Frump to Fab 2019 - Here We Go Again

lessonlearned

sheilavw wrote: »

Well done LL, a size 10 is amazing,
The Sainsburys 25% is the last one before Christmas

Bit of a fluke I think. . I'm now a 14 ish. They didn't have 14, only 16 or 10. The 16 buried me, the 10 fitted, I think because it's a loose fitting style. Like the old "Sloppy Joe's". I used to live in those when I was a teenager.

Filthy day here, no granny duty today, so going to stay home and have a sort out in the top bedroom and do some healthy cooking.

sugarbaby125

Hello Ladies,

Yesterday I took my daughter to Chiquito in Leicester Square for a late lunch and I went to the wine bar in Herne Hill in the evening

I had a Groupon for Chiquito which cost me £24.95 which saved me £21.51 on the menu prices for our 2 course meal. I had a starter of chicken wings and a main of a grilled chicken breast, 3 barbecue ribs (I took them home in a box provided by the restaurant), onion rings (gave them to my daughter as I do not like them), mini corn on the cob, coleslaw and chips. My daughter had a starter of chicken strips and a main of the Texan stack burger with coleslaw and chips. I had a large bottle of sparkling water with my meal and my daughter had a homemade fresh lemonade. We both enjoyed the food and drinks, but they were nothing special.

We have had similar in Frankie & Benny's or Chicago Rib Shack that were better cooked, tasted better and were even better value for money, so I doubt we will be returning to Chiquito. Plus the irritating thing was service was very slow, with 8 members of staff working that shift and the restaurant was almost empty. The staff spent a lot of time standing around talking to each other rather than being attentive to the few tables of customers they were waiting on. My daughter left our waiter a £5 tip, as I did not think the slow service deserved a tip but as she works in the industry she will always leave a tip. I only leave a tip when I have had good service in a restaurant. The saving grace was that the restaurant is very well appointed and was beautifully decorated for Christmas.

I went to the wine bar in Herne Hill in the evening for Karaoke, only to arrive and realise it was a party night. :j It was fantastic. I danced all night, mostly sitting down though. I ache all over today, but it was so worth it. :cool:

I have a cold starting, so I am coughing and have a sore throat. I only need over the counter flu medication to ensure I will be well enough to go to The Old Vic tonight. I am really looking forward to watching A Christmas Carol again.

sugarbaby125

lessonlearned wrote: »

Just a quick heads up, Sainsbury's has it's 25% off Tu clothing again.
I treated myself ......;)

SUgarbaby...sometimes it's nice to give into wants though isn't it. I don't need any clothes either but I've bought another sweater dress today. Deep rich plum colour, again a cowl neck so nice and cosy for winter but without that strangled feeling I sometimes get with polo or turtle necks.

The icing on the cake....it's a size 10.:T:T

LL I have been indulging myself with wants for 2 years or more but no more. I have a short rail of tops in my bedroom which has over 40 tops on it. I have 3 full length rails in each of the 3 bedrooms which have longer tops, dresses including evening dresses, jackets, coats, skirts, jumpers and cardigans on. All the surplus clothing is in storage boxes in my bedroom and my daughter's bedroom. I have my shoe collection in all 3 bedrooms, my handbags and accessories are stored in my bedroom. :eek:

It is going to be an exhausting task to do a written inventory of all of my clothing, shoes, handbags and other accessories but I really need it, so that whenever I find a real bargain on eBay, I will watch it and see what it sells for just for the fun of it, but I will resist the urge to buy the item. :rotfl:

I do not need any more clothing, shoes, handbags or other accessories. :rotfl:

Wednesday2000

I had to get up quite early as we are expecting some concert tickets to be delivered and they need a signature.

I like my new punky top that I'm wearing to Liam Gallagher. I hope I will be warm enough as it's meant to be colder tomorrow. I might have to wear my coat instead of my biker jacket. It's going to get down to 3 degrees at night. I can't think how cold that is, maybe three layers would be okay and I won't need a coat.

