Frump to Fab 2022 - The Big One

sugarbaby125

Helen, thanks for sharing your memories. It must have been instinct that made you recognise that the extrovert was probably gay. 

I had my 1st boyfriend at 15 years old, which was a very innocent relationship which mostly consisted of hand holding and lots of talking. My instincts told me he was gay. About 15 years later, I found out through one of his disapproving brothers that he was in fact gay. His family had more or less disowned him for his sexuality which was just so sad. 

Congratulations on losing a stone in weight.

chanie

@helensbiggestfani love the ‘bachelor girl lifestyle’ comment 😂.

i’ve just had a nice long soak in the bath with a bath bomb and lots of bubbles, which was the perfect pick me up.   i had my roots done last week, so i’m nearly on top of my fabbing.

we have a family gathering this weekend, so i think i will wear my new shoes, for a bit of sparkle.  i have some family members i haven’t seen since before lockdown due to being CEV and living quite far away, so it will be nice to catch up.

helensbiggestfan

my batchelor girl years were very tame. 😉.  And it sounds much nicer than Spinster of This Parish.  😂🤣

liberty_lily

Lovely to see you back posting, Helen and for sharing your memories as well as your more recent achievements 😊 Congratulations on losing 1 stone! And hope your spider costume is as wonderful as it sounds and that your grandson has a wonderful 2nd birthday 😄

My dad used to love fancy dress parties - on one memorable occasion (on a Nile cruise with my mum, DS, DH and me) he purloined many loo rolls and dressed as a mummy....he was the star attraction that night at 77 years young 😂

Chanie - hope you have a fabulous family gathering 😁

After a fairly mixed week of mostly warm, sunny days interspersed with some heavy showers (mainly at night, thank goodness), it feels like a proper autumnal day today....'season of mists and mellow fruitfulness' - all damp and misty with lots of falling leaves 🍁🍂🍁 so I'm spending it indoors messing with lampshades, cushions and fabrics 😉

I'm celebrating a whole no-spend week....whoop! Although this will no doubt come to an end over the next couple of days as there's stuff still to purchase for the living room and cloaks. Apart from the flooring (probably Karndean), it's mostly little things because we stocked up on many building materials and the sanitary ware ages ago...oh and we've still got to buy some lighting which I've left till now wanting to get it exactly right - you know, see how the room feels with the huge windows in place!

DH should be home tomorrow evening (yay - the dogs and I can't wait!) - so then it's back to the grindstone, lol 😆 He sent me a pic of the fabbing he's been doing in DS's bathroom - including some fantastic herringbone tiling...wow, so painstaking and such patience!

helensbiggestfan

Good Morning lovely ladies. 

Well it would appear I am officially no longer a frump.  😁

Last night I went to a concert, (David Bowie Tribute).  

Whilst there I "scored".  With a man who was roughly the same age as my sons!!!!!! 😂🤣.  

Sorry Dave you're not my type, but I was flattered.  

Now maybe he was wearing beer goggles or maybe he has a fetish for grandmothers but either way it was good for my ego. Lol.  

 What with my grandsons party in the afternoon, followed by dancing the night away and a busy week next week I think a gentle day is called for today. 

Have a great day.  

chanie

@helensbiggestfan Dave must have picked up on your bachelor girl lifestyle 😂.  

what a great boost to your confidence.  

Wednesday2000

Haha, that must have been an ego boost.:)

sugarbaby125

Hello Ladies, 

Helen, that was a great ego boost.

I ate some mixed unsalted nuts on Friday evening and within an hour, I had a really terrible allergic reaction. For the first time ever, my throat and chest became so constricted, that I had real difficulty breathing. I can normally eat nuts without any type of reaction, so it came as a terrible shock. I had the usual allergy, itchy blotches on my skin and both of my eyes were stinging and the pupils went very red. After taking 2 antihistamines and using Boots tea tree and witch hazel night gel on the itchy patches of my skin, I still did not start to get any relief until about an hour later. It then took another hour before I could finally breathe more or less in a normal way. I woke up on Saturday morning with my eyes still quite red, but otherwise back to normal. 

Saturday from 11am -1pm I had my Neighbourhood Voices session. I told Ola that I had finished my play and he gave me a round of applause. I also asked if anyone could read my play and give me feedback. Ola asked Kirk Ann if that would be possible, and she said she would ask Alisha and see if anyone would be available to read my play. I do not expect anyone to take the time to read my play and give me the feedback, so I can do the next draft of my play, but it was worth me asking. There is the possibility I could be proved wrong.

 I could not return to the second half of the session after the lunch break, because I had a ticket to see Elephant at the Bush Theatre. This is a one woman play that has a lot of original music from the singer, female actor Anoushka Lucas. She plays the piano, and the piano is central to the action on stage. She is a one woman tour de force. This play and all of the original music in the play was written and performed by Anoushka Lucas. She also speaks French at times in the play, so I presume she is at least bi-lingual. This play was a 9.5/10 for me.

