Have you seen my style? I think I had it yesterday ( AKA just because you hit 50, you don't

Before I start , let me just say...
YES, this is a bit of a rant about women, style, and *shock, horror* The over 50's.

"Not the over 50's" I can hear you thinking...  old women with no shape, a penchant for beige, elastic waists (and I'm not just talking about clothing!), skirts of indiscriminate length, and blouses?

(By Adam Jones Adam63 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

Yes, the over 50's! No, No, never, and 'god forbid' to the rest!

*Gets out my soapbox*

*Heaves myself up (ignoring the clicky knees)*

*Takes deep breath, and intones - in the tone of an AA convert -
( Alcoholics Anonymous, NOT the Automobile Association - though for all I know, they may also have some sort of membership ritual that entails a summary of breakdowns attended and years in the service) 
....but I digress 

Is digressing is a sign of my advanced years? I think it might be....

"My name is Hazel, and I've been over 50 for 3 years, 10 months and 1 days!"*

There you go. It's out in the open.
I. Am. Old.

OK. Let me stop myself right there.
I am NOT old.
I may look a bit older than I did a few years ago.
My hair is pretty much grey under the rather uplifting auburn (or "a bright and vibrant red that gives you a vivid colour result" if I listen to what Schwarzcopf say)  that I'm favouring at the moment.  My eyebrows need not just shaping but defining, and I'm a size or two *cough-or three-cough* larger than I was in my twenties, but I'm still the me that I was, inside my head.

I still:

• Love retro styling
• Tend towards the dramatic
• Want clothes that flatter my figure

Although according to my results....

I don't want:

• To look like my Mum
• To look like my daughter
• To be bland

While I've been poking around on the internet, I came across this article by Michele Hanson and I absolutely agree. She was commenting on the section in the Channel Four series 'Fabulous Fashionistas" that focussed on older women who still looked amazing in their 80's.

Her point was that these women have ALWAYS been interested in fashion , and are only continuing to do what they have always done - look fantastic.

I would love to look fantastic/quirky/individual too.

The trouble is, I'm having a bit of a style crisis.

A sudden lack of confidence in my own taste.

A feeling that there is nothing out there in high street shopping land for people like me.

And I wonder....Am I alone?

Take my last shopping trips to look for something to wear for: 

1 - The work Christmas party - dinner and disco, with a casino theme.

2 - A work luncheon at a VERY nice hotel in London.

3 - Some new non work clothes suitable for being seen in ( as opposed to mooching around the house in)

The Christmas party.

The shops were full of low cut, "sexy" outfits, that made me feel like Bet Lynch on a bad day, and had my rather ample decolletage threatening to collapse the bodices if I so much as leaned forwards to pick up a fork, or dresses so sparkly that you couldn't look directly at them ( probably a good thing or you might notice that they no shape and turned you into a rhinestones sausage). 

So I turned my attention to the internet, and WOW! - Almost immediately I found a site stocking the kind of thing I'd wear!

*Does a happy dance*
And then I realised that it  (along with lots of the other websites I visited) was in the USA.
Not a problem, I hear you say.
Well, thats true, but the thought of ordering something that might need returning, the potential customs costs, and the delivery times ( yes, of course I'd left if to the last minute) meant that I had to think again.

Thankfully Marks and Spencers came to my rescue, and I managed to find a dress that was suitably dressy, made me feel great, and was available to try and buy in Bluewater.

The Luncheon.
OK, unless you are someone who regularly does formal lunches, this is a really hard one to dress for.
Do you go for something light and feminine and channel your inner tea dress?
Do you got for formal work wear, since it's a work event including liaising with directors from other companies?
Do you go for some chic cocktail dress, and glam it up a bit, even though it starts at 2pm?

Well, as it turned out, the event was a mix of women wearing all 3! The majority had gone for glam evening wear though, which was a bit of a blow to me, as I had opted for business formal. Still,  I felt ok, as my safe black dress and jacket was perked up with a sizeable chunk of green amber (a gift from my mum a few birthdays back), but that still didnt stop me looking enviously over at those chic women who had the knack of getting it just right.
And I admit it, part of me was thinking that they had it easy as they were exclusively around the size 10 mark, with big feet.


Why big feet, I hear you ask?
Well if you have big feet, you can wear heels without having to balance on your big toe, fetish like, if the heel is anything over 2 inches high.
But lets not get me started on that one. I'll save it for a later post, when I fade back to my teens, and shoe shops with rows of heels that increased as the shoe size went up, keeping the line of the shoe in perfect proportion....

