Frump to Fab 2018 - Fabulous Dahhhhlings

moneyistooshorttomention

Told a friend just how much my latest pair of shoes had cost me - I'm not sure she's picked herself up from the floor yet - after her comment of "HOW MUCH!!":rotfl: That being those blue mule type shoes that I feel will be just the thing to make a blue jeans outfit look classier/more elegant.

She's not seen the rest of the shopping list I've made out:rotfl::rotfl:

I'm working it out what my style is going to be - and it's basically Casual Elegant. I can now zoom in pretty quickly on what items of clothing will make that Look for me and I can get away with at my short height.

Frustratingly slow getting my figure back - regular clothes trying on of clothes I'm waiting to get back into. I think I'm starting to see a move in the direction of heading down from label size 14 to label size 12. Way-hay - I'll soon be back into the "normal size labels" - should only be weeks away....

Am I allowed a half bottle of champagne when I am - in order to celebrate I could no longer buy any clothes at Evans if I wanted to (which I never have...) - but I shall regard it as an achievement to know they'd all be too big for me. Yay!

lessonlearned

Sitting here in my new south facing garden (it's been years since I had one). Just had a nice healthy lunch and enjoying the sun. I count that as fabbing, soaking up some extra vitamin D has got to be good. :rotfl:

Money......Of course you can have some bubbly to celebrate.

moneyistooshorttomention

Well - now I've got the Official Permission it would be rude not to:beer:

Had my second visit with latest hairdresser I've tried here. So - it had had quite a few weeks of "just growing" (which gave some length to play with) when I first went there. It's now had another 6 weeks of growing after the first visit - so some "fine tuning" could go on of my restyle.

Now I can see what I think of it and of the hairdresser.

It looks rather sophisticated now/sharp cut/etc:). Don't know how good (or otherwise) I'll be at "keeping the style up":cool: - but that's that decision made. Several swops of hairdresser later since moving here and I've found a suitable hairdresser now - and I'll just try not to think about the fact they charge three times as much as the previous ones I've tried here or, more to the point, the one I had in my home city prior to moving here:cool:

lessonlearned

I think some things are not worth skimping on. Good comfortable shoes which don't cripple you and a good hair cut which you can style yourself, are I think a good investment. We can always cut corners somewhere.

One example. Regular massages keep me (relatively) pain free and flexible. I would love one every couple of days. :rotfl: but there's no way I could spring for that, so I have one every two or three weeks. In between professional massages I use a hand massager and sit with a massage pad.

I'm struggling a bit with backache at the moment so this morning i used them both. Not as good as a manual massage of course but they do help.

I'm not rich and of course I am trained as a beauty therapist so I tend to do all my other treatments myself. Facials, manicures, pedicures, waxing etc. I would much rather have someone do them for me but I have to cut my coat .......I can't have it all. The money I save pays for my massages and acupuncture.

With shoes I have learned the hard way. If they hurt me and end up tossed in a cupboard and never worn then they are expensive, no matter how cheap they were. :rotfl:

Hair......Ive still yet to find someone I really like but then my hair is so awful they would have to be a genius. Nicky Clarke himself would be hard pressed to do much with it. :rotfl:

moneyistooshorttomention

LL - my mind boggles at the thought of anyone having worse hair than me!! My hair is NOT my "crowning glory":(. It's so fine - it drives me nuts and I know hair that's not "naturally good" does need a skilled hairdresser to make anything of it - hence why I will try and try and try again until I find one.

I would love nice thick hair with loadsa body etc and I could/would just have it long and it wouldnt be nearly so important to find a decent hairdresser and I could experiment like mad with doing lots of different styles on it myself. Oh well....

But yes footwear and beds are things not to be skimped on imo for all of us. Every night that I get into my nice wide comfortable bed I think "Ah - relief". Hair is something not to be skimped on for those of us that struggle to get it looking decent.

humptydumptybits

LL have you thought of going to a local college for a massage. I've used the local college for a facial, hair cut and a massage. Quite cheap and you can go for a 2nd year so not a total beginner and they are well supervised. It does take ages as they have to be checked at every step but it might be worth it if you could do an "inbetween" session between the ones you have now?

lessonlearned

Yes I have tried the college.

