I Love... Full Length Mirrors!

No, I'm not completely vain, and no, I never thought I would hear those words come out of my mouth either but I have just bought a full length mirror and been completely surprised when I looked in it.

The last time I had a full length mirror in my house was when I lived with my parents and there was one in my sister's room and one in my mum's room. I have never owned my own full length mirror. It's also important to remember that the last time I really looked at myself in a full length mirror, that wasn't in a shop changing room and therefore badly lit and rather clinical, I was a good 2 stone lighter than I am now and quite happy with my appearance.

For the last 3 and a half years, while I have been slowly gaining around 2 stone, I have also only had a table top mirror to see myself in. This wasn't too bad but meant that I could only see myself in sections, for example head and shoulders and then chest and waist and then stomach and hips, which was a bit like one of those puzzles where you have to match up all of the component parts to make a person.

I have a distinct feeling that I have always believed I was fatter than I am because I only ever saw sections of my body at a time. I don't know how that has worked but I genuinely believed I was the size of a house and then when I looked in the full length mirror yesterday (with the words of Aunty Gok ringing in my ears) I was no where near the size of the humungous amorphous blob that I have believed I am for years. I actually didn't look that bad, even though I was wearing my jeans that are too big, a t-shirt that was too small and a zip-up hoodie that has seen better days and I had spent 2 hours cleaning the house. I was shocked, and pleased, and glad I'd paid £20 for the mirror!

So even though nothing has changed since yesterday and I am still the same size I have been for months, and my clothes still feel exactly the same, somehow looking in that mirror and realising that I am completely normal and I don't belong on The Biggest Loser has made me feel 100 times happier and more confident...

I Love... Buying Bras That Fit!

I should add a couple of caveats to that statement - bras that fit, that don't cost the earth and that come in nicer colours and designs than 'frumpy white' or 'frumpy black'. The reason for this post is that Primark have just launched a new range of bras that come in D-F cups, which is unusual for the cut price shops. They're really pretty, fit really nicely and only cost £6 so I'm really pleased with the 3 that I've bought. I've always had trouble getting bras to fit, since I was old enough to wear one. When I was about 7 I was desperate to fill out and have boobs and now I would happily give some of them up to be able to wear nice clothes and underwear without feeling like a complete lump. Even when my mum took me to be measured the first time when I was about 12 and I was a 32C, the shop girl told her I was a 'big girl' in a really accusing voice, like it was all her fault! So I am used to not being able to buy cheap bras. When I was a bit thinner and I went down to a 34C again it was great because I could just buy a bra and know it would fit but now I'm up to a 36F and showing no signs of going back down, it's that much harder to get nice underwear. In Evans the other day they only had huge industrial sized bras that looked so unflattering and frumpy and cost £20 each. I was really disheartened. Then tonight, lo and behold, Primark the girl on a budget's saviour steps in with pretty, frilly, pink and blue and green bras for £6 and less! Now I just need to find a stockist of size 16 jeans that fit size 16 people and don't cost £75 per pair...

I Love... Getting to Work Early!

This may sound like the most geekish thing in the world but I love this time of year because I come in to work earlier. I don't actually start work until 9am, as you can tell from my posting this at 8.55 am, but for the rest of the year I get in and sit down at my desk for bang on 9am and have to start work immediately. This last week the Metro has been really busy on a morning so I made the decision to start my Autumn tradition of getting an earlier Metro. That meant that I was in the city centre at 8.40 and I had time to go to Boots and get some lunch as I'm playing football at lunch time and also to get in to work early.

It's a small thing but I do love being more relaxed first thing on a morning, anything that can help with that is a bonus...

I Love... Charity Shops!

I have been quiet all weekend as it was a really low day on Friday and I have sruggled to really get over it. Someone has deliberately scratched my car while it was parked on the street outside my house, which really tainted my memory of book group (so that can wait for another post). I then had a whole day of training on Friday which didn't really relate to anything I do at work so it was a bit of a wasted day. It wasn't boring but I'd already had some of it from other sources and the rest of it was meaningless to me because I don't work in that area so I could have spent the day doing more productive things. Then the police came over on Friday night to take a statement about the vandalism and so I was really late getting my dinner and had a headache. So not a great Friday by any stretch of the imagination.

But then on Saturday I went shopping in Chester-le-Street with my mum. We really only go there when we want to blitz the charity shops as it's not a great shopping centre. We decided to go and look for period furniture and decorations for my new(ish) house and some picture frames for her needlework that she's been doing so she can display it. Now, any day spent with my mum is great for me as I love spending time with her and we don't get a lot of time just the two of us so it's nice to have the day together. With my dad being away recently we've spent a lot more time together and that suits me.

But on to the reason that I love charity shops. When I was a kid I both loved and hated them in equal measure. When it became obvious to me that the rest of the kids in my class didn't buy clothes in charity shops I began to be really ashamed about going in them, but at the same time I completely loved trawling through the toys and books and clothes that people would just give away. I got some of my favourite clothes and toys from Scope in Durham when I was young. I got a red 'ra-ra' skirt with black piping and a giant Barbie camper van as well as loads of board games and jigsaws. Me and my sister could spend ages choosing things and, because they were so cheap, we were usually allowed to buy whatever we chose.

