Her very First pair of Big Girl Shoes!

My lovely 16 1/2 YO TD allowed me to go shopping with her today.
Well, I was there in body, I think she only indulged me tagging along in the knowledge that money would be spent...
To be honest, I had said we needed to get her a new Jacket and some make-up.

How well I remember those 'shopping days out' with my own Mum. Heading out together with the intention of only picking up a few essentials...in the knowledge that I could usually manage to wangle a few extra 'non-essential' items along the way*.

We did also enjoy a fun, girly afternoon, with lots of window shopping and 'Oohing and Aahing' and loads of 'Oh WOW come and look at this..

As they say 'What goes around comes around'*...


The photo above shows my beautiful daughter as she usually dresses. She loves her Jeans, Leggings and Jeggings. And so far, only flat boots/shoes. Uggs, Converse etc...

Well, just take a sneaky peek at these little beauties...Woo-hoo!!

These are her very first, ever ever, real grown up, 
pair of high heels!

My oh my! They are glorious..with a towering 5 inch heel...

Which will now make my already 5'9" little girl a staggering 6'2" tall...Way to go baby girl...

Christmas presents, Teenagers & Surreal shopping...

This year I am well and truly stumped on the Christmas present front.

The only, and I do honestly mean THE only, things they've asked for are "A cable for my guitar that plugs straight into my laptop" from my 18 yr old son. Done.

"Twilight, the books" from TD (but I have a feeling her Daddy has sorted that one. I would say 'stolen' but then I did mention it to him. I really must check) and "More RAM for my computer" from my 19 yr old.

My 22 yr old has absolutely no ideas for gifts, but is very clear on what he doesn't want. NO clothes, DVDs or Music. He says "There's nothing I really want" ::help::

Eeekk!....So what on earth am I supposed to buy them for Christmas??

So, I thought I'd try the wandering around, looking for inspiration, type Christmas shopping today. Early. I am notoriously renowned for not leaving the house until the afternoon, unless forcibly ejected, I am lazy, lazy, lazy...I am not a morning person!

But as I had already promised TD a lift to college this morning, for a day trip to The National Portrait Gallery in London with her photography class, I would already be out & about.

By 8.20 I was sitting in a completely deserted multi-storey car park, which held just the one car, mine, and 3 car wash guys, twiddling their thumbs, as, er....there were no cars to wash.

Obviously a tad early then!

Not a problem, a pot of tea & a bacon butty in BHS's cafe occupied me till 9am..yummy! It is quite surreal being in a shopping centre when it's virtually empty, a bit dreamlike. Me & about 6 other people....

I did buy a few things, but seriously, this is the first year ever, that I haven't had a list of things to be ticked off as I shove my way round the stores. No 'must have' items that need reserving, or driving some ridiculous distance to get the last one in stock... It felt very, very odd.

Maybe it's the end of an era for me....so I'm feeling a little sad...ish

It is also the first time I didn't have to 'shove' my way around the stores.
Maybe there's something to be said for this 'early' shopping lark, it was quite pleasant.

But luckily, some things don't change......They may be all 'grown up' now....



.....but they still asked for the family Advent Calendar....YAY! .... Not so sad now...