And Finally:
The Non Work clothes. 
It was really this search that was the catalyst for my post.
I have lost my style identity when I'm not being defined by an event.
In part I think it's because my shape has changed. I've lost my waist - although according to a style advisor I consulted a few years back, I was never actually an hourglass (which is what I'd thought), but a straight with a large bust, which only made it look like I was. Who knew?
So while I tend towards jeans, tshirt, and cardigan, I no longer look like ME when I wear them, I look like some kind of frumpy, style-less, grandma.
*insert your most favoured sad/red faced/horrified emoticon here*

So I've had enough.
I'm on a crusade to FIND MY STYLE!
Now I just have to decide what's appropriate to wear while I go and look for it.

Hmmmmmmmm...
This might take a while!

* Actually I'm older, because it took me ages to get round to posting this.

"The joy of Pinning" or "In praise of big knickers!"

Its nearly Spring!

Ok, maybe not, but It's not freezing every morning any more, and when the sun shines, its actually WARM!.
So, in the hopes of sparking off a proper pre-spring cleaning frenzy, over the past week I have been looking through my bookmarks to try and get them into some kind of order.

I don't know about yours - you may be one of those strange and mysterious beings who tag, file and collate your bookmarks with library precision, able to find any reference with a few precise clicks.
If so, I bow to your magnificence and suggest you skip the next bit rather rapidly. You will be appalled at my haphazard methods.

Me?
Well, I just click 'bookmark this page' in the handy section at the top of my browser, add the link to whatever section seems most relevant at the time, and leave it there until I need it again.
At which time I realise that:

1.  I haven't titled it.
2.  For reasons which are lost in the mists of post menopausal memory, I have not put it in the section that now obviously relates to it.
3. It's not actually about what I thought it was about in the first place.

And I promptly resort to Google.

Yet again.
*Le sigh*

Now, while I've found somethings that have made me smile*, or wonder why I bookmarked them in the first place, mostly its been a slog to open them, rename them

However, since I discovered the joys of Pinterest my bookmarks have become much more manageable.
Post-pinterest, things are rather different.

• I find something interesting as I pick my way through the spider-silk  of the Interweb.

• I realise, as I'm Ooohing and Aaahing, that I want to follow the link to some other tantalising site.

• But I don't want to lose the link to the page that I'm on, so.....I look for something visual that will tell me as soon as I see it, what the original site was about, and I click the 'pin it' button, kindly supplied by those sensible people at Pinterest. ( I bet they collate their bookmarks!)

• It  brings up a pretty list of all the possible images, and choose the one I decided on earlier, click it, add a note about it, put it in the relevant file, and Hey Presto! its done.

Of course, there are pitfalls.

• Time works differently when you are in the Pinterest dimension - before you know it the ten minutes that you think you have spent flicking through a couple of sites has warped into ten hours. And, NO, I'm not joking.
• Some swanky websites don't let you pin their images. Not in an 'You do not have permission to do so' way, but a ' No image or video found on this page" way. And while I recognise that the image belongs to someone ( I always try to make sure I've attributed it to the correct source, and don't pin an image if there is a request on the page not to,), and Pinterest will ALWAYS remove it if someone objects, When I'm on a page that is selling stuff, PLEASE make your image Pin-able! . I mean, when even a computer illiterate like me can screen grab, save , copy and then add a link back to the original page then what difference would it make?

So, after that mini Pinning 101, it's back to the old fashioned version.

And 'click'

Enjoy your weekend!

* This was this story that made me smile - It was in The Guardian on Wednesday 2 Jan 2008 and was called "Fire,fire, put pants on fryer"

:D
Oh yes, I can empathise with that last comment!

Blogging for work

One of the ( many and varied) reasons that I can be rather, well, lets call it 'random', in my personal blogging schedule, is that I am also in charge of writing a blog for the company that I work for.

Its called 'I love this frame', and is supposed to feature one frame per week that catches my eye and makes me go Oooooh!

Now I regularly get the Oooooh! effect at work, and you would think that once a week I'd be able to get my act together, put fingertip to keyboard, and get it down on *virtual* paper, for the delectation of the few random people who might stumble across it in the blogosphere.

And in the main I do and I have.

But It has meant that the time I had hoped would be spent adding to this, my personal blog, is often taken up by organising the data for the work one.
Especially since, although it is written on behalf of the company that I work for, I write it in my own time.

So, having noticed that I haven't written anything for myself for a while, I thought I'd give you all a taste of what goes down on the other blog.
And here it is, this weeks edition of 'I love this frame'....



Frame overload at the Vinyl Factory

Ok, I know this blog is titled 'I Love This Frame' and reading that, you'd expect to see something about a particular frame each week.
A perfectly reasonable assumption I agree.

