This is the prize that was up for grabs for all Facebook fans of Garrendenny Lane in October.  Lots of goodies from Joseph Joseph, Black & Blum and Thomas Kent.

I did the draw today at Carlow business club, Iris Kelleher did the honours and the winner is Liz Grayson from Cambridge, England. Liz does a lovely blog over at Violet posy so do check it out.

I’m having a competition on my Facebook page – for all existing and new fans of the Garrendenny Lane Facebook page.  You have up until midnight on 31st October to enter and here’s what you could win.

A fabulous hamper of goodies from the Garrendenny Lane Online Shop:

The hamper contains a Joseph Joseph’s Nest, a Thomas Kent 12″ clock, a Black and Blum Salad servers, Jimmy keyring and desk tidy, a Joseph Joseph Chop 2 Pot and Twisk.  A perfect early Christmas present for someone

To enter, simply click here and if you are on Facebook, simply click on ‘Become a Fan’ and your entry will be in.

I started the Facebook page a few weeks ago.  Basically being a fan of the page means that our updates will appear  on your Facebook timeline/home page.  What’s in our updates? – well, the blog posts update there as well as single images of interiors that I tend to spot and feel there’s not enough to write a blog post on so I create an update on Facebook instead.  Have a look at the page and see what is already there – lovely albums of photos being created at the moment.

Good luck!

(Garrendenny Lane Interiors reserves the right to replace an item that is out of stock for the hamper with something else that is of the same or greater value.  The colours of the products in the hamper may not be the same as that featured.  Entries are limited to those within the EU and USA – if you live elsewhere, the hamper can be delivered to a relative or friend in the EU or the States).

I won a prize the other day in a competition in Little Brown Rabbit’s blog.  It arrived this morning and is gorgeous, so much so that my almost 5 year old and I had a (ever so slightly heated) debate over who’s bedroom it would be nicest in – her’s or mine. I gave in in the end as it’s her brother’s birthday today and she was being very good about the fact that he was getting presents and she wasn’t.

Here’s the print I won – isn’t it cute? Emma Talbot designs and illustrates gorgeous cards and prints and her business card is the nicest I have ever seen – if you’d like to see her blog and some of her illustrations – check them out here.

The children went on their school outing today to Croke Park and Viking Splash in Dublin, by all accounts, Viking Splash is worth a visit by all ages. Will was anxious about it all last night so we looked it up on the net and I wouldn’t mind going on it sometime – a Duk that’s a bus and a boat and actually sails on the Liffey for about 20 minutes.  As it’s his birthday, they gave him a Viking helmet as a present which made his day too.

So, this time seven years ago, I was conked out, didn’t know which way of me was up, was parched as I kept being sick all day and felt totally dehydrated and had a tiny baby that looked overcooked and scrawny (like a chicken!).  I shared a ward with a lady I’d been on antenatal classes with and I can remember Brian saying the next day that her baby wasn’t cute at all and I thinking that she was much cuter than Will and he had obviously bonded! 2 days later I too thought he was gorgeous – the bonding had happened!  It’s been a wonderful seven years and I’d love to have it all over again – well, maybe I’d skip the first three days of his life when I was sore and exhausted!

I was almost 33 when I had Will and was convinced that I would have two children so they’d be company for each other, pop them into the creche as soon as possible and carry on with my career and get my doctorate. Well, apart from the fact that my memory seemed to disappear with the placenta along with my two brain cells that used to rub together, the idea of getting a PhD sort of disappeared over the years – maybe when i’ve retired!  Motherhood became more than I ever expected, I had a suspicion that there must be a strong maternal bond somehow as I taught so many horrible 13 and 14 year olds whose parents seemed to love.  I kept saying ‘5 years time’ when peoople would ask when we were going to have children (we got married when I was 23 – I know,  a child bride!) .

I remember being convinced that I and Brian were the only people who genuinely thought Will was a gorgeous baby as I thought that only ridiculouly devoted parents thought their rather ugly babies were gorgeous – and then being surprised when I would be pushing him in the buggy and have so many people commenting on how smiley and gorgeous he was.  One lady in the supermarket once commented on how special he was (he was about 18 months at the time and v smiley) and asked me did I think so to which I replied ‘of course but I’m his mum’ and her reply was that there was definitely something special about him.

He’s incredibly sensitive, so much so that he cries very easily.  He adores his younger sister and is such a gentle big brother.  At times, he comes to my rescue when I’m trying to reason with her and he manages to talk her around or calm her down. He’s very placid and a loyal friend to his classmates.

He loves learning especially doing mental arithmetric, listing the planets, learning about space, mammals, history, countries, different cultures – you name it – I have had to go and buy books on space etc as we didn’t know the answers to his questions.

He’s incredibly fussy about his food – heaven help the pea that dare touch his mashed potato!

His brown eyes, dimple, enthusiasm and infectious laugh light up my day.

He has a very strong sense of what is right and wrong. 

He’s incredibly affectionate and always gives me a hug before he gets on the school bus.

I honestly never dreamt that I would enjoy being a mum so much or indeed have two such wonderful children.

Homes and Gardens magazine are running a competition in conjunction with Farrow and Ball – the prize is £1,000 worth of paint/wallpaper and a free colour consultation for an hour.  I don’t know if non-UK residents would get the colour consulation but I’d imagine the paint/wallpaper offer is available everywhere. Click here to enter.

I’m delighted to announce that the winner of the ‘breakfast for two’ set is Fiona from Sligo.  Many congratulations to Fiona and I wish you a romantic breakfast in bed!  Many thanks to all who left comments and emailed.

Apologies for the delay in announcing the winner – it has been a hectic week and I’ve been burning the candle at both ends as the expression goes!  Eventually got around to putting all the names into a hat and K did the honours of picking out the winning name.