Road trip

Today was a marvelous day. As I was sitting eating dinner, I couldn't stop smiling, and it just got better than that. It was wonderful. Driving about 8 hours in the rain wasn't fun, but it wasn't scary rain, just steady, with a little wind and fog thrown in for good measure and excitement. To keep me on my toes.
So this morning, myself and two other math girls left my apartment on an adventure. We listened to fabulous music, drove through NY and PA, and talked about anything and everything. We had toll roads and tunnels, hills and flat. It was a good mix of driving with not too much traffic (amazing for Labor Day weekend).
We arrived at IKEA around lunch time, and much to our delight discovered that they have a parking garage so we didn't have to get wet, since it was raining pretty steadily then in Conshohocken, PA. After lunch in the restaurant (which included home packed lunch for me), we ran and got legs for my table top so they didn't run out :), and then continued through the showrooms. I'll leave out details, as it would get very long, but we saw many things we liked, some of which we loved and wished we had a house to do such things with, and headed back downstairs to collect all of our desired items (including the most perfect table to extend my kitchen with at a very affordable price!). A few hours later, I emerged with a full cart and ready to leave the madness. If you think Wal-Mart is ever crowded, you should go to IKEA on a Saturday afternoon. Nevertheless, we then collected all of my self-service furniture with only one mishap of color, checked out and left. Then, we got to go to MOE'S!!!!!!!!!! And they said "Welcome to Moe's" and it smelled like Moe's and it was lovely. My dinner didn't taste all that good, I think the sour cream was bad, but I didn't care because it was Moe's. I had queso and a streaker Art Vandalay and sweet tea. Towards the end of the meal, I went back to ask for more chips for our queso, and she gave me an entire bagful of nice, warm fresh chips!!!!!!! So I got to bring Moe's goodness home with me! :)
Afterwards, we headed across the street to Whole Foods, which was not a planned part of the trip, to get gluten-free pizza crusts and bagels (alas no doughnuts), and then dessert: ice cream, eclairs and cheesecake for the respective girls of the group. Most of my ice cream got dumped once it became soup, but it was delicious while it lasted.
Then, as we're driving through upper PA, we see deer in a field, probably at least 5 (though I was driving and couldn't really count). I was happy about this, hadn't seen deer yet since I moved here. As we drove on the state highway towards Ithaca, just about a mile from downtown Ithaca, I slammed on the breaks to avoid hitting a doe and her two fawns!!!!!!!!! They were eating berries and leaves on the side of the road, and I got to see deer! I'm so excited about the fact that animals other than squirrells and birds live around me. It's lovely.
So, it was a wonderful day. Tomorrow will include a morning of analysis and an afternoon of assemblying furniture, and then my apartment will be so much better :). Such a lovely lovely day.
All in all, I had a fabulous day at IKEA, and wonderful things added to the mix. Definitely a good Saturday, and I thought of most of my favorite people today for different reasons. Happy Moe's dances and all sorts of great memories, special lovely songs in honor of different people, a soon to be red table. orchids, and a new duvet cover that looks very familiar :).
It's now finally September, and I get to see several people this month, and another couple people next month :-D. The apartment is becoming a home, and new memories are in the making.