But this week I just couldn't choose.

"Why is that?" I can see you thinking....
( Oh yes you were, don't pretend you weren't! )

I mean, with all the frames that I have to choose from in the Opticians where I work I manage to make a selection, so how come this week is different?

Well, let me fill you in on the reason for my sad lack of decision-making.

This week I had a few days off and had intended to go to a couple of trade events. ( I know, talk about busman's holiday, but hey, I love my job!)

The first was Pure.
Not an Optical event but a fashion buying one, with lots of interesting seminars highlighting the trends for autumn 2013.

Unfortunately for me, for a variety of reasons, I didn't get to go.
*sad face*

The second was The Eye Show.
This was a brand new Optical trade show, and it was getting everyone quite excited.
In the UK we already have a large Optical trade show, Optrafair, that happens every 2 years in Birmingham, but apart from one brief event quite a few years ago, there has never been anything in London.
But, *insert second sad face* it got cancelled at the last minute.

Which left me with nothing to do.
By 'nothing to do' I'm ignoring the housework / unfinished craft projects / reports for work / CET* / sickly teenager, that are waving madly at me from all corners of my house and saying "MeMeMeMe" trying to attract my attention.
( I mean that quite literally, in the case of the teenager ).

But, oh joy! Before I had to decide which was more important - pompoms or lemsip** - I discovered that some brilliant people had set up a pop up event to showcase some of the brands that had been going to exhibit at the Eye Show.

So I bundled up against the snow, grabbed my trusty train pass and made my way over to Soho to have a shufti.
I didn't even get distracted by Choccywoccydoodah or Irregular Choice on the way!

And the reward for my diligence and single mindedness, was an array of frames that were beautiful to behold!

There were featherlight, innovative frames and bespoke, personalised ones.

 There were catwalk featured, couture frames and high street on-trend versions.

There were Swiss frames who's finish and quality made you want to handle and stroke them because they felt so wonderful!

There were amazingly ornate, jewel encrusted Parisienne works of art, and examples of classic English craftsmanship.

There were re-worked versions of frames worn in classic films, and by Hollywood legends.

 There were funky, fun, flower inspired children's frames.

There were award winning frames, and personalised lenses.

There were rimless frames, chunky frames, feather light and flexible frames.
Acetate frames, Titanium frames and Wood frames.
Retro frames and almost invisible frames.
Frames in every colour, finish, shape and size.
Oh, the bliss!
*Swoon*
( Don't look at me like that ... I LOVE frames! )

It was like being given a Wonka Gold ticket!

There were even showgirls!

And an afterparty!
( yes I have photo's, no I'm NOT going to add them )
:D

So no, this week I don't have a single frame to show you.
I was in love with them all!

( And if i was excited this week, I hate to think how I'll be in a few weeks time when we go on our visit Mido in Milan! )

Next week normal service will be resumed as I calm down over the weekend with copious amounts of coffee and some ironing!

See you then.
*wanders off, dreaming of frames*




* CET = The ongoing training that all Dispensing Opticians / Optometrists have to complete every year to retain our registration and show our fitness to practice.


** Before you think me a heartless mother, the teenager in question, though apparently dying at eight am, had miraculously transformed into a slightly hoarse, sofa occupying, iPad using, definitely alive body by half past ten.

Views from a car window, or 'all legs and hair'

Is it strange to be concerned about someone that you don't know, and will probably never come into contact with?

Why?
Well, let me explain.

I don't know about you, but I normally take the same route to and from work every day.
Since I work full time, that means that five days a week, at approximately the same time each day, I'm doing the same thing, in the same place as all the other people who are also living their lives as prompted by their personal timetables.

So I often see the same things over and over again. Points during my journey where I glance over and check out the view.

Like the brow of a small hill, just outside of Seal, where the traffic flow can slow and jam as the road narrows at the bottom just before a blind corner and an informal crossroads.

When it does, and I'm stuck waiting for the cars to chug slowly on, I glance to my right, and see how the field is looking.

This was what I saw in November 2005

And this was in December that same year.....

Its much the same today.

( ok, I fess up, I took this photo AFTER I wrote the blog, but hey ho, such is life )

The fence posts have been replaced, but are still rough hewn, irregular lines of grey, wobbling up and down as I drive past.
The shrubs have been cut down and regrown.
Sometimes there are sheep nibbling their way down to the valley.
Or a tractor.
Once there was a helicopter, black sleek and slightly sinister, just sitting, silent and solitary, on the grass.
Perhaps, next time I'm stuck in a total jam, I'll take another photo to compare....

