Frump to Fab - A Whole New World.

helensbiggestfan

Good morning lovely ladies.  

A gorgeous, bright sunny morning, and now the wind has dropped it feels quite warm. (Ok it's all relative).🤣. 

Happy Birthday Wednesday.  Hope you have a lovely time.  

Love the idea of self gifts for birthdays, I do the same at Christmas....I'm my own Santa.  😂

It is so nice to see the shops starting to display their spring clothing. Had to go to Asda today and picked up a pale banana coloured sweater, great for the seasonal changeover and even chilly summer days, although hopefully we won't have too many of those. 😉

sugarbaby125

Hello Ladies,

It is a lovely sunny but cold day here in London.  

I managed to save £613 in February so once again I exceeded my £400 a month savings goal. 

I not only buy myself birthday gifts every year, I also do lots of things that I enjoy doing to celebrate my birthday. I tend to celebrate for 14 days straight, starting a few days before my actual birthday.  

I also buy myself Christmas presents  

This thread really keeps me on track with my personal self care and making sure that I am groomed every time I leave my home. There are days when I am feeling depressed and my 1st thought is not to bother, but then I give myself a wake up call and I make the effort to look my best, even if I am only going to do a bit of top up shopping locally. 

helensbiggestfan

Well done SUgarbaby on exceeding your savings target.  I bet your savings pot is starting to look nice and healthy now. 

Ive just done my February financial review and I have to confess I've seriously overspent on housekeeping but the freezer and cupboards are well stocked so I should be able to claw back in March.  

 I did say I wasn't going to spend much this year, no unnecessary new clothes etc. Both the new suitcase and the sweater today were wants not real needs but, it would have been my husband's birthday today,  and, although I'm not feeling too down or melancholy, I figured a couple of little gifts were in order.  😉. 

On the whole though I'm doing ok, managing to overpay on the mortgage now so I'm happy enough.   My SIL has advised me of the rough figure from FILs legacy......... It is substantially more than I had expected. Such a kind and generous man, I am very humbled and grateful.  It's not a fortune of course, not after he has self funded his nursing home fees for over 5 years, but it's still a significant sum. I won't splurge it, it will be a nice cushion for my old age and a nice safety net for the boys. 

SUgarbaby......well done on keeping up the fabbing, even if you don't always feel  like it.  I didnt bother to wear make up to go to Asda this morning but I did dress smartly even though I was wrapped up against the chill.  Wore my bright pink jumper. I've noticed the colour "warms up" my complexion quite nicely so I can skip foundation and blusher when I wear it.  

I've stripped the bed and done some cleaning so I am just having a little rest now, going to give myself a manicure.  

Tomorrow I need to prepare the kitchen for the decorator and then pack ready for heading off to Scotland on Wednesday.  I've checked the weather forecast and it doesn't look too bad at all.  Only a couple of degrees colder than here.  I can cope with that. 😂

Wednesday2000

Thanks Ladies. I am glad I am not the only one who buys herself presents! I really like my new necklaces and I am wearing one of them today.

Like Sugarbaby it is sunny but chilly here. I have my hot water bottle on my lap and I'm about to make myself another cup of green tea.

I have decided to go out on Saturday as well, just to a local area to a restaurant and a few bars. Why not?!   I might just go out in the afternoon instead of the evening and then go home to watch films afterwards.

I have ordered myself a few more treats, lol. A citrus scented candle, some vegan sweeties and some lemongrass essential oil for my oil diffuser.

I have started reading a book on meditation today and it is refreshing as it is very casual and easy to understand. It is written by a (very attractive) guy from the US. I heard of him on a podcast the other day. His name is Light Watkins.

ABOUT LIGHT — BEGIN MEDITATING

He says you should be comfortable when you meditate so you will want to stick to doing it everyday. He said do it sitting up in bed with a shawl wrapped around you if you want. I have also ordered myself a stylish burgundy and black shawl so I can use it when I begin meditating in the way he teaches.

candygirl

Happy Birthday WEDNESDAY ! I'm well jel about the Stereophonics gig, I love them too  
LL I got the 4 wheeled cases for Goa, n they make life so much easier.Loving the sound of all Your new glad rags .I need to have a chazzer delve asap, haven't been for ages  
I always buy myself a prezzy on my birthday, as most of my dosh gets spent on Madam Bon Bon
Am finding sleep elusive at the mo, not sure if it's a hormonal blip LOL  x

Wednesday2000

candygirl said:

Happy Birthday WEDNESDAY ! I'm well jel about the Stereophonics gig, I love them too  

Thanks, I have only seen them once before. It was at a charity concert for Amnesty called We Know Where You Live back in 2001!  

sugarbaby125

Happy Birthday Wednesday.   I hope you have a great time at the gig and remember you cannot buy too many gifts for yourself. You are worth all the pampering you can fit in.   

