Frump to Fab 2016 - Lets make it AWESOME!!!

sugarbaby125

Hello Ladies,

Great news about your health Maddie. I am so pleased for you.

Lovely to read all your news Indie. You have really been enjoying life in the last few weeks. Good on you

I went for my 2nd G5 massage and I really enjoyed it. I was really relaxed during and after the massage. I had a different masseuse this time and she was more thorough and she used body oil with the machine which then allowed the machine to work more effectively on my thighs.

I then went for lunch on my own to Pizza Express. Very MSE, as I had a £20 Pizza Express Clubcard Voucher. It felt like I was having a free lunch. I had a Romana American Hot Pizza followed by chocolate brownie with vanilla italian ice cream with a small bottle of sparkling water with ice and a slice of lemon. :T

I wore a black V neck Wallis short sleeve t-shirt, my black circles on black Per Una pull on skirt and my Kaliko black and white v neck jumper. I wore my black leather long jacket, black scarf, and black leather gloves. I wore black ankle socks and my black leather Slazenger trainers. I wore perfume but no make up or nail polish.

My eldest granddaughter is coming to stay for a week from next Monday. I will be pleased to spend time with her, but I had to say yes when I was contacted by her Social Worker and asked if she could stay with us for a week. My granddaughter kicked off big time with her Foster parents and now they are not willing to have her live with them no more and her new social worker is struggling to find a new placement for my granddaughter. I have had to change all my plans for next week, but I want to do some fun things with my granddaughter. As she is 'in care' she is not allowed to be left out of my or her Aunt's sight when she is staying with us.

I am going to give my bedroom a good clean tomorrow in preparation for her visit. My son and daughter will also have to get their bedrooms clean over the weekend as well.

maman

Welcome clippy. It's so easy to get into a rut. It sounds like you've made an excellent start with the weightloss just by being mindful. I'd recommend eating as many vegetables as possible, especially leafy ones. If they're filling your plate then there's not too much room for excess carbs.


On the make up front I'd suggest some colour on your lips as a next step. Whether lipgloss or lipstick I find it makes a huge difference.


That's quite an undertaking with your grand-daughter sugarbaby. Hopefully she'll behave well with you. I'm sure you'll be taking her to Pizza Express. You seem to have amazing bargains there and I think it's one of the best chain restaurants especially for youngsters. I know you have family elsewhere but is this DGD from London? I was wondering what sort of sights she might be interested in. Have a good night at the karaoke tonight. I'm sure you'll look as glamorous as ever. Your outfits always sound dramatic with good strong colours.


I went to a lunch party yesterday for a friend having a big birthday. It was an Open House buffet. As you'd expect many of the visitors were 'of a certain age' and did most of the women need this thread!! Lots of M&S Classics I'm sure and the most frumpy of shoes. I felt positively glamorous! I wore my narrow, black trousers with my new, red Paul Costelloe fine wool jumper and simple black suede ballet pumps. I had light make up which was eyebrow pencil, some highlighter on the brow bone, mascara and lipstick and, of course, perfume. Yesterday I added a bit of bronzer (Bourjois Healthy Balance) as I'm starting to look a bit pale.


ETA: I think it was ruby that recommended the bronzer. If you ever lurk, I hope you're OK?:)


Today we're off to the pub to watch football so I'm wearing dark denim jeans with one of my Breton tops. I'll wear my Sketchers as we might end up walking home so comfort is essential.


It's still bright and beautifully autumnal here. Two machine loads are out 'blowing in the wind'! Hope everyone's having a good day.:)

lessonlearned

Good morning lovely ladies

Welcome Clippy. Sounds like you've made a great start.

Lovely day here. I'm just back from Asda. Bought myself a huge bunch of roses (from my husband.....:rotfl:). I have been feeling a bit blue and he always bought me flowers if I was feeling a "off it".

In fact I had a bit of a splurge......some bits for the kitchen, tea towels, choppng Boards,, new work top saver, some new bakeware.

Clothing was a big disappointing but picked up some socks, long sleeve black t shirt, black and white "lolling about the house trousers" and a grey and white stripy top. I don't do stripes normally but this is more of a chevron type pattern so it might be ok. Not tried it on yet. And a pair of "everyday" earrings because all my cheap and cheerful fashion earrings were stolen when we were burgled.

MAman Had to smile at your description of the "ladies of a certain age" at your lunch. I'm glad you felt so good.

