New shoes

This is what my new shoes from New Look are like; fairly basic, simple patent courts with a 4 inch heel. A bargain at £15 (normally £20). They were very tight to go on, but once on very comfortable.

These are my first very high-heels, having had my trusty training heels for about 12 months. I must admit, they were strange at first but I soon got used to balancing and walking in them. Mrs Kate even bet me I wouldn't last the night in them - but I did!

And no pain next day.... except for the feeling of muscle strain in my leg-calves and the balls of my feet - but that minor discomfort was worth it! ..... Mrs Kate now owes me on the bet.... what can a girl get with that payout.... hmmmmm.... I wonder if they do these in red....

To be (short skirt), or not to be

.... that is the question.

Mrs Kate posted in her blog that she felt rather drab when we went to Teelas; I tried to achieve the smart-but-casual look only to completely fail and end up feeling a bit frumpy; reader, I'm sorry to report that my ever wavering middle-aged spread was... erm... well.... 'spreading'. That nice new linen blouse I bought from New Look wasn't very flattering, most certainly one or two buttons were a little stressed to say the least! But this lead to a challenge by Mrs Kate, to dress a little more daring when we planned to be out to Manchester Concorde on Wednesday.

So with the challenge well and truly accepted, I spent Tuesday evening going through my limited but growing wardrobe collection - I did try the couple of mini-skirts that appear in my Sparkle pics, but as Kay says in reference to 'feline' pelmets, this girl wasn't going to have her knickers on show to everyone. So there was no option but to take advantage of a brief shopping opportunity on Wednesday, and do a minor raid at TK-Max, M&S, BHS, Debenhams... and the list could go on but I had a meeting to go to.... a girl still has to work to afford these little luxuries!

In the 30 minutes I had to shop (that just isn't long enough is it!"), I found a couple of nice skirts in TK-Max, one that really caught my attention was a mix of animal and foliage print in browns and greens, with the length just right (not too short and not too long!). Together with my zebra-print top, flowery-type fishnet tights and my new shoes from New Look finished off the outfit just purrrfectly! Picture appears here courtesy of Mrs Kate who is becoming quite proficient in omitting folks heads!

So we went to Manchester Concorde, met up with Karen and Diana; and a fine time listening to Marianne and others play for us before we went to Naps for a bit of a boogie. Of course Mrs Kate still managed to upstage us all by squeezing her curvy figure into a lovely tiger print dress she found in Peacocks and dancing us all to exhaustion.

And another fine evening that words can't really begin to describe, good company, good conversation.... thank you girls!

Trying again

The new epilator has been silently smirking at me all week; it thinks it's beaten me. So I tried a new trick; using an ice pack to numb the area a little before applying it at high speed - I figured if you get it to pull the hairs out quicker it doesn't hurt as much ... does it?

The ice helped a little but the score is still Epilator 2, Kate 0 and it still sits there, smirking at me.

On the home shopping front Mrs Kate has encouraged me to order a nice pair of shoes and a black dress I saw online from Next; can't wait until they arrive ... dress is expected in about 2 weeks, the shoes in 5-6 weeks!

Re-evaluation

I've kind of been thinking about the title of my blog; 'Kate's journey'. Ok, so it uses an inappropriate apostrophe but that's not the issue. I've not really been making much headway in my 'journey'; so much so, I thought of changing it to 'Kate's Place'.

I did that test again, to see where I am now compared to about 12 months ago. No change, still in no (wo)mans land, caught between both worlds - although the score is putting me ever so slightly more on the girly side of centre. But I'm not so surprised with this result (no one should take these results too seriously - it's just a bit of enlightened fun), it certainly reflects what I feel at the moment, which is the best of both worlds.

But to h*ll with all that!

Moderately encouraged with Diana's recent use of a bargain special epilator from Asda, I bought one myself (less than £15 here!). I thought that if Di could manage to do her chest with one of these things, doing my legs should be a cinch ..... WRONG! ..... these things are nothing more than a post-modern torture device; they really, really hurt!

It made my mind up though; shaving my legs at least once or twice a week is not so bad after all; Di, you're a braver girl than me ;-)

This week - met up with Diana, Karen and Sandi - a girl who rarely has the opportunity to 'escape' her Bob world. We had a nice meal in Eden, especially as one of the staff tried to give us two main courses! - apparently there is a whole world of difference between a Mushroom Brioche and a Mushroom Risotto.... apart from size, both looked the same to me! .... but the Risottos were destined for a table nearby - lucky for the Waiter that we didn't start tucking into them!

