I forgot to mention in my last blog that the dress I wore was from Matalan. I bought it towards the beginning of this year but I'd never worn it I took the labels off to wear it. It was £28. Bargain!
Rich and I have just come back from our annual trip to London. We go down on the train on Tuesday morning. Check in at the Hilton Kensington. Walk over the road to Westfield Shopping Centre. Shop and drink champagne. Go to Olympia to watch the World Cup Qualifier Freestyle dressage. Back to the hotel bar. Next morning more shopping then home on the train. It's a tradition!
Yesterday didn't exactly go to plan though! I was up bright and early. Overnight case packed, house tidy, dogs seen to and showered and ready to go. My youngest son and his mate had been out partying in Cheltenham the night before and probably only been home for a couple of hours. The friend was semi naked on the sofa, duvet thrown back with a bowl beside him in case he was sick. My daughter had turned up after we had gone to bed. She was staying over so that she was here to take my son and his mate to college. She had left the front door unlocked all night.
However, we were off to London so hey worse things could happen. We left early allowing us time to go buy a nice magazine to read on the train and a coffee. We were over half way to the station when my son rang asking if I knew where his keys were. I'd replied they were in the front door. He agreed that they had been there earlier but weren't there now. At this point Rich looked worried, felt in his pocket and pulled out the keys!!!
My daughter and the boys got into her car and we turned round and raced back towards home, hopefully meeting my daughter half way to save time. It was a crazy drive. I've probably got a speeding ticket! We pulled into the car park at the station and the train was on the platform. We leaped out of the car and sprinted onto platform one, up the steps, across the bridge and down the steps on the other side to leap on the train just before it pulled out of the station!!!
Not the perfect start! However, after that the journey went smoothly! We had a lovely lunch and G&T in the hotel bar then headed across the road to Westfield.
It was my quest to find a dress for New Year's Eve. We went in every shop from French Connection and Coast to New Look and Dorothy Perkins and everything in between! Mango gets the prize for the smallest changing room! I banged my head on the wall every time I bent down! I tried on sooooo many dresses but none of them felt right! I finally went back to Next and bought a dress that I felt comfortable in. I was well aware that this time next week it will be less than half price but I couldn't risk not getting it in my size in case I don't find anything else as I've no intention of going to the sales on Boxing Day.
We consoled our aching feet by consuming a couple of glasses of champagne at the fabulous champagne bar. The champagne bar is in The Village - the designer part of Westfield. This is not somewhere I shop. It's all Gucci, Prada, Christian Dior, Tiffany, etc. It's my dream to one day own a pair of Jimmy Choos so after two glasses of bubbly each we headed into Jimmy Choo. They have some amazing shoes; many of them with the thinnest of skyscraper heels that I could never walk in! But I aspire to a pair!!! I picked the shoes up loving and slyly turned them over to have a peek at the price but there are no prices. Obviously if you need to ask the price you can't afford them!
Anyway we had an amazing evening at Olympia. Our golden girl and double Olympic gold medallist - Charlotte Dujardin - won again! We returned to the hotel for a nightcap and walked into the bar to find Lucy and Daniel, dressage friends of ours, in the bar so we sat drinking G&T with them til 1am.
After a lovely breakfast this morning we headed for Oxford Street. We had a lovely shop in John Lewis, buying a few presents and I tried on more dresses! The result was I've bought another dress for New Year's Eve - twice the price of the first one even though it was in the sale!!! Rich is a nightmare to shop with. Don't get me wrong, he's very patient, but he expects me to dress like a 17 year old! So each time I try on a dress he tells me it's boring!!! The dress I bought today is over-the-top but I think very me!!!
My intention is to try on both dresses with heels and see which one I prefer and to take the other one back!
After that we browsed several shops on Oxford Street and ended up in Forever 21. Rather appropriate for me I feel! I'm like a child in a sweetie shop in there. Everything looks lovely and it's all really well laid out over two large floors. It's priced somewhere between Primark and New Look so very affordable. Rich was sat balanced on our overnight case and I was gone so long that the manager brought a chair over for him to sit on and then went over to check on him after 20 minutes because he thought I must have abandoned him!!!
Anyway, I'm going to share my purchases with you.
Loving the bright pink carrier bag!
Doesn't look too good on the hanger but I love this top which has a lace back.
I also bought it in black!
This is a nice glitzy top to wear with leggings or skinny jeans.
I like this checked blouse. Very easy to wear.
Again just showing this on the hanger doesn't do it justice but I love it!
My bravest purchase. It's actually really nice and I can wear it with thick black tights or leggings and boots.
I love this necklace - pearls with a bit of glitz!
And my final bit of glitz!
When I FINALLY returned to Rich he was holding up a cream mini skirt covered in cream disk shaped sequins and thought I'd look really good in it! Hmmmmmmmm I don't think so!!!