I'm starting to look a bit pale too. I definitely need to rethink my make up. I have some very stubborn milia (whiteheads) which I cant seem to shift. One is very near my eye and I dont want to mess with it so I think I'm going to book myself in to see a dermatologist. The one near the eye might need a minor surgical procedure. I also have a mole on my neck which I think I would like removed. It's not malignant but my clothes catch on it sometimes.

Has anyone seen the film about Coco Chanel. It stars Audrey Tatou. It's a great little film, French but English subtitles. You can see her style slowly evolving. I found it very interesting. The fashion show at the end was fantastic - some gorgeous clothes, especially the evening dresses.

The other night I bought some art posters and prints online for my sons house, mainly impressionists. Van Gogh, Matisse, and Miro. I only ever buy cheap and cheerful, usually a £5 limit. Anyway I thought I would buy some fashion type prints for my bedroom, so I looked up Vogue covers.......£75 each. :eek: needless to say I didn't bother.

Ellsbel

Welcome aboard clippy, let us know how your hair turns out:)
Lovely to hear from you Indie - I felt exhausted just reading your post! Good idea on ordering those vegan meals if it means you'll be able to eat healthily whilst you're so busy.
Enjoy your week with your Grandaughter, Sugar - hope it goes smoothly for you.
Hope things go ok for your Dad and BiL this week LL
Let us know how the headboard goes. Have you done an upholstery course?
Maman your outfit sounds very striking - I love black and red together (unless it's a certain football team's kit:rotfl::rotfl:;)). How did you get on with trying out the new lip colour on Friday?
My cold is finally clearing up but I'm feeling a bit restless today. Cooking a roast later with lots of fresh veg, but not much else on today.
Have a good day, everyone

ScarlettMcCain

Hello again everyone

So sorry for the long delay in posting - we've actually been on holiday to Australia for the past month or so, and whilst I was hoping to catch up on everything there, our wifi was rubbish and most days I couldn't even get on my email

Things with OH & I are ok - not great, but ok - he spent a lot of time at work before we went away, which probably helped! I went into work about six weeks ago to discuss my return to work, only to find that there wasn't going to be one; I've been made redundant, which would be :eek:, but to be honest I was expecting it. My company don't have a great record with helping women back to work after they've had babies and when they said my request for flexible working would be discussed at my return to work meeting, I thought 'hmmmm'..... and of course they didn't discuss it because there was nothing to discuss.

I still haven't had a final figure of how much I'll receive (yes, they're that organised!) but by my calculations it'll be around £7K, possibly more if they pay me for bank holidays. My debt is around £15K but my debt help people have said that some or all of it might be settled if I give them a lump sum, especially if they explain that I'm unlikely to make more than a token payment for the foreseeable future..... we shall see, I'm thinking of giving them around £5K and stashing the rest for emergencies/ see me through to another job.

Not sure what to do about that either as I really have to find something close by and well paid for it to be worth going back! I'm considering the medical secretary training still, as I think the babies would do well going to a nursery for a couple of mornings a week, which would give me the time to study - depends how much it would cost though.

The holiday was good - not amazing, but good - we were sharing a big house with lots of OH's family and sometimes it was very difficult having no personal space, having to share kitchen, washing machine etc. I had to bite my tongue and walk away on several occasions! The weather wasn't great and everyone had a tummy bug at some point (my boys are both still poorly) but it was an experience. OH was very frustrating sometimes as he's so quick to palm the kids off on other people; I know his mum likes to look after them, but she's in her late 60s and in poor health, he doesn't seem to realise that it's not fair to ask her to do everything that she did for her older grandchildren.

He's currently at his mum & dads with the babies - went about 12.30 saying he'd only be 20 minutes - he knows this makes me :mad: when he disappears for ages, don't know why he can't just tell me when he'll be back :mad:

Maman, it was me who recommended the Bourjois stuff - my new favourite product is the Barry M mani mask, if anyone needs new nail varnish - it makes your nails look healthy without looking 'done'. I wear it on my toes with a couple of coats of clear as well, lasts for a couple of weeks.

I hope everyone is well - I'll read back through the thread at some point now we have wifi again!! - but hopefully I can keep up with everything from now on!

