Frugal Frump to Fab - 2015

pirateyqueen

Well done on the new job Shandy and happy birthday indie!

I've started a new job this week which is all going well. Got a terrible cough though! I hope it clears for this weekend as it's my best friends wedding and I'm a bridesmaid. I may have to see if I can get my eyebrows threaded before then, and I have a sports massage booked for Saturday.

maddiemay

Congratulations on the new jobs Shandy and pirateyqueen and very happy birthday wishes to indie, your planned celebrations sound great. Maman, hope that you have a great holiday.

greenbee, love the sound of the makeup lessons, I have been wondering about getting some advice on eye makeup. I mostly used a neutral base with liner and mascara for years, but now that I am grey haired and having a very pale complexion I should be making more of my eyes. LL - the wedding plans sound fabulous, and a lovely break for you all too.

Catching up on the washing and chores after a fab 6 day break in Edinburgh, totally fell in love with the place. I managed a lot of sightseeing (taking maximum advantage of the hop on/hop off buses), and did more walking than I had thought possible, but I am completely done in now. OH has wonderlust:D and I have a week to recover before we head for North Wales for more exploring.

Trying to keep up with the fabbing, but not doing so well on the body moisturising, I always seem to run out of time to do everything and make-up usually wins.:(

Ellsbel

piratey queen well done on the new job I'm glad it's going well.
Not feeling fab right now as to be honest I'm really not loving the job at all So disappointing as I was so excited to get it but it's just not ticking any boxes for me at all, and the big deal breaker is that the staff are not treated as adults (though to be fair, many of them don't act like adults either! ) At the moment I'm determined to stick it out for the probation period (6 months) just to repay the training they've invested in me but today I felt I could easily quit right now! I won't, of course, but once the training is complete I'm aiming to take a course in Excel,Office etc., and start looking for something more suited to me.
Sorry to ramble on, but I needed to get it off my chest!
Still keeping up the basics - moisturiser, make up and perfume, so that's something:)
Have a good evening everyone:)

Floss

Ellsbel you may find that you are able to go for better suited internal jobs after your 6 months probation - and if you can demonstrate your skills & experience they may even put you in a more suitable role

shandyclover

Thank you for all the good wishes in my new job. The first day went fine. I know it will get hectic the closer we get to Christmas being retail, but it is not totally exhausting as my previous job was. My manager is actually off on holiday till next week so my first day I was checking in with a young man in his early 20's. I could tell the poor lad was nervous in having to instruct me - so in the end I just told him, tell what to do - I like clear instructions and I am not easily offended - ha!

The 5:2 is continuing to work and I've lost another kilo. It means I no longer fit my black primark size 16 trousers (I find primark sizes to be quite small), and I'm down to 1 pair from Dune's size 12. I need more but I tried on a few in charity shops and was not thrilled with any of them - think I will wait till I lose a bit more.

Fabbing I am trying to keep up with as the job is customer facing and I am working with some very 'made up' people. I will continue to keep my make up natural but have to sort out something with my hair. It's long and has to be pinned up, but it can be a bit aging without a fringe. The last time I went to the hair dressers she talked me out of cutting it. I wish I had stuck to my guns there - I am only going to have to go back and get her to cut it again. The hair in front of my ears is much finer than the rest and it doesn't really grow past my chin - looks much better cut into a fringe.

Lots of us seem to have a Barcelona connection. DD1's bf is from Spain with family in Barcelona. We've been invited many times and have a place to stay if ever we manage to get away. Hubby is more adrenaline junkie than sight seer but maybe one day I'll convince him to spend a weekend there.

3forholidays

Happy birthday indie! Hope you had a lovely day.

Shandy Hope that the new job goes well.

Maman Enjoy the holiday!

Maddie Glad to read that you enjoyed Edinburgh. The hop on hop off buses are a great way to get your bearings and work out what you want to see.

Need to investigate how to get rid of the acne that I've got at the moment. It's even in my ears - not great when you wear hearing aids! Any tips/ideas on things to try would be much appreciated. :T

Ellsbel

Thanks, floss that's good advice and it's something I'm keeping in mind - determined to see the probation out anyway, otherwise I'll feel like a failure:D
Delighted to hear new job went well shandy

indiepanda

Just a quick post to say many thanks for all the birthday wishes, I had a really nice day.

