Ikea is coming! Ikea is coming!

The metro-Denver area has been talking about this day for FOUR years now. And finally, after eighteen months of construction, Ikea will open its doors on July 27! And it's in my town (or close enough!). People will travel for hours and hours and miles and miles to get to an Ikea. But not me! I run farther than the distance to my Ikea on Saturdays. Within 6 miles of my house I will have my very own Ikea and I am very excited about it.

Not that they make the best furniture in the world or have this special "thing" that I cannot live without. It's the experience of the store that I love. It's all so organized and there is a traffic pattern to be followed using HUGE arrows painted on the ground. And the millions of cuppies for super cheap! I love Ikea because I love organization in a store. No thing out of place. And everyone moving in the same direction ( I must have been in the military in a previous life). And the plethora of colors. And I love to change my mind about colors and things like pillows and blankets. Tragically I don't have the budget to change pillows and blankets as often as I'd like. But with Ikea, I totally can!

And starting Wednesday, July 27, every time I have a pretty plain glass serving bowl chip, I'll just go buy a new one at Ikea for $3. Or maybe I want to replace all the tomato stained storage containers. I can get a set of 12 for $5 at Ikea. I think you know where I am going with this.

The only sad part is that people are being permitted to start camping outside of Ikea this weekend. The place will be a ZOO for a few weeks. I will have to wait for my inaugural Ikea run for at least a month. For as much as I like the plan, layout, brightness and colorfulness of that store, I don't like crowds of people pushing gigantic shopping carts full of cuppies, pillows and blankets while trying to corral their toddlers by using terms like "I'm not going to tell you again" when really they will. Nope. I will patiently (and gladly) wait my turn. Mid-September should be safe. Better watch out, Ikea. Denver's been waiting for you!!!