I see people too.
Generally though, I'm not aware of seeing the SAME people.
Except for one.

For at least the past year, almost every Saturday, I have driven past the same person, walking the 3ish miles along the A25.


View Larger Map

The first thing I think I noticed was her hair.
Being of the short, tousled (aka scruffy) titian variety myself, her long blond mane caught my eye as I drove past.
But it might just as likely been the oversized jacket she was wearing.
Which brought to mind the very comfy, completely ugly, massive denim jacket that I used to own during one of my pregnancies, that I have to shamefacedly own up to wearing rather a lot AFTER said pregnancy when i was going through one of my 'why-do-I-care-what-I-look-like-when-I-have-baby-sick-on-my-shoulder' phases.

The juxtaposition of an impression of tall, slender, manicured, blondness and ginormous tatty lumberjack jacket made an impact.

When I saw her walking in almost the same place the following saturday, I did a more active recce.
Same hair, same jacket, same impression of height and slenderness....um, rather extreme slenderness in fact, but that might just have been the black tights and big jacket.
I mean, thats almost certain to make your joints look a little, well, knobbly....
Isn't it?
My dad used to describe one of my tall, slim, school-friends as being "all legs and teeth, like a colt just learning to walk" when I was having a teenage low esteem session, and wishing for the inches that she had, rather than the curves that were prominently mine!
That was almost the impression I got.
All legs and hair! and Jacket, it's impossible to ignore the jacket.

Its a longish walk, but when I think back to the distance I used to cover getting to school in london - through a park, down a couple of long roads, past the railway station and the town hall, then down the length of the high street, it wasn't really any different from that.
A bit of a solitary walk though. The pavement is bounded by woods on either side, with very few other walkers, but lots of traffic whizzing past.

So I have been looking out for her as I drive to work on Saturdays.

Partly to do that thing we all do, of imagining the lives of people we notice, making up story-boards in our heads...
Is she a stable hand, or training for some endurance event?

But I have to admit, that as the months have gone on, and those slender-to-start-with legs seem to have reduced in thickness even further, while the jacket has grown ever bigger, I check to make sure that I don't see a pile of cloth in a heap by the edge of the woods.


I was later than usual driving to work today.
For once I had an admin day, and  didn't need to set up the practice before the patients started arriving. So although I was at work before 9.00am, it was about 15 minutes later than normal.
I was at the bottleneck in Seal when I drove past her.
Instead of the width of at least a carriageway and a half, plus constant cars and vans blocking my view, there was about 15ft.
She was wearing the jacket, the black tights and had her hair sleek and straightened, falling to her waist.
And she stumbled as she walked.
:(

One of my daughters ( the one who had inhabited my version of the jacket with me ) used to figure skate, and at the rink there were a number of extremely slender but completely fit and healthy girls.
One of them was also tall, blond, and so slim that when she spun on the ice, her waist in side profile appeared about 6 inches wide. Some people used to worry that she was unnaturally slim.
She wasn't, she just came from a family of tall slender people, and ate well. She had to eat well so that she had the energy to skate at the competitive level that she did! But she worried that she would always be, in her view, straight and skinny.
As she grew up, her curves appeared, and she's now a tall, slender, shapely woman. So is her mum.
Sadly for my daughters, their genetics mean they have inherited my lack of height and tendency to dodgy knees, but we'll skip over that.

I wish that my story board for the blonde jacket girl had an uplifting ending.
...and the crowd cheered as she lifted the trophy.
or,
....the owner told her that she was being given a raise in recognition of the hard work she had put in at the stables.

But that stumble gave me pause.
And I wondered if she would be walking that road next week.

Pinterest, work and me

Have you heard of Pinterest?

Lots of people that I know, do know about it.
(yes, i do have real flesh and blood friends!)
But lots of people that I meet, don't.

That makes it sound as if I accost random people and, after a short introduction , hit them with questions about their interweb usage!

Perhaps I'd better explain the context.....

By profession I'm a Dispensing Optician, and so obviously come into contact with lots of different people every day.
One of the things that the practice that I work for specialises in, is something called Colorimetry , which can reduce the effects of visual stress. These are the kinds of effects that can make it difficult for people with Dyslexia to read, or which can be linked to Migraine.

The short of it -and I could go on at length about this because it's really interesting- is that for some people, the use of a specialist tint can really reduce the symptoms dramatically, and so they have those tints made up as spectacles, either with or without a power to correct their vision.

