Frump to Fab 2017 - A Whole New World

lessonlearned

Good morning everyone.

GRunnie....how sweet. Bet it made your day.

SFT. Yes it's the little things that add up and make us feel poised and more polished. Sometimes it's hard to make an effort but it really is worth it.

This week I have been sporting bright red finger nails. My son watched me painting them and asked if I was going somewhere special. I just smiled and said no but I want to feel special.......he nodded so I think he "got it"

And do you know my red nails have made me feel special. Every time I go shopping and remove my gloves at the checkout I catch a glimpse of my shiny red nails and I secretly admire how nice they look. They make me feel glamourous.

True story. My eldest started school. He came home from school that night and said "Mummy why can't you have long blonde hair and shiny red nails". Just 5 years old and he had fallen in love with his teacher....well she was very glamourous.

Now, since changing my hair colour I now have blonde hair and red nails.:rotfl:

MAman - I shall be interested to see how you get on with your cleansing brush. I feel that my skin looks a bit lacklustre at the moment and a bit congested at times. I discovered I have a Boots skin peel kit that I had forgotten about so I might try that this week.

Your story about bumping into your dancing friend in Sainsbury's does highlight that how nice it is to feel fab each day. Yes sometimes it seems Like too much effort but if we remember our mantra "little and often" then it does become easier and our good habits start to pay dividends.

Something similar happened to me the other day when I went on that shopping trip.

A lady overheard me saying to my friend that i wasn't going to buy anything much until I had dropped two dress sizes. She looked me up and down and said "you don't need to drop two dress sizes". I laughed and said "sadly I do, its only because I am tall that I can hide the fact that I am overweight". She asked me how much I weighed (13st 7lbs) and she was genuinely astonished. She said that she would never have guessed, saying that honestly I looked really good.

I thought about it andi realised that dressing well for my shape, choosing colours and styles that flattered me and just generally "fabbing" and making the best of myself really does pay dividends.

Just think....if I can lose the extra weight I could look sensational!!!!

The good news is the exercise, healthy eating and better sleep is paying off. Checked my blood sugars this morning. Normal.:j.:j

Grey and miserable but at least no snow or sleet this morning so going to get out and about. Need to do some food shopping and want to pop into Wilkinsons to get some picture frames.

Have a lovely day. Keep warm.

DD265

savingfortomorrow I know just what you mean about something feeling like armour. I can't explain why, but I just feel ready to take on the world if my nails are nicely done.

Maman please do feedback on the cleansing brush.

We saw the results of our free engagement photoshoot yesterday and on the whole were both happy with it. It's shown me that I definitely want professional makeup for the wedding as there were little things that could be improved. We've ended up buying copyright for 5 of the photos, and will put at least two up on the wall. Makes a change from horse photos

I've been mooching around town today in the snow/sleet/cold/rain. Bought a top from New Look which I'm not 100% about, so going to show Mom later in the week. Got some more shorts from DW Sports (I much prefer sporty shorts to anything else) and a hi-viz orange running jacket from Sports Direct. Not entirely sure it's my colour but it's the most visible choice. :cool: I also went to BodyCare for eyelash/brow dye and ended up spending £18. Got the two packs of dye (black for lashes, brown for brows) for less than one pack would've cost in Boots, plus various other bits.

Still no sun hat to be found. I ordered some wedge sandals from Debenhams which I have to pick up on the way home from work tomorrow so I can have a mooch around Meadowhall whilst I'm there.

I've decided that I really want to get my colours done and have a shopping spree this summer. It'll have to wait until I've reached my target weight and paid off some more wedding, but like many of us on this thread I want to have a wardrobe full of things that I look great in. OK is no longer OK! Except when I'm ill, then I'll settle for OK. :rotfl:

maman

DD265 wrote: »

and will put at least two up on the wall. Makes a change from horse photos

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:


Of course, I'll feed back on the brush. I'm not picking it up until Friday (did click and collect) and not expecting instant results. meanwhile I'm going to persist with exfoliator on the days I wash my hair (mostly alternate days) as that's when I have a longer shower and my face gets steamed.


It's often worth mooching as sometimes you find something you don't expect but sometimes you just buy stuff for retail therapy. I think we're all agreed that good enough just isn't. You might find a sunhat in Debenhams when you're picking up the shoes.


A little more progress with the extension discussions. DH and I went across to Wickes to look at possible fixtures for a shower room. We may not buy anything from there but we have a starting point to make comparisons with. Also called into The Range for new lampshades for bedside lights and I've finished sewing a cushion to match the breakfast tablecloth. I find that such a peculiar shop. They have a few nice things and then masses of tat. I'm amazed what people buy.


Up to now I've been using a soft (both colour and texture) brown eyebrow pencil. It'll need replacing soon but I'm thinking I might try eyebrow powder instead. Any views?

lessonlearned

MAman.....I use brow powder. I prefer it. Takes a bit longer then pencil but lasts all day and looks more "natural". I got mine from the Body Shop. Two shades of brown.

Been to Physio, feel sore now so just resting with coffee and an early light lunch. Sun is shining, although a cold wind. Will go for a decent walk in a bit, to compensate for my sloth over the weekend.:rotfl:

Then need to get to grips with some house fabbing. The place is a tip. Even the flowers are half dead and need chucking out. Might swing by the little sainsbugs and treat myself for Valentines. I did buy some nice posh chocolates yesterday.

