Live a little… — Gladrags & Bags

Right ladies (people, readers, browsers), it’s official - it’s cosy season. I’d say there’s no chance of a third summer coming for us again, so get out your knits and boots - it’s go time!!

I enjoyed that summer encore a couple of weeks ago, of course, what’s not to love, but I am glad the weather feels like it’s rightful season now.

And part of that is finding nice things to wear for it.

I have a lot of additional needs I have to take into account; hormone weight gain, 2 hernias, and a stoma…plus I feel so burnt by recent events (ie, my Vinted journey) I want to invest in my future clothes more wisely.

I love Vinted, I’m loving the idea of recouping some losses for clothes I’ve worn and loved. Fabulous!

What is causing me a great deal of grief and discomfort at is the reality of the clothes which have cost me a fortune, the stuff I never had a chance to wear before I grew out of it (it is what it is). One in particular - a dress that is beautiful, but useless to me at this point;

I have a dress on there from Burberry, I think it cost £350, possibly more, I can’t remember. It’s on my Vinted for £45.50 and no one, not a single person has enquired about it.

It’s these pieces that are giving me cause to really really really change my spending habits.

I love clothes, I love putting outfits together. But I don’t like seeing the money I’ve wasted on them.

When I sell something on Vinted that I’ve worn, loved and enjoyed I feel delighted that I’ve recouped some losses, and someone else will get joy from it too.

When I’m left with clothes I can’t fit in, but aren’t selling, even for the peanuts (comparatively speaking) they are up for, that feels like a huge weight of guilt and disappointment.

So I’m not going to waste money from now on. It has to be worn, it has to have multiple wears in it.

For example; the dress that I bought for our friends wedding a few weeks back, I know I’m going to get wear out of it again. I wore it with heels to their do, but I’m taking it to India to wear with flats for the day time, and a casual chunky heel for the evening. Then when I get home I’ll wear it with black boots and a thick black belt for either - day (flat boots) or night (heeled boots).

So yes, it was expensive but I will get a lot of use out of it. When I look to buy now I make sure I can see more than one wear.

I appreciate that normal people probably do this subconsciously anyway, but I’m sure all of us have spent money on something to wear and it never quite lived up to its full potential.

So from now on my purchases will be either expensive with plenty of wears per pound in it, or cheap enough that it doesn’t really matter too much.

(The thing about Vinted I find most galling? Well, there’s stuff on there people are selling from high street stores (like Zara. Zara holds its price really well) selling for £20 or more, which isn’t far off the original purchase price, when I’m trying to sell nice stuff, and I’m having to take huge hits on them. Selling fabulous items for pennies, and still getting people messaging asking if I’d sell it for £1.50).

From now on I’m going to buy cautiously, buy consciously, buy with uses per ££$$€€ in mind, buy with care, buy with the whole brain, not just the impulsiveness of the moment.

With that in mind I have bought a few things recently, and I’m happy with the cost per wears for them.

Dress from Tesco, Boots from Holland Cooper.

I bought this dress in Tesco, I bought it in this oatmeal colour and pale grey. It was about £20. I believe I will get a lot of use from it.

It’s so cosy and oversized that you feel like autumn, you feel snuggled and comforted.

Unfortunately the evening out was in the midst of storm Babet, so I looked utterly delightful by the time we arrived at the restaurant.

Rain coat from Holland Cooper

We had such a great evening with our friends, they chose a fab restaurant too, we will definitely be going back again.

This dress is a great all rounder. Dressed up with boots, for an evening meal. Or with trainers for a cosy day time…or with house slippers for not leaving the house at all! This is where wears per pounds is working out well.

The weather has been atrocious. Cold and crisp I love, but that drizzly misog rain I do not.

Dress from French Connection (very old) Boots from Karl Lagerfeld (a few years old).

For anyone wondering how big the grim reaper Chris bought me was…

******* mahoosive!! Hahahah

This next outfit choice made me chuckle, we had a bit of a blip with the plumbing in the house, which meant we had no flushing toilets and no waste water.

We had fresh water coming in, but no where for it to go.

(The joys of living with Victorian plumbing in a converted school).

There are many times in the last 13 and a half years that I have thanked the universe for my colostomy, and these particular two days were definitely one of them!

I’m bagged and good to go. I would not swap back in general, but I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to for those two days. It felt like we were camping as it was - hence my outdoorsy clothing choice :)

We had to shower whilst standing in the bath full of the previous day’s shower water as we were not able to get rid of said water.

I can’t put into words how traumatic I found this mild inconvenience. As you can imagine, actual camping is simply out of the question. :)

I didn’t stay in a hotel until I was 19, our family holidays were only ever under canvas prior to that, but once I got the taste of hotel life I couldn’t go back. Hahahahah

Shirt from Hollister, Jeans from Tesco, Boots from Ferragamo.

If you were wondering, no, my resilience (which is immense) doesn’t stretch to camping.

Thankfully our very kind neighbour got the engineer in to fix the problem. And I literally can’t thank them enough because I was just about to book a hotel room.

Showered in fresh free flowing water it was time to head out to London for a night out I’d organised. I don’t do it very often, but I bought tickets to an exhibition as a date night.

I accidentally ended buying two lots, one for last Friday and one lot for this Friday. Don’t ask me how as I have no idea.

Anyway, last Friday we went to see the new Gabrielle Chanel exhibit at the V&A museum.

