Afternoon Tea Darling...

I've been meaning to update about my day out last week. 
We went to Harrods, yes I can be posh too dont you know! It was for my best friends birthday, her Mom was taking her for Afternoon Tea in London and wondered if I cared to join. I of course accepted her invitation! 
At this point she couldn't decide between Harrods, Claridges or Fortum & Mason. Saying that, I think my cousin actually went to Fortum & Mason not long ago, and by the pictures it looked rather scrummy! 

Anyway back to our Afternoon Tea. It was decided on Harrods.

Beforehand I had been perusing the interweb to see if I could find the Menu choices, 1. Because I could then work it out for my Weight Watchers points, and track my food for the day, and 2. Because I am downright nosey! 
It would also be giving me a heads up on what to expect! I read that they would come back and top up your drinks or preserves/cream & patisserie selections as many times as you preferred. That was rather kind of them. As I found one or two different websites with slightly varied Menu's it gave me an idea of what would be on offer, and I have to admit, for the £29 price tag, it wasn't living up to its pennies. 
Only advantage, wouldn't cause too much damage to the waistline, not even the patisserie selection. That is saying something! 

Monday 18th February arrived. I got to the train station in good time and bought myself a Diet Coke ready for the train. Yes, Diet Coke at 9.20am. Not my usual morning tipple but it was 0kcal so good start to the day! I met up with my friend and her Mom and as we were about 40-45 minutes early we went and had a hot chocolate. Well we did. Her Mom opted for black coffee. 
Now this hot chocolate could of actually been the highlight of the day! It was made with milk - real hot chocolate. Damn tasty too. Its the Cafe something or other in New Street Station if anyone would like to know. 
I had made some more MM Shortbread the night before so brought a few along for my friend to taste. 

I declined her offer for me to have one (Good on you Lou, WWers would be proud)then she brought out some Millies cookies she had bought for us. I had the toffee one. I cannot refuse Millies. They are getting smaller though I have to admit. But it was good! 
Cookie gone. Hot Chocolate gone. Time to join the train. 

We got to London at around 12.20pm - ish something like that. 
Our Afternoon Tea wasn't booked until 4.30pm. 
I assumed we may have popped into some cafe or coffeehouse for a beverage and light snack beforehand. But no we didn't. We walked around London, Tottenham Court Rd, Oxford St, Regent St, Carnaby St etc for 4 hours! Walked. Yes. Walked. 
We had most definitely burnt off that hot chocolate & cookie thats for sure! 

Don't worry, we popped into the infamous Abercrombie & Fitch. Woo. 
Note the lack of enthusiasm there. 

I think at one point I even had GoogleMaps open on my iPhone and was following the little blue dot like some strange tourist. I think it was to help my friend find A&F to be perfectly honest! Don't I feel cool! 

After a few shops, we then thought we'd better make our way over to Harrods. This was about 2.30pm. We walked and arrived at Harrods at around 3pm. 
We had an hour & a half until our Tea.
We spent that hour & a half mooching around Harrods. 
Despite having never set foot in there before it was pretty much like any other large Department Store. It had the same areas as you would tend to find in any other store, Women's, Men's, Swimwear, Shoes, Beauty etc.
I got to say though you don't tend to find many with Pet Spa's (which we went to visit of course), a rather large Toy department, very nice, I saw THE Harrods bear. Woo. (Enthusiastic I know, but please, I'm weak, I need food.) They also had a 'Disney @ Harrods' section. Not too impressive if I'm completely honest.
Did have a nice lifesize Ariel & Belle though. I love Little Mermaid & my friend loves Beauty & the Beast. They are our Princesses! So that was cool.

They did have an amazing looking & smelling Ice Cream Parlour & food court, it has to be said! 
They had an amazing chocolate department!! wow.
By this point I'm surprised you couldn't hear my tummy rumbling!! In fact, if you did hear thunder shocks at around 4pm, blame me! 

