Frump to Fab 2018 - Fabulous Dahhhhlings

sugarbaby125

Hello Ladies,

TF you are doing great. Congratulations on your weight loss especially.

Chanie exciting times for you planning your city break for you and your OH and the house renovation

LL good luck on completing this month.

Floss that pink leather Carvela handbag sounds lovely. I hope you get lots of use out of it.

This year I have been buying some of my favourite Body Shop Satsuma shower gel as the time is going to come at the end of August when I simply will not be able to afford to buy it even on offer. With other toiletries, I am changing to much cheaper brands like Olay for my face cream instead of N0 7 Protect & Perfect and buying toiletries from Lidl which is even cheaper than similar products I would normally buy from Poundland. I also love Sanctuary Spa and I have a large gift set and other single products from the range still to use up.

Floss

LL & Sugar I have a deep blue leather Kate Spade bag which gets a lot of use, I think the shade is Emperor Blue, and have been after a deep pink bag for ages I now "need" a zipped leather backpack...:D

silvasava

Nipped in to our local chemist to pick up DHs prescription - sunglasses reduced and they just happened to have a pair with candy pink frames..........;) Gotta do it!

Did some shopping in my local As*a and picked up a lovely top in a dark fuchsia colour - will go with all my black,grey and navy - happy bunny;)

lessonlearned

Loving the "pink" shopping bargains......

Hello Everyone

Well yesterday was wonderful.....just one of those magic days.

I.went with the family to a local hostellery to celebrate DILs sisters graduation. She was in Venezuela of course but we timed it so we were celebrating whilst she was at the ceremony. The wonders of modern technology....photos and texts whizzing back and forth, all in real time.

Venezuela is still a basket case, with nothing in the shops, so DIL treated her sister to several dresses purchased here and sent back with her dad for her graduation present. Her mum is still here of course, helping with the baby (who is growing by the day and is absolutely gorgeous......of course!!!). She is now a fully qualified Dr.

There have been three days of celebrations all requiring different outfits so it was nice to see her all dolled up in her finery. Like DIL she is absolsuletly stunning (looking at it objectively she is actually even more beautiful than DIL). The dresses DIL chose were perfect, all from Next. They seem to have a great range in this year.

Anyway after that I went on to meet a friend to see Mama Mia. Loved it. A nice bit of summer froth. Cher was a hoot and Andy Garcia was just gorgeous.......he's really aged well. My DIL keeps telling me I have to find an Andy Garcia lookalike.:rotfl: hmmmm maybe she has a point, but Could I cope with yet another Latino in the family. Maybe not. Give me a nice refined English gent any day.

Went to the solicitor this morning, everything is looking good, contracts signed. Aiming to legally complete week commencing 20th August. Wahoo.

Tomorrow is the 4th anniversary of my husband's death. I know this sounds daft but I think the new house will be my turning point. New house, new life. The point at which I finally say goodbye to "widowhood" and embrace "singledom".

Right time for brunch and then more sorting and packing. At least the house is cooler now and more conducive to getting stuff done.

One thing happened yesterday at the wine bar which really made everything wonderful. We got chatting to a middle aged couple, as you do. The guy, a long haired ageing hippy type, went gaga over the baby and insisted on giving him a very generous cash gift for his money box. My DIL and her mum were completely overwhelmed. DIL was near to tears and didn't want to take it. I told her it was ok, perfectly normal, and to accept it graciously because he would be extremely offended if she didn't.

Anyway when we left I thanked him again for his generousity. He said said he believed in Random Acts of Kindness. I said "don't worry, we will Pay It Forward". His face lit up and he said "Wow you get it, you understand it".

Outside, My son explained that the reason for DILs discomfort is because this is the kind of thing that just doesn't happen in either Venezuela or Barcelona.....she is just not used to the "kindness of strangers".

It's things like that that make proud to be British..... I think we're great!!!! It wasn't the size of the gift, it's the principle behind it. I know I'm half Belgian (they're great too) but I have always been so proud of my English side, and yesterday just reinforced that yet again, just how kind and generous Brits can be.

