Officially OLD today!!!

Today - 7th January 2013 - my youngest child turned 18!!!  All of my offspring are now adults.  I must be very OLD!!!  I've tried to convince Rich that in order to deal with the trauma of being so old and childless I should be allowed another dog, but he's having none of it!!!!  

His presents all ready for him!

Me ready to go out to lunch with Rich, my son and his two best mates.

We had a lovely - if not enormous! - lunch out at The Plough at Ford.  I wore my Forever 21 blouse and my Gok skinny jeans and M&S boots.  

Today was also weigh-in day.  I was really pleased as my diet only started last Wednesday so I've only had 5 days of dieting and I've lost 4 and three quarter pounds!  Yayyyyy!!!!  Rich has lost 8 pounds in the same time period!!!  Whoop whoop!!!

Tomorrow is day one of Dr Gundry's diet for me!  I think I'm going to struggle.  It's also our gym induction so it's all systems go.  I will keep you posted!

Almost Christmas

Last night we had a Pre Christmas Get Together at our house with some of our best friends.  I lit all the candles and dimmed the lights (mainly to hide the fact that the Christmas tree is all but dead!) and put on the cheesy Christmas CD.  The champagne and Sauvignon Blanc was chilling in the fridge and the food warming in the oven.

It was lovely to spend the evening with such special people but time always seems to fly by.  One of our friends has lost three stone this year, she says without trying.  She's more than ten years older than me and is looking really skinny and obviously feeling good.  She's changed the way she dresses and was in skinny jeans last night.  It just shows it doesn't matter how old you are you can reinvent yourself.

I wore my new black top which I bought from Forever 21 on Oxford Street and my black skinny jeans from Gok at Sainsburys, my favourite nude heels and my new necklace.  I thought all of my friends looked really good last night but all in totally different ways.  Jane tends to be a skinny jeans and pretty tops kind of person.  Sarah is good at dresses or tunics with leggings and boots.  Heather can wear almost anything because she has a lovely figure but she seems happiest in skinny jeans.  She can wear them with flats and still look fab.  I need to wear heels.

Anyway when I put the bottles into the recycling I worked out that the wine drinkers had each drunk at least one and a half bottles each of wine or champagne!  No one reported a hangover this morning though!!!

Today I had to go to pick up my Dad who has come to stay for Christmas.  My daughter and her friend came with me.  My Dad and most of my family live an hours drive away.  We took the opportunity to go and visit my cousin who had all her family there including her 12 week old baby grandson who I hadn't met before!

Rich is now so used to taking photos of me that as soon as I came downstairs dressed and ready to go he was ready to take a photo.

I've obviously worn these clothes before since blogging, but they are so comfy and easy to wear.  Blouse from Next, straight jeans from Tu at Sainsburys, boots from M&S, bag from New Look.

And here I am with my cousin's husband who made the whole trip for us by making us laugh so much!!!

Wednesday outing - Neal's Yard Party

On Wednesday evening my friend, Heather, hosted a Neal's Yard party.  I was introduced to Neal's Yard at the beginning of 2011.  I was getting married in the April and went to see Sophie Chamings at the beginning of the year.  She was going to do my make-up for the Big Day.  She suggested that on the run up to the wedding I used Neal's Yard face mask, moisturiser and eye cream.  It was really good and kept my skin clear but I didn't carry on using it after the wedding because it was quite expensive - compared to the products I'd used in the past.

Then Heather announced she was hosting a Neal's Yard party and I was quite excited.  I liked the products but the shop, although lovely, was a bit intimidating,  I was glad to have the chance to have the products explained to me.  In fact it was even better than that.  Jodie who did the party talked about various products and allowed us to try them.  Then she gave any of us who wanted one a mini facial.  It was bliss.  Jodie was brilliant.  Everyone warmed to her.  And we got 20% off the products.

One thing she told us was that everyone should use toner.  I've never used toner.  I think only one person at the party used it.  Apparently it prepares your skin for the moisturiser meaning your moisturiser is more effective. 

Anyway, I wore tan leggings and long cardi from Primark, my lovely M&S boots and scarf from Forever 21.  I'm still working on the dresses.  I am going to wear one on Saturday.  I've tried some on.  Photos to follow tomorrow and then you can give me your feedback and help me choose one.  Claire - whose house I'm going to for supper - wears a dress so well.  In fact she always looks completely glamorous.  I have no idea how she does it.  I'm going to be keeping an eye on her to see if I can pick up some tips.