So, Spring has Wisely sprung and MU was Avidly done, now we're planning for Summer sun!

[AmberNectarine]

new thread!

Had a really lovely day with DD - she was angelic throughout trip into town and we ended up meeting DH and a group of his/our friends at a really nice riverside bar for early evening drinks. Changed from indigo jeans into light pink skinnies with boden cream broderie anglaise top and high tan sandals and felt good. Navy blazer and lily and Lionel scarf (which is pinks/corals/creams/blues) for outside.

Also did something v naughty but satisfying. Remember at the height of roxy frenzy last December I bought a TS equivalent? Cheaper than roxy but still £££. I'd never really worn it and had left the tags still on - one of those items that you love on others / in your wardrobe but never actually feels right on. I took it back to TS this afternoon and they very kindly exchanged it, despite having no receipt. It was like supermarket sweep, me dashing round with sleeping DD, draping a pile of items over the pram! I got: peppermint Jamie skinnies, grey marl t shirt with zip back, flat sandals in tan and black, a cream jumper and a short-ish full white skirt. Really pleased although already questioning the skirt, like the idea of it for hot days but I'm rubbish at styling skirts and not sure what I'd wear it with?

bloss thanks again, have booked st David's, it looks fab. I love your positivity and enthusiasm for life too. Go for the cobalt skinnies.
red like that warehouse belt better than the whistles I think. Those sandals are identical to my sam edelmans and a lot cheaper! Have a great holiday (where are you going, I've forgotten!)
annie hope you had lovely evening with your lovely family.
slay hope it's wonderful having your DH back!
mim you sound so strong and positive. Take care and hope the healing continues smoothly. DS's best friend is Olivia, beautiful name.

Hello to everyone else!

Attempted links but impossible on phone at this hour! Back to sleep now...

I've finally got round to name changing!
blue that sounds like a lovely day and evening, great TS haul and how satisfying to be able to return something you know you won't wear. I have an ever growing pile of stuff to eBay, not sure if I'll get round to it or end up taking it to the charity shop. You seem to be doing so well getting out and about with your DD. I think I spent the first 2 months with DD2 on the sofa or in the park.
decam I have that AH bag in black, I got it in the sale last summer when I was pregnant and wasn't spending much on clothes. I love it and use it lots.
bloss I'm so impressed with your weight loss, I need to lose 10lbs but finding it a struggle because I'm so tired-my gorgeous DDs woke me up at 5.40 today. Hopefully it will be a bit easier now I've stopped bf. Oh and yes to cobalt skinnies, mine are from whistles, v flattering, v comfortable and wearing them makes me smile.
Well today's to do list includes booking a spa treatment (or two) as we're off to Calcot Manor for a few days after Easter. I am very excited

Oh Notsogrumpy - I love Calcot - not too far from us and very nice indeed.

Where has the sun gone? Strange to not be putting sandals on today but fear its going to be a tad too nippy . . .

Red - have a fabulous holiday and you too Decam.

Morning, nice new name NSG

The quality of the DVF for kids is really nice, and Gap delivery service seriously impressive, we ordered on Wed night and the clothes arrived yesterday, unfortunately they have very little left!

VB that Emerson website is really nice, it's exactly how I imagine Carla Bruni dresses at home! it's great to see Fenwick online, there are a few nice scarfs on their website Bloss.

Thanks re party. Dh and I have decided in our post party analysis that it was the best one yet and better than last year. We have relayed to each other cute / funny children's behaviour when the other one was in another room.

I love post event chat and am reminded of my parents chatting after Christmas Day. It was good wasn't it, x was on good form. I love that the chat hasn't changed and now we do it.

Decam and Red have great holidays.

Good one Blue!

Portia DVF Gap stuff sounds great.

Verity good luck with party and cakes, you too Pickled

Annie here's to enjoying the soothing effects of lovely family life and gorgeous children.

Parent Trap is a great film. He's right you know, that enthusiasm and initiative is so valuable. And moving up quickly might bring a few moments but they will be seeing the good stuff.

argh am slow to the party notso I am confused as to who you are, please PM me I can't keep up!

olly hope you have recovered. I had a 2 day long hangover a few weeks ago - seemingly disproportionate to the amount I had to drink - BAD TIMES!

