Wise ladies....step this way and Avidly share your most fabulous fashion finds .....

[notyummy]

Hello all!

Cake - come back we neeeeeed you to tell us about your holiday....

Cake - I eat bags and bags of spinach and rocket too....! I love that peppery/earthy taste

I only got stretch marks around my tummy button in a sort of star burst pattern , NICE - which is gradually receding and hardly visible now...thanks to Bio Oil! YEAY!

You will be so impressed...(not) saddo that I am I have actually made bunting for eldest DDs room...! V V pretty!

Oh, and did about 3.5 hours of ironing...how many calories did I burn then? Relief that pile has reduced amazingly...

Oh and even sadder I have become obsessed - obsessed I tell you about the Twilight books...just reading first book, and must be my hormones, but chief vamp (Edward) sounds a bit of alright!

LTEC - I was just thinking about the beautiful unworn rats the other day. Now I am slightly slimmer I need to dig them out.

Work - I long for it to be formal but it's just not (offices in clerkenwell...very rarely have meetings) so basically just normal stuff - skinny jeans with blouse or tee. I make a bit of an effort and sometimes wear a slight heel. That is very rare though!

bunny - you and DD both looking beautiful - you've got such a nice shaped bump & look teeny everywhere else. I didn't get any stretch marks with DD. I used to squirt some bio oil in the bath but not religiously. Think it is mainly genetic as my mum hasn't got any either.

cake - that is useful info thank you and more manageable than early stages of dukan. Like the tip about eating bags of salad etc. You have reminded me how much I love a big bowl of spinach!

I did wonder if P had taken those photos! Can I hire her?

Tracey - prefer topshop skirt to asos one.

Swimming this morning with DD. For the first time ever she decided to do a poo in her cossie (it has built in swim nappy) After peeling it off her I understood why they were reduced in mothercare - I had to get her back into the shower and then attempt to surreptitiously poke a mass of undigested, rehydrated raisins down the plug hole with my toes. So glamourous.

Just sorted out some of my maternity clothes to pass on to my sister - made me a tiny bit broody.

Thanks Tracey - shall have to find an excuse to go to selfridges!

is this leather skirt no good? With a chunky knit it might work?

bunny 20% off the Cowshed range with code MHOULA20 at checkout on the site

Oh yuk mrsJ - you poor thing

Hells, I bought a cardigown in the winter sale last year and it has gone a bit bobbly but I think they have sorted that now. I have Hush pajamas and they are good quality (and nice and long).

Sorry Esher - yes, I am Mumsnut really.

Good call on the O' Keefe boots but I think you need the wedges too.

Good luck with MIL.

mrsjuan - I remember when DD did a poo in one of those - only hope was to run to the the shower and hose her down and hope nobody noticed the mess!

love both the blogs. You all look exceedingly glamorous!

Today back in my standard winter "uniform" for work of black trousers, lace ups and a black Kew jacket with plain knit top - summer truly over despite it being around 20C. Went to the Church shoe shop and coveted their shiny black brogues (and they go down to a 35 - Tracey are you a 35 or 36 size shoe?) Still looking for a nice tweed jacket as it would be perfect for this autumnal weather!

ooooh ooooh

package from Deutschland!!!!

thank you Fritzi - will report back forthwith!!

bunny you look fabulous! Not whale-like at all, more pregnant gazelle I'd say. And your DD... So cute. Love her coat.

Bunny you look amazing. You're as neat as a pin! I have just been through the nanny search myself and always find it gruelling. Have always had that wobbly feeling the day before they start thinking "what if they don't turn up?" My sister got a text (!) from her nanny, who had been with her for almost 4 years at 3.30 am saying, she was going back to UK and that "it had been nice working for her"(boyfriend trouble!)
Carciofi not going to that party (must check out who's party it is), but bet I know people who are. It is indeed a small place.
Cake. am very envious of your long and lean legs. Am attempting day 1 Dukan here. Will fail miserably as soon as I get home and want my usual pre dinner snack of crackers and cheese!(am with you on the cheese front Bloss and love toast)

And LOVE both the kookai and the Vila leather mini!

thanks a million fritzi they are absolutely lovely - lovely soft denim and a really comfortable fit, not so big that they give me saddlebags, not so snug that I am too scared to sit down/ eat. Thanks loads!!

I will donate to SANDS, as they also helped me a lot back in 2005 with contacts relevant to my situation.

on which note - sorry to be a downer but my friends' baby boy's funeral is next week and I I don't know what to wear. I relaise this sounds terribly vacuous but what I actually mean is - all black seems too heavy for a little baby's funeral, I think. What do you think would be appropriate?

I wore red to dd1's funeral but only because it was the same dress that I was wearing at a BBQ the day before the fateful scan and I held it (still hold it) dear as the dress I was wearing on the last day that she, dh and I were all truly happy together (of course i have been happy since, don't get me wrong .. am getting all in a tangle)

anyway. Advice welcome.

Oh gosh cake - I am so sad for you and your friends . I really don't know. On one hand I think I'd wear black to acknowledge how completely despairing the family must be, on the other I agree that it seems too heavy - perhaps black with some grey or cream or maybe pale blue for their little boy.

Glad you like the jeans cake! Donation is of course fine. Can imagine that thinking about dressing for little boy's funeral must be difficult for you. Wouldn't wear all black, maybe just one black piece and the rest different? This is what most people wore for the funeral I attended this summer.

notyummy
Yes body fat is the best way to do it but most people don't care how much body fat they have as they are just concentrating on how they look. The main problem the man on the street has with body fat measurements is that there is no easy way to accurately measure it (unless you do have access to some very sophisticated machinery!), yes you can measure it using skinfold or bioelectrical impedance analysis (the machines you can buy at Boots) but neither is particularly accurate. I think you can also use BMI in a formula but don't know it off the top of my head.
I think the question you need to ask yourself is WHY you want to drop/reduce bodyfat, if it's from a fitness point of view then I would ignore bodyfat/weight/BMI and use simple fitness tests like the bleep test or 1 rep max. If it's for clothes and looking good then i would opt for skinfold measurements plus how does your waistband feel.

What specific training/nutrition tips did you want?

I really wish I knew LTEC. My gut feeling would be black but with a beautiful brightly coloured scarf or something (and then I guess you could hide that quickly if you got the feeling it was inappropriate once you were there).

MrsJ - I'm squirming at your poo story!

Carciofi - that pretty much happens with every knit I get!

LTEC I would probably shy away from the all black look to a childs funeral and probably go for black skirt/trousers and a lighter top tbh I doubt you could be inappropriate as you must understand so much of what this family is going thru.

ltec, I had a similar dilemma. All my black dresses were lbd's and not appropriate. I ended up buying the evelyn ponteroma dress in grey from phase eight. Demure and drapey. It felt appropriate. With a black jacket.

Inappropriate to a funeral is Kate Moss's top, I mean wtf it's not even like it's fashion forward. Daphene Guiness on the other hand just looks wow!

P.S I am having my colours done on Friday and not looking at any links until then so I am not tempted!!!

sorry - perhaps inappropriate was the wrong word. I hope you know what I meant.

LTEC - I'd steer clear of black and just wear something sort of sombre but then I don't have a great deal of black anyway.

LTEC - would your navy Wallis dress be suitable? I too think navy or grey would be acceptable.