Have you ever had a random thought or feeling about something and, after you’ve followed it and checked out what it was all about, you realize it paid off in a delightful way?

I was watching TV last night when a commercial for La-Z-Boy came on. I saw a few of the fabric patterns and instantly vowed to go check out one of their stores. The stuff was pretty cute, and not at all what I usually imagined when someone had previously mentioned the decades-old brand.

Today I went to visit my parents, and brought some of my Christmas giftcards with me. My mom and I hit the mall where I found an old, favorite fragrance once again in stock at Sephora, so the gift cards took care of that purchase. After breezing through Nordstrom — a verb which isn’t at all meant to imply that no damage was done — I left with a sizeable chunk of dinero missing from my checking account. That said, their stock is skewing cuter than normal these days, so it was absolutely worth it.

On the way back to my parents’ house, the sky opened up and a pretty decent rain shower decided to make itself at home in the area. My mom noticed a La-Z-Boy store off to the right; I did a quick glance in my rear and passenger mirrors, saw that no cars were around and made a beeline for the driveway to the parking lot. I think mom was a little surprised, but she went with it.

As I was parking, I explained that I saw the commercial the night before, thought the stuff was really cute and promised myself that I’d check out a store sometime soon. And today was that day. What better way to kill the remaining moments of a rainy afternoon?

We entered and a friendly salesman headed our way. I explained I just wanted to browse, and he kindly hovered at a polite distance so that I could entertain my whim. I saw a gorgeous chair with covert reclining capabilities and squealed over the fabric. Such a glorious print!

He indicated there were plenty more fabric samples along the wall, and on my walk over to see them, I saw it.

It was irresistible, and I knew it would be mine.

It was a table!

On clearance!

Severely, shockingly, deeply-discounted clearance!

It was a half-circle sofa table whose glass top was resting on a bronze frame. And the front of the table had star after star after star — all in a row, and all calling out my name. There must have been 30 to 40 of them, all in a row as they wrapped around the curve.

I squealed again and hollered to the salesman that I needed to make a purchase, immediately and with great urgency (because everyone in the store was eyeballing the table, natch).

(No, not really.)

He obliged, and then we realized I had no way of getting it home since we’d been cruising around town in my car (the IS does not like to schlep). Thank goodness for mom’s Highlander! To the rescue, once again.

I have no idea where I’ll put it, but I know my friendly star-studded table just found its forever home with me.

Tonight I am thankful for those little, friendly nudges from the universe that led me to my serendipitous moment inside, of all places, a La-Z-Boy store this afternoon. Completely looking forward to my new addition that found me on such a gorgeous, rainy and random Sunday.