Winner, winner (chicken dinner!)...

I just knew I would like this giveaway business, it has been a lot of fun!

So finally here are the lucky winners drawn from a random number generator!

via 20something chic

The first giveaway was for a gift voucher for Belle and Boo.

The winner for this is Laura who writes the blog 'A Place for Tea'

The second giveaway was for an Emma Gordon Georgia clutch bag.

The winner for this is Sophie who writes the blog 'The Littlest Things'.

Sophie could not choose between champagne and leopard - what will it be Sophie?!

This win is very fitting as Sophie and I started to write our blogs at around the same time and she is such a sweetie. I know this bag will go to a good home :-)

via The Sartorialist

The third giveaway was for a copy of 'The Scandinavian Cookbook'.

I'm really pleased given that the winner for this is Jane who writes 'My Pear Tree House'. Reminding us how small the world can be and how I hope that books are goodness in times of trouble.

Congratulations to the winners - I do hope you enjoy your treats! I will email you for postage details. The giveaway has been great, I have so enjoyed your many comments. 

Normal service now resumes... :-)

Danish love...giveaway day three!

Happy Monday to everyone! Today is the final day of my blog birthday giveaway week. I have been amazed and delighted by all of your comments and the number of new readers.

I write this with my head still full of images from the ballet yesterday. It was just incredible - the Moscow City Ballet - the talent and discipline of the dancers was something to see. I realised how great it was to see something that impressive that did not involve technology! It was pure and simple; but still created absolute awe in us. And not a computer in sight...

More country walks today in an effort to wear out the Boos; I still have two more days of school holidays contend with so it's fresh air all the way.

We are all, to some extent defined by our past, our upbringing, our heritage. I am half Danish. However that Danish half of me is not prominent all the time; I don't speak the language and nowadays rarely visit Copenhagen where my family live. But as a child we went a lot; especially when our little family needed stability. My Mum would take us back to her homeland and we would spend summers with my cousins, aunts and uncles, and my grandparents: Mormor and Morfar. My Mormor, who lived until she was in her nineties was an incredible cook and so many of my childhood memories are rich in taste when I recall her cooking.

She had a little house just outside of Copenhagen and I would go with her as she spoke in her Danish tongue that I never understood, and we would pick gooseberries from her garden to bake a tart. Or my Mum and I would return from a shopping trip and my Mormor would have made us elderflower cordial and pastries. So I associate all Danish cooking with goodness; a pure palate of honest food. So when I was given this book, The Scandinavian Cookbook by Trina Hahnemann I was transported through the incredibly evocative photographs back to my childhood.

It's the simple, sometimes austere style of Denmark that I love. The minimalism, the design, the whole clean, clear feel to it. This book sums up that feeling, when applied to food. It's broken down into seasons too, which I like, so you eat the food that is in season when it is in season, rather than sourcing from far overseas.

by Vilhelm Hammershoi

 

So for today's final blog birthday giveaway, a hard back copy of

'THE SCANDINAVIAN COOKBOOK'

To win, it's as easy as one, two, three or should I say in Danish
 'en, to, tre', 

1. become a follower of my blog 'Lou, Boos and Shoes'

2. leave a comment to have the chance to be chosen

3. cross your fingers that you get picked!

Closes midnight UK time, Tuesday 11th January.

The recipes are divine and even if you have never tasted Scandinavian food there are some beautiful things to prepare. If you don't cook, the photographs are stand-alone beautiful!

GOOD LUCK!

via Copenhagen Cycle Chic

 Bye-bye...!

Things of beauty...giveaway day two!

I have always had an affliction - I love to shop. I like to get new things. My Dad was an airline pilot and when I was a child, he used to return from his route with party dresses from America; with puffed sleeves and frills = big impact in my little world.

I was that child who pined for brand new, red, patent Mary Janes. To this day that feeling of excitement of taking a package or bag of newly purchased items home persists. It is an affliction. I wish I could get over it. But sometimes you just have to accept who you are. It is shallow. Clothes and shoes are not everything in life, for sure. But they are nice aren't they?!

