I was proven wrong. Yet again. (Much to my dismay, this seems to be happening quite often in this wedding process. However, the silver lining to that dark cloud is that if I am wrong, that usually means Amanda is right, which makes me happy too. So really, there are no losers here).
It turns out Shinoda is, in fact, the "Design Center." This place is like the Costco of decorating, design, and crafts goodies: vases, silk flowers, fake foliage, ribbons, containers, candles, fake food... you name it, you can find it at Shinoda. And it's all set up like a big Costco-type warehouse; it's really quite amazing:
Rows and rows and rows of design & decorating materials. We kept remarking how this was a dream place for our sisters and mothers - indeed, Amanda found it quite dreamy. She didn't want to leave. She kept finding new things she loved every 5 steps; plus, we were having too much fun...
Here she is stalking a fake bear amongst the fake trees:
Here she is being chased by said fake bear:
I made friends with a fake bear:
Eventually, we stopped fooling around, got serious, and got down to the business of finding and selecting the perfect items for our centerpieces, then spending money. We found everything we needed - it was truly ideal. (Again, that's the part where I was proven wrong.)
So we went up to the registers to pay only to learn that Shinoda is in fact a business-to-business member's club, and in order to be part of this club, you must be a business owner and present your business license to the crabby old lady behind the customer service counter. Or to the crabby young lady behind the other customer service counter. We love California customer service.
Neither of us have a business license, and couldn't pretend that we did. We were about to give up when the very nice lady in front of me in line offered to let us use her membership! It was incredibly kind of her. We took her up on her offer and bought a very respectable haul. Hopefully she got some membership frequent flier points, or something like that - she deserves them. Thank you, kind lady, wherever you are.
We weren't intending to buy all the stuff we did, but it was a fortunate opportunity and we made the most of it. Out in the parking lot, we encountered a challenge loading up our new treasures into my little 2-seater car. In the end, we stuffed my trunk totally full and were forced to spill a few items into the passenger's side. Poor Amanda was a little cramped:
Ah, but another item checked off our wedding list! Amanda found everything her little heart desired for the centerpieces, which are going to look very cool, by the way. I am forbidden by my more beautiful half to post any pictures of the centerpiece - you'll just have to come to the reception to see them! :)