Reminiscing is making me quite hungry now to be honest with you! 

We looked at the time, 4.20pm. We're off. Thank god! I am starvin' marvin here! 
We made it to the Gregorian Restaurant (2nd floor). Taken to our table & seated. 
Funny thing Afternoon Tea. I don't drink Tea. Yes Afternoon Tea, expect Tea, Tea is in the bloomin' title!! 
So I was given a nice bottle of Harrods Mineral Water. 750ml bottle infact. I drank 500ml! Go me. All out of a wine glass might I add. So sophisticated these days!  

Our Afternoon Tea was presented to us. 

Sandwiches included:
Lobster Roll no thanks, I don't eat shellfish
Goats Cheese & Apple no thanks, I'm not a fan of Goats Cheese
Coronation Chicken no thanks, not so keen on fruit in sandwiches
Egg Mayonnaise that's ok, that'll do
Smoked Salmon YES finally something good Spinach & Cream Cheese maybe not, not keen on spinach or cream cheese, well not that much anyway! 

So I had the egg mayonnaise. It was extremely perfumed, the 3 of us agreed on that much. Wasn't the tasty either. 
Sandwiches done. 

Scones:
2 each. One with raisins and one without. Accompanied with clotted cream, strawberry preserve and marmalade. 
I had the one with raisins & strawberry jam...sorry preserve. I am not so keen on marmalade and don't have a taste for cream.
It was quite nice actually. The scone that is. Not the cream. It may have been slightly on the drier side so I didn't take the plain one. 

Patisserie selection:
Lavender Macaroon no thank you, nothing else needs to be said!
Light Fruit Cake full of lemon/orange rind & looked dry
Chocolate & Hazelnut Square chocolates always good right?
Apple & Cinnamon Frangipane Sponge possibility
Lemon Meringue Tart oh hell yes 

I had the chocolate & hazelnut square, extremely rich and the base was rather soggy. I also tried the lemon meringue, it was ok, but the lemon had that bitty texture that stayed in your mouth after you had finished, you know?
It definitely wasn't the best, and by no means any where near as good as my Mom's Lemon Meringue Pie (I can make it too, just as good, if not a teensy bit better :P) I also tried the Frangipane, had this solid piece of squishy apple inside, and god knows what on top. 
So not the most fulfilling Teas in my life, thats for sure.
We didn't get refills on our drinks, or on our cream/preserves. 

Obviously don't have the right 'look' about us! 

We left there at about 5.45pm. I then had to re-educate myself with the ways of the Underground to get myself, my friend and her Mom safely back to Euston station. We were not going to walk, no way. My knowledge soon returned, and half hour later back in Euston. Well not quite half hour, had to do a detour to the Disney Store on Bond Street first! 

We had about a 40 minute wait until our train was ready on the platform, so we went and got ourselves some drinks for the ride home (more Diet Coke, 0kcal thank you very much) and a big sharing bag of Salt & Vinegar M&S (oh yes, Posh all the way now!) crinkle crisps!

They, along with the hot chocolate were the yummiest part of the day! 
Overall a lovely day out, lots of healthy walking and interesting food. At least I can now say I have officially been in Harrods, seen the Toy Department and seen the Harrods bear.

Afternoon Tea isn't really me, and by that experience not something I will be doing again soon, I will try it again one day, but can we have some 'normal' posh sarnies please.
Like Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese (no green), Cucumber, Cheddar, you know, the normal 'posh nosh' as it were.

Ta Ta for now old (& young) chums. 

Bake Off...

So as some of you are aware I make the occasional bday cake for friends & family. 
They aren't the best, and by no means perfect, but it's a slight 'talent' I have picked up from my late grandmother, and each time I make a cake, I try my hardest to make it as good as I can, and to make her proud.

I have a picture of her in my kitchen, on the window sill, so she is always watching over me, and telling me off for picking, another lovely 'trait' I have inherited shall we say! 

