And so we Wisely turn away from any summer purchases to Avid thoughts of stylish winter coats. Which means (surely) that the sun will shine, after wool jackets are bought....

[notyummy]

Stamp

Ah I missed your Vince maxi Bloss. Hunted it down on your boards. Looks really lovely. Well done on the sprints.

What do people do about hair cuts? Splash out, or not?

I could do £80 for a haircut at Aveda or do ex-West end guy in local salon for £50 (still not cheap imo for a local salon).

The difference is good magazines and no horrible radio with adverts and better lighting. Ok I could bring my own magazine if so inclined but the experience. And the hair cut, is it actually better? Am quite torn.

marsha I pay for a cut and blow dry every 2 months at a West End salon, then the local barber cuts my fringe when it gets on my nerves - like tonight for example. I giver her a fiver, she does a good job. Had it done tonight: £15 for the 3 of us, go in queue up...
But I love my London salon and tried to find somewhere more local last year, but didn't and hated not going. It is my time, and an absolute treat time for me.

Well, forms are filled out, referencing fee is paid and I am still waiting for it to all fall through . House fractionally further out than we wanted, but newly refurbished to a great standard, decent oven (always the bane of rental), dishwasher (haven't had one since leaving home at 18), kitchen diner (which means I can cook while the DCs do playdoh etc), en suite (never had one of those!). Generally pretty good. And good local schools in case we don't HE.

I am very lucky marsha, I live near a fabulous Korean hairdressers, who do a sterling job on my hair for £18! Have spent £100+ on haircuts and not been as happy.

Bedside manner of Dr Crippen here, ollie. My DH trots out the old but 'masks the symptoms' line to which my acid response tends to be 'well, there isn't a cure for the common cold, darling' - it is always 'flu with DH

Just had a mountain of carbs (excuse: cleaning out the fridge) with a mountain of salad. Too exhausted to run tonight. Should pack, how I hate packing.

7th the Now book I think is different - it's not about getting organized or becoming more efficient, its about scheduling enough time for leisure activites and everything you love and severely limiting the time you will work. Paradoxically, it seems to work... But of course not worth reading if procrastination is not a problem or you've already found an approach that works.

Marsha, I'd probably go to Aveda - aren't good magazines the point?. (Used to stay a lot in hotels that had mini Aveda products - such a small thing but I chose them every time over others.) I used to get a lot of terrible haircuts in Brazil where the girls were not used to my kind of fine flyaway hair. And once in NYC a certain Melinda in a posh salon wanted to give me red lowlights Once, I actually walked out with a mullet . These days, I fly back home to get highlights and cuts - most likely I would find someone amazing here in Rome but not looking forward to the trial and error process.

Early to bed tonight. Let's hope nobody needs to get up at an ungodly hour tomorrow morning.

Oh Amber need to say that the I finally found the best haircut in NYC in the tiny Japantown section of East Village - blissful and just as reasonably priced as yours...

Thanks Bloss, Amber, SE, Dona!

Yes to stylist. Both are good but I find the local one a bit sort of down on life... maybe due to being in the local salon with bad music and bad lighting!

Yes to magazines being the thing . And I would pay extra for that, but suddenly thought that people would be thinking oh come on £30 for that.

I have booked Aveda and you have all made feel better about it

Amber I'd never find that, sounds good!

Great work Hopefully

My worst haircut EVER was doing it for free so pics could be taken. At university so I thought oh yes will save money. Short, malting cat was the look

Marsha I pay a lot for my hair - around £150 every 8 weeks for cut and colour - you wear your hair everyday so no point scrimping.

Am meant to be out but DH delayed so now in dressing gown watching khardashians

I am looking forward to finding a new hairdresser - have never found one I've been totally happy with round here. In fact I may treat myself to a haircut before we even move. I used to happily pay £100+ for a sassoons cut and they were totally worth it. Find it hard to find a cut 80% as good for 50% of the price though.

Found you all! So hard to keep on top of all the news but lovely to read and get such fab style insights.

Up since 6am (thanks to DH for getting up to open a window) so went for a run and took DD into Coram Fields (near Kings Cross), we had a picnic and she had great fun. Did not wear anything too thriling - trusty Supergas, pink Topshop boyfriend jeans, white tee, and an ancient Marc Jacobs bag. Functional !

Any other ENFP types? Did the MB years ago and that's what I was. No idea what it is supposed to mean.

With this weather I am looking forward to the A/W stock - must check out all the Pinterest boards for inspiration.

Marsha, on hair, met a friend the other night, went to the Royal Exchange for a gorgeous bottle of wine - I digress, she told me she had spent £300 on a hair cut in Knightsbridge. I could not tell it was such an expensive hair cut!

