Hanging Out at The Forge

One of my 2017 resolutions is to take this blog more seriously. I have a pretty hard time taking myself seriously in general, to be honest; I chalk it up to that crippling British condition of hard-wired self-deprecation, which also happens to be the reason why I’m completely shite at selfies, and the only time I feel comfortable is when I’m camouflaged in morris make-up.

For that very reason, there aren’t many decent photos of my mush on this auld blog, something which I have been vowing to fix for a long, long time. The Friday before last, myself and some fellow blogging friends (Lyzi, Fritha, and Charlie) plus the lovely and insanely talented photographer Lauren hung out at the absolutely stunning Forge to drink tea and snap some totes Instagram-worthy pics of each other.

You may have seen a sneaky peek of these pictures on Instagram, where I shared one recently, and I thought I’d put together a very brief post for some light Thursday night reading to share a few more with you, and to show you the magical things Lauren can do with a camera.

If you’ve never been to the Forge before, it’s tucked away at the back of Colston Yard, opposite Zero Degrees, not too far from the Christmas Steps. It has got the most stunning view across the Bristol skyline, and overlooks the historical buildings which make up the Hotel du Vin. I put my history hat on and gave everyone a lesson about its past as a sugar refinery, and pointed out the old city gates and where the river used to come up to, because sometimes my nerdiness knows no bounds.

It was a lovely relaxed afternoon, where we drank copious cups of tea and bathed in the warm winter sunshine which was streaming through those beautiful big windows. Plus Fritha brought along little Mabli who was toddling about and getting up to all sorts of mischief which kept us entertained!

Can we talk about my amazing pizza shirt for a moment, please? I bought it at Pizzafest at the end of last year from those amazing folks at Mission Pizza. I do believe you can snap up your own when they are out and about hawking pies, with an ace deal of T-shirt and a pizza for a mere £15. They are often at the Spectrum building on a Tuesday, so keep your eyes peeled.

Anyway, I digress. Back to the photos of me.

I can honestly say that I have never enjoyed looking at pictures of my face as much as I have flicking through the album that Lauren sent over. These are just a few of the amazing pictures that she took that day, and I stuck to my absolute favourites for this post, as I thought you might be sick of looking at my chubby little chops by now. Also, the last one is visual proof of why I cannot be trusted in front of a camera.

A massive thank you for Lauren Jayne Hall for taking these photos of me, and to Silkie for letting us loose in her beautiful building for a couple of hours.