Christine Sanders Blog

So as Valentine day approaches, Love becomes more tangible, floating and drifting through the air, and settling on the shoulders of us all.
And without further ado, as soon as I sensed the stirring of the Valentine dust being sprinkled from Cupid, I knew it was time to have the site Valentined!
A few phone calls and emails to Ian (web designer – outhaus.biz) and with a twinkling of fingers, stars and sparkles drifted, formed roses and petals, and the site became Valentined!
We hope you love it. We do.
And yes, we are shamelessly biased, but what better gift could there be for the one you love, love, love?!  Not only yummy yum yum chocolates which will send your true love into delights unknown, but you can customise the box, so your love will only have their very and absolute favourites.  Just think how happy they will be! They will love you forever and ever!
Aahhh, I just love this time of year……….

Is it the power of the Internet, technology or good old fashioned people talk that allows such thrilling things to happen?
We recently had our very first double international (and My! Was I as pleased as a triple layer chocolate!)
I had received an email asking if we could ship to Canada (we can!) and then realised that Michele (my customer) was emailing me from Paris! How marvelous! How very wonderful!
We had some lovely emails back and forth and sorted it all out.  And then, as I handed the extremely securely packaged parcel over to the Post Office, I gave it an extra little squeeze and hug before it went on the very first flying trip for CSC chocolates.  I silently wished it a safe and pleasant journey and thought how thrilling the whole thing was.  To be opened up in Toronto! Wow!
As curious as ever, I asked Michele how she had heard (and indeed tasted) my chocolates.
Well…..  it turned out that a friend had been bought them by another friend  of hers, and everyone had enthused about them – it was all very exciting!
So it’s true – the world is a very small place
and chocolates travel beautifully.
They arrived in Toronto fresh, sparkling and in perfect condition, which when all said and done, is something I have never managed when taking even the shortest plane journey!!
Bravo!

Hello! It’s been a while since I last blogged – things got very busy, very busy indeed as we ran all the way up to Christmas (and as fast as our little legs could carry us!)….
So here is a little catch up of what we’ve been doing:-

In mid-November, I went to see Zoe and Neil who own ‘The Grove’ Narberth. It’s an utterly beautiful hotel and has just won ‘Best place to stay in Wales’ award. It’s a huge award and ‘The Grove’ is a very well deserved winner.  And now they have my chocolates  in their rooms, quietly awaiting to be devoured by the lucky guests! Award Winning chocoaltes for an Award Winning hotel. Yes!                                                                                 Then on 20th had the first of two Little Luxuries fairs at the Queen’s Hall, Narberth.  Both absolutely brilliant, great fun, extremely busy and somewhat chaotic at times! The best part, as always, is meeting so many lovely people. Chocolate Lovers Unite!
On 25th November we supported Ty Hafan Charity at their Winter Fair. It’s a wonderful charity, does amazing work and plenty of money was raised. Thank you to everyone who attended and so generously supported this event. And… just when we thought it couldn’t get any more busier, we were off to Picton Castle Winter Fair for the last weekend of November!   Ah, the castle looked stunning, snow sprinkled everywhere, it really did look like a fairytale Christmas scene.  It was a lovely weekend, and again, we met loads of people new to CSC chocolates, and had an absolutely fab   time.                                              The first weekend  of December saw us at Kilgetty Hall, which was warm, smiley and just lovely.
At about this time Pembrokeshire Life magazine put their Christmas issue on sale.  We had a half page article written about us and appear on page 49.                                                       On 9th had a Chocolate Party.  These are brilliant fun, hello to everyone and thank you to Cheryl, you’re a star!
The 11th December saw us back at Narberth Queens Hall Little Luxuries Fair.   It was Busy, with a capital ‘B’!   And by 6pm   2 bright faced, exhausted but happy bodies (myself and Elliot, son), were slumped, comatosed in front of the tele. A glass of wine, couple of chocs and X Factor.. and I nodded off to sleep… (no doubt dreaming of yummy floating chocolates..)
But this is Christmas, and Christmas and Chocolates go together like log and fire…. so no rest!
I posted my on-line parcels and managed to time it perfectly between all the snow! I posted on 15th and 2 days later a lovely lady phoned me from the Highlands of Scotland to say they were completely snowed in and cut off, no deliveries at all, yet my chocolates had arrived within 2 days. Well, I just love that postie! He/she obviously knew what the contents were, and knew the absolute need to get them delivered! Well done and three cheers to the great Royal Mail!
And finally, for the last couple of days up to Christmas, we braved the cold (convincing ourselves it was really tropical, the freezing temperatures were just a state of mind) and met loads more really lovely people tasting and buying Christmas presents.
So, as this year closes, I want to thank everyone, truly, for supporting my new venture, for all the wonderful comments and words of encouragement, thank you, thank you all.
Here’s to a truly wonderful 2011 to each and every one of you , see you in 2011…      x

This has to be one of my favourite times of the year, when at my door step there stands before me a vision of true beauty.  Shining, beautiful and smiling, greeting me with open arms, it is my heart’s desire.  No, not the delivery man, (absolutely not!), but two very gorgeous deliveries of my yummy beauties. Without further ado, I whisked them upstairs and had them tucked up in their ‘beds’ right away!
As usual, my dedication knows no bounds, and every flavour was checked and tasted just to make sure the standard, was, is, and remains, absolutely knee-buckling.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to announce – they did not disappoint!
An hour later I left them, satisfied and thrilled with these gorgeous tasty delights!!

A quick news flash….
I’ve just booked a stand at the Little Luxuries Show at the Queens Hall, Narberth for this Saturday (23rd) 10am – 4pm.
Come along if you can – there are always chocolates to taste….. yum yum!

I’m SO excited!

The new site has gone live and I absolutely love it!
Hope you do too!

Thank you to everyone who has worked so amazingly and sterlingly, who have listened, offered advice, cups of tea, tissues and words of support.   I thank you all.  x

Who ever said Sunday was a day of rest? Not here!
I had a very productive and positive meeting with Roger from W.Squared (the web developers) and finalised all the tweaks and alterations of the new site.
I did have a sneak preview of the new site – and wow! I can’t wait till tomorrow for it to go live.
His wife Vicky ( who is the other half of W.Squared) has flu at the moment, and what better remedy could I send her, than a lovely box of chocolates.
Even if a box of chocolates doesn’t  actually blast the flu away, it certainly does go a long way to making you feel a whole lot better…..    tucked up in bed, trusty tissues by your side, and snuggled down with a good book and a box of yummy chocolates – well, we all need to be pampered when we are feeling poorly sick don’t we…..