For lack of anything better to say today I give you the following:

I imagine you’ve all heard about this, but it seems a tailor-made (no pun intended) opportunity for anyone just out of school and furnishing their first post-dorm rooms.

From the press release:

National Search Launched for the Ugliest Couch
Sure Fit Scours America for Biggest Eyesore

NEW YORK, NY, August 21, 2008 – Sure Fit Inc., the leading provider and marketer of ready-made furniture covers, announced today the launch of its 2008 Ugly Couch Contest, the search for the ugliest couch in America. Photo entries for the contest will be accepted until September 30th at www.SureFit.com and by mail for a chance to win a $5,000 living room makeover by designer and host of HGTV’s Myles of Style Kim Myles, courtesy of Sure Fit Inc.

If it’s old, worn, unsightly, revolting, repulsive, lumpy, grumpy or just plain ugly, Sure Fit wants to see it. As the leading creator of stylish, easy, affordable decorating solutions to quickly transform your home, Sure Fit created the “Ugly Couch Contest” to illustrate that Sure Fit slipcovers can turn any couch into a stylish sofa.

“Every year we look forward to sorting through the hundreds of hideous entries, searching for the ugliest of the ugly,” said Laura Hilburt of Sure Fit Inc. “But Sure Fit covers couches nationwide, and we can give even the ugliest couches a total transformation.”

This year’s judging panel features guest judges Kim Myles, designer and host of HGTV’s Myles of Style, Natalie Warady, Style Director for O at Home, Jacqueline Gifford, Features Editor for OK! Magazine, and comedian Sean Kent, seen on E! Entertainment and NBC’s Last Comic Standing.

The panel will select 20 semi-finalists from around the nation before opening up voting to America on www.SureFit.com on October 13th. Each semi-finalist will receive a Sure Fit slipcover of their choice, ensuring that no ugly couch goes uncovered. The grand-prize winner of the $5,000 living room makeover will be announced on November 15th.

The criteria for choosing the ugliest couch includes the ugliness of overall design and fabric pattern, offensiveness of color, inappropriateness of fabric and inappropriateness of the combination of fabric, color and design as it relates to any period in the recent history of furniture. The uniqueness of the couch as it relates to the above-mentioned criteria will also be taken into account.

How to Enter:

Contestants must send a good quality color photo of their ugly couch to: Sure Fit Inc., c/o “Ugly Couch Contest”, 6575 Snowdrift Road, Allentown, PA 18106. On a separate piece of paper, include full name, address, phone number and email address.
You can also submit an entry online at www.surefit.com. Simply click on the “Ugly Couch Contest” button located on the homepage, and follow the instructions to attach photo.
Official rules and privacy policy can be viewed online at www.surefit.com.

Sure Fit products are available via mail order catalog, select major retailers, online at www.surefit.com, and by phone (800) 305-5857.

I’m a little humbled, excited and perhaps, startled to have been given a “You Make My Day” award by über-stylish Ronda Carman of All the Best. And, as usual, I’m late with my thank you.

Since I can’t send a written note of thanks, I’ll say it here. Thank you! As many before me have noted, your blog is inspirational and I thank you for it. All the Best is a regular read for me, and I highly recommend you, and the others I have noted on my blogroll, to all my readers.

“Life is a banquet,” says Mame Dennis in the stage production of ‘Auntie Mame’, “and most poor sons-of-bitches are starving to death.” Not in the blogosphere, in my experience. We’re lucky to have such a community of bon viveurs, raconteurs, auteurs and errr… chercheurs. It’s all there for the asking.

Now then, instead of resting on my laurels and in the spirit of the award, I wish to announce a contest…. there may be those among you who are thinking about blogging, or writing, or just sounding off, but haven’t yet taken the plunge. Here’s your chance. I’d like to publish your article. Please e-mail me (editor@easyandelegantlife.com) an essay based on the topic “This is Elegance” or “This is Easy, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Live Elegantly.” Or just about anything else that has to do with my obsessions.

I’ll publish the one I like the best with full credits.

Carpé diem. I wish you all the best.