We're Avid & Wise, We're discussing our Buys, we're not so keen on Flys, We prefer Peep-toe Sky-Highs!!

[LetThemEatCake]

sorry couldn't help myself

MrsJ yes there are some deffo some fish & underwater cakes - will have a flick through and see which book is best for you

Roman your mention of your Italian house is timely .. will msg you if I may

esher I think good plan to check out the mac before deciding on the jacket.

am really quite taken with that silk ASOS one ...

fleecy glad the wheat-free is working out!

miss you hells x

very annoying blossoming!! glad you treadmilled it out.

I'm not sure if I'll bother with Outnet sale as dhhas day off on Fri for our dd1's anniversary - we usually try to do something happy and life-affirming .. sitting around waiting for an email from the Outnet doesn't quite make the grade

Bless him, he went to Boots in Westyfield to ask for D&G Drama for me today. Boots!!!!

hmmmm, well I think i am going to follow the tactic of having a completely empty shopping bag as if by chance one of your items is on at £1 you will have to delete out all the other things that aren't £1 (unless you don't mind having a few thou on the cc until you send all the full price stuff back) before you can check-out.

FWIW, I don't think the sale stuff will be what is on the site currently.

I am bound to be wiping dd2's bum or de-lousing DD1's hair (again) at the exact moment the email comes through anyway so is highly unlikely I will even see what even was available

ltec have put a link to the picasa album on your fb profile. fleecy can you see it there too?

what will you do on Friday? What a lovely idea to do something 'life affirming'. I like that.

Have you all read Tom Hodgkinson's marvellous book "The Idle Parent" by the way? It's not at all in keeping with this thread, as buying stuff is not on his agenda, (esp 135 pound tshirts) but it's life affirming, I thought.

Bugger - can't see it I'm afraid. Where should I look - it's probably staring me right in the face!

Life afirming, I like that. Will check out that book roman.
I'm avoiding outnet sale too.
I'm sure you'll have a lovely day with your family ltec.

We've got a picnic planned for today in a forest park, then mil is taking dc1 tomorrow when I will be cooking all day for IL's on Saturday who haven't been here before. Then it's Sunday and holiday over.

Dc1 is also talking about Italy. All the rage!!

Roman we are looking for a villa currently. I don't fb (and don't usually mix mn and rl) but would love to see it if there us another way (hope you don't feel inundated now!)

There is no way I can wait around for an email all day, both 4 month old and 5 year old won't allow it. I may get lucky on the timing.

Gosh, I have probably made that sound far more spiritual and wonderful than I meant to. I just mean a day where we just drink up our children and count our blessings, without worrying about sending that 'urgent' work email or taking that 'important' call or putting on 'just one load of laundry before we go'.

So we will probably go to Borough Market, have a Monmouth coffee or several, let the children see that food doesn't grow in orange Sainsburys bags, let them choose what they want to eat and then eat in the grounds of Southwark Cathedral. I'll probably go and sit inside for a bit to say a prayer. Then a walk along the Southbank letting them stop and look at anything they want, walk along walls, jump over cracks etc etc without trying to hurry them up. Then the Tate Modern where they can do the Art Trolley stuff (they love that) and go into the big spooky black vault in the Turbine Hall.

I'm really looking forward to it, can you tell???

I haven't read that book Roman but will check it out. I am currently reading "The Room of Lost Things" by Stella Duffy. It's set in 'my' part of London so there's a lovely familiarity to it.

Have you all seen the gorgeous maxi Plum has linked to on the Wallis thread? So pretty.

Oh that does sound lovely Ltec.

Dh is at home on Friday (Finally! he was meant to have quite some time but they needed him at work. Really looking forward to it).

I'm reading Cold Comfort Farm and love the main girl Flora in it. Or I would be if the cleaner hadn't hidden it somewhere!

LTEC we'll be thinking of you on Friday. Sounds like a special way of remembering your little Star and bonding with your loved ones....(love the phrase, 'drink up our children'). That's exactly it isn't it?...Someone once said that the love you have for your children is excrutiating and it really is. The calmness and serenity of the Cathedral will be comforting ...

