Tonight feels quite momentous. Despite being on the community for a year and a half, I became the President for the lovely Borough Belles tonight. I am quite scared by the responsibility but am also excited about the coming year and up for the challenge. I have a fantastic committee to help and support me and it was so exciting talking about new ideas tonight to keep ensuring our WI gets better and better.
Since going along to the first meeting with Jane two years ago, I have loved being part of the WI and can honestly say it was the best New Years resolution I have made. I am a really proud WI badge wearing member , I love that it raises a few eyebrows in the office and and that it is the largest voluntary organisation of women in the UK. There is no such thing as a typical WI member – the whole ethos of WI is about celebrating amazing, inspiring women and continuing to encourage women to learn and try new things.
When the first WI meeting was set up in 1915, its aim was to encourage women to help produce food during the First World War but over the years the WI has become a political force lobbying governments on a range of activity – improvements in women’s education, school dinners, environmental issues, HIV public health campaigns & equal pay.
When I first moved to London I felt quite lost and I really missed a group of strong female crafters to hang out with. With the Borough Belles I have found a wonderful community of likeminded ladies which is so friendly and diverse. I have met so many different people and made some great friends. I often come home feeling amazing uplifted after our meetings.
I’ve learnt to dance like Beyonce (ahem), embroider, make amazing jam, dream of keeping bees, how to write a romantic novel and learnt some local history for Elephant and Castle.It combines really well things I am passionate about craft, wildlife, learning new things and feeling a bit more connected to the community.
Borough Belles is still a young WI group and finding its feet in some ways but I love that we try to cover “traditional” WI things but with a contemporary BBWI twist! It makes me feel connected to a strong history of inspiring women and that can only be a good thing.
And don’t just take my word from it – read what others have said about us and come see for yourself.
We meet on the third Wednesday of every month from 7.30 – 9.30pm in the basement of the Borough Welsh Congregational Chapel, 90 Southwark Bridge Road, London, SE1 0EX.
You’re very welcome to just turn up to our meetings and you can just pay £3 at the door if you want to try us out before you join.
I’m just back from a lovely weekend with my family – there has been lots of chatting and giggling, eating nice food, lovely cuddles and games with my niece, singing and generally pottered about. Yesterday we went out and about in the Cotswolds which looked gorgeous in the sun and we visited Hidcote Manor which had some lovely black pigs, impressive scarecrows and lovely borders.
I’ve also been reading this weekend which was probably bit annoying for my family but they have had years of me whipping out my book at all available opportunities. Sitting reading in my mum’s garden this morning was so lovely soaking up some sun.
I had been reading quite a lot of non-fiction but I decided this weekend that I needed some stories. So this weekend I read ‘ The Making of Us‘ by Lisa Jewell. I had read ‘Ralph’s Party‘ and ‘After the Party‘ last year and loved them, beautifully written light fiction that is incredibly readable. (She is often called a chick lit author but I’d put her in a bracket with Nick Hornby and David Nicholls.) All of the books I’ve read have had heart warming moments and made it ache at other times and I often finish books a little bit in love with some of the characters in them. (I challenge anyone to read Ralph’s party and not fall a little bit in love with messy, skinny, arty, chaotic, stoner Ralph.)
‘The Making of Us’ is a coming of age story for Robyn, Lydia and Dean who have discovered their father was a sperm donor and their search for identity. The book alternates from their different viewpoints and tells their own stories as they start weaving together. It’s about family, love, siblings and working out where you fit into the big wide world. It was really interesting about what makes a family and how biological ties are important but not everything. It also made me think about how families are extended throughout your life through people who love and care for you and how families are constantly evolving things. I’d never really thought about it like this before.
And it reminded me that this is what I love about books, the ability to take you into different lives for a few days, make you think about things in slightly different ways and linger in your mind long after you have closed their pages.
:: Caught up with friends in one of my most loved cities – hammering down the M40 on the coach I enjoyed the green green fields, sheep (with LAMBS!) and red kites hovering ahead. Dancing, walking in the sunshine and chatting chatting chatting. I came back feeling inspired and certain that I would be back very soon to catch up with other friends and didn’t manage to see this time.
:: Enjoyed drinking peppermint and jasmine tea and my Friday night yoga class which was so wonderful to go back to.
:: Visited some of my favourite local haunts – Homemade for coffee and reading, Northcross road market on Saturday and the park this morning in the sun.
:: Eaten asian (inspired) food – Tom Yum soup, making herby peanutty noodly salad and Dal from my new Everyday Veg book which I love.
:: Read and dreamt over future plans and projects.
:: Watched (and cried) at the election coverage (least said about THAT the better London)
:: Organised my airing cupboard and made good headway with various piles of paper (where does it come from?!). I have set my email inbox to zero and decided to keep images in physical scrapbooks and get rid of old magazines to free up shelf and head space.
:: Listened to the Beastie Boys – I was so sad to hear about the passing of MCA on Friday so listened to Hello Nasty in full and LOUD. Sounded amazing and forgot how good the bassline of so many the tracks was. I’ve also been enjoying the Beachcomber’s Windowsill by Stornoway, Sigh No More by Mumford and Sons and catching up with Radio 4 programmes I had missed. The Digital Human was really interesting and recommended listening.
A couple of weeks ago I went to the Ibiza for a long weekend which was the perfect antidote to some of the grey days we have been experiencing. Beautifully sunny days where we could lounge on the beach reading and chatting.
It was pre-season so very quiet – meandering round at night we stopped for tasty tapas and mouthwatering mojitos and still somehow managed to dance until dawn on the Saturday night.
