Ikea: Swedish for Allen wrench

Sunday Funday: craft fair in Austin and bonus City-Wide Garage Sale!

Free photo booth at entrance

Yarn-bombed beach balls

Convention center

Everything abou this woman is cute: her hair, her jewelry, the bunting.

                               ST LOUIS WHAT WHAT!
               St Louisan and craft maven Allyson Wilmowski
                              had a booth at the show!

Hellooooooooo Allyson! 

Airstream

I met an artist whose work I have admired on Etsy for a long time, Leah Duncan:

I've had my eye on this buffalo print and it was such a treat to buy it from the artist herself!  And several other goodies, perhaps to be featured in a stocking near you!

Flush with precious handmade gifts, we made our way one pavilion over to the

                                                                What a spectacle.

Love her style.

Piles and piles of fabrics

And faux fur

Slay bells ring, are you listenin'?

Duh, schwinning!

Scary head; old racquets

Piles of beads

Glassware by color

Somewhat sinister dolls.

And then it was time to go to Ikea.  Admittedly a terrible idea, especially during Thanksgiving weekend, but we needed chairs for the three-season porch, two seasons of which we have missed out on due the seating shortage. Well, not true.  We have two camping chairs out there - on our front porch- because we are classy like that.

But first we fortified ourselves at a safe distance across the parking lot at Panda Express, where Luke told me 'it's not Panda Express, it's just Panda.'

Corrected, we left Panda, for what I anticipated would be utter pandemonium.  (or, panda-monium).
Thus steeled, we approached...

The beard is like a constant photo prop.

Large bin of toy rats

I guess some Norse god of thriftiness and particle board smiled upon us, because the store was not teeming with shoppers.  We wandered, we sat on some chairs, we wandered some more through its labyrinthine interior.  (When do we encounter the Minotaur, I wondered?)  We emerged from that blue and yellow byzantine mecca of DIY (more like DFEY,  or Do Freakin' Everything Yourself) with chairs, a footrest, and two $7.99 end tables.

Almost.

(As much as I strangely resent Ikea, considering I go about once every three years of my own accord, I thought this display of everyday items was just lovely:)

Look homeward, angel.  With Captain and Tennille.