SOS - Looking For a Dress (not decor related!)

I'm trying to find this dress, any size, new or used...as soon as possible. If anyone has any idea where I could even begin to look, please let me know in the comments!


It's purple, by Oasis, from Sears. Manufacturer and Sears are both a dead end.

"Happiest Weekend of the Year" Update

The 2011 Home Show (or as I call it "the Happiest Weekend of the Year") is officially over. Actually, it's been over for a couple of days now, but it's taken me a bit of time to get my stuff unloaded and sorted (my living room is still full of display boards, ballot boxes, backdrops and tablecloths!).

My area of the booth...unfortunately I forgot to take pictures until we were already taking the booth down.

We had a great time this year - it was one of my favourite Home Shows yet, since I started doing them in 2006. We had a great combination of ladies in the booth (we do it as a group - 4 different businesses)...everyone got along fabulously. We had something for everyone - interior decorating, photography (Kayleigh of All Things That Grow Photography and her awesome Saturday stand-in Yewa), yoga (Natalie of Northern Lotus Yoga) and income tax (Sue of SL Income Tax Services). We also had Avon, thanks to Kim (the mom of our last kid's room makeover recipient...proceeds from her Avon sales go towards medical travel, etc. so we were pleased to see that every single one of her brochures was taken!).

The crowds weren't huge, but it was a steady flow of people coming through, and I spoke with a lot of nice people who will hopefully become clients. 


One thing we did find kind of odd is the number of people that would walk quickly down the aisle, trying desperately not to look at anyone and ignoring every booth - most of the time with an angry "don't talk to me or look at me" expression. It takes some effort to go to the show - you have to decide to go, get ready, drive to the arena, find a parking spot, stand in line, and pay to get in...it seems funny that people would do all that (the "paying to get in to something you don't want to see" part is what I really don't get!) and then try so hard not to look at any of it.


Other than that, it was great - I can't wait until next year! We've already started talking about the 2012 booth, and have some great ideas :)

A Budget Kitchen Makeover

A while back I did a blog post about our ugly kitchen (you can check it out here) - the previous homeowners had re-done the kitchen with things they liked, not worrying about whether or not they went together (they didn't). We did a quick makeover to keep me from crying every time I walked into the room - a temporary fix until we were ready for a bit more work.

Here are the original before shots - busy backsplash with dark grout lines, orange wood, ugly brass handles...

And the in-between fix - painted the busy backsplash to get rid of the headaches, added a valance (made with $4 placemats!).

I still didn't want to spend a lot of money, and the cabinets and counters were in good shape. We painted out the wood trim, changed the cabinet hardware (29 handles...), painted the walls and backsplash, and added some new accessories. The entire thing was done for less than $200.

Final Results:

Now I actually don't mind spending time in the kitchen - it feels much cleaner and more open!