I have a friend who lost her baby at birth (40 weeks). The baby seemed okay on arrival then just died within minutes. Heartbreaking. She had her second after a year, and its v bittersweet for her. She adores her baby but obv yearns for the one she lost...so sad, and seems much more prevalent than we are led to believe...Childbirth really is a miracle!

Re books: I am reading the Stieg Larsson trilogy at the moment, having just finished the second in the trilogy: The Girl Who Played With Fire: it's great!

Anyway, DS dressed as Pirate and DD Tinkerbell, so off to be Peter Pan!!!

Did I say ; off course I meant 'grin' ... hic !!!

Talking of life affirming, my sprightly granny is 93 today!

ltec that's what the Idle parent is like really - it's about enjoying life and your family without being obsessed with scheduling your kids' lives, and working all hours in a job you hate just so you can buy more stuff. Have a look at the idler website

For the Italy house photos does this link work?

I never used to mix mn and rl, but this is the only thread I'm on now I think, and you are my friends!

Forgot to ask: any good NYC shopping tips? And ltec yes please can I have the cake instructions?

Roman - you do indeed sound v organised and know what you mean about travelling sans DH...Love my dear old soul but he does get a bit tetchy when DCs playing up; well, I know I do too, but am more used to it I suppose so less impact on me...he sort of gets a bit embarassed so more relaxing to do it alone and meet up refreshed hopefully...

Wonderful to have a home in Italy...we stayed near Cortona a few years ago (fab, fab place), and the outlet stores AMAZING....found Prada shoes, handbags and Helmut Lang jeans....all for a fraction of the cost...Mind you, you do have to dress it up a bit in Italy, don't you? They are v v glam and sexy most of them...hence mini dresses and skirts on even the most muttonous of Mamas!!!

Have a fab time in NYC - report back asap!!! And yes a link to your Italy home would be good

Oh Roman....the house looks lovely; as do you and your famiglia!!! Hunters in Italy - I like it !!!

I am going to save the page and keep for future ref - maybe next year!!! Know what you mean about this thread - yes, I never divulge things normally but all sound so friendly, nice, likeminded !!!

morning all, after a fairly rough night with the snorting little (adorable) gremlin that is my DD at the moment...I'm rewarding myself with a little catch up here.

Roman - the house looks like the perfect getaway and I love the pics of you all and your beautiful family.

I'm also slightly cross with myself for clicking on the zebra tee link as I am now lusting after it.

Cakey - your planned day sounds bliss. You are so intrepid with your little three. I imagine you all whizzing round London like a gorgeous gang. I spend too much time worrying about the 'what if's' and often miss out because of it. Borough is so near to me. We used to go a lot at the weekends but it's become a bit of a free for all. I can imagine weekdays are a rather different story and so fun.

I'm really enjoying my new jacket. It is highly possible I look like an ageing rocker/groupie in it but we'll gloss over that shall we

I wish I could like to the dress but I cannot find it online anywhere. Will have to post photo's from the wedding so you can see it in action (so to speak). My mother is visiting today and will give it her verdict. I tried so hard to find something that wasn't 'look at me' while being gorgeous at the same time! I hope I've succeded.

Vinu - love the silk jacket. And also love Tracey's outnet bag!

DS is being a nosey parker and reading over my shoulder so I'll sign off now

Better go.

Roman - what a lovely house & location -looks great for shade seekers like my strange DH too!

Sadly I wasn't as avid as I am now last time I went to NY so can't help much with shopping tips. centry21 is good for bargains though.

One thing I always recommend if it's your first time there is to walk across the brooklyn bridge (towards brooklyn at dusk but don't look back until it's gone dark - then turn around and get a fantastic view of the city - it's a bit cheesy but v romantic.
Plus you can get a great hot chocolate here when you get to the other side.

Will be thinking of you Friday Cakey. That sounds like a lovely day. If it's sunny stroll down Tooley St towards the GLA / Thames and admire my handiwork (More London) lovely fountain for kids to run in, a plastic tree to um, look at and funny shaped full stops to climb on. Quite nice dim sum too.

I'm not doing well on the grief front at the moment. Grinning and shopping my way through it.

Lovely house Roman. I'll be there for most of the summer too. Off to Italy next week to see my new namesake & very excited.