Anyway, cakes. I haven't done loads, but am building up a nice collection of ones that I have tried. 
Here they are, albeit one or two I think. 

I also make some scrummy (compliments from others, not bigheadedness thank you very much) cupcakes & other delights. 

Monday just gone was my first cake of 2013. 
I was going to do bday cakes for my OH's niece and nephew back in January but unfortunately due to the weather conditions was unable to. Gutted to say the least. So then it dawned on me, I never got to do my best mate a bday cake last year due to us going to London for the day, so thought it was high time she got one of my cakes! I don't think THAT highly of them, but she has seen other's having them and I always show her my latest 'creation' so felt it best to do one for her too! I also didn't know what to get her as a bday present so thought this could add to it! 
So off I went.

Cake baked. Cooled. Sliced. Buttercream made. Now what.

I hadn't even begun to contemplate the design of the cake. I had thought about maybe getting Belle printed onto some rice paper and making a Beauty & the Beast inspired cake, due to it being her favourite Disney film. Then I thought perhaps not. She is 25 after all. So I dug out all my cake bits that I thought were 'her'. Placed them all on the worktop. I just stood there. Mind blank. What to do. 

Time was getting on, I needed to be out the house by 4.30pm. Cake in tow. It was 2.30pm. I had covered the cake board & also covered the cake. Still no inspiration. I started colouring the fondant in different pastel shades; yellow, pink and lime green-ish. I then started punching out flower shapes on the cake board & filling them in with the coloured fondant. I then wrote her name. It then came to me. Just do some sort of flower power explosion. 

So I did. 

Not my best work by all means. But good enough. Considering I haven't actually gone near a cake since the Minnie Mouse one back in October last year, I thought it was pretty alright. Tasted good too! It went down a treat, she loved it! 

As always though, this spurs on a baking 'need' if you will. I was craving to bake something. But what? So yesterday morning in the post, this arrived. 

Yes. A Mickey Mouse Cookie Cutter / Cake tool. Has Lou written all over it! So of course I have to put it to the test. I think I'll make some cookies. Well shortbread, as thats all the ingredients I had in suitable! Thats ok, I love shortbread (Thanks Granny, another 'trait'!) and so does my OH. Perfect. Ooh, I'll break up some Cadbury's Flake to put into it. 

Ready to go in, just need to chill first. 

How cute do they look! I think this tool is going to come in extremely handy!! Especially considering already had a request off of a mate who saw the picture on Facebook! 

They were probably in the oven for about a minute too long but still tasted good! Of course, I have to taste the goods, make sure they are of a suitable standard! 

I thought I would then go abit artsy fartsy, and do some chocolate 'drizzle', but didn't have a big bar to melt so had to find all the leftover bits from Xmas Selection boxes (that had already been opened! Still have 2 unopened ones!) so this consisted of a Twirl, a Thin Dairy Milk & two small bags of Buttons. It didn't melt to the best consistency but did the trick.

Et Voila. Scrummy. Messy by nature, Messy by choice!

Last night I also went and made Pancake Batter ready for the evening due to it being PANCAKE DAY!!! We were going to postpone until this evening due to my Weight Watchers meeting being on a Wednesday night so would of been a nice treat for afters, however I felt guilty for making the OH miss out so I made him a batch up ready, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

Ok so 2 of the pancakes decided to audition in the whoopy cushion stakes for some strange reason, but still tasted great! 

He has requested more for tonight or tomorrow - albeit Valentines Day but we don't do anything for that, and he is at work until 8pm anyway. 

Oh bugger, need to find him a card. whoops! 

So quite a productive baking couple of days! Wonder whats next.

More importantly, Grannypants, I hope I'm doing you proud!!! 

Bulging Bride . . . .

So, I tried my wedding dress on yesterday. I wasn't going to originally. But I did. 

My weight issues fall back to a horrible changing room incident I had a couple of years back. 

It's all in the past on my old WW blog so won't repeat and to be perfectly honest don't really want to! 

