Ruby Slippers

At the end of the Wizard of Oz, after many trials and tribulations involving talking scarecrows, flying monkeys and a few song & dance numbers, Dorothy learns that all she needs to do to get home is to click the heels of her ruby slippers together and say, "There's no place like home" three times. All the while Glinda, the Good Witch of the North watches over Dorothy and guides her on her journey back to Kansas.

When the scarecrow asks Glinda why she didn't tell Dorothy earlier what she needed to do, the witch answers "Because she wouldn't have believed me. She had to learn it for herself".

Basically, the Good Witch of the North was the ultimate mentor - allowing Dorothy to make her own mistakes but ensuring that she was heading in the right direction to achieve her goal.  

Bossa Nova Baby

Tall and tan and young and lovely,

The girl from Ipanema goes walking...

The Girl from Ipanema

Now if I'm honest I'm not tall, I'm definitely not tan, I'm not particularly young but I like to think that I'm at least a little bit lovely and I do have a brand spanking new pair of Ipanema flip flops*.

Unfortunately, sun, beaches and, well, anything vaguely tropical are pretty hard to come by in West Yorkshire, so if you want that holiday vibe you've got to create your own.

Movie Me-Time

Hebden Bridge is home to an original 1920s Picture House which is still in operation and showcases a good range of mainstream, art-house and foreign language films as well as live events.

When I saw that there was a 10.30am screening of the Marilyn Monroe classic Some Like It Hot this Thursday I thought I'd go along, however I was most disappointed when I realised I was already busy that morning (I mean, who's free to go to the cinema on a Thursday morning??).

So, inspired by Honeybourne Line's "Stay Home" series, I decided to have my own vintage movie morning at a time that suited me!

Classic with a Modern Twist

Regular readers of my blog would be forgiven for thinking that I do little other than shop and lunch with my girlfriends. I do admit that I am a bit of a shopaholic and I hold my hands up to girly lunches / coffee / cocktails being one of my favourite pastimes. However in my defence, the hours I spend knocking plaster off walls, stripping wallpaper and sanding down woodwork don't get much blog-time and neither do the baked-bean on toast lunches because, let's face it, who wants to read (or write) about that?

So back to the good stuff....

My sister Abi's birthday was earlier this week so me, my mum and both my sisters met up in Leeds for afternoon tea and some retail therapy.

Mum, Abi, Kits & Me

Spreading the Love - Liebster Award

Until I was nominated, initially by the glamorous Ting from The Ting Thing and then by the gorgeous Renata from Speaking Beauty UK and the super-stylish Mandy from One Slice of Lemon, I hadn't really heard of the Liebster Award, however after a little bit of investigation I found out all about it. 

The Food Up-cycling Project

I grew up in quite a large family and was used to seeing my parents buy in bulk. As this is generally the most economical way to shop I never really considered doing anything else when I left home and was responsible for my own groceries.

However, when there's just two of you, bulk buying just tends to end up with a lot of waste as bag after bag of 'buy one get one free' salad goes in the bin followed by half a block of mouldy cheddar and a punnet of mushy strawberries.

Throwing out food is not only expensive, I also feel that it is immoral. Who's mum hasn't said to them "Finish your food - there are children starving in Africa"? whilst whether you finish your lasagne or not will make absolutely no difference to whether people go hungry on the other side of the world, we need to remember just how lucky we are in the affluent West and endeavour to waste as little food as possible.

School's Out!!!

All in all, I've had a pretty lovely week and here's what I've been getting up to...

As I don't have children you'd think that the school holidays would barely register with me, however as most of my friends are teachers I LOVE the school holidays as it means I have loads of friends to play out with!!!

On Monday my friend Rachel, happily for me, decided to spend her first afternoon of freedom lunching and shopping with me in Hebden Bridge, where she helped me choose this lovely scarf from a local boutique.

Teepee Love

Have you ever been to a wedding in a teepee? I mean a wedding that took place in a teepee, not attended a wedding wearing a teepee. Well until Saturday I hadn't done either but now I have been to a wedding that took place in a teepee (wearing a teepee to a wedding is still on my bucket list...) and it was, quite frankly, magical.

Spiced Fruit Smoothie Ices

The sun's out, your flip flops are on and it's time to chill out in the garden. I don't know about you, but the ice lollies I used to have when I was little now seem so tooth-rottingly sweet and just so... blue.

Ever one to try and sneak one of my 5 a day into something that feels more like a treat, I've devised a distinctly more grown-up (and infinitely more healthy) version of the retro-favourite Fab lolly.

Comprising of nothing more than fat free Greek yoghurt, fruit, herbs or spices and a drop of agave nectar, you can enjoy with out a second thought about the impact on your bikini body (not that I spend a great deal of time thinking about this anyway...).

Tuesday Night Supper Club

I always think that Tuesday are just a bit... meh. So my solution to the whole "not the beginning of the week not the end of the week" ennui is to have friends round for an informal supper.

Our neighbours have an amazing garden where they grow so much fruit and veg that they are virtually self sufficient. As a result when they have a glut of anything we get some of the extras - I was presented with this punnet of home-grown blackcurrants when my guests arrived. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with them yet but no doubt I'll share it with you when I do!!

