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Tag: ageing disgracefully

  • Style up those sweats

    Take one pair of sweatpants, a cute pair. I actually think if you are even a little bit arty and grab some fabric paint you could turn the cheapest supermarket pair into something amazing. Anyway, here are a few ways to wear them that do not involve sweating at the gym. These are Aelfric Eden and I love them. I actually bought them because I saw a woman in Costa in Brighton wearing them, complimented her and asked where she had got them

    Cute right?

    For the gym just basic bitch bra top (I do not go to the gym like this, I am not that brave. I have a baggy arsed tee over paint splattered leggings, but for the purposes of this blog this is how cute you could look at the gym

    Let’s change it up

    Add a colourful chunky trainer and a matching tank and you are ready to run errands

    Add the tank over the top and tuck the sweats into a cute boot for a slightly elevated look that’ll take you to a girlie lunch or a daytime date

    change the top for a long sleeved leopard (it is a neutral after all) and head off for drinks

    Change the shirt for a lacy blouse and the shoe for a metallic wedge and you’re good to go for an early dinner.

    Or go a bit more edgy and throw on a heeled boot with some flounce and a peep of leopard bra and head off for more drinks or clubbing. I shove a scrunchie round the bottom of the sweats and roll them up.

    Throw a bomber over the top and you will look super cool and ready to party.

    See, sweats don’t have to be boring or saved just for the gym.

  • The first T of 2026

    So, I started the year on the sofa. the dog is terrified of fireworks so the husband and I stay home on New Year’s Eve, eating the glut of cheese and pate that is still in the fridge and watching the telly. We saw in midnight then went to bed.

    It saddens me a little that I no longer stay out well into the wee hours and snog strangers at midnight, perhaps vomiting over them or my shoes, sometimes both. Always was a good time girl back in the day. It is also our wedding anniversary, the husband figured there would be a band and a party in the local pub on new years eve so it was a free reception. It was 21 years ago though so the romance has slightly diminished and we don’t bother celebrating now.

    Anyway back to the new year. I love a resolution. Love a bit of a ‘new year, new me’ vibe. Love it so much in fact that I do it twice a year, the first of January and the day after my birthday for my new year. So here are this years:

    1. Spend more time with the people that matter
    2. Spend less time with the people that don’t
    3. Get fit and strong
    4. Have some new experiences
    5. Challenge myself
    6. Be a bit more glam

    In order to meet the requirements to hit those goals I shall

    1. Evaluate existing friendships in relation to how much joy I get from those friendships and spend more time with the people that spark joy by making time. I shall visit family at least quarterly as I live in Spain and they do not.
    2. Look at the list mentioned above and relegate people to monthly, quarterly or even annually (some to never) meet–ups
    3. go back to the gym. find a class that I enjoy and go regularly. to that end I am going to the gym tomorrow – it is closed today. I have also messaged a local woman on Facebook and am starting a core class next week.
    4. I have two concerts booked for this year – Yungblud and BonJovi. Have plans to go to see Skabba – a mash–up of Abba and Ska, also plan to go to see Abba Voyage at some point.
    5. this is possibly the most difficult but I want to try a solo trip as the husband has no interest and I would like to see new places. Will probably begin in the uk as I speak the language and there are lots of cities I would like to see. I also really need to improve my Spanish to an acceptable level but I am shy and hate putting myself in a position to be judged.
    6. It is so easy to slip into staying in the dog walking skanky joggers for the day, especially when I am going nowhere. I have so many clothes though so I want to start wearing them. If I wait until I have an occasion I will never get through them so I am starting now. thus today I am in the Amy Winehouse/Fred Perry shirt that I love but have only worn once

    Happy new year

  • Make up for the over 60s

    Just kidding. Make–up is make–up. Age doesn’t come into it, well not into mine anyway. I am not talking about skincare here. that is a whole other ballgame, I mean that literally, your eyelids turn into the same skin on a wrinkled ball bag. No you definitely need something on the skin, but probably from your thirties. I left it too late and now my face is a saggy mess of lines that should come with tube stations marked along them. Even botox and fillers can’t save the damage

    .I try to ignore the face as a whole and concentrate on its constituent parts. I only look at the bit I am slapping the face paint onto and then hope for the best. So onto my make–up.