In fact I have just completed a complimentary therapies course myself so I was getting loads of massages, reiki treatments and facials for free.. Unfortunately the college is across the other side of the city from my new house and with the current state of the roadworks round there, frankly it's just not worth the hassle. It would take me an hour just to get there. I had to go near there the other day, absolute nightmare.

I have found a nice salon just 5 minutes walk from my new house, and my girl charges me £13 less than the city centre salon I used to go to. Also no travelling expenses either, so saving another £5 or so. I am happy with that.

The hairdresser at the new salon is also pretty good but unfortunately not the best I have ever had. I have only ever found two hairdressers who I would class as first rate. One now lives in Bournemouth and is more or less retired. I was his Saturday shampoo girl many decades ago. The other one who was local retired early through ill health several years ago.

I have found several nice hairdressers in the city centre in the "no appt needed walk in salons" who have done an excellent cut but I don't find that very convenient. I like to be able to book appts rather than chance my arm. If I worked in the city centre and was there every day then that would probably be quite a good option.

Like Money I have baby fine hair, which was ok when I was younger and had a lot of it but alas a combination of stress, ill health and age have taken their toll. :rotfl:

Never mind - it could be worse. I have seen many women younger than me who have suffered severe hair loss. By comparison I consider myself quite fortunate. I am actually quite good at styling it myself and can make it look better than it really is but it can be a nuisance and a bit time consuming.

Oh to be 16 and able to climb out of bed and do nothing and still look great.

There's nothing sexy or remotely attractive about my "just got out of bed look". :rotfl: It takes serious work for me to even look human.

lessonlearned

What a beautiful day. I have worked like a demon, making the most of the warm weather, washing outside windows, paintwork and doors. I shall probably pay for it tomorrow. I have to say I really miss my bath, a shower just isn't the same when your muscles ache.

So......I have decided to order myself a portable mini infrared sauna. I shall pop it in a corner in the attic bedroom for now until it's permanent home is ready.

I have given myself a manicure. I'm keeping my nails quite short at the moment whilst I'm doing so much diy. I have also starting Using lots of nail cream in readiness for winter, because if I don't then my cuticles will split and tear with the cold and the rough work.

Time for dinner, roast lamb and loads of veg. Then a nice restful evening.

moneyistooshorttomention

lessonlearned wrote: »

Oh to be 16 and able to climb out of bed and do nothing and still look great.

There's nothing sexy or remotely attractive about my "just got out of bed look". :rotfl: It takes serious work for me to even look human.

Are there people that can just "get out of bed" even at 16 and look great? :rotfl:

They were few and far between when I was in that agegroup - they're even fewer and farther between these days (ie the "Britain Got Fat" era we are currently in).

Could have been worse - but I was fairly plain and average - until I stopped looking quite so young (ie looking younger than my age), lost a bit of puppy fat, got a decent hairdresser and decided to start emphasising the good points (eyes and boobs in my case). Then I started getting a pretty reasonable amount of "attention". That would have been in my 30's I should say. In hindsight - I wonder if I'd have got more attention if I hadn't spent quite some years dressing like a student - it did feel appropriate for me to do so and it is a University city. I'm really only stopping dressing like a student now because of my age and decided to go "Casual Elegant" - nowt to do with having moved.

Even in "best-looking decade" I could never "just get out of bed":cool:

lessonlearned

Oh yes, there are plenty of young women who look wonderful upon rising.

Baz Luhrman got it right when he wrote "Wear Sunscreen"

...........

"Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh never mind, you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until it has faded. But, trust me, in 20 years you will look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked".

.........

Never a truer word.;)

There's also a fabulous song written by Victoria Wood called "I want to be 14 again".

So yes young girls and young women can and often do tumble out of bed looking good enough to eat.

My DILS are in their 30s and both of them don't really need make up and intensive beauty regimes. They still have that lovely luminous glow of youth and vitality.

My sister, the beauty, is 56 and even she can still look pretty good "au naturelle".
Makes you sick. Lol.

When I look my old photos it amazes me how good I actually looked, although at the time I certainly didn't feel that way. I think if you looked at yourself objectively you might be surprised at how attractive you actually were.

I think it's all about confidence. Most young people don't have much self confidence, that usually comes with age and experience.