My mum adored England and I have always felt it such a shame that she didn't live long enough to help DIL integrate and "learn the ropes" of the British way of life.

If mum had been there she would just have winked at DIL and said "Crazy English" and given a Gallic shrug and a conspiratorial smile and DIL would have found it less embarrassing.

It must be so hard to learn to live in a new country.

sashybo

Hi all,

Chanie I visited a friend living in Stockholm a few years ago - it was a lovely place but very very expensive for eating out, drinks etc.

I loved Prague when I went with DH but that was 13 years ago now. :eek: We also enjoyed Berlin a couple of years ago & would definitely go back there or maybe another city in Germany.

LL how lovely of that man to give your DGS a gift. I've been constantly surprised at how generous people have been to us since we had our DS & at just how many strangers will stop and chat to him when he smiles at them in the supermarket etc. My DS is a terrible flirt though, he loves socialising. :rotfl:

The clothes I ordered are all keepers apart from a pair of black trousers which are very small made. The reviews online were 50/50 between small-made & true to size. For me they're definitely small made so will return & get a replacement, maybe some jeggings instead.

Toni'sfriend

Chanie - Can I suggest Vienna. Just the right size for a weekend, Lots of sightseeing, lovely shops. amazing cafes and the cakes are fantastic (maybe shouldn't have said that!). We've been twice in the last couple of years and going back again in January. The other city I really liked was Budapest. Went there last January and going back again when we go to Vienna.

chanie

Thank you all for the city break suggestions. Will give us lots to consider. I haven!!!8217;t been on a city break in years. I used to do them when I was younger, but we havent been able to afford them since having children (and if I am honest, our children are too young to enjoy them anyway).

Lessons good luck with your move. Am very excited to read about your new adventures.

seven-day-weekend

Don't know whether this is classed as 'fabbing', but myself and my husband are going to have an adventure.

Here is the story. In our youth we used to love motorcycling, and my husband still has one, but I have not ridden pillion for years, mainly due to being too heavy and/or the bike being too high for me to get on, as is the case with the one he has now. Many modern bikes are very high.

Anyway, i have now lost a lot of weight and am still losing.

We decided to go to a local motorbike shop for coffee. We do this every so often. He dreams amongst the motorcycles and I read the papers. When we got there, he said 'look at that, I have always fancied a cruiser, and you could get on it'. He showed me this magnificent black beast, really low-slung. I thought ' yes I could' and before I knew it, there I was on its comfortable rear seat. I fell in love with it straight away.

Anyway, we have put a deposit on it and he is test-riding it on Sunday. If he likes it, we will pay the balance . He is selling his present bike privately.

We are going to go to Spain on it for about a month next summer, ride round and stay in little hostals, maybe get down south and visit the village where we lived fro eight years.

We might also go on a tour of the WW2 beaches in France, with the Royal British Legion Riders. He has done this before, had a great time and made some friends. I would love to do it too.

http://www.battlefieldsonabike.co.uk/tour-itineraries/2016/6/2/normandy-and-d-day-02-06-june-2016

I have got to buy some motorcycling gear. I have already tried on some armoured leggings and a crash helmet with flowers on. This will all be good fun.
I don't know whether this is 'fabbing', but it is good for the soul.

My husband will be 70 in January, and I will be 69. As he says, let's do it now while we can still get our leg over.:rotfl::eek::rotfl:

Here is the beast : http://www.cmcbikes.com/img/bikes/5b626a4a4e5d39.13758612-5b697620de567.jpg?w=847

Floss

7DW Wow! I think that counts as fabbing, and all that chrome will keep your DH busy!

Toni'sfriend

7DW - Me too. Sounds fabulous.
I am 69 too and always wanted to travel Europe by train. Never did it for various reasons. We started a couple of years ago. Have done two month long trips so far and another planned for January. It is indeed good for the soul.