I won!

It's been something of a stressful week here, and the mood hasn't been helped by the onslaught of torrential rain. I mean, talk about pathetic fallacy.So, I there I was slumping through the days, when suddenly. I won! Not only did I win, but I was a bonus winner. I'll explain.

At the beginning of the week the lovely Joy of Joy the Baker held a competition. She's nice like that. Very nice in fact because she does things like this all the time, just so show how much she appreciates her readers. Now Joy is someone who pours herself into her blog, her stories and recipes all come from the heart, and quite frankly that heart must be huge. And to top this all off, she makes a mean batch of cookies. You can tell. All in all, a genuinely awesome person. Throw into the mix the fact that she was willing to bake a batch of these cookies for one lucky reader in the US. THEN, add to that, the fact that since she wouldn't be able to include international readers in this, she threw in a spatula giveaway for non-US readers. See what I mean when I say this lovely lady is big hearted?

All you had to do was leave a comment about some of your favourite things. It was the perfect thing to pick me up out of the stress, as it made me remember all the things I love and appreciate. So I posted, not thinking much of it. Low and behold, on Wednesday, I rock on over for my daily Joy-fix, and there is my name amongst the winners!

What a wonderful thing to cheer me up and lift my rain-sodden spirits. Thus, I thought I would write a little post thanking Joy, not only for the bonus spatula winning, but just for being such a downright nice person, who brightens up stressful weeks.

I should also add, that I think she perfectly sums up the food/crafty blogging world, or at least the small corner of it that I wander around in. Everyone I've met in the last year and a bit has been so welcoming, and encouraging and friendly. So this post is also an extended thank you to everyone.

As a thank you I shall share with you a little corner of my life. This is where I hide out when I'm not in the kitchen...

(I just realised how apt my mug is, since the top half of my notes are about that novel!)

...then tomorrow I shall share something rather exciting. A recipe of my very own, that I made up and when eaten this morning for breakfast was enjoyed very much indeed. Hurrah! The perfect way to start a relaxing weekend and forget about the stressful week left behind, or the one to come.

I hope you're all managing to relax too, you deserve it.

Housekeeping: I got a new header! I've been wanting to change it for a while now, and whilst the brief appearance of the basil was nice and very "spring" it wasn't right. So with much bribery (cake and coffee are a great tool for many things) I managed to persuade N to do some funky stuff in photoshop, and voila! A new look. It feels much more like a reflection of me, I'm liking it.