I was a little apprehensive, because I wanted it to be incredible!!

And thankfully it was! :)

I would definitely recommend, it’s really interesting, very beautifully done and the dresses, oh my goodness, they are heaven.

Top from Marks & Spencer, Skirt from Sainsbury’s, tights from Wolford, Shoes from Chanel, Bag from Jimmy Choo.

If you are interested in clothes and accessories this is definitely an exhibition worth a visit.

Mac from Burberry. An absolute classic purchase and longevity built in.

Some of the dresses on display date back to the 1920s, some of these above are over 100 years old!!

Definitely qualify as a good amount of wears per pound.

I loved it! Chris enjoyed it also, we’ve been to two exhibitions of Dior. One in Paris, one in London. They were absolutely spectacular, so this exhibition had a lot up live up to, which it did.

Then we headed to Harvey Nichols for dinner at Madhus Brassiere, a fabulous Indian restaurant on the fifth floor.

I recommend the vegetarian or non vegetarian thali, they are divine, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

We had such a great evening, it’s nice to be out in London on a Friday night, or any night come to that.

Saturday was very chilled, Chris and I booked into a new physio.

I got the results of the hour and forty minutes MRI I had on my back a few weeks ago. The tests proved inconclusive for some autoimmune condition the consultant believes I have, I don’t want to start any further treatment for a maybe, therefore I’m going to the physical therapy route. The scan did show arthritis and bone spurs in my neck, and arthritis in my lower spine, all of which is being a right pain, no pun intended.

But I do have high hopes with the new physio, so no pressure on her then ;)

Then we had a lovely afternoon with Ben and Erin, and we met Erin’s mum too, who had come down for the weekend, which was really lovely.

Top from Michael Kors, Jeans from Tesco, Boots from Russell and Bromley.

We spent the evening tucked up in blankets watching telly, which by the way is how we spend 90% of our time. Which suits me down to the ground.

I am a woman of extremes.

Sunday morning was absolutely glorious, Chris suggested we go for a walk about town. He hates walking so this was a big deal. And usually I would jump at the chance, but these boots were on their first ever outing and I didn’t feel confident I wouldn’t end up a blistered mess. So I suggested we use the free parking I get as part of my Harrods clubcard.

Jumper dress two of two.

Dress from Tesco, Boots from Christian Dior, Bag from Goyard.

We had a lovely time, we bought some Christmas presents, and had lunch in the newly refurbished (but looks exactly the same, just with a large Sushi bar in the middle) Harrods Dining Hall.

I love Pasta Evangelists, they do this really good chicken with chilli pasta, which I’m sure they change the name of every time I go there, but the dish remains the same.

We then headed to Harrods Social in the basement for dessert and a hot chocolate. I am a creature of habit if nothing else.

Then it was home to watch telly under a blanket. Life is about balance, that’s where joy is found.

Doing things that make you happy is the only advice I feel qualified to impart.

It could be very easy to sit in a place of resentment and fear after having cancer, ending up with a colostomy. But I couldn’t cope with the thought of wasting a second of my life that I have left.

My grim reaper said something the other day which I found so profound…yeah, you read that right, I’m taking life advice from the animatronic grim reaper in the garden;

He says as one of his phrases “Go ahead and live a little, it is later than you think”.

It only just dawned on me that that saying doesn’t mean late in the day, that day, it means in life…I appreciate I am slow to comprehend this pearl of wisdom.

I make the most of life because none of us know how late in the day we’ve got to. :)

Top from Tommy Hilfiger, Jeans from Tesco, Boots from Gucci.

I had some really lovely messages after I posted this photo above. So thank you for those. Very kind, they put a spring in my step.

I think I am just standing at a good angle to be honest, nothing has changed physically for me.

I wouldn’t dream of altering a photo of myself. I’d never ever ever tamper with it, never have, never will. I don’t know how to photoshop, and I certainly don’t want to learn.

Take me as I am or not at all, I stand by that. But, I will take photos using good light and angles.

I am what I am, a size 14 (UK) (10 US), colostomy bagged, hormone bellied, 2 hernias, 50 year old grandma.

But I stand tall, all 5’ 3 and 3/4s of me, breathing in and in a good positions in photos. I look pretty much the same as my photos in the real world…just a bit more jowly, and slouchy and plumper - because I’m not breathing in to within an inch of my life 24/7.

I’ve lived long enough to know my worth. To appreciate what I have, and to know that if I really wanted to have a different body shape I could do something about it (although in reality the older you get the harder it is).

But I don’t want those things because it would mean missing out on the important stuff that brings me the most joy. I love family, friends and travel. And all those things are intrinsically linked to food, which I love very very much. so it’s this me or nothing. :)

Talking of family and food. We drove down to meet with Sam, Milly and Zak last night after work. Meeting at a halfway point for dinner and a play in an arcade (Chris’s favourite thing to do).

I asked Zak if he wanted to come in the Hurricane simulator with me, but he didn’t like the look of it, so Chris joined me. He has never been more joyful and smug to have no hair in his whole life. Hahahah

Zak very much enjoyed being a spectator for this one. :)

Such a fantastic fun evening, Milly beat me at air hockey which is unusual, because usually I wipe the floor with my opponents, one of the reasons Chris and my boys won’t play it with me anymore, but in my defence, I was recovering from having been through a hurricane only moments before.