Last Tuesday I woke up with a wild hair to drive to San Antonio and pick up two of these Step Side Tables from West Elm (brown ones):

I called my friend Lynn, who’s from San Antonio. She was fully on board with the idea of a spontaneous road trip, so I headed over to her house to pick her up.

When I arrived at Lynn’s at 10 am, I went ahead and gave the store a call so they could set aside the two tables for me. Wouldn’t you know, they did have the two tables…but someone else had already paid for them.

Shoot.

Well, we were all buffed and puffed and in the mood for a field trip, so we decided to just go anyway for fun. And boy, was it fun. That was one of the nicest shopping experiences I’ve had in a long, long time.

I’ve always been a fan of their merchandise (although I did discover their seating isn’t comfortable to me) but the store itself is just a pleasure to be in. It was very spacious and well-designed, very light and airy. Very California. I could’ve stayed in there for hours.

I highly recommend the excursion…and if you go, be sure to save some time to hit the McNay art museum, as we did. They have such an incredible collection, it made me feel closer to my old haunts in NYC.