Party frocks ahoy! Avidly and wisely dressing ourselves for the party season!

[blossoming]

Sorry to hear about your dd dolcee. Hope things improve soon.
Glad to hear your family were better behaved this time ollie.

I wonder what an avid and wise Christmas party would be like. Where would we have it? What would you wear? (Complete fantasy obviously!)

You bought that NY I missed that too! I love it.

I also wanted to do a whole outfit button buy on this by Malene Birger too.

roman not a "big" present, but this book of paper aeroplanes is a firm favourite in our house too (and along with the addictaball another gift I often give to 6/7/8 year old boys). HTH.

Alas Marsha - I have not bought, just lusted after. Although it is not utterly beyond reach, after various financial catastrophes this month (I refer you to a new hot water system and a car crash...) I have decided that it should be beyond reach FOR NOW...

Oh I know those buggers are awful aren't they?

We just did the whole MOT, car insurance (how much?!) etc tax thing. So expensive. I even feel the same pain as Tracey re dry-cleaning and cobblers

Just think by the time we buy it, it will be on sale

NY to put things into perspective I'm only 7 weeks preggers and size 00 is a 6 and wasn't much different from the size 8 (0), tighter jeans hold everything in better I reckon Not really sure what's going on with Gap sizing.

All this talk of beautiful libraries has me drooling!

Carciofi I'm thinking a little too much about your Anya bag, it's the colour again I think, I really love red.

Can anybody please inspire me over a 40th birthday present for a friend? She loves books, so I thought I'd get her a beautiful bookmark, but the one I want I can only find on a Danish website and they're not returning my e-mails. Any ideas for a book-lover? Budget £20-30. Thanks! Must go and eat now, but will return later.

Yes - Gap sizing all over the place, I agree Zembo. I did manage to get away without needing maternity jeans actually - just stayed in size 12 TS skinny flares. They have 2 buttons, so I just went to the outer one! The only problem was I had stretched the lycra, and they were never the same again. I always had to hitch them up, so after a year or so I ditched them.

Ok have read.
Aw thanks Bunny, so glad nanny is working out. So glad you have one to help.

Fritzi, me too, dh is main earner. Hopefully can catch up!
Have sent that thing to London guy he said thank you, so I say it to you from him too.

NY huge country pile sounds excellent! yes need a fabulous outfit for that.

Roma drawing and lego are ds1's favourite things, so both sound great to me.

Dolce something creative and fun, that I love, might pm you (or prob not that interesting )

ABO will try and find something lovely for a book lover.

Another one like this at pregnant Zembo in her 00s. Good on you! Hope you feel less tired soon. I was wiped out for the first 12 weeks - must be mega hard when you have other DCs.

I got a gap pencil skirt for £10 yesterday - they only had it in a gap size 4 and am undecided - from the back it makes my bum look amazing, from the front I think it looks as though I have bought a size too small (which I have). Will give it a go to see if it stretches or I shrink.

Lovely cardi Tracey

Hope DD feels better soon Esher

Good luck with your wardrobe challenge NY.

Roma - hope you find something satisfying on the job front soon - it does seem as though you're destined for bigger and better things.

Bunny - you're doing so well considering you're so close to the end now. Any joy with the other name yet?

Feeling insanely broody today as I sorted out all DD's baby clothes to see if there was anything I wanted to pass onto my sister. Have amassed a massive pile that will probably go to charity shop but thought she could have first dibs. I know it's a cliche but I seriously cannot believe that DD was ever that small.

at cakes zoo / lunch clothing juxtaposition.

Cake's. Sorry - can't cope with missing apostrophes.

That By MB dress is lovely NY , although the cut out back would make it a no for me as despite no chest to speak of, what I do have is too sad and spaniel ears-y to go bra-less!

Ok, am off to check cc balance and do a reconsilaiation of all items bought/returned this last month in order to see if there is any leeway for the JCRew!

Tracey - I wanted creamy beige plain silk top and OWW linked to a lovely LK Bennett one with long sleeves and a cowl neck. There are also a couple of sleeveless/short sleeve options in their sale section online.

Esher - you could get something like this.

Although i was a bit about it being ideal workwear with a back like that. Possibly with something underneath but not on its own in any office I have worked in...(excuse me whilst I rearrange my bosom in a dissapproving matronly style.)

OWW that sounds like a good arrangement. DH and I have several accounts - a joint household one that he covers, a joint savings one that we both put into, we each have our own current accounts from which we buy, well, in my case, clothes and coffee, and then he has his business ones.

I make a lot less than him (obviously, as am SAHM) so I tend to split my earnings 50/25/25 joint savings/ put away for tax/ me.

Hope it works out better for you now You deserve lots of treats!

bloss you should definitely do a blog. Your thoughts and ideas are inspiring and ought to be shared. We on this thread are just lucky to have had you all to ourselves for a while (as far as virtual worlds go, I mean)

No Calpol in this house, I am child of herbalist homeopathic acupuncture-needle wielding types and dh was bought up CS - together we could put pharmaceutical companies out of business!

Dolce you will look stunning on your night out, as per!

Another anya vote carciofi!!

welcome explorer - you should try (wait for it everyone) COS for structured yet drapey, shapeless yet flattering. Honestly!!