I often see men's t-shirts with a design I like in charity shops and think I would like to wear that if it a woman's top. I was watching a YouTube video about how to cut down men's tops to make one to suit a woman. I think i might look out for some to experiment with.
I used to wear men's dress shirts with the sleeves turned up under my denim and leather jackets when I was younger so I might look for them too. The dress shirts are often good quality (more than women's shirts) and if they are white they will take well to the clothing dye.:T

We did a good job of eating down our fridge and freezer this week. I thought it would take longer. We must be greedy, haha.

sugarbaby125 wrote: »

Wednesday and LL,

There was a time in my life only a few years ago Wednesday that like you almost every piece of clothing that I owned was either black or blue and if I wanted to add colour to my wardrobe, I bought a few items in chocolate brown. Now, I have clothing in lots of bright colours having discovered that all of the colours of the rainbow suit me. :j It most probably took me about 2 years or more to transform my whole wardrobe of clothing.

I just ordered some flamingo pink, tulip red and bright blue dye from Ama*on to dye my next set of charity shop clothes. :cool:

I'm wearing my hot pink cardi (over my black dress) today.:)

silvasava

Afternoon All.
LL - glad you are feeling much more cosy in your house. Its amazing isnt it how your mood affects your choices. Mine are usually WHAT was I thinking!!
My basic colours in my wardrobe are black, grey and navy however, i team them with fuchsia pink, red, indigo blue, pure white and a vivid turquoise My theory when buying is that whatever it is it has to go with 3 pieces that I already own....I still have loads though
Wednesday - I bought a hot pink and black zebra striped cardi in a Coast sale quite a few years ago and its one of my faves.
Sugar - thank you for the film reviews but grr to all the noisy litter louts. I'm afraid I'm getting too bolshy in my old age to suffer people talking through films. I have in the past confronted a group of youths (very loudly so everyone in the theatre heard) and told them I'd paid good money to see a film not listen to them, after a few minutes they up and left and a man said to me 'That was brave' ! My pet hate is people who cannot go for a couple of hours without stuffing their faces....god I'm getting grumpy lol

[Deleted User]

Mind if I join?? I'm a fifty something who looks like a 90 year old who hasn't worn well! :rotfl:

I smoke too much, drink too much, eat sporadically, have far too much sugar, live in jeans and fleeces, have hair like a mad woman, have never worn makeup, take no exercise, have age-blotchy skin, peeling fingernails and basically present as the old crone which is fine for chronology and wisdom {lets face it, I'm pretty impressed I've got this far! - but not really what I want to look like!! :eek:

I have a very limited wardrobe (most of which is black) and find it hard to feel in the least bit comfortable on the rare occasions I make an effort!!

I want to start a self-care routine, I want to look fab (not younger, just good for my age) and I want to be healthy enough to play like a lunatic with my grandbaby :lovethoug

So, after reading and lurking, I've decided it's time to get out of the shadows and join you lovely, encouraging people in my quest to start to care about me!!

lessonlearned

Hi Squirrel. Welcome. Glad you've decided to join us, the more the merrier.

You did make me chuckle with the way you described yourself. Never mind, I was probably in a worse state than you when we began (apart from the fags). I quit when I was 25 after a very scary chest infection.

Anyhoo.....I would suggest you start small.....

Assuming you want to stop smoking and reduce your alcohol intake as well as reducing sugar I would suggest you might be better waiting until the New Year. Now with all the Christmas festivities won't be the easiest time to try, not unless you have superhuman will power. Perhaps you might be able to reduce the number of cigarettes.

I would go for a quick easy win to get you started.... maybe your hair. And then maybe start thinking skin care.

With your wardrobe, if you are not ready to change your look just yet, then just make sure everything is nicely pressed and freshly laundered.

From your description of your nails it sounds like you might be vitamin deficient - cigarettes will do that. Maybe start some vitamins and also invest in a good nourishing cuticle cream. Failing that a nightly application of good old Vaseline works wonders. And wear gloves.

Lots of sleep and plenty of water.

Oh and golden rule.....wear perfume.

Wednesday2000

My skin on my face feels quite dry at the moment, it must be the combination of the weather and the central heating. I have rubbed in a thick cream on my face and will leave it on all day and go makeup free until tonight to see if it will help.:cool:

silvasava wrote: »

Wednesday - I bought a hot pink and black zebra striped cardi in a Coast sale quite a few years ago and its one of my faves.