That seems straight forward, I can hear you saying as you nod sagely...
...and you would be right!
The problem comes when you add to the mix:

• The majority of users are children ( adults do use them, but have often worked out coping strategies as they have grown up ) 
• The impact appearing 'different' can have on said children
• The  sad lack on understanding from teachers, who often think the spectacles are a fashion accessory.

In order to combat those points, we have started to take photography of those people who collect a pair of Colorimetry glasses (with their permission , obviously!) and putting it on the work Pinterest page.

There are also photo's of the spectacles themselves... like this gorgeous purple lensed set.

Plus a link to a video explaining all about how it works, that was made by the lovely people at RiceOpMedia for us.

The aim is to have an accessible, visually attractive page where people can comment if they want to and show it to their friends, family or uninformed teachers.
So when i take the photo, I send a copy to the patient, or their parents, and give them a link to where it will be posted.
Which brings me on to Pinterest.

As I'm explaining that the photo will be shown on Pinterest, linked to our Facebook page, and our Twitterfeed  (all curated by me at the moment - how do I find the time?) and I normally ask them if they have heard of Pinterest?
Mostly the answer has been no!
Which has surprised me.
I know Pinterest is fairly new, but everywhere I go on my travels through the Interweb, I find little 'pin it' signs by the images, or added to the list on 'follow-me's'.
Plus its rather addictive...I just went to set up a link and I've been pootling through the pins for half an hour....erm, actually, it was nearer an hour : /

Which is the reason for my question.

Feel free to comment - not only about Pinterest - I'd be very interested to know how many of you know that the colorimetry lenses are available, and how they can help.

Now I'm off to put the kettle on, so I can have a relaxing mug of coffee while I pootle through the Pins!
:D


Oooh! I've just updated to add that I'm rather excited that my own Pinterest 'Home' board has reached 332 followers!
*does a happy dance*
:D

Organisation- the first tiny step towards world domination!

I'm feeling rather satisfied with myself today.

I've taken my first small step in the direction I pointed myself towards in my New Years Hopes.

Not the old style resolution one of reducing my waistline, which as expected, is already in difficulties.

Mix together 1 teenager with a penchant for baking, an excess of time and a handful of goodies, and you have a recipe for waistline expansion that's quick and easy. In this case it's consisted of a banana loaf that was just the right mix of lightness and fudgy banana ( they were going brown and squidgy and we couldn't waste them, could we?!?), a golden syrup loaf (just because the banana loaf had been so good), plus a variety of buns, muffins and puff pastry savoury tarts.
The resolution hasn't had a hope of staying on track with the magnet of baked goodness pulling me towards it.
I'm not giving up on that score though. I just won't buy any more flour!
:D

But back to the NYH that is the subject of this post.

I'm a bit of a hoarder. Not TV series level, but when added to my middling organisational skills, you have the reason why I found 7 pairs of secateurs when I reorganised the shed this summer. AND KEPT THEM ALL!
Well.... I was obviously going to lose them again, so it was pointless getting rid of them. On a positive note though, now, when I can't find a set, I look again and DON'T just buy some more!

I also have wonderfully inspired ideas about repurposing/refreshing things that other people might look at and just see a load of tat and the reason I can spend hours poking about on Pinterest.

Add those together and you get the reason for both my NYS's for 2013.
Get rid of the stuff that's been hanging around AND find the stuff that I want more easily.
Simple!

(Damn you car insurance advert! I can't say that word without adding an 's' and n Eastern European accent!)

So today, I took my first step on the road to ORGANISATION!
Oooooh, I hear you say. Wow and golly!
Well, maybe not, but I'm pleased with myself, and am giving myself a virtual pat on the back.

A few years ago I bought a pin board for the aforementioned baking daughter, then a second ( with boxes and hooks and stuff ) that she liked better, and which made it up onto the wall of her room. The plain pin board languished, sad and lonely, in a cupboard. A year or so later it was joined by a slightly worse for wear ( loose joints and a missing spine ) combination white /cork board that I'd thought 'might come in useful'.
Today they were very nearly joined by a third.
I saw this really neat cork board in Wilkinsons - just what I'd been looking for to go above my desk - and was just picking it up to put in my basket when the ever practical daughter reminded me that I already had one. In fact that I had two, and that it would be silly not to use one of the ones I already had rather than buy a new one. Even if it was only £2.00.
I couldn't argue with that could I?

So off we trekked home, having somehow also acquired a number of baking and educational essentials on the way.....

The short of it though is that she was right.
When I looked at the cork board it just needed a small repair to the corner, a hanger attached to the back and a little metal bar of hooks embellished with mushrooms added ( the hooks had been lying around looking for a suitable home since I bought it, um, possibly 6 years ago ....) and TahDah!
It's up on the wall, with my work rotas, Shifty the screen cleaning cat, and the printout for a felt bunny that was about to get lost.