    I always favoured a lined eye and black mascara with a red lip. None of that ‘one or the other’ business for me. Someone told me a year or so ago that I should tone it down because of my age. To my shame I listened and I tried, I really did. For almost a year I wore only a light covering of brown mascara and the tiniest bit of cream blush with a neutral lippie. Then a couple of months ago I changed my hair. Not a lot. I just put a fringe back in and resisted more of the same shit advice that when you are old your hair should be short. FUCK OFF. Anyway, the fringe took ten years off. It made me take a good look at my face too. The minimal look is not for me.

    I have now changed back to the face I know and love, albeit with those tram lines and I don’t hate it. People comment and not negatively. I am no longer invisible, I wear the black eyeliner, sometimes a gorgeous navy blue with a big flick, and I sport the bold lip.

    Don’t let anyone tell you how you should look, especially not based on your age. I am embracing my younger me and dragging her from the depths in which she has been drowning for too long and I love her.

    Say hello to the newest version of me

    Eyeliner is ‘Made by Mitchell, all smudge no budge in black

    Mascara is Heimish, Curling black – this mascara does not move, not an inch, all day and all night.

    Lippie is KVD everlasting hyperlight in cobra lily

    Haircut by Steph Freeth at Halo Beauty in Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote.

  • Outfit of the week

    Has to be this one. Just because it is so wacky. I felt like going a bit mad at my dinner party and I never get a chance to wear this anywhere without being stared at, and not in a good way. I do love it even though it is a lot.

  • What Tee did in June

    Saw friends for coffee and lunches and dinners twice.

    Got my monthly B12 shot so I don’t die.

    Had a man twist me like a fucking pretzel – an osteopath as my back was out of alignment – I hate getting old.

    Opticians for a test to confirm my eyes have deteriorated – I hate getting old.

    Got some blonde put in to cover those pesky angel hairs.

    Had my nails painted a pretty grey and silver.

    Played Mah Jong – what? it is fun even if it does sound like something old women do.

    Went line dancing. I love it, it gets me moving and laughing.

    Hosted a dinner party. Just eight of us, nice food, good wine. Did salmon blinis to hand around with pre–dinner drinks then slow roasted lamb with all the roastie trimmings as well as a huge bowl of mediterranean couscous with roasted dates. For puds I did chocolate mousse, a blackcurrant cheesecake and my personal favourite mini meringues filled with mango and whipped cream and drizzled with a syrup I made with rose petal jam, lime and mint. I also did a cheeseboard.

    Some house organisation. Would honestly appreciate recommendations for bra storage. I have googled and I have tried laying them flat, putting them in small ziplock bags with their matching knickers, hanging them separately. It all takes up a load of room and looks shit. I now have them folded, which I know you shouldn’t do.

    Had a date night with the husband. a few drinks and a fabulous meal of smoked salmon and cubed fried goat cheese then the best salt crusted sea bass I have ever tasted. restaurant was almacen de sal in playa blanca, Lanzarote.

    Must try harder in July to have more fun.

  • Death starts with your first breath

    Frightening thought huh?  True though.  We are born, we live awhile then we die.

    I have a chart on my wall that is a series of 52 boxes inside squares, each box represents a week, each set of boxes a year of my life from birth until I am 85.  I figure by then I will either be dead, incapacitated or unaware of much so I fill in a box every week to show how much time I have left. Time left, not so much to exist as a human, but time left to live my life fully.

    Some say it is morbid.  I think it is motivating.  It helps me focus on not wasting time.  For example I know I have only so many books left to read or listen to, so many TV shows to binge, so many events to go to.  So, I am the DNF queen of all things.  If I start something but don’t enjoy it, I don’t finish it.  Only so many remember?  If I go to an event and I am bored I won’t stay until the bitter end.

    This blog/vlog is to accompany a book I am currently writing called ‘Suicide, death on my own terms’.  Sounds grim I know, but it isn’t.  it is funny mostly and not to be taken too seriously because my death is not imminent as far as I know.  I think you have to prepare for it so this will be a record of me getting through my ‘to do before I shuffle off this mortal coil’ list as well as a note of the things I do along the way there.

    I don’t really think it matters if you are remembered after you die because unless you are famous or, better still, infamous you won’t be remembered past a generation or two anyway.   No, what matters is how you live the life you have.  And this is how I will be living mine.

    ‘tell me what it is you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?’ Mary Oliver, The Summer Day.

    Here is the chart, you can see how few weeks I have left compared to those already lived:

    In case you are bored and want a cheap, fun, very sweary and quick read. I have written two other books on kindle

    https://amzn.eu/d/07EMduw

    https://amzn.eu/d/6STd6Y5