Afterwards we went to Manchester Concorde to see if Diana could win the raffle (Lisa won it last week, I won it the week before - each time Di's number was 1 digit away so it must be Di's turn?); hard luck again for Di, her ticket was 2 digits away from winning. After here, Sandi and I decided to call it night, by way of Di's overnight pad and then onto AXM Late - which was busier and darker than when we last called in when Mrs Kate was with us.... mind you, I think they slipped with the smoke machine, it was coming down the stairs when we arrived.

After the quick look-in at AXM Late, Sandi and I made our way back to the car park - leaving Diana and Karen to party-on late into the night. My journey (and the same for Sandi as far as I saw as she passed me on the motorway!) was thankfully uneventful; Karen had sadly been subjected to a torrent of abuse from some twonk as she made her way back to her hotel. Despite the freedom of expression that Canal St. engenders, there are still bigoted jerks around that at best need our pity; but it's Karen that gets the admiration prize for simply ignoring this character and not letting him get to her. Good on you girl, don't give in to the bullies!

Need to have a word with Bob

Had a lovely evening out yesterday, with Mrs Kate and the gang. Met a couple of new acquaintances (is that the right word?), Bev and Sarah - lovely girls whom I couldn't get a word in edgeways if I tried on account of Mrs Kate!

But the ever so regular Wednesday trip to Canal St. was nearly ruined by Bob who got home quite late from work. He was supposed to arrive back by no later than 6pm, but didn't return until just before 7pm. Fortunately the girls were still waiting patiently for us in AXM - so understanding of us arriving nearly hour later than intended.

The evening was rounded off by Mrs Kate insisting she wanted to go dancing - I think she had had too many Cokes when we were in Taurus and was quite hyper by the time we arrived at AXM late - scene of the now infamous 'Magic Theatre' (non) event during Sparkle. AXM Late had been decorated some more since Sparkle; and you could still smell the fresh paint!

And Mrs Kate got her dancing in, insisting on dragging each of the 'gang' up to disappear into the smoke and loud music of non-descript origin. Mrs Kate had asked the DJ for some 80's music... the nearest he managed to find was Bronski Beats version of 'I feel love...' by Donna Summer .... and did I dance? - no way, not in these heels and not after Bob had already been on his feet since 6am! I really must have word with Bob, how can a girl go out and have fun if he spends such long days at the office?

Friday to look forward to; having a bit of much needed time off and perhaps some shopping with Mrs Kate.

A good hair day?

..... Or at least a change.

Mrs Kate had her first visit to 'Tea with Teela' held at Transpose. It turned out that she had a hidden agenda of her own to have a look at what wigs Teela had in stock - you see it's not just us t-girls who like a bit of escapism, Mrs Kate wanted to see how a long blond wig would look .... and she found one that looks pretty good on her. So not wanting to be left out, I tried on a few too before selecting a longer and a little more lighter, perhaps a touch more on the red side than the brunette I've become used to.

But the big surprise came for Mrs Kate when Lisa turned up - in 'Bob' mode. The week before whilst we where out at Via Fosse, Lisa had indicated that she would be coming to Teelas but in 'Bob' mode and on learning Mrs Kate would have her first visit we planned a little surprise - to see if Mrs Kate could spot Lisa. Lisa duly arrived late-on, and chatted with a few of the girls before making her way towards and past Mrs Kate. Mrs Kate failed to notice Lisa, it was only when Lisa tapped her on the shoulder and said 'Hello' when a very startled Mrs Kate turned blinking with surprise and then exclaiming 'it's Lisa!' when she recognised Lisa's voice - much to the amusement of the rest of us.

And as for my new wig - well it seems we are best of friends! It didn't need much taming and Mrs Kate approves of it. Apparently she felt I looked too much like my sister with the brunette one .... and we can't have that can we! So my new wig has been out with me 3 times now; I think it really likes me.

Blame it on 'Bob'

I found my carpark ticket!, the one I lost in March. It seems that Bob, in a moment of absent mindedness hid it in his wallet; .... well actually.... I think he did it on purpose to embarrass me.

Mrs Kate and I escorted Mandy on her first escape to the Village this week. She was awfully brave, her first outing ever (apart from Teelas) and in daylight... and in mentioning the weather, very warm and not very makeup friendly... but Mandy braved all this and had a thoroughly good time!