The Wedding Planning Series #9 The Last of The Wedding Fairs.

Harps looks like he's on crack in the above photo (he's not honestly!) 

I'd advise anyone getting married to jump at the chance to go to a few wedding fairs. I've now attended four wedding fairs and yesterday I went to Wed Magazine's wedding fair at Boconnoc Estate and it was probably the best of the wedding fairs I've gone to in the last year. It certainly was the busiest and what made it such a lovely day is that Bimble and Harps came along with my mum and I; it's great to have Harps's input along the way with all this planning shebang. 

We arrived a little after 12 and it was jam packed! I was on a particular hunt for chatting to the marquee company that was there and also finding some selections of caterers and cutlery hire services. I feel like I've come away with a really great selection! I think this'll be the last wedding fair that I'll go to. It's easy to get wrapped up in all the selection and you could literally spend forever browsing and choosing that I don't really want to complicate too much for myself. 

Bimble had a great time too; munching goodies at the chocolate fountain, all I saw was my mum wiping 90% of his face afterwards- I wish I'd seen him go for it. He also blagged a ride on the horse and cart all by himself! It was even funnier when on the way back the horse stopped to let nature take its course. Bimble didn't know what was happening! 

The final adventure was trying to leave. We got so stuck in the mud that my mum thought we were going to have to get a taxi home! Luckily the horse and cart people saved the day and some lovely staff at the venue helped push the car to freedom! I wasn't much help (of course) but cheered them on from the sidelines and cracked inappropriate jokes as usual. 

Have any of you wedding planners been to any fairs? Did you find them helpful or just a bit overwhelming? 

Love Sophie Xx

People and Gardens Fashion Show At The Eden Project With Santander UK.

It's a week. A week since it all happened and every night since I've sat and started to write. Every night since, I've choked up when I've tried to form the words eloquently and ended up rambling on as usual. This time I wanted to tell you, and more-so show you, just what last weekend meant to a group of extraordinary people.

You all have heard me talk about nothing but People and Gardens for a little while now (go on, catch up here if you've missed it) and you're all totally aware that for the last few months I've been organising (alongside some lovely ladies) a fashion show and craft fayre to raise money for them.

Something that I don't know if I mentioned before is that I work for Santander UK.  I've always been nervous to talk about 'work stuff' online but I really can't contain my pride at working for a company that not only supports local charities and community interests but encourages their employees to get involved by matching how much an event, arranged by an employee, raises. How amazing is that?

This is how the day started...

Months and months of preparation had come to the actual day, we were all feeling pretty nervous. We knew we had an an amazing show planned with wonderful (and local!) designers and we knew that the ladies and gents at P&G would love it. But could we pull it off? Out of the four of us, Helen from P&G, Jess from Eden and towards the end I roped in my mum, not one of us had ever organised a fashion show of any kind. As more and more people started to flood through the doors, I ended up talking with a microphone to manoeuvre people!

Jess & Stacie before the show.

Before I start thanking people and reveal just how much we raised (Eeekk!), I just want to go back to why I've been choking up when I've tried to write this. Really I can only talk from my life with Bimble, and of course he's one of the reasons that I'm a bit teary. I'd been incredibly stressed all day, was feeling nervous about the success of the show and worried that it wouldn't raise as much as I'd hoped. 

Just as it started...

As I took his hand and we walked onto the catwalk, I watched him (worst model ever I know!) I couldn't help it, seeing his face light up at the 12 strong photographers and videographers at the end of the catwalk, made my heart just burst. Actually burst with happiness. Holding my hand tight, he strutted his stuff with a beaming smile, confidence oozing. (I definitely cried when we got offstage!)  It leads me on to my main reason for being so proud of last weekend; it wasn't just Bimble that gained something that night. I truly believe that every single person that stepped onto that stage from P&G gained the best gift they've had in a while. Confidence. To any of us, getting glammed up and people appreciating how great you look is just awesome, but imagine that on a much bigger scale. Huger scale in fact. On that note, take a look for yourselves...