Now it might sound odd......but my thoughts are.....If my husband were alive we would treat each other to some silly little token presents so I don't see why I shouldn't carry on the tradition, even if I do now just buy for myself.

After all if we want to be loved then we must first love ourselves.

Well.....thats my excuse.:D

DD265

Maman - I too use a brow powder. I have an Elizabeth Arden one, but I actually prefer a little (and dirt cheap) Rimmel kit that comes with a wax and powder. Boots are selling it for £3.99 at the moment.

LL - I think you do right! Before we got the kittens, I would buy myself flowers all the time. Occasionally my OH would buy some, but I was just happy to have them and didn't really care who bought them. We haven't risked any flowers since the kittens came at the end of October. :rotfl:

I went to Meadowhall on the way home from work last night. Picked up my sandals from Debenhams (will have to go back as too big) and a strapless bra/seamless knickers from Victorias Secret. Very expensive and buyers remorse may see me return them. Have ordered some alternate bras online to see how I go; I really struggle with strapless. I'm a 32FF and I'm short from bust to shoulder. Most strapless bras seem to have much more coverage (I'd usually buy a balcony style) which means they end up digging in to my arm pit, or I get this weird cone-shape thing going on. If needs be I'll go without (this is for under bandeau dresses/jumpsuit) but I sometimes feel a bit self conscious.

Also found a gorgeous sun hat in Accessorize. It's grey and I love grey. :smileyhea They also had a sandy colour but I liked the grey better; thought it brought out my eyes more. I seriously hope that if I get my colours done, grey is one of the ones that I can wear!

chanie

Happy Valentines Day, fabbers


Sainsburys have their 25% off clothing today. I've just bought the children some underwear, as I always try and stock up when the offer is on.

lessonlearned

Happy Valentines Day

Hope you are all have a wonderful day.

If you are single then just pamper yourselves and have fun.

Remember to love yourselves.

:happyhear

maman

Glad you got yourself a sunhat DD.:)


I sympathise with the strapless bra dilemma. I've got 3 unpadded bandeau style ones (black, white, neutral) which are great under strappy camisoles and the like. I'd love to replace them as they are really ancient but I've never found anything like them. I'm amazed why manufacturers these days seem to think everyone wants/needs a padded bra!


Thanks for the Rimmel tip on brow powder. For that price I could experiment. I had an email to say my brush is waiting to be collected from Boots so I'll get brow powder while I'm there. I also ordered a book on Amazon for DD (that I meant to get at Christmas) and to make it up to free postage I ordered the L'Oreal x5 mascara. And Sainsbury's is in the same shopping centre chanie so hopefully some jeggings to try as well.:)


DH and I don't 'do' Valentines as such. Other years I have bought a M&S meal deal but generally when it's fallen on a weekend. Today we have enjoyed some time together though. We went to local NT property to see Rex Whistler exhibition. Although we've been to house many times, today they were doing guided tours so we joined one and it was very good. Apparently it's a way of opening the house to the public (which normally wouldn't be until next month) but managing the visit while the deep clean goes on in other rooms. Unfortunately there was little/no heating so it was very cold in almost all rooms. We could have stayed for lunch but were glad to come home and warm up.


Dancing tonight and tomorrow and determined to give dresses a try. Tonight I'm wearing my purple, jersey shift dress with cap sleeves and ether a matching or black cardigan and opaques.


Dull but dry here. Have a good evening all.:)

ScarlettMcCain

Happy Valentine's Day everyone - hope you have all enjoyed it :grinheart

Thank you so much for all your good wishes last week, I had a lovely time on Friday night! The boys went to sleep ok which meant that OH was unbearably smug (next time I will feed them Red Bull before I go out ) although of course he only did 2/3 of the tasks I left him to do, and then of course he wouldn't get up the next morning till he'd had a two hour lie in, claiming he was shattered…..

It was great to go to the pub though even if it was only for a couple of hours - and I even had a couple of job offers from ex-colleagues who are now with other companies once I'm ready to rejoin the world of work, which was gratifying.

I'm still feeling fat and tired and need to follow LL's example of an action plan - I wanted to go to the GP's this week to discuss my blood test results but the first appointment I could get wasn't for over a week, how ridiculous! The test results showed that I had some sort of infection and I've now had mouth/ tongue ulcers and a sore throat for almost four weeks, they just won't go

(By the way LL, I hope you did treat yourself for Valentine's Day, you deserve to have a thoroughly lovely time!)

Sugarbaby, I hope things have got a bit easier at work, it does sound like they run you ragged between other people's poor work and management making your life difficult. If you have any tips for getting babies to bed early that would be very helpful; I've tried early and late bedtimes, the best I can say is that it usually takes the boys an hour or so to actually drop off after bath time, and today it was almost two hours :eek: although my friend who also has twins starts bedtime at 7pm every day and can't get them to bed till 1am - needless to say, she is absolutely exhausted all the time!!

Speaking of which, it's bedtime for me, have a good week all xx

ScarlettMcCain

By the way I've been trying to order some bits from the Tu website now the 25% discount is on there, but tons is out of stock already - it definitely wasn't at the weekend as I was searching for bits then - surely the sale can't have moved that quickly?!