I Have Created a Monster

Last Friday night, Kurt and I decided to be productive and run some errands. We are one wild and crazy couple, let me tell you. It's Friday night? Let's go crazy and buy some furniture. While we're at it, why don't we get a cane and some dentures as well!

I've been wanting a little end table to go next to our armchair in the living room. Do you know how expensive furniture is? At least, any piece of furniture I like. I have very expensive taste, but my lack of funds usually means I try to make do with what I have or what I can fake to look up to my standards. I am beginning to see the appeal of flea markets and discount stores. We headed to TJ Maxx. And this is where it gets weird. Kurt is now a full-fledged "Maxxinista". Maxxinisto? Whatever. Either one. He now loves TJ Maxx.

A word on TJ Maxx: I get stressed in these stores. The lack of organization alone gives me hives. I shiver just thinking about the complete randomness that is their clothing selection. Larges are mixed in with smalls, Calvin Klein dress shirts next to flimsy, poorly made halters. It pains me. It really does. I also, inexplicably, feel dirty, like actually covered in dirt, every time I walk in. But, on the rare occasions I'm in the mood to dig through racks of discount clothes, I head to TJ Maxx and almost always walk out with some ridiculously discounted item. The one section of the store I love is the furniture and home section. You can always find a great price on something you absolutely need, even if you didn't know you needed it before you walked in.

TJ Maxx is usually hit or miss for me. I never have high hopes for furniture there, but when it's a "hit" day, it's pretty fabulous. So, on a mission for a new end table, we headed to the furniture section. And Kurt fell in love. We didn't find an end table (I found countless other pieces of furniture I loved but could never fit in our tiny apartment), but Kurt found the following items: a canvas picture, a paper towel holder, a cheese slicer ("we NEED this!"), slippers, an antiqued globe (no, not an antique globe, but instead, one that has been made to look antique), an oversized hourglass, and Darrel Lea Soft Eating Licorice. "TJ Maxx is awesome!" he yelled. Logic eventually won out and we left the store with just the essentials: the paper towel holder, the cheese slicer, slippers, and licorice.

What about the end table, you ask? I had a slight epiphany when we returned home from our fruitful (depending on whom you ask) excursion. We had an old, miniature chess table sitting in our bedroom, covered with random things that could be placed elsewhere. This little chess table is now our end table. I kind of love it.

(By the way, I just discovered CB2. As in Crate & Barrel 2! Now, I love Crate & Barrel, but cannot afford nary a tea towel from that store. I am frequent visitor to the outlet store in Cranbury, NJ where I can at least buy a tea towel, but I had NO idea there was a discount Crate & Barrel! It's like Crate & Barrel and IKEA met and had a baby. A beautiful, fashionable, colorful, reasonably priced baby. How has no one ever told me about this AMAZING website? I mean, most of the stuff is a little modern for me, but mixed in with comfy pieces? Eclectic perfection.)