Image sourced via Facebook David Presswell

Image sourced via Facebook Kristian Vanviere

Image sourced via Facebook David Presswell

Image sourced via Facebook David Presswell

Image sourced via Facebook Karen Nolan. 

Image sourced Via Facebook David Presswell (Bimble showing his
embarrassed by me face)

Beautiful isn't it?

Very quickly my face went from all the above to this >>(embracing the inner Spice Girl that I am, singing "When Two Become One"- Bimble must have been rubbing off on me.)

There really are so many people that helped us pull this off- I'll be damned if I remember them all. I'm so very sorry if I miss you out, please know that I'm eternally grateful for the hard work that everyone put in.

St Austell College arrived to do hair and makeup for us, they stayed and did an amazing hair presentation which was WILD but I can't seem to find a photo yet, there'll be plenty more added over the next couple of weeks!

Our fashion show was split into two parts; established Cornwall and Devon designers and Plymouth College of Art's second year fashion students showcasing their garments themed around Cornish heritage- a brilliant line up wouldn't you agree? Our interval also included a breathtaking performance from Cornwall Rock Choir! If you're looking for quality fashion that showcases some of the best talent in design that the south west has to offer, take a look at any of the designers below! 

Blossom Clothing Cornwall has the most beautiful knitwear and scarves!

Tamsin Poley Design is a fashion graduate with brilliant style.

Wednesday March has the most amazing retro dresses

Stacie Clark Knitwear is not only my best friend but also an innovative knitwear designer.

Denise Stracey has the most beautiful way of presenting clothes and accessories.

Earth Kind Originals made me fall in utter love with all of their earth friendly, sheek clothes.

Corinne Carr Designer Knitwear put together her looks like no other. Everything looked amazing.

Via Facebook Stacie Clark Designs

The evening was a total success, that when I woke from my coma the next morning, I was greeted with such wonderful messages from so many of you that the support for P&G has continually thrived throughout the last week. Including a very generous, charitable and snugly offer from Stacie Clark Knitwear for all of the proceeds from the sale of her delightful snoods going to People and Gardens! Perfect with Christmas coming up and as someone who wore one just last week (see below) I can highly recommend their quality and cosiness! 

I honestly could carry on telling you all about the evening with such depth that we'd be here all day! As I said, there will most certainly be a catch up post when we've received more images and the wonderful documentary by Tribe Magazine. Until then I leave you with two things;

1) In total that night, we raised £2541.69 and when this is matched by Santander, will be an outstanding total of £5083.38! I couldn't be prouder of the hard work and amazing support from everyone involved, it leaves me welling up all over again.

2) This smile on Bimble's face. Worth every moment.

Image sourced via Facebook David Presswell

Love Sophie Xx

Thankful Thursday: Opportunities

Is it just me or is it fecking freezing suddenly? I spent my day off primarily wrapped in a giant wooly scarf- yet the sun did shine, right before I was drenched in downpour, and had to grab the chance to take this rather chinny and blurry selfie. (Is it bad that I cringe when I use the word selfie? Is self portrait still acceptable?) Autumn is officially here and this Thursday I'm sure that the bags under my eyes are looking even more prominent than they do in the photo above, taken two days earlier. Hey ho, I'm extra busy this week- and even more so next week, so if I disappear I haven't been kidnapped by gremlins, I'm just hiding under a blanket, willing the week to finish! You may already know the reasons behind this; firstly, please take a quick minute to look at my post which will unveil to you all my busy preparation for the final charity event of the year- the opportunity of this, PLUS the fact that between you and me, I'm applying for a promotion next week and really want to get it, means that it's busy town in Sophie Land.

This is what I'm thankful for this week, the chance to involve myself in my community and my work and hopefully make some sort of difference? Why be one of those people that whinges about where they live? How improvements could be made etc...Go for it the Sophie way, pull your finger out, get involved and make some changes!

I'm also incredibly thankful to all of you who have shown me such inspiring belief and support. Everywhere I turn, one of you is offering your help, sharing my surveys and events, even just a little pat on the back really does go such a long way. So thank you to all of you for continuing to encourage me, help me and generally keep me sane. What better things to be thankful for?