Hello Ladies,
I went to see the film The Invisible Man yesterday and I found it to be a great thriller.   I have some Groupon Odeon codes to use up and I have been waiting for some of the films that I knew were coming out to arrive at Streatham Odeon, which is my local Odeon cinema.  

sugarbaby125

Yesterday I went to Poet's Corner at the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton, then I went from there to Karaoke in Herne Hill. 

I only just discovered that there was a local Poet's Corner held every week in the Black Cultural Archives building in Brixton, so I decided to find out what it was all about for myself. I took along my poem Black Man Thing to perform and it went down a storm. I was really pleased and gratified at how much this new audience loved my poem.  There were a number of poets, young and old who were brave enough to share their poetry with the audience.  There were also audience members that preferred just to listen to the other people performing. 

I went to Karaoke and I had a really great evening. When I arrived there were enough people to give the wine bar a really good vibe.   I sang 4 of my usual songs:

1. Hurts So Good by Susan Cadogan
2. Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You by Andy Williams
3. Fever by Peggy Lee
4. Return To Sender by Elvis 

It was a long evening of entertainment for me, as I left home at 6pm and returned home just after midnight. I was tired but felt exhilarated by having so much fun at both events.   Today I am in pain, because of all of the dancing I did at Karaoke last night, but it was definitely worth the pain I am experiencing today. 

maman

Hello All

I’ve been reading but not posting much as I think that’s one of the effects of this new site. It still irritates me.:s  Yesterday I did a nice, long post and when I went back to read something on the thread, my post disappeared. Today I’m doing cut and paste from Word to be on the safe side.;)

The poetry reading sounds really good sugarbaby. That was certainly an extended evening out.

I was interested in what you wrote about the conditions for meditation Wednesday. My preferred way of reading for pleasure is to be sitting up in bed, even if it’s the middle of the day. Unfortunately that can easily mean I fall asleep!

I’m reading a very interesting novel at the moment, and have been forcing myself to sit on the sofa for an hour or so whenever I can. Although it’s fiction it’s based on the family history of the author. Her family was German and it tells the story of what it was like for a young German woman during the war and how ignorant they were of what was really going on and how commonplace it was to belong to the Hitler Youth and similar organisations. The novel is partly based on a diary and the present day when she goes back (after having lived in the US) to visit her old hometown.

I ordered one of the dresses from that fashion link you sent us Wednesday. 

https://www2.hm.com/en_gb/productpage.0856808006.html

Two sizes are coming for me to decide. H&M have a very clunky website and it was so difficult to search for stock in store that, in the end, I ordered two to be delivered to our local newsagent. Apparently they’re winging their way via Hermes.

My holiday next week is a bit up in the air at the moment (excuse that dreadful pun). We were due to be flying with Flybe and, of course, it’s gone into liquidation overnight. Fortunately I booked the flights and hotel as a package so it’s ATOL protected. Lastminute.com are currently trying to rearrange flights but that’ll probably mean travelling to another airport and paying for parking (we were meant to fly from our local airport) so we may choose a refund and go somewhere else. Unfortunately I just know this from email as it’s impossible to get through to speak to anyone.

Rain here today AGAIN.:s

maddiemay

Sugarbaby - I totally get what you mean by the experiences you had being worth the pain.  It is something I talk to my PT about sometimes, I know that on occasions if I sat and read/knit/watched TV etc all the time the pain would be much less, but the enjoyment of going out and spending time with friends/walking in the countryside/cooking and baking are well worth the discomfort, life is to be lived and at 70 I want to make the most of what time is left (Not being morbid, just appreciative of the fact that I have got to this stage, when so many lovely people I have known have been so lucky).
Lunch out today at a small country pub, 2 couple and 2 singles, lots of interesting chat and amusing recollections of things done and place travelled to, both in the UK and further afield.  I cannot eat more than one course, even a small one, but have the treat of a portion of Lemon Meringue pie brought home to eat shortly with a cuppa.    PT session and lunch out means I am now super sleepy, trying to resist a nap in favour of an early night.
Maman- the dress looks interesting, I need to find something for a wedding at the end of August, I hate buying/wearing what might be termed "occasion wear", I might start looking for ideas soon, but will not buy yet, sadly lost several pounds more in the last few days, hopefully will stabilise over the coming months, something that fits well now might be to small if I can get back to the 8 stone BMI 19.8 I am happy at.