Frump to Fab 2017 - A Whole New World

pink_poppy

Lovely post ll. Good luck with it all, it's certainly got me thinking about my own life and where I want to be in a years time.

indiepanda

Great posts LL. I've been cutting down the amount of time I spend on pointless activities though I still need to do more of that.

Haven't bought a newspaper, for a few years haven't bought any fashion & beauty or health & fitness magazines for months either and I used to buy up to half a dozen a month:eek: TV I mainly watch programmes I've pre-recorded on my Sky box rather than any old thing and I am home much less in the week now so haven't got that much time to watch TV. I found my Facebook feed was filling up with adverts in the form of companies I had liked so I have removed a lot of those from my timeline too. I still could spend a bit less time on Facebook and reading throw away novels and more on literature and self-improving books, but I guess everyone deserves a bit of downtime too.

Right, better get back to doing something useful, got a 6pm deadline by which I have to be on the way into town for the theatre tonight and I might go a bit earlier and find somewhere to have a light meal beforehand as I don't think I will be hungry for dinner before I leave. Left having breakfast till after training this morning as I felt a bit off first thing (period cramps) though feeling fine now.

maman

lessonlearned wrote: »

You are inspirational, I love your positivity and energy and I think I speak for most of us when I say we are rooting for you. I hope you have a successful outcome.

Definitely, and so say all of us!:T


That's some post LL. I wish you every success in the year ahead and great to hear you sounding so positive.:T


Thanks for the tips on footcare. So far so good and I've managed 3 days. At the moment I'm using up the end of a tube of footcream and then I have another to use. These were in gift sets. That's been another achievement trying/using up products from gift sets. I'm going to set up some sort of diary to monitor how I'm doing on the footcream and face massage. I might even add walking to that.:o


One product I can certainly recommend is Clarins Cleansing gel.

It's amazing stuff. Definitely one I'll buy again.


I think it was chanie that recommended Palmers Cocoa Butter as a body lotion. While I'm not a huge fan of its perfume (IMO smells like a chocolate biscuit:D), the Natural Bronze version is great for anyone who wants a bit of colour on their arms and legs.


Last week was a bit of a write off with the awful cold that came over me. Fortunately it seems to be almost completely gone now and I hope that it doesn't come back!! I need to rebook the facial I had to postpone.


Onwards and upwards.:)

grunnie

LL you mentioned this thread on another thread and I have spent the last two days reading all the posts. Can I join in? My birthday was yesterday and I need to get myself a bit more with it. Heaven forbid if I turned into a little old lady. ( maybe not so little)
I am getting my colours done next week and then I am going to have a clear out of my wardrobe and buy a few new bits.
I use Liz Earle products with Estee Lauder serum the one in the dark brown bottle. Always buy them on offer. But I need some ideas for body lotion and also perfume.

sukeyboo

Your plans sound amazing & your post was very inspiring LL - I wish you all the best in your 'One year to change your life' challenge :T

Continuing on from your suggestions the other day about posture, I googled the Alexander technique and have watched a few videos on You Tube - it is making me more aware of how I stand (or should I say slouch at the moment!) - I will practice some of the exercises on there and I have also ordered a beginners Pilates DVD - it is something I have always wanted to try but the only classes near me are during the day when I am at work. Many thanks for your suggestions

Hope you get your work situation sorted out Sugarbaby.

Good luck with your socialising Pinkpetal

Welcome grunnie - I only joined the thread at the beginning of the year and have found everyone so friendly - there is always someone on hand with helpful tips.

Ellsbel

Looking forward to following your progress LL
Welcome grunnie and belated Birthday greetings:)

sugarbaby125

LL I love your post. It is really inspirational

It has inspired me to make my own changes this year.

I have a photo of me and my ex-husband all dressed up for an Army ball taken when I was only about 26 years old, but I look old and frumpy in that photo. I keep the framed photo on my bedroom wall to remind me of how much difference wearing the right clothes for your body shape makes and how much difference bright colours make to my skin. I actually look better at 54 years old than I did then even though I was slimmer then.

My most measurable goal is to be wearing my red leather jacket for my birthday this year. I only have until the 15th April. It has got too tight on my flabby arms and I have to struggle to do the zip up.

In terms of exercise I am going to do 30 minutes of dancing in my Living room Monday to Friday and an hour on Saturdays and Sundays starting today. I will also be doing my bingo wings DVD every day as when I used it before, it really helped to tone my arms up.

I am missing going to the pub that Wayne goes to. I spoke to him on the phone yesterday and he is still not accepting that we are over and done with and so he is forcing my hand and I need to stay away from that pub. My stomach has been missing the 2 or 3 nights of dancing I would be doing each week at that particular pub which was not just great fun, it was good exercise and kept my abdomen a lot flatter.

I am lucky enough that some of my going out size 16 skirts with a fixed waistband still fit, but they do not look as flattering with my abdomen sticking out.

As I am currently not working, I am slowly doing all of those small tasks that were left unattended to. I am also making home made meals again. I and my children eat a lot healthier when I make home made meals even if in monetary terms they are not necessarily costing me less to produce.