So when it came down to planning for my big day, I got into the full swing of things. Apart from one key area. The dress. 

I was petrified at the thought of dress hunting. Mirrors, changing rooms, standing in my nick nacks with a complete stranger, wearing these amazingly gorgeous dresses and worried they wouldn't look right. 

You know I had visions of myself looking like this:

.

You know when you go out on a night out, you decide on a dress, then you think you're having a fat day? So you resort to hiding behind yourself in jeans and some sort of black 'slimming' attire. Yeh that's me. 

You can't make that decision with a wedding dress. You are centre of attention, you want to look stunning. This is why I was so worried when I was going bridal gown shopping back in August last year. I didn't want to be one of those bride's who looked like they were wearing a tent & not much else! 

So I even panicked as I was walking up the steps to the bridal shop. It turns out I was panicking over nothing, you should of seen me, surrounded by & in beautiful dresses, 5 mirrors, my mom, 2 bridal shop ladies, another b2b and her family were there too as running late for their fitting. I was loving it! 

So I vowed to myself once I ordered MY dress (August) to when it was due into the shop around March I would get to my WW goal & then some. Of course, in LouLouLand that didn't happen. I'm not at goal yet, its now February. I'm not at goal & then some. I am far from it. OK so I think I had just under 1.5st to go back then, and now .5st so not TOO bad. But still, I didn't achieve my target by Xmas like I originally hoped. Life is like that. 

Also, the fact my dress was being ordered TWO sizes smaller than the sample one, you thought would of spurred me on. No. You see the dress was that particular designers version of a 14, my measurements were coming in as the size 12, and with that much still left to lose, they ordered me a size 10. These are not high street sizes so cannot compare. This designers size 14 may have been someone else's 18 or another designers 8. You know, it varies. But still, I had some inches to go. 

The day before Brum had all that snow, I had THE phone call. To say my dress had arrived. I said I would call back to arrange a suitable date for Mom & I to go in. They had arranged for it come in early so they could double check all the detailing and stitching etc in good time before my official fittings were arranged. They wanted me to come in just to have a look at it myself. I didn't have to try it on, they completely understood as was early, but could if I wanted to. So after the snow hit & then left, we arranged to go in. 

In that time I found the measurements from before & what I needed to be to fit in it. Oh dear, why do this to myself. So, I measured myself, I was fine across my chest (unfortunately those lemon squeezies were a bonus now), I was JUST about fine across my waist, but my hips were still an issue, only about 1/2" or so, which doesn't sound a lot. But to fit into a gown maybe so. I didn't want to risk it. So was really considering not trying it on. 

I kept umming & ahhing with what to do. 

Do I try it on so I know if I have done it?

Do I try it on, find it doesn't fit & completely crumble?

Do I see that I haven't achieved my target?

Do I not try it on and wait until my first official fitting in March?

Do I not try it on & regret it?

Do I try it on & see what I have to work with?

All these questions. Was still asking myself when I was standing in the shop yesterday morning. It was all nicely wrapped up, so I said not to worry, don't unwrap it for sake of a possible try on. She obviously had to unwrap to look at the stitching etc to make sure all was fine. She looked at me, Mom looked at me, I looked at me (don't ask how) I was still unsure. 

I thought I have to. It's my dress. It's gorgeous. I have got to face the music at some point, and try it on eventually. It's better to try on now & see what I have to work with over next 4 weeks before official fittings with all the trimmings etc. Rather than waiting till then, and then sorting out what I need to do. A 4 week head start if you will. 

I got it on. She started to do it up. She didn't stop. Holy cow, doe's this fit? Yes it does!! OMG! 

It fitted perfectly, was slightly too big under one of my arms but that's fine! OMG it fit!!! 

You should of seen the smile across my face. Wait you probably did. That moment at about 11.20am yesterday morning when the sky shone that little bit brighter. That was my beaming smile! 