Lisette, you inspired my thankful Thursday posts and they keep me focused on the good in life, thank you for that. Leona, you are one of the best friends a shark could ask for (even if we have had to grow up on social media!)

Love Sophie Xx

People and Gardens: The Charity That Inspired It All.

Bimble just posing with some pumpkins.

Happy Tuesday to you all! This post is possibly the most important and special post I've written for a while. I find that whenever I write a post about Bimble I notice that I take 20,00000 times longer to write it, almost worrying that I could never express his wonderful spirit in the right way however I think that this picture sums it up rather nicely. 

It's time to finally introduce the inspiration for all of my fundraising in full. People and Gardens is the charity that Bimble-(If you're new or don't know who Bimble is, have a quick catch up here!) has been a part of for over a decade! The organisation holds a very special place in my heart; founded by Ken and Lorraine Radford in 1997 People and Gardens was the brainchild to encourage those with learning disabilities or emotional impairments to be able to develop as individuals, encouraging them to learn to work and develop their social skills and giving them the choice of having equality in the workplace.




Watering Lane Nursery is located close to Pentwen near St Austell and if you're in the area, you really should pop down. You'll be greeted by lots of friendly faces, For years I've been going here on and off, supporting Bimble and the brilliant work that the team do. Giving these individuals a sense of accomplishment and the feel good factor of a hard days graft builds confidence and pride, what better way to shape the world don't you think?

The work at People and Gardens is varied; supplying plants and veg to the local Eden Project, deliverable, fresh veg bags for local residents, as well as supplying The Cornish Ketchup Company, to name a few, the entrepreneurial attitude of this charity has always been an inspiration to me. Not only that but it's been a 'life constant' for Bimble. When he left specialist schools and activity centres, there aren't many places that cater for those with special requirements in such a unique way. Bimble's life revolves around his 'work', he has structure and routine, needed most at the loss of both of his parents, People and Gardens was the one constant. On a personal level, I am forever grateful to them. Being able to help provide a new packing shed last year resulted in Ken and I bonding at a swanky London lunch where it brought a tear to my eye celebrating his hard work (it still does!). It was that moment, beaming with pride, introducing him to as many as I could, that I made a resolution to do more in my community, donate my time to such worthwhile charities and organisations in Cornwall and all in all, I've had an amazing year doing it.

Which brings me to the reason for all this unveilment! I'm super proud to be announcing the most special (and final!) charity event that I've had the pleasure of being apart of this year. People and Gardens Fashion Show and Shopping Event 22nd November 2014 in the gallery @Eden Project!

A night of Cornish and Devon fashion designers in all ages and sizes, Cornish craft stalls with a selection of goodies ranging from Christmas goodies to needlecraft goods, a performance from Cornwall's Rock Choir, Pasties and Prosecco and much much more! Seriously it's like my perfect evening all rolled into one, with a distinct theme of local craftsmanship and Cornish heritage, what's not to love? Tickets are available at £10 including a free drink via Santander St Austell or please contact peopleandgardens@hotmail.co.uk   to purchase. Doors open at 7pm.

With my heart smiling at the thought of seeing Bimble strut his stuff down that catwalk and my eyes widening at the thought of myself stumbling down as well, I invite you all to spend a fabulous evening with me and the people that I adore. I hope to see as many of you as I can there.

Love Sophie Xx

Location Location Location: Melinsey Mill

Happy first official UK day of autumn everyone! I've been having a beautifully autumn themed day and I'm excited to share a not so well known, but a quirky, beautiful and tranquil little spot in Cornwall that I'm sure you'll all love as much as I did. 

Melinsey Mill is situated in Veryan near Truro, hidden away in the winding country lanes. Somewhere my mum wanted to take me for my 21st birthday a couple of years ago, alas they're only open between April- Late October, but on this lovely AUTUMN morning we decided to go for an explore and cake. For your information, my perfect way to spend a day off! 

