Crepeys/Hagsnet - the moonlight beckons!

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Because moonlight gives you a nice glow and doesn't show up your wrinkles or grey hair.

Aha, is the place you do it nice and warm in winter? I have been warned that I should wear lots of layers!

I went to buy some invigilation shoes a week into last term's exams and the shop assistant said "Oooh, weren't you in my Sociology exam last Tuesday?" The joys of living in a small town

I'm so excited - I'm off here today with a friend and our two DD's! Can't wait to see James Martin in the flesh

So Strop/ruby, how do you get to be an invigilator? I thought just teachers do it?

Strop, I'm not short, but I try to wear a skirt that just covers my kneecaps. Or black tights/coloured opaque tights and an above the knee as my knees don't look so bad covered! Longer skirts will make you look more squat?

Strop, knee skimming? Agree with BTM abut opaque tights. Get some with a lot of lycra, so they sort of snap onto your legs and don't wrinkle or move and they will sort out cellulite, kninkles etc.

Are you all short? Will I feel like an elephant at our crepe-fest?

Oh no, just seen BTM is not short. Phew.

I had a horrible day yesterday. Got to point I said to my administrator 'I don't want to hear it unless it is good news' MI sympathy on the failed shop - it's a real drag when that happens.
Saturday so the S's -swimming, stage coach, Spanish. Have spent the week writing cheques for various activities.
Good weekend Hags

I did the personal shopper a while back when I worked on a different magazine, with mixed results. I took Hester and another friend for advice and they - both v stylish women - liked what I was allotted, but I wasn't so sure myself. Useful to realise that a wrap dress, on me, does work - but I didn't like the prints of the two dresses I did buy. They looked fine for work but now they hang on the rail and DP says 'ah but you have those dresses for work don't you' and I think 'those are dresses I really don't like and make me look like Someone Else'. It's the Someone Else that rattles me.

No, really, it's the prints. They look horrible on me. I think they do, anyway. I feel like this ghastly uptight person in them.

I have a feeling I just need to splash the cash. Three dresses. And two pairs of trousers.

Here are some that are more me:

this

this

this - have seen it on, it's surprisingly nice and would fit

and this might be OK (saw it in JL, like all wrap dresses it is nicer on...)

I lost what little style mojo I had a few years back and haven't a clue what suits me and what doesn't. I want to be sharply dressed (there's a woman at work and I covert her look - suspect he shops in expensive places), if that makes sense, but not in suits - had 6 years of suits and positively hate them now.
Some of those dresses are nice MI but what the he'll is that nasty brown belt doing on the Rose one.

I like the first two. I would look like a sofa in the second one (but obv you would not). The JL one is OK.

Since I got fatter my dress sense/style has become terribly dull and staid. I have dull Windsmoor suits for work, a couple of dull Windsmoor dresses, some unexciting tops from Monsoon. I think if you are fat, you tend to think "What will fit me?" rather than "What do I like?" I refuse to shop at the polyester heaven that is Ann Harvey, ditto Evans (tho have jeans from there - I have long legs so getting jeans to fit can be difficult - M & S jeans - I know we are not talking style here - nearly all come in short or normal leg length in bigger sizes). The stuff that is not from Windsmoor in my wardrobe comes from the US - I try to save up and go there for "combat shopping" as my friend calls it, and have some really nice tops from Nine West and jackets from Jones New York.

I have just ordered five a couple of dresses from M & S, in an attempt to jazz up my wardrobe a bit. I have a famous-ish fashion friend, and am told I am on the guest list for her book launch here - this fills me with horror as to what I will wear if I go. Last time I saw her, I said "ooh, I love your dress" and she said "Oh Karl designed this one for me." I suppose on the plus side (ho ho) there will be no-one else at this event who is wearing M & S... and people will just think I am her "funny fat English friend" so that will be OK...?

Hell FFA - what has iPad got against the word hell?

I almost like the idea of a personal shopper - but I have trust issues :) . Would they really, really tell me what suited me? I hate myself in most prints, but perhaps my perception is all wrong. I dunno. After 12 years of freelancing and wearing almost only jeans, I am scared about wearing anything else because it seems to me that everything else makes me look ridiculous. Thanks for the skirt advice, I will force myself to seek out some knee skimmers and try them on. I keep having "mutton moments" with all my clothes at the mo': I put something on, look in the mirror and get this "just because I can get this on doesn't mean I should wear it" feeling.

I think all those dresses are nice, MI, although I couldn't wear any of them.

BTM, I think most schools now save money by employing invigilators at TA rates. The school where I do it is so huge that they have a team of over 30 invigilators. Many are former teachers and lecturers (I used to teach), but there are plenty from other backgrounds too.

I could actually go to all those shops next week shock from new office. THey all suit my boho-hippy vibe. I secretly like a nice BIG flower print.

Actually it's the boho-hippy vibe I like to think I project that puts me off most wrap dresses.

'Curvy' means: you can wear a same-size frock all over but the norks strain it a bit
'Really curvy': you have to go up a size to accommodate the norks, thus resulting in gut-enhancing bag round the @rse (this is me)

'Super curvy': you can only stuff your norks into a frock/top two sizes bigger than the size of your @rse

Oh I think you should tell Bravissimo to put that description on their website, MI.

I need a haircut. Have v glam friend coming for drink tonight, before she heads off for dinner with her DH to celebrate her 50th birthday. Have champagne in fridge in preparation. She looks about 35. Must pluck my beard and brush my hair before she arrives. It is unpleasantly warm and humid today and my hair has gone into a wild frizz.

Currently in the car on the way to Kingston; after my shopathon yesterday DH has decided it's his turn. We have the DDs in tow so no doubt will be spending a while in Claire's too.

MI, i'll have a look at those dresses later, it takes too long on this poxy gadget.

Glam friend now coming for coffee tomorrow morning. Shit, will just have to drink that champagne, I guess!