This month I have cut back on my spending and used the money saved to pay on my rent account (I am now a month in credit) and to pay £70 credit on my Thames Water account. I am concentrating on having as many no spending days as possible every month of this year.

I have got rid of some of the clutter in my bedroom by donating some new pairs of shoes to a local Scope charity shop. I still have 27 pairs of shoes left and most of them are still new, but this year I intend to wear them all.

My financial goal for February is to have paid enough credit into my Thames Water account that when the bill arrives in April there will be nothing to pay until the April 2018 bill.

My personal goal for February is to exercise every day of February.

lessonlearned

Hello Grunnie......welcome and a belated happy birthday.

Some great ideas there Sugarbaby. I especially like the dancing in the lounge. I might need to steal that one. .

Actually I have already set up my CD player and dug out some CDs.
I have also treated myself to a couple of Rosemary Conley DVDs. So no excuse now ......I just need to get moving.

Unfortunately I have had a relapse of my IBS and GERD today so exercise has been the last thing on my mind.

Well rather than watch rubbish TV tonight I boxed up some of my "treasures":rotfl: and DS2 has put them in the loft for me. I still have more to do but at least it's a start.

Finances........well I have sorted out all the receipts appertaining To dad's funeral expenses so I can send them to the solicitor tomorrow.

I did quite well with my food budget last month, given all the running around and relying on quick easy meals some days but I am hoping to do even better next month. It should be a doddle because there's enough food in the house to feed a small army.

Another money saving wheeze for me......I am not going to buy any more clothes until I have reduced two dress sizes. I have wardrobes full.:o

So a good start to my Frugal February. All monies saved will go into the holidays and adventures fund.

I have started a journal of my challenge .......future bestseller???:rotfl: and am making a note of ideas for projects and challenges as I think of them.

I am going to be busy........

Right time for bed, read for a little while until I get sleepy although my tummy isn't happy so not sure how well I will sleep.

indiepanda

grunnie wrote: »

LL you mentioned this thread on another thread and I have spent the last two days reading all the posts. Can I join in? My birthday was yesterday and I need to get myself a bit more with it. Heaven forbid if I turned into a little old lady. ( maybe not so little)
I am getting my colours done next week and then I am going to have a clear out of my wardrobe and buy a few new bits.
I use Liz Earle products with Estee Lauder serum the one in the dark brown bottle. Always buy them on offer. But I need some ideas for body lotion and also perfume.

Welcome grunnie, hope you enjoy getting your colours done. Where are you going to get it done? I had mine done at House of Colour back in 2005 and it was the best thing I ever did. Hardly any clothes I was wearing before were flattering me, and the dark blonde I was dyeing my hair wasn't doing much for me either. It gave me the confidence to pull off some quite bold colour combinations and stop shrinking into the background. My hair hasn't been blonde since either - usually a mid coppery brown though I do sometimes go lighter or darker for a change.

On the perfume front, can I suggest joining the perfume society - they do lots of sampling kits and the price of the membership gives you both a workshop on perfume and a sampling kit which might give you some ideas. I go to quite a few of their events, but they are a bit London centric if you don't live here. Anyway, being a subscriber gives you access to their magazine and discounts on all their perfume sets so it's still quite a good deal.

http://perfumesociety.wpengine.com/

If you don't fancy paying to join that, there are lots of good perfume blogs and review sites out there which might give you some ideas. I find basenotes particularly good as an independent guide. (http://www.basenotes.net/)

I am spoiled for perfume choice in London - got an excellent shop about 15 minutes walk from me with a really interesting selection of niche perfumes. I have to be careful to only go in when I have money to burn as it's rather easy to add to my already quite extensive collection.

Anyone who is in or near London who likes theatre I can highly recommend the show I saw tonight, "Half a Sixpence". I thought the lead was fantastic and turns out he was the understudy (the lead is on holiday for three nights). Theatre wasn't full, suspect January is a bit of a quite month, so you might be able to get tickets at a good price. It certainly wasn't a reflection on the show which has been getting rave reviews in the press.

Good night fabbers x

grunnie

Thanks for the birthday wishes, I walked around on Sunday singing a certain Beatles song - will you still need me? will you still feed me? when I'm ---
LL IBS and Gerd flair up when you don't expect it. I have those and angioedema but no longer ( touch wood ) have migraines which use to make me feel rough for 3 days at a time. But I have to take loads of pills to keep them under control.
I am going to colour me beautiful for colour analysis so hope it works haha.
Thanks for the perfume links and I have signed up for their newsletter and ordered the perfume bible from the library.
I stay in the north of Scotland so Aberdeen and Inverness are my shops. I stay about halfway between them on the coast. Sea breezes yesterday were 50 miles an hour.
Shopping on line is OK up to a point but I like to try on and feel the item.
We have a holiday in London in July and that's when I do real shopping. Rigby and Peller for bras!!:T is a great treat as I love pretty bras.
I have about £87 in points to spend in Boots so will treat myself to some perfume next week in Inverness.