Ikea Walk

Another group of pictures we recently found, this adventure was in early February...

In an effort to prepare for the Toy Fair, we had the crazy idea of "walking around all day" for a day, to avoid last year's exhaustion. Walking is different than exercise bike, so despite how used to biking we were, it caught us off guard last year when we got so tired-out. The crazy thought of training for a day-of-walking isn't too crazy, right? The Ikea store is next to the big Jersey Gardens Mall, so that's a good amount of walking to be done. And we might as well grab some pictures to share.

Is is fun to put an quote from an internet "influencer" on this blog? I'm afraid I'm not familiar with Gabriela Perez, but it's okay she probably has no idea who Minty is either. And to be honest, I don't really think I count as an "influencer".... yet?

Before we went into the Ikea, we noticed the nearby Big Lots, that was next to the now-empty Toys R Us, was gone, too. There were signs up for a Floor & Decor but the whole thing was a construction mess right now.

I'm not sure if I remember these computer displays from before. Can we get the phone app version so we can mess with this at home?

When we saw this name we thought... Is this the Swedish word for "Spiderman"? 

Anybody else reminded of the movie Big Trouble in Little China when looking at this lamp? If you don't know, there was a character who had a similar-looking hat.

Sitting in the bucket for my friend, who shall remain anonymous. Where's the bucket that says "Minty"?

Saw these egg slicers and thought they looked like evil torture devices. I'll talk! I'LL TALK! Don't slice MEEEEE!

Always fun to check out the full display sections. This looks cool but seriously, does anybody have a hanging plant that winds down the side like this in their home? Those people probably don't actually USE the kitchen all that much.

I had planned on taking a picture of just this bed, and tell the story about how a kid ran past us and quickly hid under it. Just when I was about to snap the picture, he peeks up! It was hilarious. He claimed he was playing hide-and-seek with his sister. Ah, to be a kid in an Ikea Store.

In an attempt at therapy, here's a story: My friend tells me that he once lost one of these useful bags you can purchase and take home. When he innocently asked a roommate where he got his, he didn't realize he had sort-of accused him of "stealing" it. He was immediately busted and called out for it. He never intended to imply that, and still feels a bunch of shame when he sees one of these bags. Isn't that such a silly thing to be haunted by?

Don't worry, this bulldog is here to cheer him up. Well, maybe not.

The Root Queen looks like a very unique character and we were tempted to get this book just to find out what that was all about.

Is it odd that we thought the Abacus should not be in the kid's section? Sure it has colorful beads that slide back and forth, but really it should be used for math calculations and stuff. I guess your kids need to learn about that, too.

This crazy-perspective carpet will surely NOT mess up your kid's perceptions of reality. Just looking at this makes me dizzy, imagine what a young kid would see.

Once again, we passed on the Minty-colored plates. Because, y'know... we already have plates we can use. But we did notice on the tag, it says "Made in France" in case you thought everything at Ikea was Swedish.

We always check for our pillow that we like, pretty sure, since it was from several years ago, that they won't have it. If you're curious, it was named Gosa Pinje. They did have the Mjolkklocka though. Not that we have any idea if it's comfortable, just gotta find humor in a pillow named Mjolkklocka.

This carpet looked like video game pixels art. Is this like, 16-bit graphics? Or 8-bit?

Make sure to put the HYGGE mat out to HYGGE all your friends who come to visit!

 This price scanner was locked to say "NOT FOUND" and we thought that was funny enough to get a picture of. We didn't actually scan anything.

 I have an idea! Several of them!

 Giant wall-sized art. We liked the red bicycle in this black n white picture because y'know, we like riding our bike and all. Is there a Minty in this picture? Would that not be the creepiest thing ever if we saw one somewhere in it?

 They almost spelled Cactus correctly. It's like they were trying, and then went all Swedish halfway through. Cact...aceae.

 If you don't know, once you decide what to get here, you have to hunt it down in the warehouse part of the store. It's kind of neat to check this part out, even if you aren't going to buy anything.

 You know what that fold out sofa is? It's Balkarp! Just a bunch of Balkarp! They're trying to sell us stuff in the warehouse part? That's Balkarp!

 Leaving the Ikea, we notice right next door they opened up a... Raymour & Flanigan?! That's an expensive furniture store. Next to Ikea? The very definition of cheap furniture stores? What are they thinking??? If we knew about this, we would have made the time to walk around there to compare better. But it was getting late so we'll have to check that out next time. That is, if they are still there, and Ikea has not destroyed them.