Little Luxuries: Jo Malone Hand Massage

One of my absolute favourite luxury companies is Jo Malone. I'm just totally in love with everything - the scents, the stores, the branding, and possibly most of all with the free arm and hand massages they lavish on anyone who walks through their doors.

Yes, you read that correctly, Jo Malone boutiques give free hand and arm massages - and chocolates!!! And even better - the lovely Stylists don't give you the hard sell while you're blissed out over their counter!

I recently received an invitation through the post for a special edition hand & arm massage, showcasing a couple of new products - Geranium & Walnut Body Scrub and the new range of shower oils - and decided that me and my littlest sister deserved a bit of a treat!

My Official Birthday

I've talked before about having the luxury to design one's own life, and I really am committed to making that happen.

One of the traditions that my husband and I have added to our calendar is that of the Official Birthday. Much like the Queen has two birthdays a year, so do we!

It's just really nice to have an extra reason to celebrate and make a fuss of each other. Our Official Birthdays fall exactly 6 months after our actual birthday and mine was yesterday.

You can get my Tiffany Breakfast Tray from Habitat

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.

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.

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...

Let's Go To Bettys!

 Whenever anything needs celebrating in the Forcella household, we cry "Let's Go To Bettys!"

So as it was our 7th wedding anniversary, that exactly where Mr. Forcella and I went for brunch!