I got to admit, my pink & grey penguin socks really made the outfit. It really did. 

After the weekend, and now this, I have definitely had enough NSV's to push me into the right direction, get back on that WW wagon for the last time, and sort it out once and for all. I say this all the time, but I think after two years it's easier said than done. But now I have had these last few days, it has definitely kicked me up the backside! 

I may not be a Beautiful Bride, I may not be a Next Top Model Bride. I don't care. I am going to be a Slim Bride...

I sure as hell will NOT be a Bulging Bride.

'The' Proposal

So some people have been asking on UKBride about romantic love stories and we have gotten onto the subject of proposals.

So I thought for those Bride2Be's & nosey parkers out there, it's time I filled you in.

So here goes. This is ours! 

13th July 2011. My birthday. Most magical day of my life.

Sunday 10th he calls me upstairs into the bedroom, where lying on the bed was my cabin size suitcase. I was like right OK? He goes to me "look Lou  wasn't going to tell you but as its your b'day on weds I'm going to take you to London for a few days, nice meal and treat out for your b'day etc. i wasn't going to tell you till we left on Tues morning but i cant get into your suitcase as its padlocked.." 
Yes there was a padlock on it but was only on the 1 zip.... not the whole thing! Bless him. So blew the secret for nothing! 
Anyway I couldn't believe how lovely the idea was and was in shock, I then went to ring my Best Mate to say we couldn't meet up until the weekend to celebrate my b'day together due to this little trip. I was also at the time a little bit gutted as was really looking forward to the traditional TGI Friday's b'day celebration meal we always have on each others b'days!! 
But even so, I was being taken to London for my birthday so of course I was excited! I did tell him I was a little bit disappointed I'd be missing out on TGIF's but can you blame me?!
He then went on to tell me not to worry, he would make it extra special in London, our own apartment for 5 days and that on my actual birthday I was going to get a couple of pressies in the morning, then some in the afternoon, then some on the night. Yay!! Love presents!! 
He then said we could always go to TGIF's there and still have our traditional b'day celebrations, so smiles all round! 
We get to London, lovely little apartment, he was a little disappointed (but considering he knew what was coming, great acting!) at its size but I was fine with it! Thinking 5 days in here would be lovely! We had a nice meal out Tuesday night at Nando's, my second home if you will, and then back to the hotel for an early night as he was wanting to set the alarm early as was my b'day. I was like it is my b'day all day, let me sleep! 
Anyway bright and early Wednesday morning I awaken to him sitting there grinning like a happy child at Xmas, he hands me ONE small present. I was like um excuse me?! thought there was meant to be 2....pahahaha. I'm so mean! But it was gift wrapped tickets to Disneyland Paris from Weds - Mon. I couldn't believe it, I love it. Then it dawned on me that I had made plans to see my Best Mate on the Saturday so again I was a little bit gutted not to be seeing her until the Monday! I sound so ungrateful don't I?


So we get to Paris, then the hotel and then we get to our room, find there are loads of student kids hanging around, he goes all stressed over it, saying he wants my b'day to be perfect - i was like I'm in Disneyland with you,on my b'day, for a good week, of course it is! So after I calmed him down, I went to the reception to see if they could move us to a different room. As it happens we got a much better room! Anyway, off we go and have fun in the parks etc all that, go back to the hotel late afternoon to get ready to go to the Rainforest Cafe (love it) for my b'day meal out. We of course have a lovely time.
Who wouldn't, great food, great desserts - We shared this amazing brownie filled, ice cream concoction known as the Volcano.

See...

It was YUM!

