"Oooh" the Wise & Avid sing, "could we want another thing? Joseph shearlings, Maxmaras, handbags covered all in stars..."

[LetThemEatCake]

following on from bunny's festive lead ....

I wonder whether my ds1 (3 years old today!!!!!) might be exhibiting the first stirrings of pretension?

He has requested that we go to "Pizza Expressing" for lunch

am LOL at the mental images

tracey it's A's b'day soonish too, no?

Great jape LTEC. I was reading the thread fairly late last night and my guess was that you had linked to some glam looky- likey actress. I hope I am not one of the unfriendly types preventing you from outing your wares.

Happy Birthday C!

Yeap - its on Boxing Day which is not a good day for a birthday - curse my inability to hold on until his due date

DS2 sick in the night, DD coughing and feverish so in with us so DH retreated to spare room as he has a severe case of man-flu

He's also doing the thing where he realises that he's been a leetle bit rubbish and saying 'oh you should go on a spa day'. I just smiled and said don't worry sweetie - have you forgotten I'm in London next week with my pretend friends

Right have obviously been up since the crack of dawn and its a really lovely day here - frosty but sunny. Have cleaned downstairs and now having a little break before tackling the bedrooms.

Esher - love that gilet and think black may work better. Did you say it comes up small?

Pickled - that concert sounds lovely. Last year they commenced DS's nativity with some of the year 2 children playing the harp honestly it was not good. Thankfully a new head of the smaller bit of the school has meant the nativity was now 45 mins long as opposed to nearly 2 hours last year.

oh my goodness pickled when???

tracey Where do you get your energy from? PTA yesterday, house cleaning and sick DS. I think I couldn't handle a case of man-flu as gracefully as you do.

cake Happy birthday to DS! And have fun at pizza expressing .

pickled Fingers crossed that concert will be a success.

marsha Sounds like you had fun at the party. Outfit details please! I'm bored by my winter wardrobe already. Seems that I'm wearing layers of black and grey everyday. Will try to make an effort today although we'll mostly stay at home.

ollie Hope you managed to catch up on some sleep. Have you survived your SIL's pea soup?!

Oh LTEC it was just a case of me not paying attention coupled with an inapropriate link. I'll take it I am not one of the aforementioned unfriendly types then .

I should probably say now that I am a bit of a wanna be W&A lady. I am just coming out of a haze of childrearing and I am attempting to smarten up my image. Have always been interested in fashion though. Can I still stay?

Happy birthday LTEC'S DS1!

PickledSiblings, DH is Irish too and is even more keen than I am to move back. He will have to work in London Mon-Fri, which isn't great but we don't see him much midweek anyway and the downturn in Ireland means we can afford a nice house by the sea, our kids can go sailing in the summer, all the things I had and we just could not afford to give them in London. I am happy to stay here another few years though.

Esher, blue top looks nice.

I have, rather dangerously, seen the life for me . Was in stunning place overlooking h park.

Will be back after coffee with details. Hells dukan did me proud .

A dress linked on here was present!

Morning! No time to catch up on 2 days worth of posts so this is a bit me focused - sorry!

Well , survived yesterdays Sinterklaas family celebration with DH's family. Boys loved it all - we got the neighbour to phone pretending to be Sinterklaas himself saying he had left the sackfuls of presents in the bike shed (all presents are supposed to come from him - so parents don't get any of the credit....). DS2's face when he opened his Playmobil Fire Station was worth all the pre-party hassle - utterly speechless and then kepy saying "Im so happy" for the rest of the evening. I, unfortunately, was on the receiving end of mad MIL for our Secret Sint present - second year running. She outdid herself this year with a magazine called Mama - the lead article of which is "Pregnant and going back to work?" all of which is written in Dutch. Bonkers choice. Don't mean to sound like a spoilt child but its just not fair - she is just so tight! (We'd given her a gift voucher for a nice dept store and the promise of using our house when we are next away for the weekend) Oh yes, MIL got me 12 tea towels in various lurid shades of pink & green - no idea why she thought I needed 12!

