100th Post Giveaway

Watch your mailbox next week. These invitations are going to the post office on Monday.

Back when I first began blogging about the shop in December of '06, I was a new-ish store owner with just a little more than a year's experience under my belt. (If you've only recently discovered us, be sure to check out our Blog 1.0 to catch up on the archives.) For goodness sake, we even had a slightly different store name back then and we had just acquired new, expanded digs in a community forty-five minutes away from where we first opened our doors. Hard to believe that with as chatty as I can be, it took me almost seventeen months to reach my 100th post! But here we are and this one's all for you.

In just two weeks, THE BLISSFUL will host its friends--and yes, of course you're invited--at our annual Paris in the Springtime event. We hope you'll join us for four days of nibbling, sipping, laughing, and of course SHOPPING! We're running a great weekend-long promotion, as well as two fantastic drawings. Come and bring friends. Let's pack the shop out in the spirit of the best little cafés à Paris! More details to follow once our invites land in mailboxes next week.

To help celebrate this annual store event and to spread some of our joie de vivre from coast to coast, we are having a 100th Post Giveaway here on Lettres. We're giving away a passel of great French-inspired goodies to one lucky winner. All you have to do to enter our Giveaway is to take a short, four question quiz and post your responses in a comment on THIS post. The deadline for entering is Sunday, April 20th at 11:59 PM EST. On Monday the 21st, we'll choose a winner using this random number generator. The winner will be contacted via e-mail, so be sure that if you enter, your e-mail address is accessible through your blog or website so that we can contact you if you win (i.e. if you post anonymously and do not have a blog or website, please include your e-mail address in your comment or e-mail it to us privately at info@theblissful.com). Clear enough? Oh, and our Giveaway is open to blog readers from all fifty states, from locales beyond, as well as to our local customers in our very own neighborhood.

Now on to the goodies. Here's what's up for grabs:

No. 1. This book (just one page shown here). A coffee-table-to-bathtub book on the glories and curiosities of the French way of life. The cover will entice dreamers of all ages. Whimsical, endlessly informative, and delightfully designed. Not yet for sale in our online boutique, so consider this a preview!

No. 2. Your choice of one of seven Patisserie candles by Tatine. Choose from Carrot Cake, Framboise, Café Crème, Madeleine, Pink Sugar, Crème Brulée, or Chocolat. An absolutely scrumptious burn, almost as good as eating the real thing.

No. 3. A copper fleur de lis cookie cutter.

No. 4. A block of our Savon de Marseille in one of four fragrances: Lavender, Rose, Verbena, or Orange. All feature crushed local flowers (that's local from France, not from Canton) and are scrubby and wonderful and perfect for the bath or by the kitchen sink. Oh, why not, let's throw our pure Olive Oil Savon in as an option, too! No crushed flowers in this one (so less exfoliating), but very rich and moisturizing.

No. 5. And a handpicked surprise from our Atelier. New file folders from Cavallini & Co.? A Pink Paris Paperweight? A box of our French Home Notecards? Or perhaps one of our musical CDs featuring tunes you would hear when rambling through THE BLISSFUL? We'll let this last goody remain a surprise until the winner is chosen.

Now...

How to Enter
To enter our contest, please leave a Comment with answers to our simple four question quiz. You don't need a blog in order to be able to leave a comment. Simply click the Comments tab at the bottom of this post, type your answers in the box, and voila! You are entered. One entry per person, please.

In your comment, simply number your responses 1-4 and post the letter of your answer. However, we don't mind long windedness, so feel free to elaborate on any or all questions if you wish. Consider this a cheap way for us to generate some market research, and the possibility of a very sweet reward for your time and thoughtfulness.

Now on to the questions:

1. Which style of decorating most resonates with you?
a) Contemporary
b) European
c) Bohemian
d) Traditional

2. After purchasing one time from an online boutique, which of the following qualities would MOST make you want to return to shop online with that boutique a second time?
a) exquisite packaging
b) better than expected product quality
c) super fast shipping
d) extra surprise item included in package

3. If you had fantasy money to spend in the online boutique of your dreams, in which product category would you be MOST likely to spend your money?
a) jewelry, handbags, apparel
b) home decor, furnishings, accents
c) stationery, paper items
d) apothecary, candles

4. Which characteristic of a brick-and-mortar shop would MOST ensure your loyalty as a customer?
a) attentive, personalized customer service--I like the people who work there
b) imaginative, interesting atmosphere--I like the way I feel when I'm there
c) regular influx of new product, store changes often--I like discovering something new each time
d) unique, desirable merchandise--I like knowing I can find different things there that I don't see elsewhere

Thank you for playing and we can't to meet our winner. Bonne Chance!