The Style Not Age Challenge prompt for this month was from me, and it's Festive Finery. Thoughts are turning now to Christmas and the various forms of festive dressing required. There are no parties or glitzy occasions planned but I like to dress up a bit on Christmas Day, in a stylish but comfortable outfit.
Dear friends. Today's post is all about the six days I had at a FitFarms fitness retreat. After spending a few days in Plymouth with my mum, I drove to North Devon feeling a bit apprehensive: would everyone be in their 20s? Would I be able to "keep up?" The answers to those questions were No, and Yes. I had the most fabulous time and achieved better results than I expected. Here's what happened at FitFarms.
I've gone under my own steam so I will hopefully write an unbiased review when I'm back. In the meantime, I bring you a make-up tutorial using products from Look Fabulous Forever. I've written about the brand before, and am an avid user of three of their products: the Hydration Hold face serum, Smooth the Day face cream, and Smooth Out Eye Prime.
Dear friends. Today I'm thrilled to introduce you to Jovanka Ristich who makes the most stunning jewellery (jewelry to my US friends) from recycled beads and gemstones.
Regular readers will know that I'm very partial to a statement necklace. On a tonal outfit, or on bare skin, these add real drama. Jovanka, whose brand is called Bijou Rebooted, kindly gifted me two stunners which I'm showing you here.
Fri Oct 1
Changed the beds with winter duvets. Rained in morning so no walk. Quiet day work-wise.
Sat Oct 2
Did longish walk with J looking for the small cattle but no sign of them. Rain set in. Had 2 Zoom calls for the John Lewis Beauty Weekend, Laura Mercier and NARS - very enjoyable! Will get a beauty bag in a few days.
London marathon. We were up at 5.30, J had an early start as he's volunteering on the Orions elite runners' drinks station. I took some blog photos.
Mon Oct 4
Sunny start, did walk, 4 miles. Booked a charity collection for Fri. So much stuff to go.
Tues Oct 5
Sunny intervals. Workout. Went out looking for petrol. Yes there's a shortage caused by a lack of tanker drivers, plus panic buying. Got it in the 3rd place I tried. Then went to get a birthday card for J. Bought Xmas cards too. Picked up some conkers on the way to the shop. Useful around the house for deterring spiders.
Weds Oct 6
J's birthday - we will go out for dinner on Friday. Not able to have walk because had to take the car for a service, and then start work.
Thurs Oct 7
Went back to office! Great to be back to some vestige of normality. Our building has been refurbished. The cafeteria is running a seated lunch service - place your order and get served at the table.
J's sister Kate finished the Santiago Camino walk. Huge achievement.
Fri Oct 8
Day off. Cloudy. Wanted to go for walk but bad back. I Collect Clothes collected 2 boxes and 4 bags. Dinner at Grand Trunk Rd, one of J's favourite restaurants, for his birthday. His daughter Rachel told us she's pregnant with their first child.
Sat Oct 9
Lovely warm day. Did walk. 5.4 miles. Planted bulbs, daffodils, tulips and alliums. Still have some empty containers so ordered more mixed daffodils.
Sun Oct 10
Christopher, Katie and baby Rosie came round to give J his presents. Brought brownies. J and I went into London for the return of the annual Hanlons' birthday lunch, which hasn't happened for a while. J and two of his siblings have birthdays in October. Forgot our masks and felt mortified on tube. Fortunately Yvonne had 2 spares for return trip. Photo shows Yvonne, J's sister-in-law, left, and his sister Kate, right.
Mon Oct 11
Bright start, chilly. Felt v stiff and in pain at start of walk but wore off thankfully. Mum had 3rd jab. Salmon fillets.
Tues Oct 12
Smooth trip to office. Fun day. Lunch with the Machine Learning marketing team, 2 of whom I haven't met face to face. I was quoted in an article in the Huffington Post! Spaghetti bolognese
Weds Oct 13
Urban walk to big Tesco (bus back!). Has to wait as usual at the level crossing for the train to central London to go by. Curry for dinner.
