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.

When we got married Mr. Forcella and I decided upon Orwell Park School as a venue which was formally a beautiful Georgian manor house, but as it was a working school the only dates available were during the school holidays, so we chose a date in July.

As I mentioned in last year's post Let's Go To Betty's, Betty's is our go-to place for celebration, and that's where we headed on Tuesday for our 8th wedding anniversary.

And of course we brought some goodies home with us...

I wore the pretty Swarovski crystal necklace that my husband gave to me that morning.

After 12 years together we're so in sync that we got each other the same anniversary card!!

I'm always looking to up my make-up game, so on Wednesday morning when I saw the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge being demonstrated on a YouTube beauty vlog (sorry - can't remember which one!), I clicked straight over to Feelunique.com and ordered one along with a packet of Korres Milk Proteins Cleansing & Make Up Removing Wipes.

Now, I'm going to clarify my position on the latter purchase. On the whole I'm no fan of face wipes, I always feel that using them is a little bit lazy, wasteful and that they're not as effective as the classic cleanser/hot cloth combo. However, when you're away from home for a night or so they are convenient and infinitely preferable to sleeping in your make-up.

This week wasn't all fun and games - I spent Thursday doing the annual re-varnish of our kitchen work surfaces, which are now looking pretty smart again.

I met my friend Karen on the first day of primary school back in 1982 and 32 years of being told off for talking in class (primary school), fancying our geography teacher (secondary school), being told off for talking in class (secondary school), nursing hangovers in the 6th form common room, being told off for talking in class (6th form), extreme abseiling adventures and several glamping weekends later, we're still friends - although as she's now a head teacher it's Karen who's the one telling children off for talking in class!

Karen came over for lunch on Friday. We sat out in the sun drinking white wine spritzers and eating courgette tartlets with tomato salad.

The tartlets are really simple to make - spread a base of crème fraîche mixed with parmesan, salt, pepper, lemon zest and a little lemon juice on to ready made puff pastry then top with sliced courgettes sprinkled with more parmesan and a twist of pepper. Pop them in the oven at 180° for about 15 minutes (although keep an eye on them after 10 mins).

Inspired by our "straw-fie" taken at last weekend's teepee wedding, Karen brought some home made chocolate dipped strawberries for dessert.

I'd like to say that all my weeks were as enjoyable as this week, but next week I'll be back to house renovation duties - I'm sure there'll be a few more lunches and shopping expeditions with my school friends before the summer is out though!!