Ooh, it sounds very snazzy.:)

squirrelgirl wrote: »

Mind if I join?? I'm a fifty something who looks like a 90 year old who hasn't worn well! :rotfl:

I smoke too much, drink too much, eat sporadically, have far too much sugar, live in jeans and fleeces, have hair like a mad woman, have never worn makeup, take no exercise, have age-blotchy skin, peeling fingernails and basically present as the old crone which is fine for chronology and wisdom {lets face it, I'm pretty impressed I've got this far! - but not really what I want to look like!! :eek:

I have a very limited wardrobe (most of which is black) and find it hard to feel in the least bit comfortable on the rare occasions I make an effort!!

I want to start a self-care routine, I want to look fab (not younger, just good for my age) and I want to be healthy enough to play like a lunatic with my grandbaby :lovethoug

So, after reading and lurking, I've decided it's time to get out of the shadows and join you lovely, encouraging people in my quest to start to care about me!!

:hello: I recognise you from the other thread. Welcome.xxx

maman

Welcome squirrel.:wave: I agree with LL that starting small is the way to go. It's too easy to go all guns blazing in a wave of enthusiasm and then fail and be demoralised. It takes time to develop habits so set a few that you can build on. I'd suggest some alcohol free days to offset the inevitable Christmas excesses and some gentle exercise like a brisk walk when you can fit it in. Marking it in a diary/calendar/notebook can help as it gives a tangible record of achievement and a baseline to build on. Good luck.:)

Back from my short break. We had a really good time. The weather was mild and a bit damp in parts but not wet enough to stop us doing the sightseeing we wanted. We stayed in Leiden which is like a miniature version of Amsterdam in that it has all the canals and pretty architecture without the crowds. We went into Amsterdam for the day and I loved our visit to the refurbished Rijksmuseum. It's like the National Gallery (mostly Dutch painters) and the V&A rolled into one.

I mainly wore jeans and a jumper with a thermal layer underneath. I took my long, quilted black coat as it's very light. I've found that my long wool coat can feel very heavy when I'm wearing it all day. I felt appropriately dressed but not hugely fab. My hair hates damp conditions. It was limp and wavy and I always find it harder to blow dry the first few times as I'd had it cut last weekend. I think along with moisturiser and mascara I'd be putting hair high on my list with fabbing essentials.

Your wardrobe sounds absolutely huge sugrababy. I think an overhaul will be a mammoth task but if you do a bit at a time you'll get there. You do sound (typically;)) organised in that it's separated into tops , shoes etc. but still loads to do.

It's bright and sunny here today. I'm taking it a bit easy, sorting out some laundry and doing my meal plan and shop for the week. Monday is the first of the pre Christmas events I'll be going to so I need to work around eating in and eating out.

sugarbaby125

Hello Ladies,

On Thursday evening I went to watch A Christmas Carol at The Old Vic again. I found it even more enjoyable than I did on Monday. :j I got another free mince pie as well.

On Friday evening I went to my monthly poetry group Blackfriars Vocal. It was a really lovely evening with lots of talented poets who all have very different creative voices. I got a loud round of applause at the end of each of my 3 poems which was so gratifying for me. 2 of the poems were about Wayne and they really got everyone laughing out loud.:rotfl: There is so much rich material for me to write about when it comes to my past relationship with Wayne. :rotfl: As it was our last poetry group for this year everyone took the time at the end of the evening to socialise with each other and wish each other a merry Christmas.

I also got quite a haul of 5 free cakes, a large cookie, 2 sausages rolls, 2 large scones, a Belgian pastry, a cheese topped roll and a soft seeded bread roll to take home. My daughter is going to be really happy when she sees what I brought home.

I had 1 of the sausage rolls, the cheese topped roll and some salad for my dinner when I got home. Very welcome as I was really hungry as I last ate when I had my lunch at 1pm and by the time I got home it was just after 9pm.

My grandson is coming to visit me with his new girlfriend tomorrow and I feel really excited at spending time with them both