grape juice waiting on us, courtesy of our house-and-Braeya-sitters, and we enjoyed decorating Penelope and getting unpacked after our trip!

* Thursday was back-to-work day for both of us - and a busy day it was at our jobs!! I had a lot to catch up on, though Lynne did a marvelous job of keeping up on everything while I was gone. When we got home, we worked on a craft project, which Braeya insisted upon helping with. :) And we had our sparkling grape juice date. A good night at home after a week away!!

* Friday was Jim Barron's birthday, and he brought some of the tastiest cucpcakes to work! They did crack me up though, because I thought they looked a little like they had chives on top. Nope! Just green chocolate curls!!  Our Friday night was a little bit crazy...we had to scurry to get our Christmas cards addressed!! I was so thankful Ryan was willing to help with that project, because I would STILL be working on it if it weren't for him!!

* Ryan worked Saturday morning, and we did something we NEVER do - we overslept! He turned his alarm off and apparently mine had never been turned back on from the vacation weekend before. WHOOPSIE! Fortunately, unlike me, he naturally wakes up early, so he didn't end up late to work. As soon as he got home, we headed to Fort Wayne so I could work the Gaither Christmas concert. Even got to go on stage with Phil to make announcements for the station. Scared me out of my skull, but  it was still a fun night!!!

The Saturday Six

One.

Ryan and I have struggled this week with the waiting game. While we were on our getaway for our anniversary, we heard that the people that looked at our Marion house last weekend are not going to buy it. Then we learned that the sale on the Greentown house was still in question. It was so discouraging!!! We took an evening at our hotel and just prayed for help and wisdom. Later that evening - my brother-in-law shared this blog post on waiting - so timely. Choosing to trust.

Two.

Source

Don't know how many of you are Sound of Music fans {I sure am!!!}, but one of my friends posted this list of random trivia from the original movie...FASCINATING. Check it out!! 

Three.

For my sister, as promised, the book Mom gave us for our anniversary. It's called  Devotions for the Beach...and Days You Wish You Were There. We started reading it on our anniversary trip and have really enjoyed it so far! Great pictures inside, too!!

Four.

Source

You all know I'm a HUGE Little House fan...and I've visited {as a child} a fair number of the actual locations of Laura Ingalls Wilder's homes...but I loved this list that puts them all in one place. So if you need a Little House inspired vacation...here you go!

Five.

 In case you've missed random videos from Shafferland...here's a little montage from our recent trip. Hope you ENJOY!!!!

Six.

I'm not even going to put this picture here because it will spoil the joy of you opening it here. FAVORITE Instagram picture of the week, HANDS DOWN. Still laughing over this one.  

Lincoln Park Zoo Date!

Our first big adventure in the land of Chicago was to head to the Lincoln Park Zoo...which was exceptionally exciting for two reasons: it was free...and it contained Christmas lights. Yes please!!!

We'd thought about taking the train from Schaumburg, where we stayed, into the city, but we were new to the train thing and the thought of trying our maiden voyage at night just sort of seemed like a recipe for disaster, so we elected to drive.

While it was not without its issues...

...it was a fairly uneventful, and Ryan did a great job getting us there safely.

We had to park about a mile from the zoo, in a parking garage, and we were really excited about it, because it was well-lit and seemed very safe. For the girl who watches wayyyyyyyyy too many Lifetime movies and Dateline documentaries, this was very good news.

We bundled up and walked to the zoo on a relatively gorgeous December Chicago evening.

I think it's pretty amazing that this zoo has free entry - and man, was it ever gorgeous all decorated for Christmas. I can't even imagine the hours it took to put up all the lights in the trees!

We were pretty chilly early on - so we stopped by the fancy pants hot chocolate stand and got peppermint {Ryan} and caramel turtle {me} hot chocolates. They were SO GOOD!!!

We made our way through the zoo, enjoying the music, the lights and the atmosphere in general.

We even found a really cool architecture thing with the city in the background and had fun with some photo opps...and other fun angles of the city skyline.

They have a farm section in the zoo, as well, so we paid a visit to that area. Ryan, who grew up on a farm, had some opinions. LOL!!!!

 They had a barn where you could help feed the cows, so Ryan returned to his roots....

 And I tried my hand at it too!! {I had the camera on the wrong setting - hence the blur. My fault!!!}

After we looked through all the zoo, we stopped by the last thing I wanted to see...ice sculpting! I'd seen this done on our cruise ship a year ago in the summer, and I loved it so much, I wanted to see more!!

We got there JUST when they were starting....

It was SO COLD, and there was a crowd gathered round, but I wanted to stay and watch! They were working on a penguin, and he had one little wing that kept falling off, so they had to reattach it multiple times.