The Great Bella Bake-Off

I love cake (love da cake), but Mr. F's not fussed so I don't bake that often as I have to eat it all myself, and let's face it - there's only so many cupcakes a girl can get through on her own.

Anyway, Mr. F has found a (virtually) calorie-way of fulfilling my baking cravings - I make cake and he takes it in to work!

He recently moved floors in his office and to curry favour with his new colleagues he asked me to do a bumper bake for him to take in.

So I dusted off my mixer, did a monster Tesco shop and got stuck in.

As with any kind of cooking, good preparation is the key to stress-free success. I like to get out all of my ingredients and tools and line them up so that I know that I have everything I need. I also make sure that the dishwasher is empty and put away each ingredient as I finish with it so that when I'm done the kitchen's virtually already tidied up.

Make Up Brush 101

They say "a bad workman blames his tools", which is something I've never really agreed with. I mean, a master carpenter's not going to do a brilliant job with a blunt chisel. On the other hand a fancy KitchenAid mixer alone isn't going to help you knock out Nigella-worthy cakes.

But the right tools, coupled with a bit of know-how, can take you a long way whether you're making meringues or painting your face.

I am a bit of a make-up and make-up tool obsessive and have a different brush for every type of product - powder, bronzer, blusher, highlighter, eyeshadow (lots of different sizes!), concealer, eyeliner, lips, eyebrow, eyeliner - and I even have a separate brush-roll and brushes for when I go away!! However, I do know that this is a bit over the top, so I've put together a little list of what is actually necessary in your make-up kit.

Ladies that Lunch

Since you met my littlest sister last year (Playing Hooky post), our regular Leeds lunch meet-ups have been upgraded to include a bottle of fizz and shopping. This time we thought we'd go step further and get our nails done as well!

We went to Pastille Beauty Bar, which is a really cute nail & brow/lash salon in Granary Wharf.

The Tour De Yorkshire

It's pretty much a once in a lifetime event when international cycle race, the Tour De France (clue's in the name), whizzes through your little town in West Yorkshire so when it does it's appropriate to mark the occasion properly.

Our friends who were coming to celebrate with us are rather sporty (Iron Man, anyone?) so as road closures were in place they decided to cycle the tough 21 miles over to us the day before.

Le Tour Eve

The bunting is up at la maison du Forcella and we're eagerly awaiting our guests who are cycling (of course!) across from Lancashire to watch the Tour de France come through Hebden Bridge tomorrow afternoon.

I thought that I'd have a wander into the town centre to see what was going on on the eve of this exciting occasion, and this is what I found!

Naturally there were some cyclists - these professional 
looking gents kindly posed for a photo!

Le Bridge

Hebden Bridge is well known for its creative culture and artistic community, and this creative energy was certainly evident when I wandered in this morning to take some photos for the post I plan to do next week featuring the Tour De France (don't worry - the sports content in the post will be minimal).

Bella Forcella - A Grown-Up Blog

Women in their 30s and 40s grew up with "Sex And The City". From when it first hit our TV screens here in the UK back in 1999 to the release of the second movie in 2010, fans have watched Carrie and co move on from quick flings to serious relationships to marriage.

I think it would be fair to say that their glamourous lifestyles don't exactly reflect those of the viewers', but that didn't stop us lusting after Louboutins and throwing back cosmopolitans (see HERE for my take on this SATC staple), while hoping that someday we'd find our very own Mr.Big (or Aidan - you choose).

However I found myself relating very strongly to one of the themes in the second movie - that of Big & Carrie's childfree marriage. 

The fact that "childfree" has just been underlined in red by my auto-spell checker just goes to show how non-integrated this situation is in today's society. There is a subtle distinction between "childfree" and "childless" (note: childless does not get underlined in red!!) and that is choice. Childfree people have chosen not to be parents and childless people have, sadly, not chosen that particular path.

The French Market Cookbook

About 2 weeks ago my husband announced that he was going vegan. This is the man who once declared that he didn't get to the top of the food chain to eat vegetables.

However, following a serious health scare last year he's been much more health concious and I want to be supportive of any positive lifestyle changes.

The next day I spent a good few hours researching vegan recipes, devising a meal plan and putting in an on-line food order. Meanwhile I managed to whip up a vegan swede & coconut dahl from the contents of my freezer and cupboards for that night's dinner.

I presented the dahl to my husband when he arrived home from work (how very 50s housewife!) which he greatly enjoyed and was chuffed when I told him that I had a week's worth of healthy vegan meals lined up for us. I then asked him what he'd had for his lunch. His answer? Chicken Kiev.

Chicken bloody Kiev.

Avon Calling

I'll let you in to a little secret - I used to be an Avon Lady.

From being a little girl back in the 80s when I spent my pocket money on strawberry flavoured lip balm from my mum's brochure to when I was cash-strapped student, being an Avon Lady always had a certain allure for me.

So a few years back when I was looking for a hobby to excite me outside of my corporate banking job, I joined up. I did enjoy it and loved the big parcels arriving every 3 weeks, however job and house renovation projects took over and I left the world of Avon behind me.

Nose to the Rhinestone

It's been a while.... 

I really enjoy writing this blog, however the past few months have been both busy and challenging.

I have no doubt that the challenges and busy-ness will continue in 2014, but hopefully in a more positive way.

Sunbed with a view...