*takes a bow*

*does a happy dance*

Go me!

New Years Resolution (traditional style) 2013 or 'I saw this and thought of me!'

Now I know it wasn't all that long ago (2 rows of chunky crochet, half an hour of Pinterest browsing, and a side of roast salmon, to be exact) that I was busy posting about changing my unrealistic NYR's into NYH's ( come on, you can make the leap....or just read the post before this one if you can't).

However, I saw THIS and it all went up the chimney as I drooled.

The dress is from Pinupgirlclothing.com ( check the link and it should take you there), the photographer is Laura Byrnes and the model is Doris Mayday who has the enviable proportions of 36D, 28 waist and 40 hips, plus a towering ( to me at any rate) 5'8"!

Now, even in my tallest heels I won't make the 5'8", and its a long time since any of the other measurements came any where near hers, but Oh!, she is what I longed to be when i was 14 going on 24, wearing my midi pencil skirts and seamed tights ( it was the 70's - the only stockings I saw were in the support section of the lingerie department at Allders of Bromley, and swaying along in my favourite black suede peep-toe platform courts .

So, as my one and only Traditional resolution:

I solemnly resolve to reduce my waistline in 2013.

For this Dress.

  

                       

Hopes for the New Year

I've been thinking about New Years Resolutions in between the washing up and taking the duck out of the freezer ready for tomorrow's dinner.
Dinner?
Lunch?
Who knows?
I always AIM for lunch, but somehow between the peeling and chopping, the forgotten pre heating, the getting distracted by the setting of the table and,well, life - it ends up more like dinner.
Which is fine if you are someone who goes with the flow ( me - mainly).
And you can stop sniggering right now if you've seen me stressing when I cook.
What I mean is that, unless I'm bound by time pressures beyond my control - trains, planes, theatre productions or uni submission dates, then there is no such thing as late.
Things will arrive when they are done.
The stress comes from making sure that they finish AT THE SAME TIME!

But I digress.

I can count on one finger the successful New Years Resolutions that I have made. Even then, you have to sort of squint, tilt your head and wait till your eyes tear up from the effort of not blinking before the term 'successful' is what said resolution looks like.
OMG, I hear you gasp!
A successful resolution!
How? When? Why? What?
(I was so close to adding 'who' but you will be pleased to see that I have refrained - you don't need to press me with open questions !)
I will tell you, dear reader. (See)
My one and only semi-successful resolution was to eat something green with every meal.
At times I've had to resort to counting parsley or green gummi bears ( you try finding lots of green stuff to eat at breakfast ) but I think that I'm successful at least 75% of the time

*stands up and drinks in the rapturous applause*

What do you mean you're not impressed!?!?!
I can tell you now, pre resolution I was the queen of the yellow dinner! Not by planning - they just seemed to turn out that way. A predilection for chicken and sweetcorn didn't help :D

So, and I'm now getting back to the point of this post, what ( if anything ) will I be resolute about next year?

You see, I think that's the problem. We set ourselves up for almost certain failure by saying we will do things that we obviously have no intention of doing. Things beyond the realities of our day to day existence. Like losing 5 stone, or growing taller, running a mile a day or learning to fly.
For some people these are possibilities, but for most of us, no.

So this year I'm thinking about my New Year HOPES.

I hope I can FINISH some of my projects.

Unfinished work :(

I hope I can IMPROVE my organisational skills

Re-organised bookshelves:D

I hope I can ......

Nope, nothing else is coming to me right now, so I'm going to leave it at those two.
Wish me luck!

Happy 2013 everyone.
:D

It's Christmas! ( well, nearly )

Yes folks, it's that time of year again. You know the one - when it suddenly dawns on you that you've just had the last payday before Christmas, people are fighting over wrapping paper, it's suddenly impossible to get a parking space.....

Ok, that's my bit of Bah Humbugism over and done with :D

Now it's time to get excited ! It's time to elf yourself, and dress the tree, and follow Santa via NORAD.

I started getting in the mood at work on Friday. It was the grand 'Switching on Sevenoaks Lights' and we stayed open late. We decided not to test as the high street is closed for the festivities and parking is often an issue, but had mulled wine for the adults and hot black currant for the younger visitors, plus mince pies , shortbread and chocolates.
It was really nice to be able to have a more social time with the patients that came in - though we did fit in some adjustments, collections and dispensing a between handing out warming mulled wine to our chilly visitors.
Watching the rides and being part of the atmosphere was lovely.
Perhaps next year we will see if we can take a more active part in the festivities :D

Workwear - less cash, more style.

