What a week and its only Thursday.

I feel as though I have done a week's worth of work already and its only Thursday.

On Tuesday, I had two venue visits - the first to Studley Castle in Warwickshire which used to be owned by the Rover Group but is now a Best Western Hotel. I met their events manager at a Women Who..networking event organised by Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and she was very patient when I was having problems with my eyes. Some people think that the castle will be sumptuous inside - I guess they have a fairytale image in their mind and are then disappointed when they see the hotel in the flesh. I actually found it to be a lovely place at the end of a long and twisty drive. I arrived a bit early and immediately was asked to help myself to free tea and biscuits and shown into the lounge where I could wait..the lounge was gorgeous with red sofas and easy chairs, the walls were a deep salmon pink (not an in your face pink) and the room was dominated by a gorgeous marble fireplace with huge mirror, the walls had various pictures hung upon them. The best bit was the ceiling which was painted blue with gold stars and was lit by three crystal chandeliers. It had been painted how it would have been in Victorian times.

The hotel itself was quite quirky - one side had wide corridors and large en-suite rooms and easy access via lifts whilst the other side was narrow with small en-suite rooms and tiny corridors which wound past curved walls - certainly hopeless for wheelchair bound people.

My discussions with the hotel went well and i have been asked to prepare a proposal with regard to organising wedding fairs there - they already have fairs but are not keen on organisation side of things because they don't have the staff.

Rather than going home - I stopped at the day spa for a coffee and a slab of fruit cake (and to use the loo) before heading off to Redhouse Barns in Stoke Prior. These barns are just stunning - the venue has to be seen to be believed as it has been finished to a really high specification - there is an area off the bar (call it a snug if you like) that has lovely sofas, it will have a wood burner, mirrors, heated floor and glass doors so that you either be part of the main bar area of sectioned off so that you can chat without being drowned out by loud music. The owners have done a brilliant job and have even opened up their own private gardens so that couples can have canapes there and their photographs - every detail has been thought of and they even have a vintage rolls royce that can be hired.

Yesterday, I went to Worcester Warriors for a seminar by Brad Sugars. Brad set up the world's leading business coaching firm Action Coach and was lucky enough to retire at 26 and he is now 38 and in semi-retirement. Although from Brisbane, he now lives in Las Vegas and has been touring spreading the word about improving your business to help you make money. I am his friend on Facebook and managed to get a free code to use to gain entry to this event for free - other unfortunate souls had to pay £97. The day was amazing and he is just an ordinary bloke and not in the least bit flash and he likes to do his bit for charity. Whilst there he was talking about charities and asked if anyone was there from a charity and one guy said that he worked with the Variety Club (if only I had had the sense to mention the Saxon Hoard..folks are trying to raise money to keep it in the Midlands where it belongs) and so we were asked to stand if we wanted to buy his notes from the seminar..as the price rose more of us sat down and in the end one chap remained standing as he offered £700.

I went and introduced myself to Brad at the end and he remembered who I was and I thanked him for his help so far (one thing that he did do was offer the services of his buiness coaches for one hour for free - of course I signed up for that).

He imparted lots of words of wisdom about how we should thank our customers and how if you are dealing with accountants bribes of chocolate go along way..now my accountant is holding out for a regular supply of Cadbury's Dairy Milk bars LOL, although she was good yesterday - she paid for my lunch. It really was a fun day and business is all about having fun.

Today, I was supposed to be visiting Snow Business but the meeting was postponed by them until 2010 because they are coming to their busiest season and so are busy with tv adverts. There are no technicians available to demonstrate the various types of snow effects.

I have been catching up with things - although no study has been done as yet so only two assignments have been submitted and marked for my diploma in events planning. I discovered that Birmingham Chamber of Commerce had made a big boo boo with my address (it was wrong) and they said that I was a limited company - I am not. I got the blame for completing their online form incorrectly so I pointed out that I was hardly likely to enter someone else's address.

This afternoon I have been speaking for 4Networking as this is a business networking group that meet fortnightly and at a sensible time - the BNI ones like you to be there for 6am and make a commitment to be there every week or send a sub to attend in your place - this is impossible if you are a sole trader and don't employ staff so I am hardly able to send Auntie Nellie (not that I have an Auntie Nellie). I am feeling more excited about 4Networking especially as they have an online forum so when I have finished here, I am hopping over there to set up an online profile.

The blog will be quiet next week as I won't be here - I have been invited to Spain for a few days and I fly out on Monday at 6.30am and fly back on Saturday at 13.05pm. A bit of sun will give me a boost and maybe I can get some sun on my legs as they are a bit pasty this year - I feel very white :(