Not growing up or getting old with the 50s Housewife...old school style!

Awesome weekend!

It was a heat wave up our way, with temps hitting about 39 degrees at one yucky, sticky point, with no relief to be found anywhere.

So what's a girl to do when her child is away visiting the grand-parentals than hit the shops for her first look at the post Christmas sales?

Well I have to say the sales totally bite the big one. I don't think anything I saw around the traps was any less than it is every second week during a 10-20% off sale. Boo!

A few notable exceptions though:

Colette, oh how I love thee. You're the sushi of handbags - cute, lots of variety, delicious, stylish and affordable...even more so when you mark selected stock down by 50%. I'm loving my fire engine red little bag and enormous electric blue tote that I scored for a grand total of $52. Yes indeed.

Myer - I generally have an issue with your pricing however when I spy a gorgeous fire engine red dress (a wrap dress, but of course) marked down from $140 to the princely sum of $35, how can I resist? Never mind the 5 other wrap dresses in my cupboard...I will make room. I will make room. Amen.

Total score!

OK so that takes me to about 10am Saturday morning and even in the air con I'm starting to sweat and my hair is not even feeling like hair anymore...

So backstory on the hair: in Brisbane I had the most gorgeous hair place which sadly for me came with the price tag to match. Achieving this lovely head of mine definitely comes at a cost. However I had promised myself many moons ago when I was working part-time and broke, that when I went back to work full-time that my gift to myself would be a regular 8 weekly appointment with my gorgeous salon.

Oh how I looked forward to that day, and it was a treat that I never denied myself for 6 plus years.

Then...

About a year or so ago prices just skyrocketed to the point that I could barely afford to live and feed my child, let alone part with $285 hard earned dollars to (ahem) 'enhance' my natural look.

So I had to make the tough decisions: the expensive hair had to go.

(yes I cried).

Since then I have to say I've been bodgy self dyeing (with better results than others) when I can't stand it anymore and getting a haircut at the cheapest place I could find whenever my hair looked so bad I couldn't bear to look in the mirror. As an aside, sometimes you REALLY get what you, ahem, pay for (or not pay for, more to the point). It's a bit depressing when you walk OUT of the salon feeling worse than you went in. I'm just sayin'.

So anyhoo, back on point: lately my hair has just been so vile, it's stringy and sticky and feels dirty even when it's not. The bottom inch or so felt like straw. My gorgeous fringe non-existent. To combat, I became the proud owner of about a gazillion pretty headbands to a) get the strings off my face and b) to try to deflect from the sad state of my locks.

So Saturday morning I was feeling hot and bothered and having a particularly bad hair day. I went to the bathroom, caught an unfortunate glimpse of myself in the mirror and decided this had to stop.

In I walked to Oscar Oscar and said that I was having a hair emergency. Fortunately for me, someone had just cancelled like that minute...it was kismet.

One keratin treatment and quite possibly the best haircut I've had in forever later by a beautiful girl called Jess (who is about to shave her head for Shave for a Cure and will likely look knockout, hair or no), I now have not only a new hairdresser but a brand new girl crush as well. Bring on my next appointment, complete with fixing the 11 different colours I've had through my hair in the past year or so...

I love you Jess.

Even the sweltering heat and the disheartening prospect of trying on a zillion dresses which didn't fit right could take the 'swish' out of my gorgeous hair for the rest of the day.

OK so moving onto Sunday...

I was 'persuaded' to drive to Brisbane, lured by promises of icy cold DC (diet coke for the uninitiated) together with DC cupcakes by Miss Housewife herself (aka Cathy, aka Betty Detox) for a total girly gossip session blog business meeting. Yes, we have big plans for this blog in 2013, so God help you all.

So I hit the road, air con on blast to negate the effects of the heat streaming through the windows, music blaring (see Daggy Roadtrip songs, oh yeah).

DC and guacamole...all the essentials

Pulling up at the housewife's lovely abode, it's totally stinking. I mean, OMG, if Toowoomba was a hot box, Brisbane was an effing sauna. Gah. I was dying of heat exhaustion wandering up the garden path. Ugh.

So meanwhile the housewife hadn't yet baked and not wanting to sit in the sweltering kitchen for even a second, I suggested she put off the DC cupcakes for another time (your son's Australia Day party - I'm holding you to it).

So icy cold DC in hand, we then proceeded to lay on her bed with our heads practically in the fan gossiping and Facebook stalking I mean talking serious blog business. Just like old times.

