I WON! And a Big Thank You!!!

I just learned that I won the Wind & Weather  "Share The Love" Contest, and the fabulous little getaway to Virginia, including the hot-air balloon ride that Dan & I have wanted to do for Years! I am SO excited!  And I am so DEEPLY and seriously grateful for all the wonderful Facebook Friends who "liked" our love story on Facebook and helped us win! Wind & Weather has truly lovely things for the garden, and I have bought several of them for the Elkhorn Inn; please do check out all the lovely, hand-made things they have!

My new Goat Table!

An Octopus made from a glass jar- I love this stuff!

The Koi that will hang from
 a tree outside- or in our bedroom!

As there is no way we could afford to have a holiday this year, winning this trip is THE. Best. Gift. Ever! We now have a holiday to plan for, and something to look forward to, especially now that the weather here in the southern WV mountains is Really Cold and Really Crappy! Woot! We will also be welcoming the "runner up" couple in the contest to the Elkhorn Inn, as we offered them a 2-night stay at the Inn and they accepted!

As the 5 faithful readers of this blog know, I am a terrible Sweeper/Contest Gal, for while all 749 of my Facebook Friends are playing Candy Crush at 3 in the morning, I am often relaxing with a glass of wine, repeatedly entering my name and address over and over and over again, and writing 150 succinct words about various things that have happened to me throughout my life! For as my friend Janice told me, when I was 19 and a Mere Youngin', "life is in the retelling". :-) Finally all the crazy things I've done are paying off! LOL I have gotten a few friends into it (one has won two cruises already!), and even Dan has entered a few sweeps- and won! Over the years I've learned to only enter for things I Really like and Really want to win... and I would like to thank several wonderful companies for their great giveaways which Dan and I have won this year:

One of the loveliest things we won this year was something Dan won for me: a totally beautiful little clock from Paper Scissors Rock, with great artwork by artist Pam Corwin that goes perfectly in our dining room at the Elkhorn Inn! Dan won it for me on OpenSky.com, and I got to pick my favorite, which was hard to do! Do I have a great hubs, or what?! :-)

Our Paper Scissors Rock "Crow" Clock

Our Crow Clock in the dining room at the Elkhorn Inn!

Thank you Celestron Telescopes and Oh Ranger SO much for the win of the Celestron SkyMaster 15X17 binoculars! These are THE best binoculars we've EVER had! Today we looked through them and discovered a house we didn't even know existed- & we've been here for 11 years! LOL We have wanted to have good binoculars at the Inn, not just for star-gazing, but for our bird-watching guests, and these are GREAT!

 I must also thank The Wayfairers Walking Vacations for the luscious and authentic Christmas Pudding from the UK that arrived right before the holidays! It brought back a Lot of memories of when I made Christmas Pudding in Israel for British friends!
My next Thank You goes to Weleda, the Swiss firm I won wonderful body lotions from. I used their products when I lived in Germany and LOVED them, so it was truly great to win a package of their delicious-smelling, natural moisturizers (pomegranate, sea buckthorn, citrus, etc.) and body wash! They not only feel silky on the skin, but they truly smell amazing!
For Dan I won an AbFab set of Bosch Daredevil drill bits! No man can Ever have enough drill bits- as no woman can ever have too many shoes! LOL
My next Thank You goes to Briggs & Stratton for the Snapper Winter Gift Pack of a blanket, hat, gloves, ice scraper, thermometer, thermos, and lip balm! No, I didn't win a giant set of power tools for DIY Dan or the generator we badly want, but at least I won something that will keep Dan a bit warm if the power goes out again!

Christmas Pudding, Weleda skin care, and Bosch Daredevil drill bits!

Briggs & Stratton Snapper

Earlier this year I won an Extreme Radiance Lifting Mask from my totally favorite skin care line, Ahava, which makes THE best beauty products from Israeli Dead Sea minerals! This was a True treat! I put the mask on before a soak in the tub, and treat myself to a "spa bath"; ten minutes later, when I wash my face, it's smooth and clean, and feels wonderful!

Ahava Extreme Radiance Lifting Mask

I also won a delish foodie gift box of Mexican treats from La Preferida that included chips, all sorts of different kinds of refried beans, cheese, and salsa! Chef Dan made us lots of nachos, and they were yummy!

La Preferida Foodie Gift Box!

I won another great skin care item from Bioelements: Kerafole, a deep purging facial mask that reveals fresh, radiant skin with natural exfoliators! I'd never tried Bioelements products before, and this is an excellent mask, and leaves my skin feeling really clean and soft.

Bioelements Kerafole

As you may have guessed, I entered most of these sweeps and contests to win the Grand Prize- usually a trip somewhere, as I am a travel junkie of the first stripe- but in many cases I won First or Second Prize- binoculars or drill bits or a winter scarf or a facial mask! Which totally beats the heck out of Candy Crush! :-)