We also visited the Las Dalias market which gave us an opportunity to see some more of the beautiful island with the red soil and cliffs, lemon trees and bright white houses. These are a few of my favourite snaps from walking round Ibiza old town, Dalt Vila, at dusk.
It was a lovely short trip, the amazing thing about travelling is that you can just one day take a train or a flight and be in an entirely new country in a matter of hours. I will go back to explore more of the island particularly the North of the island but for now my little trip has made my trudging to work in the rain with soggy feet that little bit more bearable.
I just discovered the Handmade Ryan Gosling tumblr over the weekend and it has made me laugh a lot. I had heard about the ‘Hey girl’ meme including the Feminist Ryan Gosling but was unaware that it had hit the craft community. Is there nothing the Gosling can’t do?!
For those of you that have no clue what I’m talking about there’s a whole world of internet fun imaging what Ryan Gosling with his beautiful cheekbones might say to you if he was your fantasy boyfriend.
Anyway, crafters you need to go read it and I defy you to not have a little chuckle! These are some of my faves…
Source: handmaderyangosling.tumblr.com via Lara on Pinterest
Source: handmaderyangosling.tumblr.com via Lara on Pinterest
Source: handmaderyangosling.tumblr.com via Lara on Pinterest
And my absolute favourite:
Source: handmaderyangosling.tumblr.com via Lara on Pinterest
That’s right ladies, unfinished projects are not annoying, they are hot. Ryan Gosling says so.
It has been a very busy week at work so it was nice to nip out yesterday lunch to have a spot of sun and some Mexican street food. Lower Marsh market has some amazing food stands – Thai, Moroccan, Falafel and it has become a bit of a team treat to have a wander up there on a Friday. Our favourite is Buen Provecho, a small Mexican stall, selling fantastic homemade tacos, quesdillas and stews. The people who run the stall are lovely and everything is very fresh and homemade. The guacamole is to die for.
The fillings are changing weekly – this week it was slow roasted pork pibil or chicken tinga which smelt amazing.
I had the veggie courgette filling which was perfect for the sunny day and had lovely heat from the chilli. Next week apparently the fillings will feature cactus!
While I had always thought it was good – I was really pleased when it featured in the amazing A to Z of London World Food that Alistair Humphreys and Tom (aka The Hungry Cyclist) as the best Mexican food in London. This isn’t to be taken lightly as Tom has spent six months cycling in Mexico. So if you are hungry on a weekday near Waterloo, I really recommend dropping by.
Thick glittery eyebrows were spotted at Chanel’s Fall/Winter 2012 show. I was wondering what to do with my rather extensive sequin collection… Do you think this counts as craft?
I went to see Lang Lang play Beethoven’s Piano Concerto I and IV at the Royal Albert Hall tonight. I’ve been keen to see him play since last year when I was flying to Singapore last year, I found a Lang Lang CD of beautiful Chopin on the in-flight entertainment which soothed my jangled nerves and let me drift off to sleep. I thought he was lovely on Desert Island Discs too and that is always a good measure of a person I find.
The concert was beautiful but I found myself thinking about Beethoven during the IV concerto. Beethoven wrote it as he was going very deaf and I kept wondering what that must have been like. I can’t quite imagine how he kept going writing down music he could hear in his head but never been able to hear the final version. Never able to gain the satisfaction of hearing how beautiful it sounded. I thought it must have been quite a lonely existence but also marvelling at how motivated/driven he must have been to keep going and wondering what satisfaction he got from composing. It made me think that when I’m having a bad day at work and feel like things are pointless, I’m going to think about Beethoven and how he cared to write this beautiful music for so many to hear which he would never have heard. Really very humbling.
you just need a little robot, especially when I need a mean cup of tea. I first spied him on Alice’s beautiful blog and then was delighted when he fell into my hand in a moomin shop in Stockholm. For the sheer delight he brings, he was worth every one of the four princely pounds. Mostly he stands above my sink where I may have a little chat to him as I do my washing up.
But he likes swinging from side to side…..
And sometimes has a little abseil too.
Syria has been weighing heavily on my mind these past few days and making my heart hurt*. However, when I’m feeling sad I tend to try and find little things during my week that are making me happy and focus on those.
A few of my favourite things from the past few weeks…
:: Seeing The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel at the cinema – I LOVED this film, it made me cry and had me thinking about my trip to India. It has been a long time in the planning but I can feel that soon in my future I will be going there.
:: Enjoying new music. It is always exciting finding new music – I have been enjoying albums from She and Him, Susanna, and Ceremonials by Florence and the Machine.
:: Finding Alistair Humphrey’s blog a good reminder to get outside, stop putting things off and do stuff.
:: Reading this beautiful post on Fennel and Fern about a couple who grew their own wedding flowers and ended up inspiring the Groom to take up bee-keeping.
:: Eating honey made on the roof of the Royal Festival Hall, (in Southwark!) and continuing my soup love – I have been experimenting with various different roast tomato soup.
:: Marvelling at the colours at the David Hockney at the Royal Academy – I loved the multicoloured patchworks of fields and the vibrancy of the exhibition.
:: Wiggling around at my first Zumba classes and stretching out at yoga.
:: Loving the Hunger Games. OMG. I could talk about these books for such a long time. But really this article from Bitch Magazine draws out the things that I think make the series amazing. I haven’t felt as moved by a Young Adult book since I read Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses.
*In case you too are feeling very sad, I found signing the Save the Children petition and giving money to the Red Cross was really the only thing I could think of that was useful.