Enjoy the football last night Hells? Hope your dh celebrated loudly Cakey

Dd hardly slept again. She's taken to waking at 130 and screaming for me until she can't breathe. It's awful. She's just gone down for her nap as the work people have started replacing my neighbour's sash windows. Not happy.

Right, off to tidy up my dressing room and decide what new things I need for Italy .

Oh MM

Roman - your house is lovely. I've saved it into my holiday folder where I gather little treasures like a magpie so I can show DH when we plan our next break!

I've read 'How to be idle' and I think we are quite idle in our family We both work part time so don't have as much money as we could but are lucky enough to have a relaxed pace of life and get plenty of time with the children. Although today I am 'enjoying' a long over-due sort out of all my papers and filing which is perhaps not so much in the spirit of the thing!

LTEC your day tomorrow sounds like a wonderful way to remember Star.

Forgot to say but rather odd book coincidence. I bought my mum 4 books at Christmas. The Steig Larsson triology and the Stella Duffy. How odd .

Hi everyone, I got back last night from my last overseas work trip before mat leave, and went on the condition that I could have today as a day in lieu to recover, so I have a free day to catch up and potter. I need the rest though, the flight back was grim with weird cabin pressure which made me dizzy and sick and the baby was going a bit crazy moving and kicking.

So much to catch up on though! I have missed the boat with outnet, I haven't actually bought anything from them depite repeated browsing, so wasn't registered.

I had a good browse through my Marie Claire and InStyle multipack on the plane - it's been a while since I bought Marie Claire, there seems a lot more fashion than there used to be. A few things I saw that I liked that I now need to try to find in real life.

Will return when I've properly read the thread and done some browsing.

Morning all! DS1 started school this week so have been all preoccupied with last-minute labelling..and

I bought this in a fit of red wine-induced avidness. I have to go to a summer ball in May and, being short, look silly in maxi dress. I also have a wedding to go to (although I have recently bought two other contenders for that!). And I liked it. It says 16, but the bust measurements suggest 14 so hope I don't have to do too much tinkering with it.

Do you like it? Is it gopping? Might I look like a loo roll cover?

On the subject of spring/summer weddings, think I will get this coat which is also available in white.

I also have an interview at the end of the month. I am an in-house commercial lawyer, but have been languishing on maternity leave for a while. Suits just seem too structured for me now, so was thinking maybe this but just WISH that someone would stop all this bloody polyester nonsense.

Cakey, your planned day sounds just right.

Morning all.

Roman - your house and family look gorgeous - have a fab time in NY.

LTEC - hope you're ok - is DD having night terrors do you think?

Right - jigsaw stripey top in red arrived and will look fab with white baxters so thank you Choo!

Uniqlo grey skinnies arrived and are going back. Right - I'm a size 8 in topshop and on Bunny's recommendation ordered the smaller ones so got a 24 and they are huge - really baggy in the legs and the denim just looks/feels cheap.

So the search for grey skinnies continues.

LTEC - your plans for tomorrow sound wonderful. How do you cope with taking your 3 out and about so much. Must say during th e holidays I find it incredibly stressful having all 3 trying to do stuff - much easier when I've just got the youngest and DS1 is at school.

Oh Roman - v v of your beautiful home in Tuscany! And what a gorgeous family you have, I imagine you have some wonderful holidays in Italy.

I love the continental European approach to grooming and dressing. In Australia the Italians, Maltese and Greeks I knew dressed beautifully and were immaculately groomed. What a shock their forefathers must have had when they first encountered the lax casual Australian approach to style.

Cakey - will be thinking of you tomorrow.

Who had that wonderful holiday in Cheltenham/Cotswolds? Notyummy? The photos looked heavenly!

MM - oh, so sorry that you are feeling sad at the moment.

Tracey - think you meant MM re the night terrors? Sorry the skinnies didn't work! I haven't got the coloured jeans, only the denim. But good to know to avoid...

Moneyspider - the dress is quite bold and distinctive. So I think accessorise minimally and enjoy it - its a fun dress that doesn't take itself too seriously. Think its a dress to laugh and dance in. The summer coat is an altogether different animal, v tame and sleek and elegant. Lovely.