By the way, check the housewife's Christmas present score - a Laura Ashley apron, just for those special 50s housewife Friday sessions. It works perfectly with her patented black and leopard print fashion style. Unfortunately the cooking sherry wasn't included, but I'm sure she will improvise nicely.

Many hours later (which seemed like 5 minutes) I departed back for home, sides hurting from laughing and not even remotely gossiped-out.

And yes, we talked about the blog. I mean, as in, as I was leaving, 'oh shit, we were gonna talk about the blog'.

Oops.

One of the most exciting things was planning Cathy's 40th birthday party in March, where she'll be recreating the nightclubs of our teenagerhood complete with a dodgy cellar venue and goth decorations. I mean 'classy goth'. There's a difference.

Bring it on babe, I can't wait.

The title of our blog was something I came up with in desperation back in the beginning when I had to call it SOMETHING and didn't really know what. Funnily enough it's become more fitting and more apparent every day that it suits us and our blog down to the ground. It never becomes more clear than when we're together, giggling like the immature little mini me's we were back in the day, and even reflected in our home decorating styles. Cathy pairs (and very successfully) beautiful candle and flower decorations, and skulls. Lots and lots of skulls. Me, I have a penchant for pretty old style china teacups and saucers interspersed with Monster High dolls.

As you do.

It really does seem that we'll never grow up. Or get old. And that's quite all right by me.

So to leave you with yesterday's daggy roadtrip tune that just barely escaped my previous list, simply for the attribute that it didn't quite make the 'daggy' cut. In fact, Wendy James was and is one extremely cool chick. Who seriously doesn't care.

Hope you had an awesome weekend! Stay tuned for some exciting 2013 plans for our blog...once we finally stop gossiping and discuss them.

Bec xx

Retail therapy is exhausting.

So best day ever!

Willow picked me up this morning with her daughter A and her little man E to go on an epic shopping spree, and shop we did!

I left MY E happily playing Skylanders at home as he was singularly unimpressed at the thought of 'girly' shopping all day, which was probably just as well! I can only imagine the disgusted looks and audible sighs we would have been treated to as he was dragged from one dress shop to another.

Toowoomba...look out. We came...we saw...we bought.

Well I did at least.

A couple of fabulous new dresses, some blusher and a few pairs of tights later and I was shattered. This whole retail therapy thing should be rolled out to insomniacs, as I came home totally ready for a nap.

We sat down at the Coffee Club for some breakfast and little E was giving his mum a hard time in only the way a 2 year old can. Any mum will totally empathise with the whole trying to eat with one hand whilst trying to control a squirmy, vagabond toddler with the other...it's like holding back the ocean. So as soon as I was done I strapped little E into his stroller and took him for a wander so W could finish her breakfast in peace.

Oh dear!

I'm shocked no-one in the shopping centre called Child Services on us, the way this poor little man was acting like I'd kidnapped and absconded with him...

The screaming crying, which I can easily deal with as it sounds SOOOOO fake quickly gave way to the most heartrending, mournful whimper I've ever heard in my life. I felt like a criminal!

Of course the crocodile tears dried instantly the moment we returned to W, all fed and watered, and we continued ransacking the shelves of every shop in the centre.

You know most days you go shopping and try stuff on and everything looks AWFUL or you can't find anything you like or whatever. Happily (or sadly, for my bank balance) today was NOT one of those days and I scored a couple of great finds, all the more special due to the 'one day only' $40 discount I scored on two of the dresses (each). There was one sad part when the dress I absolutely fell in LOVE with on the rack was simply just too tight to get away with :( Although as it was exorbitantly expensive, it was probably just as well. I must admit I am quite tempted to get it anyway as an 'inspiration dress' to look at every morning to encourage me to move my flabby ass a bit more so I can fit into it properly.

Shopping with W's 10 year old daughter was awesome! I think I'm every girl's mum's nightmare as I go directly to the edgy, gorgeous stuff that W is just shaking her head at going, 'not for MY 10 year old thank you very much'. I guess I would definitely feel the same way if it was my daughter :) Although we did manage to sweet talk W into buying her simply the cutest fluffy pink jacket that I only wished to god I could fit into... I will need to live vicariously through A, methinks!

So wonderful awesome day and looking forward to a great week wearing all my new gear! One of the dresses is quite summery so it may take a little while to appear but I'm looking forward to that day! What is it about waking up and getting dressed in new, beautiful clothes that makes the whole day feel special?

Ahhh retail therapy. How I love thee. Best shopping trip I've had in YEARS!

I'm also massively excited that W just informed me she is moving house next weekend and will be MUCH closer than me (ie. 3 minutes away instead of about 7 hahaha).

Bec xx