Great dress DT how was stripey Janice received on the w'end? I saw that Reiss dress in RL the other night, great colour. Happy birthday!!

bunny you do make me laugh. Glad you are keeping your sparkle intact even at this stage of the game.

sorry hells didn't mean to imply that dh is not complimentary .. he is, very much. (loves the Janice!!!) However he is, ostensibly at leats, quite anti-glam, so is actually particularly pleased with my ensemble tonight (leggings, sweater, Uggs) so much so that I had to kick him out for a swim so I could get on with MNing doing laundry and packed lunches. He is generally a bit cross with me atm bc of me being 'too skinny' which as you all know simply isn't true. He just likes a bit more meat here and there.

lovely sequins tracey and fab coat fritzi.

hello notfrom!! glad we've lured you out

another dead leg for vin's P from here and LOL at Roma's conscientiousness to grammatical correctness, if not work.

Nightmare ny If anyone can hack it, it's you but wish you didn't have to.

OMG dexter when I think about the kind of girls I played netball with/ against in a hotel like that

Oh no esher hope dd okay

how about book cover print ABO? I have this above my computer .. costly to get framed, that's the only thing ...

Thanks cake. Great catch up as usual. How you doing sans sucre?
My new mid morning (9.30, you know how early we get up) snack is: sliced banana with onken set natural yoghurt with mixed spice sprinkled on top. Delicious.

abo, yes it was tracey. lovely Cardigan but not my colour! I like the graphite? one that cake has in black. Nothing to wear it with though.

I'm going to a gig/2 course meal/comedy thing on Saturday. Maybe wear the janice if the 10 looks good. What's the etiquette re cutting out labels and putting them on the outside for the world to see?

teeny tiny zembo!! you must look marvellous in that shift, and the jeans are fab.

I quite fancy these as an alternative to my now-donated-to-friend grey skinnies, what do you think?

Cakey no calpol here either, how bad is that considering I'm a pharmacist! When I was in labour with DD I had to drive to Asda to get paracetamol just to take the edge off the pain - DH was at work! I'm soooo not into drugs, my compliance with the old folic acid has been pants, can't tell you what I've been doing incase a lurker decides it's ok to copy(of course it is but not exactly recommended )

Yes, meant to say sorry re: your DD esher hope the day off has her on the mend.

Also looby didn't mean not to answer your question, there is management involved in my job (I'm a prescribing advisor) but I'm primarily clinical (although credibility going down the pan here as I state I'm not into drugs)!

Cakey - the Uncles library sounds absolutely perfect! A world away from my Dad's, to be sure (still haunted by chaotic housekeeping arrangements from childhood).

Notyummy - well, Helena C is hot, but so are you. And you do juggle a lot more than she does. So you win! As an aside, HC does seem fun, don't you think? Polar opposite re fun, I think, would be Gwyneth. I envisage earnest discussions about macrobiotic diet, for eg. No no no. Absolutely agree re Yasmin Le Bon - goddess. Just stunning.

bloss no sugar is going very well. Have confession to make though (listen up hells!!) - decided to really go for the no sugar thing by curbing sweet tooth all together as realised that handfuls of raisins/ 3 Braeburns a day/ honey on yoghurt was pretty standard

So, I ditched fruit. And from there it was just one teeny tiny step to Dukan.

Ladies, I am staggered at the results . I tried it for a day in the summer and felt retchingly ill - perhaps bc I was still bfing. But Baby L stopped bfing a couple of weeks ago and this time it's fine despite being so limited bc I don't eat meat or poultry.

Did a 5 day attack and am now on Cruise and am honestly gobsmacked at the difference.

Book says 5 mill French people can't be wrong but tbh, just seeing the gorgeous hells was all the proof I needed!

Nice cords Cake look very sliming. Have you worn your sparkly jacket thing yet?

Have been inspired to up our 'library''s game after hearing about all these beautiful rooms. It can be my project for the next year or so to take my mind off wanting to move

Like the cords cake - I have always been a bit of a sucker for cords - recently dug out an 10 year old topshop corduroy jacket that could make a comeback.

Have to say that although I am a bit uptight about many things, calpol isn't one of them. Obviously don't give it willy nilly but don't hold back if DD's got a temperature. Petrified of febrile convulsions - horrible memories of my mum and dad screaming and crying when my sister had one and they didn't know what was happening. Very rarely take drugs myself though - would be interested to hear what you've been doing zembo - the mind boggles!

You dark horse cake. how much did you lose and where from?

I think the thread might be on the way to another record for sure! So hard to keep up.

VIn I can only see a lovely baby in a swing, no you?

Zembo saw that shift in RL and thought it was lovely.

Notyummy I'd just wear your usual glam clothes - when I worked full time at the staff college the student events I went to never seemed that stuffy.

Bunny glad the incubation is continuing...where in Australia are you from?

ABO what about the penguin themed gifts? (of the book not the bird variety). They are very nice.

Have been feeling a bit flat the last couple of days with the endless cycle of cooking/cleaning/laundry. I quite like cooking but am getting deeply sick of tidying it all up and our house (as per discussion with Yangy) is always chaos. Drudgery, drudgery. Missing the research/intellectual bit of work while i'm on mat leave but not the admin side!

Speaking of which DS has just woken up. Marsha we had a koala in our house last night too. HOw old is yours?

oh god - not implying that calpol avoiders are uptight Am sure you know more than me.

at cake and her sneaky duckaning! What the hell are you eating though??

Roary he is 11 months. First cold. Not too bad really, not sure where he got it from. How old is your koala dd?

I'm off to bed as 5.30am start for Eurostar tomorrow. Will wear grey/green Armani skirt suit with nude patent heels, burberry, white cashmere beret and scarf.

Fritzi its a Simmons sprung divan with a handmade matress with double layer of individually wrapped springs blah blah. It's v.comfy and was rather pricey but not the 15,000 Euros of the nice vi-springs with double layer springs. There's a vi-spring line for John Lewis that's a good price, but they only go up to 150cm wide for some reason.