giveaway result and an overview...

I left you with a giveaway last week while I disappeared off to Harrogate for a few days for the Country Living Fair - more on that in a mo.

So were you lucky? Have you won your choice of Mimosa bundle?

Drum roll please...

 The lucky winner is Irene Garcia Diaz! (email me your address and your choice of Mimosa!)

If you weren't lucky enough to win a bundle, you can always go here and treat yourself to some anyway. You really will want to give it a try.

So Country Living Fair...how did it go?

It all started last Wednesday with my good friend Mr D helping me set up. His help was invaluable. The less said about Mr L having work commitments taking him to London, despite having it in his diary for months, the better.

Pretty swiftly we had it looking like this. All set and ready for the onslaught of predicted visitors.

Four effortful, exhausting days later and I rewarded myself with this...

quite honestly it wasn't really a question of reward...I wasn't capable of much else last night!

On balance I had a fantastic few days. I met up with a lot of buddies that I only see at fairs - Catherine and her lovely Mum were a couple of stands in one direction, Charlotte was a couple of stands the other way and Manda was diagonally opposite, although to be honest why the organisers put a stand in the way to block our immediate view I have no idea. We will have to have words. Rachelle and Tracy were a little far away for too many chats (more words needed) but it was definitely a highlight to finally meet this fab pair. Of course meeting up with the massive support network of the Soupers in person was fantastic too. As for all you wonderful peeps that were visiting and came by to say hi, bringing me cups of water, tea, loo breaks or just to introduce yourselves, I really appreciated it so thank you.

As for the fair itself as a business success? The jury is out as to whether it is an experience I will repeat. It is a very stressful time of year with busy online sales and keeping up with stockist top ups, not to mention remembering to say hi and feed my children. Getting ready for CL added to the stress at this time and I'm not convinced that the end result justified the chaos we have lived in over the last few weeks and indeed months.

Having said that, I'm very keen to look into Glasgow for next year...just shoot me now!