I also bought the greatest Halloween costume ever in a charity shop - a leather mini-dress and gold stillettos so I could play a murdered hooker (well before the Ipswich murders, in case anyone is offended) I was going for a sort of modern day Jack the Ripper theme and I stuck insects all over my body and had twigs in my hair and bruises on my throat, etc.

Then, as I got older, I discovered the other treasure trove that most charity shops have - books! At first, years ago, you never paid more than £1 for a book but since the shops have realised the revenue to be made from selling reasonable quality books it's more like £2 at least per book. Still cheaper than Tesco though, and you're doing a good thing by shopping in charity shops. I feel like it's my contribution to charity ( I do also donate stuff to the shops too so I've done my bit).

In addition to the books there's winter coats at a knock down price, decent quality jeans and other clothes, although I confess it's been a long time since I bought clothes in a charity shop now that Primark has such nice clothes for low prices, bric a brac and much much more.

The only down side is that people seem to be giving less away now, either that or the charity shops are wise to the value in second hand goods and are selling on ebay instead, because the choice in the shops is not as great. So my message to the nation is to donate things to charity. It eases your conscience two fold because you're getting rid of things you don't want and also contributing to a charitable cause, and you never know who will want what you don't want. If you put things on ebay people may buy them but a lot of times they won't and you'll end up keeping them anyway...

I Love... Body Shop Body Butter!

Just a short one today as I'm really struggling to think of anything I love today. I want to save my reading group for tomorrow as I haven't been yet and I'll love it even more when I've been.

I do love the body butter, it's not just a cop out. I'd never had it and then I got some free on the front of a magazine and now I'm hooked. At the moment the shea butter is my favourite as it smells like chocolate but I also like the coco butter one and the mango one.

So there it is, short but sweet today so that I can go late night Thursday shopping for new clothes...

I Love... Grocers!

Specifically grocers on market stalls, but even the shops are par excellence for buying cheap fruit and veg, which in a 'credit crunch' with the government breathing down our necks to be healthy is a good thing!

I am ashamed to admit that I had never really bought fruit from a grocer on a market stall until I was about 23 and I was doing Weight Watchers for the first time. I was shopping with my mum in Sunderland and we were both really hungry. One of the drawbacks of the plan we were doing for WW (hereinafter referred to as Fat Club, which was our collective pet name for it and any other slimming classes we went to) was that snacking was difficult and carbs were a big no-no so we were struggling to find anything to snack on. It was at that point that we passed a stall selling fruit and veg. I happened to see that they were selling very fresh looking grapes and we stopped to buy some, and my love affair with the market produce stalls was born.

I have today purchased 1lb of grapes, 3 conference pears and a punnet of Scottish strawberries for the princely sum of £2.30. This pleases me as I went to Sainsbury's supermarket on Monday night and bought a punnet of raspberries and happened to notice that a punnet of strawberries was £2, and they were Spanish so not as nice.

Of course, there are drawbacks to this kind of shopping. Firstly you have to have cash, and oftentimes the grocers are a bit gruff if you only have large notes and no change, although most of them are cheerful ruddy cheeked types with leather money pouches and dirty fingernails.

There are also grocers who sell produce that is less than fresh and you have to watch out for these as it's a false economy to buy food cheap and then have it go off before you can eat it. Having said that I bought a peach in Sainsbury's and within a couple of days it was almost liquid in the fruit bowl, so the big supermarkets are just as guilty of selling produce that's past it's best.

The worst obstacle, for me at least, is the face to face nature of the transaction. I am probably (hopefully) not the only person in the world who is glad that the old system of going into a shop with a long counter and asking for everything that you want item by item is long dead. I can't stand having to ask for what I want, I long for the days when everything is mechanised like the self scan checkouts in supermarkets these days. I especially find market traders to be very difficult to approach and I find myself babbling incoherently at them while they're weighing my produce or taking my money so that they don't think I'm being rude!

Anyway, this is detracting from my joy at being able to buy cheap fruit and veg from jovial and obliging farm types so I will end with that thought...

I Love... The First Day of Autumn!

Maybe it's not officially the first day today, and it is actually a bit warmer than most autumn days, however I do love Autumn and I especially like the smell when the leaves have changed and are lying on the ground, probably rotting, but that doesn't spoil my enjoyment of it.

As I was walking to the Metro this morning with my boyfriend I smelled autumn in the air and I was excited. I always love being able to tell when the seasons change or when it's going to rain or snow. That might sound strange if you've never noticed it before but look out for the earthy smell in the summer when it's just rained, or the smell of greenery in spring, or falling leaves in autumn. Snow doesn't really have a smell, it's more of a feeling on your nose when it's going to be really cold.

When I was a kid we went to Wales with my Great Uncle and for some reason, probably because our old banger car had broken down, we stopped in a layby/picnic area on the way home for quite a long time. I remember being completely absorbed in covering a puddle with autumn leaves so that none of the water was showing apart from a tiny bit in the middle. It seemed to take me hours to collect enough leaves and place them carefully next to each other so they were all showing and not covering each other. And there were so many colours, reds and browns and greens but all different. I was so proud of my puddle/leaf art and my mum took a picture of it for me before we left, because obviously you can't take a puddle with you in the car.

My favourite thing about Autumn is big chunky wooly jumpers, but that's a different post altogether...