Have you ever stepped foot into a Williams Sonoma store?  Because if not, you need to.

That store is like heaven on Earth.

Let. Me. Tell Ya. 

Jeff, my mom, and I stopped in there for the first time last week after enjoying lunch at a great new restaurant find. 

It’s my new dream store for many reasons.  The least of which is not that it smells absolutely divine.  The moment I walked through the door I breathed in a scent that completely encompasses everything I love about fall.  Cider and pumpkin and nutmeg and cloves.  They were simmering mulling spices on a stove-top in the center of the store and the scent meandered all the way out to the entrance.  It was nearly enough to make me send Jayce off to daycare and take a day job working behind the counter.  

I’d volunteer to stir the potpourri.  Or stock the shelves.  Or sort the trash.  I’m not choosy.

Of course that was just my first impression.  And then we proceeded to peruse the shelves. 

I saw a stainless steel Belgium waffle maker that creates craters deep enough to hold a teaspoonful of pure maple syrup.  There were stone baking dishes in every color and hue imaginable.  There were canisters of chocolate shavings for convenient but oh-so-decadent mugs full of “homemade” hot chocolate.  Stainless steel measuring cups with solid handles that feel weighty in your baking hands.  Mixing bowls with rubber gripping bottoms.  Knives sharp enough to cut bone.  Cookbook after cookbook with full page color photographs that may or may not have been drool-stained when I replaced them on the shelf. 

Oh and the gadgets.

The gadgets boggled my mind and tickled my fancy.  Salt boxes and butter pots.  Potato ricers and brining herbs.  Who knew doodads could be so fascinating?

Jeff had to drag me from the store.

And while I could easily blow an entire month’s budget in there, I made not a single purchase.

Not even the Ebelskiver pan whose golden pecan pumpkin butter filled pancakes called my name as I tried in vain to fall asleep later that night.

Nope.  Not even that.

My heart has found a new home.

If only my checking account would sympathize.