Crashing Dragon*Con, Cruising IKEA

After Patrick and I had our little tour of an old, historic cemetery last weekend, we set out for the next thing on the agenda: lunch.  That meant a metro ride to downtown Atlanta--a metro ride that took us past a LOT of red.

But fans sporting their Georgia pride was not the only evidence of excitement in Atlanta last weekend. During our forty-five minute wait to be seated at Hard Rock Cafe, we found ourselves inadvertently immersed in a virtual/fairy tale/medieval/comic book/science fiction/anime/video game world.

Yes, apparently we had found ourselves smack dab in the middle of the opening day of Dragon*Con. For those who don't feel like following that link here's what they say about themselves: Dragon*Con is the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the universe! 

I might as well tell those of you who might be getting excited at this point that we did not actually attend the actual convention. (I can hear some cries of disappointment out there, and some snickers at the thought we would even consider it.) Firstly, it would have cost way more than we wanted to spend that day. Secondly, Patrick and I are not nearly immersed enough in that culture to feel comfortable declaring ourselves "convention-goers." Since more than half of the costumes we saw we could not have quickly named, we would have felt a little, umm, ignorant? Silly? I mean, if you can feel silly wearing normal clothes next to Freddy Krueger...

But I will say this--everyone we saw looked like they were having a ton of fun. Patrick and I both wished we were more into fun (nerdy) things like this, because I bet we'd have a blast! Here are a few more photos I surreptitiously shot because I felt too silly (see paragraph above) to directly ask for real pictures of them:

The entire Sailor Moon entourage... awesome!

It was hot there. I do not envy these guys Patrick tells me are from Halo (told you I didn't know much about this stuff).

And my all time favorite...

This is freaking amazing! She's beryllium! I mean, this costume alone has practically convinced me to buy a Lifetime (wait, no, I see it's called Eternal--even better!) Dragon*Con membership. You know, as soon as I have $1500 laying around.

Anyways, after people-watching for quite some time, we had lunch then walked around the city a little more.

I'd never been there, so we decided to hit up Hard Rock Cafe.

We then headed for our final stop of the day: IKEA. This meant we got to walk across the new 17th Street bridge and stand over one of the highways Patrick spends so many hours a week navigating.

By the time we got across the bridge, found the free shuttle from Atlantic Station, and actually stepped into IKEA, we were exhausted from the long, hot day we had already had. The first thing we did after walking in and grabbing a map, was to sit down at the cafe and get an ice cream cone.

We were anxious to get going and see what IKEA was all about. See, every time I had heard friends talk about IKEA, it was accompanied by cloud-parting and angels singing. No one even mentioned it without practically hyperventilating from excitement. My sister-in-law counted down the days and hours to her IKEA visit on Facebook. People do that for their upcoming weddings. We were expecting something seriously amazing, here.

So, we ate our ice cream, heaved ourselves onto our aching feet, and started up the stairs to the showroom.

For those who don't know, IKEA is a very different type of store. There is a huge showroom with entire rooms (kitchens, dining rooms, bedrooms, complete 320 sq. foot houses) put together, including all the furniture, appliances, and decorative accents. You wander the showroom, taking note of the item numbers of the things you like. Then, you go the the marketplace and self-serve warehouse, pick up your merchandise, and take it home. Any furniture comes flat-packed, and you assemble it yourself.

Here is my review: do NOT go to IKEA after a long, hot day, when all you really want to do is sit for three hours straight. We browsed for a while (making a point to try out a lot of the couches and chairs, just so we could sit down), and were vaguely impressed, but it wasn't until we stopped and had dinner and started browsing again that we actually started enjoying ourselves. We needed to be ready; we needed to be refreshed.

In the end, we really liked a lot of the things we saw there. The prices weren't bad, either. If we had an actual decorating/home furnishings budget, I think we'd (translate: I'd) be in heaven. However, despite all the warnings that walking through IKEA typically leaves you many dollars poorer, all we left with was:

$4 for both of these. I don't really know why I chose this color green, either. I feel like I shouldn't like it, but for some reason I do. *shrug* Either way, they're very handy.

Very convenient (and much better-looking) storage for my piano paraphernalia*!

Okay, so I sort of stole this storage idea from another piano teacher in the area (you know who you are...), but considering the price, I seriously want to go back and buy like twelve more. I have some serious organizational issues these could fix.

To sum it up? I liked IKEA, I really did! I like their utilitarian design, their store layout, and their prices. However, I don't think I see parting clouds or hear angelic choruses whenever I think about it. Next time, though, I'll make sure our IKEA trip is a dedicated one, and not the end to a long day. Maybe I'll invite my sister-in-law long, too--hopefully her excitement will be catching. :-)

In any case, Patrick and I had a fun day in Atlanta. If we don't count the lunchtime splurge, we spent very little money, as well! Now I guess it's time to plan next year's anniversary exploration...

*Just because I was very impressed with myself, I have to share: I spelled "paraphernalia" correctly on my first try. I was less lucky, unfortunately, with "utilitarian."