"Friends and foes...."

What a pleasure, the Black Mamba is not in the office today so as you might have gathered, for the moment, there is absolutely no "shi* falling from the sky"!
There is a quiet excitement over taking the office as the big boss is nowhere insight in fact, as we speak the evil one is in the dentist's chair... all I am saying is....pure karma!
Today I will be able to take a lunch break, a nice long leisurely one (a whole hour) with the team which I am so looking forward to. To add to the merriment of the weekend drawing near, I got my first compliments today, the first in ages. Apparently my ensemble is "fabulous" and even random lady in the kitchen told me "I lurrrve your look"! Yes please, bring it on! I think the "look" has something to do with my silk headscarf and big chunky wooden bead necklace.
Ladies something I have learnt over what feels like the 30 long years I have been on diet is that... accessories are your friend and ally! The thing is your body can change, your bank balance can deteriorate and your clothes might get stale but accessories are always there, quite literally - through thick and thin!
When feeling my absolute worst both my heaviest and most invisible, I simply put flowers in my hair or a colourful scarf around my neck and immediately it makes me feel like a new fee spirited person. I am not talking a plain expensive gold chain, I am talking bold, colourful and slightly Bohemian and playful.
Seriously, it is worth a try....give it a whirl!
On the other hand and trust me when I say this... jeans and trousers are not your friend! Ask my mother about this one. My mother and I would have to psyche ourselves up whenever it was time to go 'new jeans and trouser hunting'. It would always end in tears and a tantrum. My Dad just stood back helpless and tried to be encouraging by telling me that if I found a good pair of pants that fitted well, to buy a pair in every colour. Nothing ever seemed to fit, I was an odd shape, short and looked like an idiot, so in the end shoes were always the winner. Pink shoes, green shoes, heels, flats you name it - I have been size 5 for as long as I can remember! No problem there, nothing changes no matter what goes in my mouth! Now that the credit crunch is with us, shoes have taken a back seat and accessories are the answer. Every Friday (payday) on the way to work, I buy myself something small and today it was the silk scarf and my word it was worth every penny, I feel glamorous and everybody thinks it looks wonderful!

Tomorrow I have a big lunch with my boyfriend and his family. His aunt, uncle, 3 cousins, 1 cousin's husband and 2 second cousins!
As it turns out my man is a foodie of note and learnt everything he knows from cooking channels (he chops meet like flipping Jamie Oliver)! It was quite amusing last night, I found myself having a debate as to what would be on the menu for the onslaught of his "clan". I got to choose the potato dish and the salad and he got to choose the main, sauce and dessert (not fair)! My man is making bloody Pavlova - can you believe it? We came to an amicable decision that next time we have a dinner party we will have to play "fives" or draw course suggestions out of a hat! I think we are now actually competing as he told me that he thinks I am scared that he is the better cook than I am.
He clearly does not realise that I am always up for a competition and that I have my my brilliant cook mother and excellently clued up entertainment guru sister on speed dial....Mom and AB hope you are ready this, get ready for tomorrow - I might be phoning a friend!

Oh my goodness it is lunch time.... Yippie, I am so ridiculously over excited I am getting delirious! Oh my word my fellow Goddess in the making (my protege Georgina) has just devoured a caramel wafer bar right before my eyes! What? I suppose it is Friday after all and I plan on following her in her footsteps by treating myself with a glass of wine. Once again I will attempt to try enforce the thinking of a skinny person and keep reminding myself that this weekend is not the last time I will ever see food, which means there is no need to start a food feeding frenzy.

So long, have a great weekend, watch this space for Week 3 weigh in on Monday! Hold thumbs.......