Thursday Oct 14
5 mile walk, started off blue sky but clouded over.
Friday Oct 15
Had 9.20 meeting so not enough time for a walk. Busy day combining work and fresh n up Friday.
Sat Oct 16
Cloudy and chilly. Did walk 4 2 miles. Did the first Body Flow class, combination of Tai Chi, yoga and Pilates. Felt my legs had lengthened and less painful. Lisa Eldridge's new make-up additions went on sale so bought a few items. Hard to resist!
Sunday Oct 17
Sunny intervals. Did blog photography including pics for Joe Brown's. Pleased with how they turned out. Roast chicken
Mon Oct 18
Cloudy but not cold. Did walk 4.4 miles. Busy day. Macaroni cheese and salad
Tues Oct 19
Lovely day in office. Kept playing Sound Your Funky Horn (KC and the Sunshine Band) in the car after hearing it on Johnnie Walker. Had lunch with a colleague I met on the induction course three and a half years ago. Got home to find flowers from boss - pastel coloured baby's breath - to thank me for helping with big event which started today. Sausages and baked potato.
Weds Oct 20
John is back on his bike trainer - similar to Peloton but uses your own bike.
Thurs Oct 21
Did walk. Getting muddy in the forest. A bit under stress today, feels like so much to do before my sabbatical in November.
Fri Oct 22
Got quite a bit done plus cleaned the bathroom. No walk. Watched 1st episode Invasion. Fish n chips but not for me after eating huge bag crisps (!).
Sat Oct 23
Cold, cloudy. Did walk featuring four ponds in Epping Forest with J. Was over 6 miles. Picture shows a memorial to a dog at one of the ponds, Strawberry Pond. Blue green algae is present - and a dog died there. Did Body Flow.
Sun Oct 24
Nice weather. Did blog photography. Then we went to West Malling in Kent for Lynn's 60th. Very nice afternoon. Had tuna followed by steak. Lynn blows out the candles
Mon Oct 25
Saw the cattle on the Plains. Cloudy. Quiet day. Very tired.
Tues Oct 26
Office. More people wearing masks now in coffee areas. Home by 4pm in time for meetings at 5 and 6.
Weds Oct 27
Walk, 4.4 miles. Saw the cattle. Powered through a lot of work. Quite pleased with myself!
Thurs Oct 28
Last day before sabbatical starts. Work out. A fair bit to do. Thought I'd be euphoric but was hard to get everything done and it felt a bit flat.
Fri Oct 29
Raining when I got up. Decided to try aqua aerobics at public pool. Then took fright in case test & trace and a positive result would ruin my plans for sabbatical (November). Went for a walk instead. I am on target to reach 1,500 miles by the end of the year. Wrote Fri Favourites post which always takes a while. Started watching Bump (BBC).
Sat Oct 30
Rained. Walked to WR to get tartare sauce, as J prefers theirs! 5 miles round trip. Had a look round a charity shop. Went in the dance shoes shop and ordered pair purple glittery shoes. Will need to get them soled, as dance shoes have suede soles.
Sun Oct 31
My brother's birthday. Pouring with rain. J still went running with club. I did a beauty shoot. J lost his key through a hole in his shorts. Another group of runners found it, in Yates Meadow, and reported it on the WhatsApp group. He was reunited with it. Of course it was Halloween today, I put the light-up pumpkin outside and had a steady stream of kids in costumes.
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Dear friends. We've had 18 months of lock down followed by a seemingly endless string of shortages and price hikes. It's not surprising that many of us have still to regain our mojo. We're still nowhere near pre-pandemic levels of socialising.
Clothing brand Joe Browns recently carried out a survey to find out how people are feeling about their wardrobe confidence post lockdown. With over 13,000 responses, they found that 47% of people avoid wearing what they would like due to a lack of body confidence.