In the evening I went to Karaoke at The Railway Telegraph pub in Forest Hill. I had a really good evening. I sang 4 songs: Return to sender by Elvis, Fever by Peggy Lee, Hurst so good by Susan Cadogan and Lean on me by Bill Withers. I saw an old male friend called Simon in the pub, so we had a chat. He bought me two bottles of water in the evening. I also had a male friend of Wayne's come over to my table to speak to me twice. His name is Kevin, and he is tall, incredibly fit and stunningly good looking. He is only about 40 years old, and he does not look it. The 3 women sitting on the table next to mine, were talking about Kevin and how fine he looked when he was singing, after noticing his great vocals. Yes, he is also a really talented singer. The 3 women did a double take, when he approached me and sat down to talk to me. I always feel self-conscious when Kevin is talking to me, because he is so stunning. As I left the pub, this man called out to me 'hey singer, you have a beautiful voice' I turned and said, 'thank you'. It was a nice compliment to receive.

helensbiggestfan

Omg. SUgarbaby.  That must have been scary.  Glad you are ok.   

Good to hear you are receiving compliments too.  It's so nice isn't it, we all like to feel appreciated and not to be invisible.  Something I'm really working on as I update my wardrobe.  Don't get me wrong I'm not about to go all "Bet Lynch" 😂🤣 or mutton dressed as lamb. but, I think in the past few years I have been guilty of playing it a bit too safe, probably because being overweight I tried to hide my body under dull, boring, shapeless clothing.  

I don't know if I mentioned it but about a year ago I noticed that most of my clothes I was wearing at the time were grey or sludgy brown......What was that about.  I realised that I must have been feeling low and depressed without realising it.  Not clinically depressed as such, but just a feeling of lacking energy, low vibe, no enthusiasm, no joire de vie.  

i don't know if I'm right but I decided that the clothes weren't causing it, but rather they were a reflection of what I was feeling. So I have gradually replaced them all.  I have kept a couple of dark coloured coats, one navy wool and one black and white Donegal tweed.  Both lovely warm coats in a timeless classic style so I wont part with them just yet.  But I make sure I dress them up with a bright scarf or pashmina.

last week I dug out two of my warmer weight pure wool jackets, perfect for mid season when it's not really cold enough for a "big coat" but you do need something.  One is burnt orange and one is lime green.  I did notice that I got a lot of positive feedback, a lot of smiles and "hellos", people holding a door open for me, excellent customer service in shops etc. I'm not sure how it works......whether other people respond to bright cheery colours or whether I act differently when I wear them.  Maybe it's a combination of the two.  

BTW. The four coats I mentioned are all charity shop bargains, the navy and the black and white tweed are proper vintage and the jackets are just pre loved.  The four coats all came to less than £20 the lot, so they didn't exactly break the bank. They are all keepers.  

Just goes to show you don't need to spend a fortune to have nice clothes and lots of variety and choice.  I do love my selection of coats and jackets. I sometimes think I should weed them out but then I think nah, they are not harming anyone and it's nice to ring the changes.  I have parted with clothes in the past and then regretted it so I'm not going to be quite so hasty in future.  I shall continue to edit and refine my wardrobe as I continue to lose weight but I have decided I won't be quite so quick to part with everything in future, especially the higher quality items and things such as occasion or holiday wear.  Instead of getting rid I shall just pack them away or store them in an overflow wardrobe in a spare bedroom.  I can always get them altered if necessary.  

Living alone and not having to share space does have its advantages....😂

im going on a shopping trip with a friend this week.......meeting for lunch and then a little spree.  

liberty_lily

Wow, definitely a brilliant ego boost, Helen 😁

Sugarbaby, gosh that must have been very frightening - glad you're ok 😊

I've also been trying to bring more colour into my wardrobe over the past year or two - although being a new romantic/verging on goth in a past life, I do gravitate towards black which I love/think suits me best. I've added more colourful jumpers to my arsenal, although was slightly deterred - aka mortified! - when parading a bargainicious (£50 with an RRP of £250 😁) TK Maxx jumper in front of DH he remarked that it was very 'Pat Butcher' 😖

I have acquired a few brighter dresses (I already had some, mostly Mistral and White Stuff in green - another favourite colour - and peacock shades). I now have a few orange, pink and yellow additions 😎

Coat-wise, I did donate some and sold a lime/olive green Per Una Italian range wool one that had originally been an ebay purchase. But I have retained a favourite dark brown, sequin-adorned coat from Mexx (purchased in Oxford Street in 2005), a sparkly grey Zara (Reading, 2004) and my puffball hem, hooded grey McVerdi raincoat that gets lots of compliments bought in Bridgnorth in 2015. My two favourites though are the black Scandinavian slimline, full length quilted raincoat that DH found in TK Maxx for around a tenth of the £750 retail price in 2020 and the stunning blue unlined wool/mohair mix Lilith he treated me to not long after we'd moved to Wales 🥰 I don't have many scarves but do have a few quirky woolly hats to brighten things up, lol!

In the past I had lots of floor-skimming skirts, a few of which were colours other than black, brown and grey, but I've gradually donated most of these and tend to favour leggings under a dress with chunky ankle boots or jeggings with an oversized jumper these days. I do want to get some brighter coloured leggings as these are mostly dark colours 🙄

One thing I'm finding harder to locate is(are) woolly tights with shaped heel/feet - they all seem to be of a tubular design which IME go baggy/shapeless very quickly. I've found incredibly expensive ones online (minimum £35, but some way more per pair) but refuse to pay that for tights!!!