A working 16th century watermill, this quirky attraction really captured my imagination (just like my mum knew it would!) According to county records, there has been a mill on the site since 1210 and the local, family business shows a selection of perfectly Cornish eccentricity curios and   homemade goodies. 


Free admission, we first wondered through the mill to check out the amazing machinery, guiding us up the stairs, we found a seating area and a selection of artwork and other handmade delights.

Possibly ghosties in the corner of my photo there- probably just bad phone flash though.

Lovely explorers.

A dusty selection of bottles and jugs.

A fancy walking stick with a fish handle.

These little guys made my heart swell.

I found this beautiful photograph (I think) for sale.

Crazy horse art. Purpose.

After a good ol nose, we looped around the mill house and ended up in the little cafe area. All homemade food and local produce, I ordered a giant slab of chocolate fudge cake, mother had a lovely looking bit of quiche with a delicious salad. We chatted outside, overlooking the small lake, tranquil and relaxing. 


We practically licked our plates and needed to walk off the cake scoffing so we had a wander and discovered a garden straight out of a Lewis Carroll novel. 


Tea pots and chairs hanging from trees, rickety bridges and twisty walkways, I was in my element. 

Smile mummy I'm going to blog about this place!

Even the plates were super cute! Scoff scoff.

This is so great.

After such a lovely time, mum suggested that I help her pick Bimble up from work and walk the dogs. Bimble and I declared that we were going on a conker hunt! He's had a haircut that's much shorter than he's used to, what do you think? He doesn't like it because he always wants 'girls hair' but I think it makes him look younger! We linked arms and skipped along, shouting random insults at mum and learning all about acorns and conkers. Sadly we didn't get either (this photo is ones that I found on my way back from buying groceries!) 

Love Sophie Xx

There is Nothing Quite Like a Bimble Birthday.

Birthday Cake Deliciousness                                  Holding my nose...ya know, so I can't breathe and all. 

Another year, another year older. On Sunday, Bimble (learn a little here) turned 39! That's right! That splendid, extra chromosomed champion of my family is becoming a bit of an oldie! As you'll all know from reading my intro post, Bimble is the shining beacon of our little family. Always there to make a fart impression at inappropriate times, hide your possessions just to make himself laugh, and general other tomfoolery. He is BIG on birthdays, it pretty much becomes the countdown in June and we all spend months telling him 'It's ages away!' In fact, at any other birthday throughout the year, he mentions 'HIS birthday is coming up' even if it's January. Usually when we ask him what the birthday plans are, he replies with "Party." Which inevitably means in real terms- a bunch of us sitting around a buffet whilst Bimble mingles around the room. The ever social butterfly. 

This year, however, he decided that he wanted to go to a Chinese restaurant near to us. So the quieter and more intimate party brigade that we all were, went to The Watermargin in St Austell. His birthday fell on the 'All You Can Eat For £15' day so I was pretty excited. Starving myself all day definitely paid off. The decor of the restaurant needed updating a good 30 years, but the food was delicious! So delicious, that I forgot to take photos of any of it. Just showed off my SECOND time ever at sussing chopsticks and wolfed it down. The staff knew when my mum booked the table, that it was his birthday and made a real fuss. They got banners and balloons and were especially attentive to him throughout our time there. I think he stood a pretty damn good chance of pulling one of the waitresses too! Smooth mover. (I kept on telling him to go and wait in the toilets for her and making him blush and slap me saying "Stop it Sophie!")

Whilst waiting between courses, we started (as a table) playing tiddlywinks with the confetti they'd put out. Bimble took it very seriously in-between playing the drums with his chopsticks and demanding that I take more photos with him. I gave Bimble his gift, the newest muppets film of course, Muppets Most Wanted, which I believe he has spent the ENTIRE Monday watching. Seriously, you'll never meet a more dedicated fan.

Just as we were leaving Bimble uttered the words....'Christmas?'

Here we go again...

Love Sophie Xx

P.S.

This was taken a few days prior when Bimble took a little
snooze in the car like a little nodding dog.