How not to sell me furniture

Chris and I are in the market for a glider--possible recliner--for the nursery, and we're also in the market for a possible pull-out couch for the third "bed" room. 

We've visited several local furniture stores, and the story from Sunday is exactly how not to sell me furniture. 

We go into the store, and are immediately greeted by a friendly, laid back guy who said he would let us look around and that we could come to him if we had questions. We did like several of the pieces we saw, so we sought him out to ask him some questions. 

First, we asked him if a glider he had came in leather. Side note: I really want a brightly colored, like green or orange, glider--possibly recliner--for the nursery. In my head it would be perfect!

I told the guy this was what I really wanted, and we ask if the glider that we liked could be ordered in leather. 

"No, gliders don't come in leather," he says. "Men usually like leather, and women usually like gliders, so those two things don't go together." And he bumped his fists together for emphasis. 

First error: He just told me what I wanted didn't exist and that it was abnormal I would want that. 

Next, he showed us all the fabrics that the glider did come in. I told him we really wanted a leather or maybe a mirco-suede/fiber because we had a cat who might like a new scratching post. 

His response, "Isn't it funny how we buy things for our home to make our animals happy?"

Ummm, thanks judgmental, non-animal owner.

At this point, I was done trying to purchase a glider from him. 

Chris piped up at this point and asked about a pull-out couch. I think Chris knew the cat comment might elicit a non-friendly response from me. 

So we moved on to the pull-out couch question. 

Dude's response (See how he is now "Dude" in my mind?), "Do you really need a pull-out couch? I usually steer people away from them when building a room." 

I just told you we wanted a pull-out couch. 

We gave no response, and he countered with, "I have one couch that I could custom order for you with a pullout frame." 

We agreed to walk to the other end of the store to see this couch. It was huge! Very pretty, but four cushions long. I said, "Oh wow. This is much too big for our room. We really just need a standard sized pull-out couch." 

Dude's response, "This is a loveseat, so you won't find anything smaller."

I stare back at him about to stop this nonsense in its track. 

Chris breaks in and says, "We really need that size," pointing to what most people would consider a large loveseat. 

"That's a chair and a half, and would never come in a pull-out." 

Before we visited the store we were currently in, we had been in another store that had an "apartment pullout," which was the same size as the "large loveseat" we were staring out. I began to point this out and realized there was no point. 

I quickly thanked him for his help--not really--and said we would keep looking. 

In summary, the way not to sell me furniture is to tell me what I want is abnormal for my gender, that I shouldn't love or consider my beloved animal, then that I don't need what I want and finally that what I want doesn't exist even though I just saw it. 

Thanks, Dude.

Our nursery walls

The wall decals that match our nursery bedding finally came in, and Chris and I had so much fun last night decorating the walls. Each graphic came separately, allowing you to customize everything.

Here's what we put together: 

Chris spent a lot of time on the main one:

 

 

This one is above where the changing table is going: 

Can you see the baby owl in an egg in the hole of that tree! 

It was amazing how different the room felt once we were done

We still have to get a few more pieces, but the room is coming together for sure. 

James Taylor concert

For Christmas 2011, I got Chris tickets to see James Taylor at Mud Island Amphitheater. The concert wasn't until July, so Sunday we finally got to enjoy his gift!

We were so blessed that the weather was incredible. We had rain earlier in the day which brought the temperature down, and there was an amazing breeze off the river. Add to that the thousands of bats that flew overhead to eat all the mosquitoes, and it was perfect combination!!

Here are five things I learned. 

1. James Taylor can still rock it out. In no way did he sit on his stool the entire time and play laid-back music. He was up, dancing, jumping around and all over having a fun time. It was a very fun concert. 

2. Video taping the entire concert on your iphone is ridiculous. From our seats, we could see loads of people with their iphones out most of the concert filming it. Now yes, it is nice to have a clip or two from the concert, but when are you going to re-watch three hours of a concert taped on your wide angle camera phone? For reference, this is what it looks like through your phone: 

It looked way better from our seats!!

Totally okay for nostalgia sake, but three hours worth? Not quite. 

3. There is always a lady up front standing the entire time dancing--even to the slow songs. Stand up. Put both your arms straight out, and raise your hands to the sky without moving your elbows. This is the constant dance position. Now sway this way in slow and then fast motions. You are now the lady up front dancing to every song. 

4. If you bring an original James Taylor album to one of his concerts, and you sit close to the stage, he will ask you to toss it on stage and he will sign it. No, this wasn't me, but it does show what a cool guy James Taylor is.

5. Another personality you may see at a concert is the guy who thinks he has the complete set list that he downloaded from the Internet. This guy sat in front of us. He had printed out the "James Taylor Set List" from the Internet, and he spent most of the concert referring to it, and talking to his girlfriend about it. It was a constant conversation about, "He's playing this next." "He didn't play it, what a waste." "This is terrible if he's not playing his originals." "Well, that's the end of the concert, so we should leave." The unfortunate/awesome part is that after this couple left, James Taylor played a three-song encore of many of his classics. This teaches you that 98% of things on the Internet are true...that's according to the Internet. 

A new car: an old car

Today I got a new car!

Yay!

I'm  very excited about the new Subaru Outback seen here: 

When I say that I'm excited about the new car, I really mean that I will be excited about the new car when the shock of spending a sizable amount of money wears off.

I really hate spending money.

I love saving money and looking at it on my bank statement, but dang I hate to spend it. Even if the money is saved up in order to be spent, I just don't like it. The minute I write the check, I have all these non-nonsensical thoughts like, "Wait, did I count the zeros in our bank balance right?"

"What if something happens before the check clears, and all of our money disappears?"

"What if they call me tomorrow and say they need a lot more money for no apparent reason?"

See what I mean?

Being responsible with money really has its limits. 

I am also sad to lose my old car, seen here:

Big V, the name of my now old Volvo, was an awesome car.

My husband is probably rolling his eyes because he was always afraid of an ever-pending, costly repair bill. BUT this never happened.

I think they just never really bonded.

Big V had 120,000 miles on her since 2002. She was always good to me, and I'm sad to lose her. 

However, it was time to let her go, and I hope to pass her on the streets one day, pimped out in neon paint with rims.

We do live in Memphis...