This is the very first episode of Holly’s Animated Life (April 2008). I took my camera to Ikea, but it malfunctioned and then had soooo much to say I ended up drawing it out with markers.
Just a little update: The road from hell is now a toll-way.
My closest IKEA is located at the intersection of the daisy-strewn tollway and the road from hell soon to be a tollway. I took the road from hell soon to be a tollway
because I am stupid.
After much traffic on the road from hell soon to be a tollway, we finally arrived at the big blue happy box, IKEA.
The big blue happy box, IKEA opens at 10. BUT the big blue happy box, IKEA serves breakfast to hungry travelers starting at 9:30.
Unload the minivan…
time for snacks!
The big blue happy box, IKEA serves a full breakfast and many snacks. The big blue happy box, IKEA serves all this and a bag of chips for mere peanuts.
Mmmmm. After a good breakfast we felt like
shiny, happy people shopping at the big blue happy box, IKEA.
Let’s get a cart!
Oh, the carts at the big blue happy box, IKEA have special, magical shopping cart powers.
They may be pushed in ANY direction.
Wow.
Cool.
Super neat.
ANY direction
except forward.
Wow.
Cool.
Super neat.
After about 10 feet…
Wow. *
What the?*
Cool. *
Who designed these?*
Super neat. *
If any IKEA design team personnel steps in my way, I am going to push them over with my cart. They probably have encountered this before and will step directly in front of the cart rendering me helpless. They are so evil and crafty.*
Let’s tour the big blue happy box, IKEA while pushing our magical carts in a sideways direction.
Wow.
Cool.
Super neat.
The big blue happy box, IKEA designers have made the store into a giant maze.
Yeah!
Over the loud speaker IKEA plays big blue happy box music and announces that “the average IKEA customer spends 3 hours in the store” I think that the average IKEA customer is insane and not chasing a collective 4 children.
Let’s run sideways fast so we can get to the place I need to go…
Yeah!
I found things I need. I will just pop them into my magical sideways cart.
Here is what will fit into the magical sideways cart:
This is what I try to fit into the magical sideways cart:
Legend:
circled in purple: things that I fit into my cart pushing really hard
crossed out in purple: things that kept falling out of my cart
circled in green: things I put in my friend’s cart
circled in orange: things I couldn’t fit in either cart and carried
crossed out in orange: things I couldn’t fit in either cart and carried and dropped repeatedly
*angel choir sings*
Look.
Look.
Look at this:
It is an amazing light fixture that looks like a clear bucket. You can fill the bucket up with ANYTHING (except water…
they say specifically no water). You can fill the bucket up with things that coordinate with your room. See how nice it looks in my pretend room?
I just love the big blue happy box, IKEA.
Let’s go check out!
If I can get these magical sideways carts to line up in the narrow aisles…I can go home and stare at my new bucket light.
Push. Push. Push.
Whew!
Now the challenge of unloading my 362 large boxes onto a check-out conveyor belt 1/6 the boxes’ size.
I pushed the magical sideways carts to the minivan, loaded the car and we were off.
Bye. Bye. Big blue happy box, IKEA.
We were out of there in less then 2 hours because
we are WAY below the average IKEA customer…
Whimper…we don’t have an IKEA. How can Denver NOT have an IKEA??? Sob…We’re actually thinking of taking a road trip to Utah this summer to get some things. I lead such an exciting life.
That was the absolute best illustration I think I have ever seen. I am also a little jealous. I have never been to a big blue happy box named IKEA. ๐
I just googled it and the closest one is 152 miles away.
Wow…and you even got Rhett to draw the pictures*! :0)
So, when do we get to see a picture of your bucket light?
*J/K Nice (art)work!
Drawings are much better than pics. I loved it. I hate Ikea I slipped four disks trying to unload a huge entertainment thingy. SOmthing about that place makes you think you can lift 200 pound objects and fit everything into a car or house.
this was very amuzing for me, and i must say not only are you a talented shopper, which you are!! all that stuff in less than two hours and breakfast too!! wowzer!! but you are a very talented artist too!!! These are pics you should save FOREVER!!! ๐
thanks for sharing.
xoxoxoxox jenn
And because you did not take your husband, there was no bloodshed. Althought I would have liked to see that illustration!
I love your illustrations. I’m glad you had a happy shopping trip (add in sarcasm.)
The last time I was in an Ikea (1996, I believe), I too was with a friend and our collective kids. Seven of them. Five were mine. We went to Ikea because they had a big playroom filled with plastic balls where Ikea workers would watch them for up to three hours.
We never bought anything (though I lusted after those loft bunks with red enamel tube frames); we took turns sneaking out of the Ikea to shop at the Carter’s outlet.
Love the drawings! Even as I suspect your visual aids would have taken less total production time if you’d gone back for your memory card.
OK…the amount of time it took you to draw those pics is hillarious! Good artwork though. Very impressive!
I want to see this bucket light. That sounds adorable…what will you fill it with??
Love the drawings. Colored, even!