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.