Nothing Is Impossible

When life kicks me in the teeth, there is nothing that will make me feel better more that pulling the curtains, getting under the covers and watching Roman Holiday, or Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I love Audrey Hepburn in a way that a child loves their favourite toy or first pet; I think of her fondly and she makes me smile. The coldest of souls couldn’t fail to be thawed by her, and her films are simply happy and touching.

But not only did Audrey Hepburn have a fantastic catalogue of feel good films, she was a firm believer in helping those less fortunate and worked tirelessly on behalf of UNICEF.

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone. Audrey Hepburn

One of the world’s most famous actresses, Audrey Hepburn was introverted and liked to be by herself, a truly sophisticated woman who transcended the fashions of the era and exuded class.

I believe in manicures. I believe in overdressing. I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipstick. I believe in pink. I believe happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and… I believe in miracles.
Audrey Hepburn

And I love her. I believe in a world of Katie Price’s and glamour models and people desperate for their five minutes of fame, Audrey Herburn should be a role model that more people aspire to. Sure, she might not still be alive but in her time she did more for the morale of young girls than any girl who strips down to her pants and models on page three under the guise of having something faintly ‘important’ to say about politics.

Living is like tearing through a museum. Not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book, and remembering – because you can’t take it in all at once.
Audrey Hepburn

I’ll leave you with a parting gift….

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!
Audrey Hepburn

To Your Posts… Let The Bake Off Begin!

My sister and I decided, in normal penniless fashion, to spend the Bank Holiday weekend together doing sister activities. Last night we had bruschetta for dinner (messy, don’t choose for restaurant fodder!) and watched I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, and Don’t Mess With The Zohan. The latter was a bit disappointing but the first was hilarious.

So this morning, armed with a weekend at the gym, we decided to have a bake-off, after initially planning to visit my Granddad and then for plans to change. Neither of us bake very often, preferring to cook savoury food, but in total exercise avoidance it seemed like the best idea.

We baked three types: carrot cakes, vanilla and lemon, and mixed up the icing while we waited for them to cook. And they were a success! If you know me at all you will know I cant do puddings, and I am so bad at baking a cake that my hopes were shattered when it came to making GCSE choices, and I was asked kindly to not choose home economics after putting too much baking powder in some cakes and taking out all the muffins in the oven.

(cupcakes with vanilla icing and raspberries)

We impressed ourselves. The kitchen became a production line of icing and piping, of hearts and flowers and icing sugar inhalation. My little sister managed to get carrot cake mix all up the wall and on the white cupboards that my mum keeps so pristine, with her saying “Damn, I knew I shouldn’t have pressed the turbo button on the whisk”.

Yep, I am impressed with what we created. We coloured icing and added sprinkles etc, until my sister, ignoring what I said, decided to try colouring some herself. It resulted in her being covered in red food colouring and looking like the prime suspect in a murder investigation.

(my sister is so creative!)

But she persevered, and created cute little cupcakes, while I went for speed and simplicity. It was so much fun! the grass in the one above is made of icing mixed with desiccated (or defecated as my sister calls it) coconut and lots of food colouring.

The piece de resistance in my opinion has to be the cookie monsters. You can see the one at the back left was my first attempt as his eyes are a bit squiffy (or ‘the one that did drugs’ as my sister calls it) but I gradually improved, although my fingers are now bright blue and stained from food colouring.

(Cookie monster cupcakes. Made with mini Maryland cookies, white chocolate buttons and desiccated coconut. I wanted to make red Elmo ones too but as Danielle pointed out, no one likes coconut except me, and I cant eat them anyway).

(Ginger cupcakes. Vanilla icing mixed with powdered ginger, with crystallised ginger chunks.)

(my creations!!)

Shame my cupcakes are all dressed up with nowhere to go. I’m going to take some round for Lou tonight, and I hope Lilly likes the Cookie Monsters!!!

Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend. I have started a Facebook page for this blog in addition to Twitter (apparently social media is where all the cool kids are!) so if you subscribe or follow anywhere please like it. I hate that its called a fan page but ill post updates there that are too long for Twitter!!
‘Belle xx

Spice Up Your Life?

I have a great memory for song lyrics. It’s a talent I wish I could use elsewhere, like for facts or for work or to be a genius, but no, my burden is my amazing talent is only reserved for songs. I’m also a pro at guess the intro, people would kill to have me on their pub quiz team!

I’ve had this talent since I was a child. One day my parents told me that I had to go with my dad to take his friend Nick to work. In London. On a Sunday. I couldn’t think of anything I would rather do less. I didn’t spot that a) no one works on Sunday and b) he probably would have got the train as he was a grown up and didn’t need his best mate and his two kids taking him to the office.

Danielle and I sat in the car for the whole journey merrily singing along to the Sunday top forty. Nick commented on my propensity to learn a song and then Spice Up Your Life came on. “Shimmy to the left…. if your having a good time, shake it to the right.. .If you know that you feel fine” me and my sister sang, and then were asked “do you like the spice girls?”

“God no!!” we commented. “They are, like, soooooooooo uncool!” of course we did, but we didn’t want to say it out loud in case it was being taped and would be played back at school. “They’re RUBBISH!” ultimate insult.

We got to Wembley Arena, and were offloaded. Turns out Nick was the bank manager for the Spice Girls, and he had managed to get tickets for the two ungrateful cherubs that he doted on. Awkward.

We LOVED IT. We zig ah zig aaaahed and spiced up our lives all over the place, until the end of the show, when we were asked if we would like to go backstage. By this time we had shrugged off any idea of being cool, and I was proudly wearing my animal print top like I was related to Mel B. (to give you a mental image, it was sort of like a female Harry Potter child dressed as a leopard).

My sister was so excited she threw up.

Have you ever met anyone famous?