ScarlettMcCain

Also, if anyone has any experience of personal shoppers, I'd be interested to hear about it; just read about your M&S-loving 'ladies of a certain age' Maman and it reminded me that I'd like to have a wardrobe rethink! I've been wearing the same style for the last 15 years or so and as I'm approaching 40, I'm not sure it suits me any more. The colours are ok but I'd like another opinion on the actual clothes - I know Debenhams offers free personal shoppers with no obligation to buy, it might be the way forward.

I like the leggings/ jeggings with long boots and tunic tops look for winter, don't know how it would look on me though, would be useful to find out!

Ellsbel

Glad you're well Ruby Sorry about your job though. I've never used a personal shopper but I think someone on here did post about using one once - may have been Indie?
LL I meant to say - I'm reading a biography of Coco Chanel; very interesting. I'll look out for that film; I like Audrey Tatou - she reminds me a little of Audrey Hepburn.

clippy_girl

Thanks for the warm welcome

Very pleased with my hair, got lots of compliments last night! Test will be whether I can out waves and curl it myself! Was having a very unfab day as had horrendous headache but luckily it went away before I went out. Think I'm going to get some highlights done by a student at my hairdressers as its only £15! Considering I go to Toni&guy and its over £100 for a qualified person that is a big saving!

I bought a cheapo lip crayon like the Clinique chubby one in pink so think I will try a few others for a bit of a change as the pink is really light and like maman says it's an easy change.

Going to see if I can get a Mac make up lesson for Xmas (it's £50 but you can use it towards products). My skin is not looking very healthy at the minute but not really sure how to use blusher, highlighters etc and on this lesson they show you how to do it on one side and you do the other side to practice.

Thanks for the tip about the Barry m mani mask ruby, when I do my gel nails they always look a bit battered after so think this would be good for in between.

Ps sorry to hear about your job ruby

chanie

clippy pleased you got compliments on your hair. I think a good haircut can make all the difference and can make you look well groomed, even if you aren't.

In terms of make up lessons, Bobbi Brown is supposed to be good too. My mum had one and looked really natural. I'd recommend having an hour's break after the session before you purchase any make up. I find the lighting in make up stores really harsh and a natural look in store can look overdone when in natural light.

ruby welcome back. You sound more positive than you have in a while. I hope you are all well. Australia sounds amazing. I think that House of Fraser also does a personal shopping service, as does Top Shop, but I'm not if it's only Oxford Street.
If you want a DIY version, I have a few tips:
Body shape: I googled websites that help you work out your body shape. Many of them recommend styles that will suit you.
Colour analysis: Will help you work out the best colours for you. If you have green veins on your wrist, you are more likely to be a warm colouring, likewise, if they are blue,you have a cool colouring. Gold jewellery for warm colours and silver for cool colours.
Dressippi - is a website where you put in your measurements and it works out your body shape and style and recommends items for you.
I still think a personal shopper is a good idea, but I've read mixed reviews and some don't listen and will get you inappropriate clothes for your life style. If you do some research on what suits you, you may get a better experience.

indiepanda

Hello all, hope you have had a good weekend.

Well, I have had two days of my vegan detox diet and I've really liked most of it. Today's lunch I probably wouldn't choose but the rest has been great and definitely given me some ideas for when I am cooking for myself again. I don't really intend to go vegan, but I definitely plan to eat more vegetable based meals, and being lactose intolerant, that rules out a lot of vegetarian meals as so many use milk, cheese or cream etc.

Ruby, I've used Debenhams personal shopping a couple of times. Generally found them quite good, but it's no substitute for going to see a colour and style consultant to work out what really suits you. Even having told the last Debenhams consultant what colours suited me she brought in some dresses that were completely the wrong colour. They were pretty good on the style side though, brought in things I wouldn't have picked out that turned out to be quite flattering shape wise.

Am not entirely sure on self assessing what colours suit you, although a good make up consultant years ago did tell me I had warm skintone, and she was right so that could be a helpful route. I would still have guessed I was a spring rather than autumn though, and most make up artists who have done my make up have been far more focused on what colours are fashionable than suit my skin tone.

Have made a start on unpacking my clothes, sorting into ones for the charity shop, ones to store away for next summer and ones to wear now. Still got plenty more to do but at least the lounge is clear and back to normal and I have a few outfits ready for the week ahead - it's quite stressful getting up in the morning not knowing where to find everything.

Got my MRI scan tomorrow, results won't be available until 48 hrs later and that depends if I can get an appointment with the consultant. He's been on holiday this week as has his secretary so I will have to phone up and see what his availability is tomorrow.

Have a fab week all x