DH was a star tho and wrote me a cute poem (in English) about how he and the boys appreciate me (quote: OWW is one of the worlds greatest bakers, with all the men of the house as eager takers!) and his present was a homemade voucher entitling me to a trip back to the UK (on the condition that I make sure I do what I want and not what my family wants after the stress of my last visit!) and a generous deposit in my new allowance account! Hurray for Mr OWW!

Had loads of snow yesterday which was lovely (love snow when we are all home together and not having to travel) but woke up this morning and its thawing fast. Friends coming over later for the afternoon. I made the never fail brownies which are the MN recipe of the week (see to the right of this page) and they were fab - really easy to make and lovely flavour and texture. Would recommend (just ignore the whole pack of butter you use!).

Will catch up propely and post later. Hope all is well in W&A land.

Ooops - sorry for the above waffle! Just skip to the bit about the lovely brownies!

ollie Wohoo, that's the next meet-up sorted then! Mr Ollie is definitely W&A DH of the week!

To brighten up my winter outfits I am wearing the only proper coloured thing in my wardrobe: long-sleeved pink T with navy cardi, pink tie-dye scarf, denim skirt and opaques. Looks a bit hippy-ish but is ok for Sunday at home.

DH is going for a run now. Temperature is -2 . Think I'm going to snuggle up on the sofa with DD for story reading. Hope everyone is warm and cosy!

Happy Sinterklass (is that appropriate ollie), and what a great gift! See you at the next meet up then?!

I have told everyone that I am tidying today, and have found a navy blue monsoon cowl neck jumper from 2 years ago which I've neve worn, but which now looks great over my grape coloured m&s dress. Warms the outfit up.

There is so much tidying to do though. I think I have found 3 things to ebay, bootcut Paige, Boden cardicoat, and my lovely blue trench. Too big, and don't intend to be that size again. (14 for any lurkers).
DS is paper obsessed so I've told him to save his favourite scribbles and I'm recycling the rest. I relish the thought!

DS and dh are in Sunday school, dd is in the playpen, beef roasting in the oven, oh and DS's snow boots arrived yesterday, and they are fit for -32C apparently. Plenty warm enough for round here then.
Okay, off to tidy.

VIn in those situations you have to do what feels right for you, not what you think you should do. I am so happy you got the P&J coat It is so lovely, and those buttons I bet you look gorgeous in it, it will be perfect for your new life in Paris!

OWW your dh is a gem, sounds like he more than makes up for his mother!

marsha come back and tell us about the party

NY how's the snow situation with you? No more snow here but still freezing temperatures so roads and paths are shockingly icy and dangerous. I tried to buy winter tyres yesterday to attempt to get back to normal life, but it seems they are not sold here

LTEC I can't believe there is a purchase that is too big to share here, that's our raison d'etre, surely? Enjoy ds' birthday.

Saw some lovely things yesterday, will see if I can do some links.

Vin - glad things feel a little better today.

oh Marsha - do tell more. Was it 'the' gold dress (one shouldered nap?)....

Cake hope Master C has a wonderful magical day.

Tracey - make you you don't catch those germs young lady...we need you fit and well for next weekend.

Esher - I do like the OTK sock...but this really is one for someone younger than me

Top looks potentially very very pretty...or, as you say, synthetictastic

verity New business idea has just crossed my mind: I could export winter tyres to the UK . I don't know how I would be able to drive without.

LTEC - done

Yeay for Mr OWW - seriously would be lovely to see you at next meet up.

just quickly - MEET UP LADIES

could you all pls PM me your email addresses so that I can fwd you the email that I've just rec'd re set menus for next Sun.

had to get other msg withdrawn due to thicko me divulging location!

Aaargh just lost giant(boring!) post.

ah,well

marsha please spill

esher gorgeous gillet,not a trace of womble.If you're still looking for OTK boots ebay outlet store piedatierre not so exxy but R and B do gorgeous(sigh)ones.

OWW you are married to a lovely man.

Any styling tips for bib necklaces please..I just bought a lovely lace one.

also picked up The Owl Dress for DD.

ended up keeping the 2 grey leopards couldntfindreceipts in the end so thanks everyone who helped me pick.At least I took one back

ltec hopefully you got my pm already.hope you have a lovely mellow day after all your hard work for party and same for zembo

cake - done!

Happy Birthday to Master Cake. I hope he has a wonderful day with his family and you get to relax.