old friends and some serious shopping

Sam and I left yesterday morning for the quickest of quick trips to Calgary ... and I will admit ... it was to shop at IKEA! Yes, it was some serious shopping. One last big purchase for our house renos is an ultra-organized wardrobe/closet system for our bedroom - spanning almost 8 feet high and measuring also 8 feet across. I spent this week on their website, constructing and tweaking every shelf and drawer and clothes hanger and then we just showed up at IKEA with the specified shopping list in hand. Brilliant! The closet system ended up being much less stressful than I imagined but I had a long list of other goodies to buy too, for the house and for baby's room, so we ended up shopping solidly for a good 3 and a half hours. Oh, sore feet for Mumma! We had pre-measured the packaging boxes to make sure they would fit in the car - all seats flat from front to back - but boy, were we ever chock-o-block full! I drove most of the trip there and back so Sam could continue studying for his big exam this week ... which means another road trip up to Saskatoon in a few days.

Quick as it was, I made plans to meet a few of my girlfriends for dinner and loved the laughs and catch-ups with both Robyn and Brenda. (But we missed you, Cheryl!) Robyn and I met as roommates at school in Austria 15 years ago and later spent a year in Europe together, traveling and then working at a hostel in Amsterdam. Robyn was one of my bridesmaids at our wedding and she's been teaching elementary and traveling some more on those lovely summers off. Brenda and I are old friends from the Island, sharing our first apartment together, having so many common friends from our 'College&Careers days' (back when Sam and I were "just friends"!) and always making time for visits even though we've been separated by such a distance for so many years. Brenda and Jesse brought their spittin' image of a daughter Arden and left Isaiah to have fun trap shooting with Grandpa. It was so nice - and normal - just to hang out at Moxie's for dinner and I'm so glad they got to see my Baby Belly, my bump I'll happily show off. Can't wait to see you both again-and Cheryl- this fall when you come a'visiting!!