CHRISTMAS PARTY

We held our annual Christmas Drinks n Nibbles party yesterday at which I held a raffle.  Once again, my wonderful friends were so generous.  Wonderful prizes were donated, plenty of tickets sold and also the recipe books sold extremely well.  All in all, I raised another £107 pounds.  And I do hope that everyone enjoyed themselves and had plenty to eat and drink
Christmas brings a bit of a gap in fundraising but the opportunity to start my training regime (even if it's only on the Wii fit!)
Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New year to you all.

2ND PRINT RUN!

The recipe book is selling well, 2nd print run required!
The Fayre at Walton High was a complete waste of 4 hours and it was freezing in there!  I made a small profit on top of my stand fee.
Good news though, Dri-Eaz are buying some of my cards to send to customers so I might not end up with tons to use up myself.
I had a minor operation which has suspended training until after Christmas but I am looking forward to getting back into it.
We have our annual Christmas Drinks n Nibbles party this Sunday where I'll be holding a raffle so I hope my kind friends and neighbours are going to help with some more funds for my cause - and have a good time too!!
I have raised £775 so far.  I was aiming for £1000 by the New Year but, as I have asked for cash instead of pressies this Christmas and still have the raffle, it's not impossible!  Also, some recipe books are ordered but not yet paid for.

RECIPE DETAILS

Well, here it is at long last!
There are 49 recipes, ranging from Salmon Terrine, to Oysters Bienville, to Beefburgers, to Jungle Juice and Mascarpone and chocolate cassata!  Makes a great gift for someone, or treat yourself. Priced at £4.99, it's ring bound and the covers are laminated.  Full of lucious colour photos too!

RECIPE BOOK AVAILABLE!!

It's now finished and I will be selling it for £4.99.  There are 49 delicious recipes all tried and tested by friends and family.  If you'd like one, please contact me at sarahec.reid@btinternet.com.

I will be at the Christmas Fayre at Walton High in Milton Keynes this Saturday 5th December from 10.00am to 2.00pm. and Truffles in Newport Pagnell will also have them for sale.

Thursday's Virgin Vie fundraiser went really well.  Despite a few people not being able to make it, I raised just over £100 through commission and sale of raffle tickets.  Hopefully everyone enjoyed themselves (a glass of wine always helps!) and managed to get a bit of shopping done without the hassle of parking etc.  Many thanks to Anna of Virgin Vie for giving us such a fun party and to her and other ladies for the donation of raffle prizes.

The first recipe book has been printed and, as I type, Bill is proof-reading it for me - I have also discovered I need to use larger combs for the binding as they're a bit packed in.  I'd like to thank Kall Kwik in central Milton Keynes who have agreed to cut the paper for me and also my employer, Dri-Eaz who are letting me use the printer at work (with me supplying the paper).

Next week, I will be taking cards, recipe books and my collecting tin into Truffles, the bakers in Newport Pagnell who have agreed to help me, so thanks to them too!!

And last, but by no means least, I want to extend a huge "thanks" to Brian and Ann Clarke who have donated to my JustGiving page in lieu of sending Christmas gifts to extended family.  What a generous gesture.  The recipients are being given a certificate with this blog address so I will be sure to keep this updated so everyone can follow my progress

Table top sale on Saturday was a complete disaster!  If I hadn't taken my tin for donations I would not have got my table fee back, and at £5 that's saying something!
Still, the recipe book is nearly finished and I have had a good number of acceptances for the Virgin Vie party this week.

Well, I have a few small fundraisers coming up. I've signed up to do a table top sale on 21st November and a Christmas Fayre on 5th December.  I'll be selling handmade cards and my recipe book, so that will give me an incentive to get the book finished!
I'm also hosting a Virgin Vie party on 26th November and, for our annual Christmas Drinks and Nibbles party, I am asking people to donate a raffle prize and I will hold the raffle on the day.

Training is coming along; I started on the exercise bike for 20 minutes this week and am also enjoying my Wii fit.  From being someone who poopooed the Wii idea when they came out, I have been transformed into a huge fan!! Oh, and I also went swimming

Set-back in fund-raising!
Dora (new and rather naughty rescue dog!) chewed a collection box last night (sorry, Sonia!) and grabbed a chocolate chip cookie from the cooling tray.

I've spent the evening making chocolate chip cookies to sell.  People at work are complaining I will get fit for this challenge and they will all put weight on!
As well as my office here at Dri-Eaz, I have enlisted the support of the office next door (CFS) and also our accountants (Ad Valorem) to take cookies on a monthly basis.  If I can get one company per week to take them and sell say 10, I will raise £360 approx. over one year.

I have booked my first craft fair to sell cards, at Walton High in Walnut Tree on 5th December, so the next project is making the cards to sell.
Feeling a bit grotty with on-going chest infection this week so training has bitten the dust slightly, but there's always next week.  And the week after........

Well I did a small run late yesterday afternoon.  Due to being over 5 years old I could not work out the cyclo-computer I bought and had to look up the mileage afterwards on the AA site.  Will have to borrow a small child to work it out for me!  Anyhow, small run of 3.2 miles according to the AA.  I also started my Wii fit programme and am ashamed to admit my Wii fit age, suffice to say it's more than my biological age so there is room for improvement!

We had some friends round for dinner last night, and Fay gave me some great ideas for fundraising.  One that would be fun is a Barn Dance.  We have a hall at the bottom of the road which would be ideal, so I'm going to start looking into that idea.
I'm also making Christmas cards to sell and will be looking at taking tables at such events as school fetes.
Outside training not so appealing in English weather, but have bought a Wii, complete with Wii fit, so I will set this up today.   We also have an excercise bike indoors so, actually, I don't have any excuse not to train, do I?

Hi all, here's my first blog.
I'm very excited about this challenge and have already made good progress on my fundraising.  I've raised 15% already and that within about 7 days of starting!
Training started in France - the home of cycling, where better! I visted with two friends and took time out on my own to do 3 training runs; one of 12.4 miles and 2 more of about 8 miles.  With the winds we experienced down there (in the Languedoc) I reckon I probably cycled more!!
I'm compiling recipes from friends to make up a small booklet to sell to raise funds, so please donate recipes and pledge to buy a copy.