Early to bed and early to rise makes us shredded, AVID and WISE

[ApuskiDusky]

New thread!

Not that I've been on the old one much )

Love that Derek Lam stuff anniemac, the one you mentioned and the blue flowing maxi dress. Have a fabulous time. How relaxing!

Lovely clothes in that link Annie. I know what you mean about feeling lardy. Today I have been munching on the teeniest macarons ever from Waitrose - yummy. At least they're small .

What a shame Annie that you won't be there. I remember now.

Fleecy, I just spotted this on the ASOS email, thought it might be good for you with denim/khaki shorts for summer.

anniemac - the pâtisseries round me all vie with one another to invent the most original macaroons. Yum. I do try to avoid buying them, though!

It's a very beautiful morning here in Paris and I have done a bit of gentle sorting and tidying. I am almost swooning with pleasure at the fact that what I tidy stays tidy . I want to empty a large bookcase (hundreds of books) and sort it, partly because it is out of control and partly because I want to convince DP that we really need to buy another bookcase. He is a bit averse to buying furniture at the moment (with good reason as we really ought to move some time soon) but I reckon that the bookcase is an essential.

Bonsoir - tis a grotty grotty day today. Was planning a trip to a castle somewhere as they are DS1's current obsession but looks like we will instead be making a film

I adore macaroons but luckily for my waistline there aren't any decent ones around here.

Bonsoir - exciting about moving - would it just be something larger? We're hoping to complete by mid-march so have got to get my skates on organisational-wise.

Spent an enjoyable hour on F&B website last night.

I love macaroons. And Derek Lam now too. :)

DH laughed at my outfit yesterday (Isabella Oliver leggings and top) and thought I looked like a student. I got in a big temper as wardrobe options are limited. So going to Richmond to buy something and putting it on his credit card.

Pickled, haven't made it to view the pink bag but I'm still keen!

Lovely scarf, Marsha.

Everything, sorry your DH is being like that.

Thanks Looby, I don't drink much coffee so not sure what is causing it. I am going through a lot of Teapigs peppermint tea though.

Blossoming, you will pick up Italian easily.

tracey - I don't think we want something larger - I'm not into very large (too much housework!) accommodation and I think we would eventually rather have a second home somewhere rather than a very large apartment. But we'd like to live a bit more centrally now that the DSSs are no longer at school in Neuilly. We moved to this location in order to be very close to their mother's home and to their schools, but their whole centre of gravity has changed and they are much older and more independent now - and that's only going to continue.

Do you know what you want to do in terms of renovations/decorations?

Initially we'll just do new carpets on stairs and bedroom and get the stairs/bedrooms painted.

But we need to remove a conservatory and add a new one, knock through various walls, new bathrooms and do a 2 storey extension - so quite a bit overall but will need to save up to do the majority of the work. Also need to live in the house to work out what we really do want to do.

And as DH says - it'll give me something to do

More central sounds good and also to second home - DH and I were discussing that we'll probably stay in the new house for a long time and would rather buy a holiday home rather than then move to a bigger house. [All dreams at the moment though]

anniemac - we only need babysitters now if DD is on her own - it's certainly a major improvement to our lives!

tracey - I so agree with you that you need to live somewhere for a bit in order to know what to do to it. There have been a lot of renovation works in my apartment block recently, and I see all the new owners making dreadful, irreparable mistakes knocking down walls etc. It makes me so sad! I'd actually really like my current apartment in another location, and I know exactly what I would do to it (massive amounts of replacement carpentry to increase storage space, and new bathrooms and kitchen). Ho hum!

Oh, I am so snoozy and I don't think the grey sky is helping.

Carciofi I got to the stage in both pregnancies where I was sleeping in a chair because of heartburn. You can take Zantac (ranitidine) and it will totally cure you. Gaviscon was 1. horrible and 2. didn't work. IF it is affecting your sleep get some! You can buy it over the counter but your GP can also prescribe.

Bloss Italian is very easy grammatically and your vocab should help. ALthough I have a friend who is fluent in all the romance languages (except maybe Romanian!) who says that Spanish is not as close to Italian as you might think.

OWW If you come to poke around the natural history museum PM me and we can have an Oxford mini-meetup! I meant to say to Dolcee that we had missed an opportunity!

Was it ABO that did the personal shopping at Selfridges? It looks like DH is going to take this job therefore he is purchasing me a VERY BEAUTIFUL dress of my choice. Thought personal shopping would be an Experience Worth Having. Would you go back to Selfridges? Or somewhere else?

Roary, thanks, I have a GP visit this afternoon so will ask him. Great about the job. Are you happy with the decision?

Carciofi hmmmmm.....depends on which moment of the day you get me :) We are not sure when the move will happen, whether DH will need go first and for how long, etc. Yesterday I was very happy (crap weather!) but today I am having pangs about leaving our great childcare and my great job. But generally I think it will be good as we can't sustain DH's working hours here much longer, even with me on mat leave. I worry that me going back to work will be just too much pressure on the delicate system, which would mean I enjoyed my job less and was less good at it anyway. So maybe changing jobs no bad thing.

Also enjoying perusing property websites :)

I seem to be incapable of answering such questions briefly!

Roary, it is a big move so you will have mixed feelings at times.

Annie, hope you survive the day. Enjoy Dubai. Heartburn is my only problem so I guess I am lucky. I have now given up my one glass of wine a week as even that is not enjoyable! Only 15 weeks to go.

Annie I'm feeling rough today too. I woke up with awful toothache (waiting to have nerve root tmt) and DH poisoned me gave me a high dose of dihydrocodeine to take. I've been sick 3 x so far and off to see the GP in a bit to sort out some analgesia. I feel like I've been in pain for so long . It's tragic that I've got all this child-free time and I'm not up to doing anything useful. Carciofi I'm sipping peppermint tea too!

Looby I'm not that Asian in my behaviour either. I was born and brought up here and have never lived within an Asian community so don't have much interaction with them. Being a second generation Asian isn't easy. Do like the clothes though

Was going to add some more, but feeling sick again.

Zembo, poor you!

Roary how wonderful about the dress. Yes to something so fabulous. I'm glad you have made the decision to go, it will be great I think. (I hope you come to moam btw)

Last night ds2 was terrible. Lots of crying and feeding, bleurgh. I hope it's teething rather than a new habit!

Thanks Carciofi for feedback on scarf, I don't usually buy scarves as avoid accessories but something about the russian doll reminded me of my childhood. Then again there were some incredibly beautiful ones in Liberty.

Speaking of which, I tried a APC flowery dress at Liberty, quite childish one. Elasticated straps etc And it was something I could wear happily in 20s as it was 'adorable'. But not anymore. Funny when things really do become not an option for the wardrobe.

Half term, ds1 playing with ds2. Getting better together now.

Tracey hope you will share your house stuff here, love that sort of thing.

Bonsoir think my favourites are St Germain, or Île Saint-Louis, how lovely to make a new move in Paris.

Anniemac going to check out Derek Lam, I love that look too.

Zembo you poor thing. Really hope the pain stops soon.

Zembo the pain after a laparotomy is bad. I was in considerable pain for a long time. I feel for you! It is very, very important not to do too much. But I can imagine your frustration about not being able to DO anything. Can you get some good DVD box sets? And a Kindle if you are a reader? PM me if you want to talk post-op recovery.

BTW I also was nauseous for some time after the surgery. Obviously codeine will make you nauseous but the operation will do it too - all those people rummaging around in your torso.