NEED to do some shopping this weekend - face cream, tights and maybe a "going out" top. Thank you to whoever it was who suggested I get the me&em in grey - I think I will, I get a lot of wear out of the navy one.

More exclusive revelations later..

annie I have actually cried at work recently when a client was unjustifiably mean to me - so embarrassing - but I wear my heart on my sleeve. Fortunately a kind colleague got me a cup of tea and everything felt OK again. I realise it probably doesn't help the cause of women in the City but hey, we're all human! Glad things got sorted for you.

Ooh unexpected shopping opp while at the leisure centre waiting for DS to come out of swimming lesson - Stella and Dot lady there with a little stall! Bought this sweet little bracelet and fancy this as a chan luu alternative, though she didn't have it in stock. Back later, post shopping...

Sister has arrived with mini eggs, my OK scarf (which I love, love, love, looks and feels like cotton so v happy), new pillows from John Lewis and a very busy 6 and 2 year old!

Wont be around much for the next week or so due to 2 lots of guests.
Hope those of you away for Easter (Red, Decameron and anyone else) have wonderful trips. Its sooooo cold here, I went out in a breton, cardi and jersey blazer and froze!

Annie forgot to say sorry about your rubbish sounding day yesterday. Hope Monday is a better and brighter day at work for you. Hooray for lovely sounding senior person.

Blue love shopping hauls like that, esp when you are not actually handing over cash - its like its for free . I was pondering the skirt question. I never wear them now as find it very hard to find tops that suit them - easy to enter frumpsville with my hips etc. I have a white broderie one from last year that i wear on holiday/in the garden with a coral or red vest top. I like the way it looks on.

I like the look of the Oasis Cherry jeans in the coral colour. How do they size up? Am usually a 12 in say Gap, but in other stores a 12 is sometimes too tight (with 14's being fine on the bum and legs but too baggy around the waist).

As the Oasis ones are superskinny, should I size up?

ASOS has them in white for those of you looking to try a white pair? These Mango chino fit ones look a good buy too?

Ollie hurrah that the OK scarf is good! And hurrah for new pillows (does mainland europe not stock pillows?)

Emo and Annie I committed the ultimate female sin of crying at work while pregnant. Fortunately only a couple of people saw, but I felt like a complete and utter tit.

Marsha great that party was such a success. I love post event chatter at least as much as the main event.

Bought some new exercise gear in tk maxx this morning in anticipation of starting running next week. Think I may need to purchase new running shoes if I carry on more than a week or two as my ageing trainers aren't really up to proper road running any more.

Thank goodness, have made some money this week so can look at buying some summer clothes, finally!

Am as still no progress on DH's job. Have decided either they are desperate to have him so are scraping the money together or that they don't want him and are too rude to inform him. Hoping he will phone mon or tue and find out which, as am getting less zen about the situation by the day.

Thanks Hopefully me too! I should say it was a standard good party for 16 7 year olds, not massively amazing or anything, but dh and I thought it was good. I think we had low expectations and were pleased no one got lost or sick. It was fun in that mayhem, social, lovely way parties are. Not up there with donkey rides or anything.

In my old job as account director (clients yelled at me first) I remember crying after being yelled at, but it was during my lunch time swim so I thought how lucky the tears are just melding with the water.

Now I do ideas I seem to get cross when things are not right, I did get a bit cross on Friday a bit then had to remember I am not actually employed and apologised. Aaah

Pleased the OK scarf is fab Ollie!

Hopefully - little known fact that in holland and guess other countries its usual to have square pillows. Have bedding from uk so needed uk pillows which fit the pillowcases, plus am a JL snob and tell DH that only their pillows would do. . Thats bad about having no decision re job. Repeat after me: everything happens for a reason!

marsha the party sounded a big success, a lovely childhood memory for sure.

Speaking of which my mum is having a big clear out at home and has offloaded various old school projects onto me via my sister. Having a nice time reading the projects i wrote on: the history of flight, the design and development of telephones and one simply called eggs which stretched to 20 pages! Obviously learnt my waffling skills at an early age!