Then we go for a stroll around the lake (don't know if any of you have been but its beautiful by the lake, you wouldn't think you were in Disney) & I start to get a bit chilly. I see he isn't wearing his cardi/jacket thing, so I ask him if I can borrow it. He says no, don't be silly it isn't that cold! I was like I'm shivering, I'm going blue, please? He told me not to be silly.
So we keep wandering around the lakeside, up to the bridge alongside two of the hotels. All of a sudden he goes all nervous and starts rambling on all mushy gushy, how much he loves me how much he cares etc..all that mumbo jumbo, I was joining in thinking nothing of it, having a laugh and a giggle alongside, nothing out of the ordinary. Out of the blue, he stops me, he pulls something out from under his jacket. He pops the question. I was in sheer shock, I didn't think anything of it just assumed that he was taking me away for my b'day, nothing else! I couldn't believe he was asking me this question, I couldn't believe he wanted to spend his life with ME! Was he insane!? 
Of course I immediately said yes, the water works hit and we had the biggest & longest hug ever... then to top off this magical fairytale, I kid you not, across the lake and into the distance is the Disney Castle. Fireworks starting shooting off all around, it was beautiful. I was in absolute awe. The most romantic moment of my life!

If you don't believe in magic, you will do once you've seen that!

Obviously we didn't get that view as such but you get my drift!

After the shock had slightly subsided, we went for a walk back round to the other side of the lake so we could begin the slow stroll back to our hotel.  

He asked me a while after if it was what I would of imagined and I said to him that I would never have imagined the day I got proposed to, to be anything like this! Was incredible, a complete shock, didn't think anything of it the whole day! Now I understand why he wouldn't give me his jacket, the ring box was hidden in it as was too big for his jean pocket! Didn't notice at the time but when we were in the restaurant, he had it tucked in his jacket between his feet, gripped so tightly! Bless him! 

Funny thing is, the next day I managed to give myself a black eye by bending down to pick up my straighteners and whacking my eye bone off of the chair post! A state I was for the rest of the holiday I tell you! Even so, was the best week EVER! Best birthday EVER.
Beaming smile, shimmering diamond & one beautiful multicoloured eye :D 

I still got to say, one magical fairytale that I will never, ever forget! I will be eternally grateful for everything that boy does for me, for everything he has given me, and for the opportunity for a lifetime of happiness with him! 

Mush over & out. Now you may pass the sick bucket! 

Non Scale Victories...

Should definitely be appreciated way more than they actually are. 
What do I mean? Well...

For those of you who are aware, I have been doing Weight Watchers for some time. You know, watching what you eat, tracking it, pointing it, weekly weigh ins on the scales. That sort of mumbo jumbo nonsense. I have done quite well on it. However I do have my downfalls, more so than my up-falls (is that a word?). Especially recently. Especially on the scales. The numbers tend to go up more than they go down. But obviously are going down at times. There is also something us WW'ers like to call NSV's. These are non scale victories. Times where the scales may say one thing that isn't so great, but rather than having a negative approach to it you look at the positives. You may not have lost the weight, or spent 2 weeks working out with no weight loss at the end of it, so you question whether it's worth it. It will be. You may not have the lb loss but the inches have gone. Or those jeans you couldn't get past your thighs, now go all the way etc. The victories that can't be jotted down by a number per say. A NSV as you will. I personally need the numbers on the scales to go down to appreciate my achievements however I tend to forget about the NSV side.

So I'm hoping that you assume I am going down a positive blog route.. I'll get there. Got to throw in the ol' negatives first.

Everyone goes to me, once you order your wedding dress, you will have extra motivation and determination to lose that remaining 1.5stone. Did I? Like heck did I! I ordered that dress in August 2012, praying I would get to my overall WW goal by December 2012. Ready to start 2013 with a bang. Did that happen? No. Why? No idea. 

If any of you have seen my old WW blog, then you will be aware of how I came about starting my weight loss journey. I had a major issue within a changing room in a department store. Since that day, changing rooms and me do not mix, we are not friends, not even acquaintances. Not in the slightest. We meet very rarely, and on the odd occasion that we do, it's a very swift & quick reunion. In, look, out. Done. 
Until Saturday. 