 Cutest little penguin in the world!!

It was right about HERE that we got a huge surprise. A gentleman and his wife sneaked up beside us and told us we were about to see a proposal - and the ice sculpture was all part of it!!! They were trying to stay hidden in the crowd, but they wanted to take pictures!

Here's how it happened.

After sculpture was nearly done, the artists called out "randomly" to the crowd, asking for a volunteer to help them iron off the excess snowy powder. They "chose" a young woman and "allowed" her boyfriend to come up with her. They gave her the iron and showed her how to polish the sculpture:

 And as she worked on the front part, she uncovered something hidden inside:

 ISN'T THAT THE CUTEST THING IN THE WORLD!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

By the way, she said yes. :)

We saw a proposal last year on our anniversary trip too. Happened at the Colts game, down on the field.

Must be the theme of the anniversary trips!

We made a quick stop in the gift shop for a souvenir and then we trekked back to our car in the parking garage to come home.

Except....

...y'all, we LOST OUR PARKING TICKET.

If you are new here and do not know us, let me just tell you that I am ultra responsible and the only person I know of who is 50 times more responsible than I am...is Ryan. He is completely organized and never loses anything.

But there we were, at like 9:00 at night, in the dark, in the cold, in a parking garage that is no longer attended by a real person, ripping our car apart, looking for {and praying for} that ticket. We both combed through {and under} {and around} that vehicle more times than I can tell you.

I panicked. Not only was I looking everywhere for someone ready to kill us {stupid TV shows!!!} - but I just knew we were going to have to spend the night in that parking garage until someone came back to work the next day! Or should we call 911? WHAT TO DO???

Well, it turns out that at the gate, there's a nifty little button on the machine for folks who lose their tickets. Unfortunately it means you have to pay more, but it also means you don't have to get killed, call 911, or spend the night in a sketchy city parking garage!!

We were so rattled and so relieved, we punched in the address to go back to our hotel and started driving.

Know where we ended up?

TRUE STORY!

We put the wrong stinkingaddress in the GPS and ended back up at Dell Rhea's!! {Ryan said to tell you he was a little upset they were out of chicken. HA!!!!!} A half hour LATER, we finally made it to our hotel. What a DAY!!

Despite its rather eventful end, it was SUCH a fun date. So thankful to have had the chance to experience this with Ryan!!

Second Anniversary: Headed to Chicago, Baby!!

We just got home from our second anniversary getaway...a trip nearly as polar opposite {ha ha! get it?} in climate from our wedding trip as we could get. Got married in Siesta Key and spent our second anniversary in and around Chicago. While the Windy City could have been much colder than it was, it was no tropical getaway!

We had a GREAT time - many memories made and many this-could-only-happen-to-us adventures were packed into our little vacation-let.

Our adventures began Sunday morning, when we packed up the car and headed out on the open road. Of course there was car karaoke:

Our first destination was Dell Rhea's Chicken. Have you heard of it? We hadn't, until less than a month before our trip, when we were watching the Duggars, and Josh and Anna stopped there on their road trip from Washington D.C. to Chicago. Ryan, who rarely looks up during the Duggars, began paying rapt attention and immediately added Dell Rhea's to our agenda.

If you've not heard of it, they are famous for their fried chicken basket, and they're a historical location on Route 66. Their whole story is pretty cool...you should check it out on their site. It tells how they got started back in the 30's and then almost had to close when Route 66 changed and it was no longer on the main path...but how they've made it!!

Ryan ordered the chicken basket they're famous for, and I ordered the chicken tenders, and I do believe it was the best fried chicken either of us had ever had. REAL chicken. Not fake chicken like we eat most places. :) And the biscuits - YUM!!!!!!

The menu says if you order the chicken basket, you should be prepared to wait 30 minutes to eat. They bring you the biscuits to keep you from starving to death while you wait. :) While we didn't have to wait anywhere near that full 30 minutes, we did find it very amusing that the family at the table next to us didn't so much have inside voices. The wife talked at length about texting Mary and Skyping with the husband's mom that afternoon - and a host of other things. So after meeting the table neighbors via eavesdropped conversation, our food arrived!!

We only ate half that and took the rest with us for later!!

After we left there, we headed to Schaumburg, Illinois, which was our home for the duration of the trip. We'd tried to find a hotel in downtown Chicago, but the price was three to four times as much per night as it was in the outskirts. So we sacrificed the view to stay in the burbs. Seriously stayed all three nights for less than the price of one night downtown. And our room was VERY comfortable, I might add. Not like our trip to Holland, when we started out in the communicable disease room.

I want to tell you about our trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo, but I fear that would make this the longest blog post known to man, so I'm going to call it quits for today - but come back tomorrow, because you won't want to miss that story!!!