Pleased the party went well Marsha. I love the post event analysis as well.
Annie poor you. Chalk it down to experience. You live and learn. Sometimes it's not how you fall, it's how you get up again, and I always think that's the most important thing, how to recover a bad situation. (Have cried at work, we are just more open to tears aren't we? So well done you for holding it together.)
Bloss, have friends coming over tomorrow and have the red lentil soup on the hob, and the leek and mushtoom quiche is in progress! Ham will be boiled tomorrow morning! Thank you!
Now, I want to vent!
Borgen. Watched it this week on my sky plus. Spoiler alert for anyone who hasn't watched it all.
Am so with that prat of a husband. I felt like yelling "she is the prime minister you idiot, get over it. Suck it up".
Grrr!

Oh Rufus - the husband drove me wild and just get a bloody nanny!

Right - been to Brizzle for waxing and tried on Blue's whistles dress which was nice but not a great fit on me - too big on shoulders and long in the body.

Bloss - tried on every tunic'y linen thing in the white co and without fail they all made me look 6 months pregnant. I commented on this to the slim assistant who said 'well they're made for those ladies with ample figures' - so do you still want one

Also tried on these jeans and god they were flattering. And I know they're not uber trendy but lordy a very slim bootcut is so leg lengthening.

I agree mrscb, and I wear similar to work. They would look brilliant on you with your heels! I am annoyed with White Co this season. Especially as they've put frills on their swimwear. But Jigsaw is also cutting for larger ladies I find. The best thing for me of being at this weight is no longer looking for tops with ruching or gathers or draping. Just plain old vests and tees. Love it!
Well done on the cooking rufus. That quiche is so popular, people are disappointed when it runs out. And really popular with men, which has surprised me. Should have cooked it in my single 20s! Could have caught me a husband!
Loved the talk earlier in the week about how long it took us all to settle down and have kids.
I am reading American historical romances right now, set in Little House on the Prairie time. Addictive stuff for me. (should I be admitting to this..?)
Have fun with your guests ollie, and come back for a good old vent!
Do we like the look of these j brands? They have them in black on shopbob for half that price. I like the look of them, and fickle as I am, I need to go back to shopbop for another vince tee.
Back to the subject of our new bike carrier. We bought this model as there was a how to fit video on the website and it took this lady, who had long nails and great sunglasses about 2 minutes to fit. Of course it took us 2 hours! And how cold were we outside today? Unbelievable that we were in tee shirts yesterday.
Have meant to say before, welcome back grumpy!

I thought of you when I first saw those jeans bloss, they're quite dramatic. I'm a real fan of Vince tees. I like the ones called "little boy tees", great shape.

I like the jeans bloss

And yy rufus - surely it was only a temporary thing for him, being married to PM. Couldn't he just suck it up for a while and br proud of her?

ollie I found the Oasis jeans quite generously cut and not super skinny on the leg either. I have 'generous' thighs at the moment and they fitted fine. I am a 10 in Gap and DP, 12 in TopShop and the Oasis 12 was a bit too big.

Happy holidays to all. We're off to Jersey tomorrow for a few days, leaving the cats in my parents' capable hands. Today I learned you can get automatic feeders - would have saved my parents the bother. Oh well - the cats will enjoy the company

YY to little boys tees amber. It's another one of them I'm after!
Have a nice holiday fleecy. I had such a lovely time on our first holiday with dd when she was 6 months old. Magical times.

Evening all. Thank you for all the holiday good wishes - we set off tomorrow (for Cape Town Blue) and am really looking forward to it. Particularly spending a lengthy time with the extended family. It is also our wedding anniversary whilst we are there and will be lovely to have willing babysitters whilst we celebrate. Have packed a ridiculous amount of clothing as per usual - I try each year to capsule pack, but worry about the clothes left behind (yes, because they have feelings) and then end up wearing 3 outfits on rotation. At least I know my faults.

Have a great time with your sister Ollie - so glad the OK scarf is all you wanted! No fashion fairy delivery as of yet, but have issued 3 sets of neighbours with firm instructions to take parcels in for me.

Bloss those jeans have your name written all over them and you know your JBrand size and so on. Worth a punt? Have a lovely holiday too.

Enjoy Jersey Fleecy.

I rather like those jeans MrsCB.

We used to get Parent Trap out on a near weekly basis too Annie and sing Let's Get Together constantly. Loved it. Hope the rest of your weekend is nice and relaxed.

Big wave and mwah to everyone else, see you in two weeks!