I was in a shopping centre with my partner, and there were a few items I wanted to try on from River Island. Can I find them on the website? No I cannot! So you will have to excuse the dodgy model - moi! 
River Island is the type of place I would wander round and that was it. Nothing looked right. Nothing fit. Saturday, I gave it a shot.
Some clothes you may judge me on but I do not care. 
Like this jumper for instance.

I want it. I need it. I don't know when I will wear it, if I would ever wear it outside but I must have it in my wardrobe! 
I am tempted to ask my Mom to buy it for me (yes I am 24 years old but wait...) then she can use it to coax me into staying determined and motivated to get to my goal. Which is now, around 7lb away. A lot more than I wanted to bring 2013 in with but hey ho, what can you do. 
Even more so, this is a baggy jumper yes. But this is a size 8 baggy jumper. An 8. Me?! 8?! No way. May not be the most 'flattering' jumper in the world. But who cares. Its Disney!

There was a dress I wanted to try on (this is on the website so no me thankfully) and usually I have found with the odd RI dress that I have managed to squeeze myself into, they have been way to short for me so have gone back on the rail.

This however was a decent length. It fit. It was slightly TOO BIG!! But the fact is, a size 10 RI dress fit me!! I wasn't so sure. It looked lovely up top, but think the black band still focused to much on the bits I am not so keen on. With a £60 price tag as well, a umm/ahh decision did not constitute a good enough reason to purchase it. So that actually ended up back on the rail.

Now you are probably wondering why I am sharing all this, as so far there is no point to this blog (is there to any of them!?)

Well...bit of a back story: whilst we were wandering around the shopping centre my best mate was asking if I wanted to go out with her and some of her work mates that night. I don't go out often & cannot remember the last time I actually did. I was having a bit of a bad day 'mirror wise' shall we say so wasn't up for dressing up too much. My partner and friend both twisted my arm enough so eventually decided to go out with her, but then was questioning what to wear. 
Back to RI: So I'd seen this chiffon style, frilly top thing a while back in both black and cream. I am too pale for cream so that was a no no. This black top is the type of top I would love to be able to wear but always avoid due to thinking it isn't me and there is no way I'd fit into it, or if by some miracle I did, it wouldn't look right or sit right over my child bearing hips. 
But my partner made me try it on. Size 10. Are you kidding me?

Apologies again for choice of model, but again nothing on website! 
Now I am not a big headed kind of girl. But I got to say. Wow. Is this me? Really?

Surely not. No no. Loving the polka dot socks btw! 

Well, I went back out and showed my other half. He couldn't believe what he was looking at. I don't wear clothes like this. Nor do I take photo's of myself. He treated me to it. Bless him. He wanted me to have it, and wanted me to wear it out that night. 

He couldn't believe the happiness and turn around in my attitude that day! I was so happy and on cloud 9... it is a wonder what mirrors and one item of clothing can do. I am not saying that changing rooms and me are best pals or anything, but lets just say that 'acquaintances' may be back on the scene! 

So I wore it out. (Un)fortunately it meant I was to be going out in all black so went for a block infusion of brightness for the tootsies. See....!!! (excuse the electric box, we were waiting for our ride..!)

I cannot believe I was comfortable, confident and so smiley the whole night! My friend wouldn't stop taking photos of me, and when I looked at them yesterday this has got to be the first time EVER I have liked every one of myself. It's not me. I don't know what happened. 

Also, I do not do heels. I do not wear them. When I do they tend to want to come off within an hour. I was in these for 8 hours. Didn't ache till I got home at 3am. Bonus. 2 NSV's in one day (or 24 hours as hit Sunday before my 'night' finished!).

Sometimes NSV's really are the best. I may have lost 70lbs and be healthier physically and BMI wise bla bla bla. But nothing will beat that feeling I experienced Saturday afternoon & evening & looking at those photographs on Sunday. Nothing beats being healthy mentally or emotionally.

That will spur me on for that last half a stone. That will get me to my goal.

"Instead of giving myself reasons why I can't, I give myself reasons why I can."