The Minnesota Home and Patio Show was this past weekend in the St. Paul River Centre. On Sunday evening after the show closes, all of the vendors pack up and move from the St. Paul River Centre to the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Ten quick miles away and across the Mississippi river, hundreds of vendors re-create their booths, showcasing the wide range of products and services related to garden and home sectors.

The two shows are basically the same except there are a lot more vendors at the Minneapolis Convention Center show.

Wade and I like to go to the smaller show in St. Paul because we have very specific ideas about what we are looking for. Fewer people at the show allows us to chat longer with potential companies we want to work with making our outdoor dreams a reality.

Have you ever noticed that when you attend the same events, year after year, you tend to mimic the same pattern as to how you walk through the rows and rows of vendors? This year our friends Jimmy and Nikki went with us. It was fun to follow a different path and see vendors at the show that we never noticed before.

How could we have missed this HUGE pink Traeger brand wood pellet smoker and grill? A hanging vegetable patio garden? My dream stove and decorative hood? And seriously, if Jack was little, I would have instantly had his toilet seat custom painted with his favorite super hero.

I didn’t quite understand why these two vehicles were at the show, but I guess you have to haul your dirt and plants home somehow!

Wade bought the Jeep for Jack and Nikki bought Jimmy the new loaded Silverado. Oh, and I have some ocean front property in Arizona for sale.  🙂

I found my happy place here.

No need to look any further. Pick it all up and put it in my backyard. Done.

Once we had scheduled several appointments with various landscapers and walked around the second level of the show, it was time to wrap it up and grab some lunch.

We opted for an Irish Pub a couple of blocks from the River Centre. As I was inhaling my delicious turkey reuben sandwich, I noticed an antique store across the street. Brilliantly,  I waited until the boys’ stomachs were full before throwing out the idea that we should check out the store.

Look at all of this….stuff.

And this was only the back room. A little bit of everything could be found and a whole lot of nothing was available too.

I loved this little handwritten sign on top of the dresser.

I guess it was just a suggestion. 🙂

I hope you had a good weekend. So many fun projects to work on this week.

See you on Wednesday,

Wendy