My daughter was looking for bridesmaid’s dresses several years ago. She wanted rose-gold dresses and wanted to keep the cost reasonable for the women in her bridal party. Searching everywhere, she found some gowns online that fit the bill. They were relatively inexpensive and they looked fine. As long as you didn't look too closely. These dresses were beautiful in pictures and comfortable but the quality was less than what you would normally purchase. They also left a trail of rose-gold sequins everywhere we went. This was fine because we didn't expect anything more than that from these lovely rose-gold dresses. This is similar to car parts purchased online (there IS actually a point to this story). People will want to source their own parts because “They can save a lot online,” but you get what you pay for. Especially as it pertains to mechanical car parts. You may wonder why your auto repair facility doesn’t want to install the parts you’ve purchased online. There are several reasons ... read more

The 2016 Volvo XC90 won Sport Utility Vehicle of the year at the Detroit Auto Show. I don't own one and had nothing to do with the design or engineering but I'm pretty excited. Most car people have a favorite car make or model. I'm not a car person but, as I may have mentioned in previous blogs, I love Volvos. They used to be the stodgy, safe, soccer mom car. Instantly uncool. I prefer the wagons. I believe they are ‘stealth cool.’ Not everyone sees this. I kind of feel redeemed. I told all of our technicians it won. They weren’t nearly as happy as I was. They all have their favorite cars and they are not the same as mine. I'm not really concerned with horsepower or performance. I love how it looks and I've read all the reviews and looked at the pictures. I do have a tendency to follow the informational car blogs because it's interesting to read what people, experts and non-experts, think about a certain vehicle. I haven't driven one yet because I'm afraid I might not bring it back t ... read more