Workwear - less cash, more style. by auntybody featuring a shopping bag

Blouse
$26 - clothingattesco.com

Shopping bag
$16 - clothingattesco.com

Clothing at Tesco | F&F Limited Edition Deco colour block dress >...
$57 - clothingattesco.com

Clothing at Tesco | F&F Colour Block Dress > dresses > Dresses > women
$41 - clothingattesco.com

Clothing at Tesco | F&F Limited Edition Sateen pencil skirt > skirts >...
$33 - clothingattesco.com

Clothing at Tesco | F&F Two tone Brogue Mary Jane shoes > shoes > All...
$29 - clothingattesco.com

Clothing at Tesco | F&F Low heel patent court shoe > shoes > All Shoes...
$24 - clothingattesco.com

Clothing at Tesco | F&F Colour block cowl neck top > tops & t-shirts >...
$13 - clothingattesco.com

Clothing at Tesco | F&F Suede gloves > gloves > Accessories > Shop by...
$13 - clothingattesco.com

Clothing at Tesco | F&F Zip detail shift dress > dresses > Workwear &...

Clothing at Tesco | F&F Zip detail shift dress > dresses > Workwear &... (clipped to polyvore.com)

Eric Bristow, Roller Disco king???......Really!

As I was driving home today, listening to the Dermot O'Leary Show I had one of those 'No!...Really?...' moments.

Now, one of the things I like on Dermot's show is a little feature that has Celebrities choosing a selection of tracks close to their heart.
Nothing unusual about that , I hear you think.
But I beg to differ.
Nigel Haver's with Rave tracks, Esther Rantzen's Reggae, and now Eric Bristow serving up Roller Disco tracks!
[ If you get the chance to listen to the Esther Rantzen sections grab it - the tracks are gorgeous, and listening to her talk about them is brilliant radio ]

But that isn't what caused the moment of surprise.
It was the fact Eric Bristow was a Roller Disco Champion!
I mean...Eric Bristow! World Darts Champion multiple times could skate?
And skate well?
And most shocking of all.... it was Disco!!!!

I nearly choked on my mango slices.
[ yes , I am on a healthy eating kick at the moment, so out go the Foxs Glacier Dark   and in come the mango slices as my in car nibble of choice ]

Now just in case you have no idea who Mr Bristow is , or what roller disco c1980 was like, here is a sample of both.

Eric Bristow is the tall one :D

And that is Roller Disco c1980

Roller Disco c2012 is a bit smoother....

But it's still not a combination I would have ever put together.



I wonder if anyone has asked him if he fancies giving Dancing on Ice a go?
I'd watch him.
:D

Petrol Pump Etiquette

Along with many other people I'm sure, today I had to queue for diesel at my local station, so had a fair amount of time on my hands to check out the other drivers, cars, pedestrians, the state of my nails ( still slightly lime green, if you are interested ) but mostly, the manners of everyone around me.

Now, I'm aware that, given the recent irresponsible Ministerial comment, stress levels are high, and that said petrol station had only just re-opened the pumps but:

If you need unleaded and of the 6 pumps available, only one has diesel, please don't queue for unleaded on that particular pump.

If you can only force £5.00 of said unleaded into your BMW 3 series, please don't then pick up a shopping basket and stroll around the aisles in full view of your fellow diesel requiring queueing motorists.

If you need to get past other cars, please be patient. They have not ended up bumper to bumper just to block you from going past. There have been lots of manoeuvres aimed at letting people who need diesel but who have gone to an empty pump before it reached this state of affairs.

Should you ABSOLUTELY have to get past RIGHT THIS MINUTE then please ask the car drivers politely to back up until you can squeeze your Merc through the gap.
LEANING ON YOUR HORN ONLY IRRITATES PEOPLE.

Ok.
This short chat about politeness has been brought to you by the color red and the numbers 77.51

Le sigh.

Holidays = Updating

Yes World, I have managed to scrape together a whole week of time off from work.
Well, when I say 'work' I'm referring to the kind that I get paid for, as opposed to what I'm spending my days doing on my [supposed to be] R&R.
This obviously means that I am actually trying to catch up with a few of the many and varied tasks that need doing in my house.

As I write this, I am still vaguely green around the fingertips and am wafting the aroma of eau d'espirit blanc as i wander around clutching a cup of [particularly pleasant] rose tea.