Went out to lunch with some of my new team (as a welcome to the team rather than because it was my birthday) and then out to dinner with one of my friends I made through running, who insisted on paying for dinner and buying me a present - neither of which I was expecting.

Glad to hear the first day of your job went well Shandyclover and sorry to hear yours isn't working out as you'd have hoped Ellsbel.

I am realising I've bitten off quite a challenge with my new job in as much as the guy who was doing it before has let things slide and there's some serious catching up to do. However on the positive front, there were lots of concerns about his attitude and him not keeping people up to date on what he was up to, so straight away just by not being like that I win a lot of brownie points. People are also aware it is going to take me a while to get up to speed and are ready to provide support and discuss extra resourcing if necessary. So a challenge, but I think the right kind of one. I am the kind of person that gets bored if I am not learning something new anyway.

Tiggger

Maman I visited an outlet village yesterday on my way back from a meeting, (I think it's the nearerst one to you LL) and managed to find a pair of memory foam Sketchers shoes in black that don't look too much like trainers, they had lots of styles to choose from, so if you have one of those McArt**ur Gl*n type places nearby it might be worth a trip to find a replacement pair for your "old faithfuls".

We have a trip to Paris coming up,and I needed something to walk in that looked chic but are comfortable, normally I would take my black ankle boots but it's still too warm for them.

Will be joining in Fab Friday today as I have a CPD event to go to, with lunch, so I need to be smarter than my normal Friday 'at home' attire!

maman

Thanks for thinking of me tigger. I'm glad you were lucky. I tried the least heavy trainer type ones on Wednesday
http://www.schuh.co.uk/womens/skechers-bikers-hot-ticket-black-trainers/1913857070/


They were OK so I think I'll go back and try them again with socks as they looked odd with bare ankles. It's about an hour to the nearest outlet so might go there but won't be this side of holiday so old faithfuls it'll have to be.


When I went to London on Wednesday I wore ballet pumps as reasoning was that Courtauld, Savoy theatre and pub lunch are all really close together. I did walk to Waterloo but that's not far over the river either. Pumps were fine at the time but ankles felt quite achey afterwards. People tell me that Malta has loads of cobbled streets so I think I'll just take one pair for walking to restaurants in the evenings.


Day in London was great. Some lovely paintings in the Courtauld especially Impressionists and the building itself is beautiful. Imelda Staunton surprised my in Gipsy as I had no idea she could sing as well as act.


Lots of news on the jobs front for all of you. Good that you will be appreciated for making improvements and sorting things out indie. Good that the 5:2 is going well and the job shandyclover.


At the moment I'd recommend plodding on and making the best of it ellsbel but keep an eye on whatever else might be about. It was strange on the train on Wednesday. I sat opposite a group of 4 women who seemed to be planning some fashion event. it was hard to know whether it was a display (like window dressing) or a fashion show. They talked a lot about what went with what, availability of items, how best to show off etc. Anyway they all started off discussing and making notes and then the two younger ones (late teens/early twenties?) seemed to get bored. The older two (50s?) carried on working for the whole time but the youngsters plugged in their earphones and started doing what looked like dancing/hand jive in sync to the music giggling all through. I was amazed. If it had been mums taking their teenage offspring out for the day I'd have understood but this seemed so unprofessional. Your comment about being treated like children resonated after seeing this. Fortunately I had my shades on so could watch in cognito:cool:.


I'll be doing Fab Friday. New Boden top arrived today. It's a replacement for the CS one I'm wearing which is almost identical just width of stripes varies. I wear it a lot but CS one is getting on a bit. Will try on later.
http://www.boden.co.uk/en-GB/Womens-Tops-T-shirts/Long-Sleeved-Tops/WL792-BLK/Womens-Ivory_Black-Long-Sleeve-Breton.html?sc=LNU5&cm_mmc=PLA-_-Google-_-Shopping-_-Product&istCompanyId=a40e1fa1-0635-4a1b-8d9a-2caa763eeee2&istItemId=lilarpmqr&istBid=xzat&gclid=COjCyfLMo8gCFWR22wodcFkNLw


So stripey top, dark denim jeans, ballet flats and maybe cardi and scarf if it feels chilly despite glorious sunshine.