Thanks MrsCB, Hopefully. Yes agree I am much happier with my hair these days. Mostly due to the colour, I don't find that so agonising as I can see the difference when I do the actual highlights at Aveda.

Manga! hope it included colour.

It's £140 colour + £80 but I probably don't do it so often so all evens out.

Hi blossoming, yep I'm Chadpie. (There's a funny sentence!) I'm not very good at telling what's 'soft' at the moment so I've actually been googling for 'soft autumn' and pinning whatever the result just so I can get the hang of the colours. Then as I see things I like that also fit the palette I've been pinning them too.

Got another Monsoon sale bargain today (and tried on another NINE things that were decidedly crap-jumpers so long they were almost dresses but not quite, knits with strangely placed bows, all weird)-a rusty brown jumper that's rather nice. Then went into Accessorize and spent £50 on new stuff-oops. Dark brown leopard scarf that's gorgeous, lace flats and a pair of skinny belts. Am hiding them from DH

DH took himself off to bed at 7.30pm Seems a bit better but yes Amber according to him its flu and not the same cold I had last week (and still managed to function with and host parents visit - you get my gist)

Hoping to still set off tomorrow as planned even if I end up driving - which will take days!

Have packed and really, really tried not to take too much stuff but ended up with what seems like a lot of tops.

hopefully fingers crossed the house is yours and enjoy your good nights sleep everything

Fritzi. How is the holiday? MN has a list of summer holiday reads which looked good. Some are not available on Kindle tho. One with Hedgehog in the title sounded particularly good. Will find link

MN summer reads here

I've just finished this and it was very good. Light detective novel but without any horrid rape/child abuse stuff which I choose not to read about.

And don't forget Game of Thrones but you won't want to interact with your family for several weeks whilst you read them.

Evening all. Have just had a wonderful time at new school - long chat with HOD who is right on my wavelength. I have the pleasure of teaching so many amazing books next year; cannot wait. Am already getting morose about the temporary nature of my contract (so typical of me to project about the future rather than focusing on the now).

Has anyone else read 'Freedom' by Jonathan Franzen? Is next on my list.

Glad you booked the Aveda Marsha - you'd only be disappointed otherwise!

Great news on the house Hopefully - when are you planning on moving?

Hope you get a lovely night's sleep tonight Seventh.

So far, holiday is fab. Rain and thunderstorms at night, dry weather during the day. Perfect place with lots of children for DD to run around with. I can go to a yoga class in the morning, DH and DD do their rafting/climbing/hiking stuff and we all meet at the pool in the afternoon. Aveda spa and beauty products in the bathroom too!

I think the unthinkable has happened and I have managed to watch every episode of the Kardashians.

So glad today went well Red you sounds really really passionate about your job.

Yay Hopefully. Kitchen/Diner could do wonders for clingy DS2, we have one and DD is now happy to venture round the corner into playroom on her own.

Mmmm uninterupted sleep sounds blissful SE enjoy

Oh no Ollie glad the patient is safely tucked up. My other half is a killer for taking tablets with caffine in last thing at night and ones that make you drowsy in the day. Drives me mad.

Glad you booked the Aveda Marsha I pay £40 odd for mine and DD's hair she sits next to me and run the gauntlet of trimming my own fringe eeek.

I haven't bought any clothes yet for July, but have more than made up for it in Amazon and Garden Centre buys.

Off to check out book suggestions now

Morning all! Just briefly here to say that some Winter palettes for you here Bloss. HoC probably not included but worth a look anyway. Find having a palette on Pin extremely useful and loving all the pretty soft autumn harmonies.

Palettes for everyone - reposting the link because it seems that many pinners are looking for them.

Wearing the Vanessa Bruno dress with blue Havaianas. Will perhaps later upgrade to white peplum top and D&G city shorts. Love Pinterest - so many good styling ideas, really useful, no need to shop for more, can achieve a myriad of looks with what I already have. Have also found a style icon - Lauren Santo Domingo rocks the more casual styles that I struggle with and she has roughly similar shape and palette than I do. (See how expertly she wears denim and chambray, doesn't do cropped, and wears peplum with panache.) How about you ladies - has pinning helped you?

Also identified a gap in my closet - don't really have classic tailored shirts. Have realized that Italians look very pulled together because they use a lot of crisp clothes that need to be ironed. Jersey just never achieves a similar effect. I am very lucky to have a weekly cleaner who irons. Hmmm...

Thanks for posting that link, Dona. Pinterest has helped me, actually, I am considering my purchases more carefully.

Glad I didn't go out last night as DD2 woke at 5.15, argh.

Great find on the jeans, Red! Really like yours too, MrsCB.

Anyway, have to get DD1 ready so just wanted to say that Active Beauty have 30% off Kérastase and there are some Goat dresses on Cocosa today.