The green is from the not-yet-finished repainting of my front door, from a dark green to a vibrant lime green. I had in mind a quick couple of layers of gloss and hey presto! a zingy new look.
Simple yes? Sadly No.
I'm on day 3, 2 coats of undercoat, followed by 2 of gloss, sanding down between coats, a stubborn door number [still in place because the screw head broke] and its going to need at least 1 more coat.

So I'm taking this morning off to let it dry completely again, hence the update, interspersed with a quick
 [who am I kidding] shufti around Pinterest.
That'll keep me entertained for a couple of hours at least while I decide if I will go to to the Body Adorned exhibition at the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill tomorrow.

Time to put the kettle on again and ponder...

Writing Exercise from 52 Weeks of Wordage.

Exercise # 189 - Up & Down

Describe the ceiling and describe the floor in:
  - the room where you are right now
- the last library you were in
- your childhood bedroom
- your last elementary school classroom
- a magnificent palace
- a wigwam
- a very peculiar wigwam constructed by a New York City-based artist

Oh, gosh, folks... A couple of these require me to rely on my memory. This is not a good thing.

BUT!

The great thing about writing is that, if you can't remember, you can just make crap up. Success!!

Yes, I'm procrastinating.

I should be writing the first 100 words of my CiM assignment for Professional and Organisational Development.

However, twiddling my pen or staring at my keyboard  doesn't seem to be letting it happen, so, applying the old adage ' a change is as good as a rest' I'm going to crank up my brain with an attempt at this exercise.

Off we go.

- the room where you are right now

I hardly want to look up or down in this room.

Both have been on my list of 'things to be sorted out in 2011'

Have they been?

Of course not.

I'm finding myself sighing silently at this point.

Writing about a task undone as I procrastinate about another task is rather apt, but not at all comfortable.

So...the ceiling.

I've never been a massive fan of artex, or the amount of effort that people have put into making artsy patterns in it, and thats what I see when I briefly glance up above me.

An off white expanse of swirling, not quite symmetrical whorls, stippled in the centre like strange sunflowers.

Its edged with coving, only part painted from when it was damaged when we re plastered the longest wall.

[I really need to get that sorted by the end of the month!]

There are small dots of black in odd places up there too.

I always mistake them for flies or mosquito's.

What they actually are, are the tiny fragments of a giant paper spiders legs, stapled to the ceiling one halloween, and fixed so securely that I would have to dig them out to remove them.

When I paint the ceiling and coving...

[ I stop for a second to make a note in my diary re actually doing that, in the hope that it will get done before Christmas ]

...then I hope they wont show.

In the not quite centre is the ceiling light.

A tri-armed, matt black metal and frosted white glass, shallow design.

Rather shallow in depth - my ceilings are not very high - it casts a clear,bright light from its low energy triple tubed light-bulb emerging stamen like from each cup of frosted glass, rather like white buttercups hanging from black stems.

I need to dust up there more I see.

They are rather grey buttercups in places.

[Now I'm thinking of procrastinating with regard to this project and whipping my long turquoise non-feather duster around the light fitting.

But I don't.

One type of procrastination at a time I think. ]

On to the floor, since I cant bear to think about the ceiling any more.

Not that the floor is any more satisfying.

Why i thought that a deep burnt orange would be a good colour for a basement floor I have no idea.

Well, I do...

I thought that it would warm up a cold and dull room.

But all it did was to overpower everything else in it.

It's so hard to co-ordinate with too!

At least I had the sense to keep it to a plain, short pile, otherwise nondescript carpet.

It's lived, has my carpet.

If you know where to look you can see the birthday parties, the change from study to dining room, the art projects and atmospheric candle lit evenings etched on its face.

Yes, ok,it needs replacing.

Maybe next year.

- the last library you were in 

I dont have to think too hard for this one.

That would be the library on the Chelmsford campus of the Anglia Ruskin University.

Actually though.....

When I think of 'up', I can only bring to mind floor above floor of books.

There were at least 4 floors above the one that I was on.

Each one with books shelved 6 high, blocking my view of the walls as I glanced up.

I'm sure there was a ceiling, but I have no idea what it was like.

Something wooden to match the tables?

Or glass to match the strange double layered shelf like protuberances that guard the upper sections of the windows?

For all I can remember it could have been filled with dancing letters and numerical signs, formed by the explosion of overloaded student brains as they grapple with new concepts and ideas.

As for the floor.

Grey.

I think it was grey.

Grey and boring.

Designed that was to stop students from looking down, so that they can aspire to whatever heights they so wish.

 Now I have to stop and make tea, or my daughter will starve.

She assures me that this is the case, and it is my place as a mother to believe everything she says.

More procrastination later then!