I do maintain a life-long search for the perfect pair of red shoes, the perfect LBD, the perfect antiqued brown leather belt. Obsessed? Yep, pretty much. Over the years I have had some partners in this crime; they know who they are but they are - the friends who I still email with links to online shops where I am considering a purchase! For me, it's all about the little details; those things that make your heart beat just that little bit faster.

So this week's things of beauty starts with the incredible face of Natalie Portman; I want to see 'Black Swan' when it comes but I am also scared to; horror is so not my cup of tea! I am taking Boo to the ballet this weekend to see 'The Nutcracker'. It's an annual tradition. Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the giveaways! Keep scrolling down...

...breath-taking Natalie Portman...

...love the short retro veil...photograph by Elizabeth Messina

...the delectable Blake Liveley...

 

 

...so simple, the winged eye, the pale lips..

 

...detailing by Emerson Made...

...'today, she thought as she looked at the map, we shall go here!'

...a feast of bow ties!

...such a cutie!

...the original: Brigitte Bardot...

simple monochrome dressing...via Dust Jacket Attic

Emma Gordon clutches...gorgeous detailing!

So the next giveaway of my blog birthday week is a little bit of that shopping happiness...

A HANDMADE 'GEORGIA' CLUTCH BAG BY EMMA GORDON, LONDON IN THE COLOUR OF YOUR CHOICE...

To be in with a chance of winning one of these, you simply need to be a follower of my blog and leave me a comment saying which colour you would pick! 
Closes midnight Sunday 9th January.

see the choices here...ivory, silver, lemon, berry, blue, peach, navy, lime, fuchsia, turquoise, taupe, purple, gunmetal, leopard, champagne, black...

I have had such sweet comments as part of this giveaway week, so thank you so much; without you...well, without you I am just someone who posts their thoughts on the web for no apparent reason!  

Do come back for more in a day or two...

Blog birthday...giveaway day one!

Once upon a time there was a girl called Louise. Always a diary-writing, thinking, musing girl. One idle January day last winter she happened across a blog or two and decided, almost in a split second, that this was the new place for her. A quick check with her technical Godfather to find out how to do it, and Lou, Boos and Shoes was born!

via papergarland

Here I am a year on and two hundred and something blog posts later. Blog posts of what has been on my mind, the things of beauty that have caught my eye and the tapestry of words and images that make me Lou. I've picked up some very lovely friends along the way who do mean an awful lot to me; as strange as that may sound given that I have never even met them (bar one).

via dress, design, decor

I'd be inclined to have a little blog party, but most of the people who read this live an awfully long way away. There would be a little too much travel for everyone to join me, so instead of a party I am hosting my first blog giveaway...to last all week! I must admit I've always observed blog giveaways and wondered - what is all that about? Then I won a couple and thought...ahhh-haaa, this I like!

Just a short word about shoes. Aren't these divine? Apologies, I digress...

So feel free to join in with my one year anniversary fun as you never know, you might get a scrummy treat in the post just for the mere cost of a few lines.

via my sparkle

So...the story of Boo. My daughter, who is now nine, was and is always referred to as 'Boo'. From the day she was born. Of course, she has a real name too but for family and friends she is Boo. Then Boo 2 came along; so we have 'the Boos'. In honour, I wanted to start my blog anniversary giveaway with something 'Boo', so I am giving away gift vouchers for the gorgeous Belle and Boo shop. Think whimsical, think retro, think pretty vintage...I love their images and products, the sweetest little gift tags and magnets. Pretty framed prints.

...by illustrator Mandy Sutcliffe...

So if you win my first giveaway of the week, I will send you:

A TWENTY FIVE POUND GIFT VOUCHER 

to spend in the Belle and Boo online shop. They ship internationally too so open to anyone...

Now, if it were me I would choose something like....

...Happy Birthday Lou, Boos and Shoes...

...some pretty rabbit gift tags...

...maybe a family tree poster...

All you have to do is become a follower of my blog Lou, Boos and Shoes and leave me a comment. I will randomly select a winner and announce shortly. Closes midnight Thursday 6th UK time.

That's it. 

Ticketyboo.

And P.S. that's not all...I will be back with more treats in a day or two...