Have you ever wondered what would happen if you put four New Yorkers in a car and sent them to New Jersey? OK, maybe that isn't exactly something you lay awake at night thinking about, but just in case you are let me tell you what happens: confusion. I am not going to blame it on us poor New Yorkers who don't drive anymore; I think New Jersey signage is the biggest culprit.

Today my friends Holly, Richard, and Alejandro borrowed a car and went to IKEA, Costco, and Target. Holly didn't want to drive, and quite frankly I didn't want to either. NYC has way too many one way streets and it can be very confusing. It is not as confusing as the New Jersey Turnpike. Our first stop was IKEA, and it took us three tries to get there. Alejandro drove, and Richard navigated, but it wasn't too successful. I was pretty much not paying attention to where we were or how it was that we got lost. I think the issue was that we were looking for an exit that wasn't well-marked. We always saw it as we passed it. But getting to it would also require driving over medians. Since we weren't in an SUV, we opted against it. We drove by the same mosque about three times, made several U-Turns (some of those being in the same place), and then finally we made it to IKEA.

It was Holly's first time ever at the Swedish haven of cheap furniture. This particular store was enormous--two stories. We started our voyage through the store at the cafe. This is place that requires sustenance for sure, and we all endulged in some swedish meatballs. Then we hit the showroom. I am in the market for furniture because I currently just have mattresses and a mantle that doubles as a vanity. My underwear is in a suitcase next to my closet. So I looked at dressers and shelves. I didn't buy anything though. I am going to wait until I am no longer an intern. Alejandro is in the same boat. We both looked around and bought just a few kitchen things.

So when we finally got done with IKEA (about three hours) we headed over to Costco. In Seattle it is not a good idea to go to Costco on Saturday because it is completely impossible to find a place to park. This is not the case at the Hackensack, NJ Costco. But we had other issues. For example there was four of us and only one Costco card--and this card didn't belong to either of us. Using my powers of stealth, I was able to get in by tagging along with a random shopper, and then met up with the gang. We got a few things, and headed to the checkout. This is where we met up with an issue. Since neither of us was the cardholder, we were not allowed to purchase anything. Dejected, we walked back to our car and headed to Target. That's a good store. No membership cards, we found it easily, and it has pretty much everything one needs. Even vitamins. I actually forgot to buy those...so luckily I discovered this before we left the parking lot.

Amazingly, the trip back to NYC was uneventful. But for those of you who want to drive into New Jersey, be careful of signs and turnpikes and Costco.