Shop 'til you drop

Today has been the longest day ever, despite skipping the scheduled half marathon I have on my training plan. My sister, Amanda, stayed with me last night so we could go shopping all day today for her apartment. She moves in next month to her first place in a swanky, trendy neighborhood, so we had a lot to buy.  I snagged her this Chicago neighborhood poster for her birthday months ago, which is the accent color for her new house.

So we started the day at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore location, where Mandy scored an armoire for $30 that will become a classy bar one day. We also got a cool lamp for $3.

We went to a furniture store, which was a bust and they followed us around like we were going to steal a dinette set. We also went to a flooring store, my favorite Goodwill and Menards. Despite being more than an hour away from where we went to high school, the thrift store still had a T-shirt from our alma mater. The tile store also had the Chicago skyline ... in tile.

Next, we went to Ikea, where we scored all kinds of deals.  The store now offers an Ikea Family discount card, which is free and gets you a free coffee every time you visit. We also got free frozen yogurt for signing up, which was awesome. We had a delicious dinner at the cafeteria there, too.

Fresh mozzarella and roasted tomato panini, salad and some weird dessert that wasn't that tasty, but frozen yogurt was. And the panini was massive, so I walked away happy.

Now, we're chilling on the couch. Mandy is checking her list and making sure we got everything, and my dog is showing his undying love for her while ignoring me. So, it's a typical Saturday in this house.