Welcome back! How could you cope for three long months without a daily Craig fix? Phew!

In answer to your questions, I’m just a friend of He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed who has been commanded to share some of my experiences with his gorgeous on-line community.

He claims that he was finding it difficult to keep up with his writing because of all his other commitments (tv/radio/running a gym/ballroom dancing) but we all know that he’s really developed a penchant for facials and pedicures – it’s hard to type when you’re lying on your back at the beautician’s with a Dead Sea mineral mask on your face, apparently.

Glad you liked the post. Look forward to reading your comments in future.

CJ xox

You were right. The dress shopping actually wasn’t so bad. Hey, there were no tears and no tantrums and no pity party in the dressing room… that’s got to count for something, right? And I found something at the first place I went to. So now I have a fancy black dress that doesn’t look too bad on me AND some gray trousers with a greenish top. I’m quite happy with both!

Thanks for your advice anyway! I only saw it a few minutes ago but really appreciate your effort.

Thanks for your comments everyone; you certainly gave me a giggle. You’re right, Jaki, we all have our funny little insecurities, don’t we? Even blokes, apparently (wear those Speedos with pride, Michael. Good for you).

Alea, you’ll have heaps of fun dress shopping. Dresses are so much more forgiving than jeans, swimwear or – urgh – shorts. My (completely unsolicited) advice would be to go for a simple wrap dress in a drapey fabric like jersey or polyester – maybe with a cotton or silk mix. Plain black or a small print works best. The clever thing about a wrap dress is that if you have a great waist (like Sue from Melbourne) it will accentuate it. If you don’t have a waist, it will give you one. Make sure the hem is 2.5cm either above or below the knee (be prepared to have it adjusted if necessary) depending on how much you like your legs. I’m not sure which season you’re in but a just-above-the-elbow sleeve is great because it can take you from spring right through to autumn. Wear it with calf-high boots if it’s cold and a cute wedge heel if it’s warm. If you buy black (which is smart because you will get a lot of wear out of it), accessorise with a skinny long sparkly scarf or some chunky jewellery.

This kind of dress is fairly easy to find. If you’d like to see an example, look up http://www.rebeccaruby.com.au and search on ‘wrap dress’. If you have one of these in your wardrobe, you will always have something to wear – and it will adjust as your weight drops too.

Sorry, I got a bit carried away, didn’t I? Oh well, maybe it will help prevent a few tears in the changeroom. Let us know how you go, ok?

Have a great weekend, everyone. Please keep the comments coming, I always love reading them.

CJ xox

Along these lines I have learnt when I am feeling down and want to cheer myself up with a little ‘shopping’, to never ever go into a changeroom with mirrors – it is like walking into a magnifying glass. Every bump, roll. sag etc etc is simply HUGE – I mean that can’t really be me in the mirror can it? Of course not. I’ll have to come back when I am feeling really good about myself – the problem is that darn mirror still looks the same !!!!!!

Have a great weekend

I went to a specialist sports shoe shop the other day and they get you to walk on a treadmill and you can view the way you walk, run from a video taken from the back. When I stood on the treadmill and started to walk and actually looked at my legs from behind for the first time ever (without having to turn around to try to see) I burst out laughing because all I could see was my mum’s legs…. “my legs are the exact replica of my mums”. Now this could be a great thing if I had lovely shaped legs but I have been blessed with the proverable tree trunks, straight up and down and chunky, it was funny to see them from this angle
On the up side I have a great hour glass body so I just disguise my legs with great figure flattering clothes. I was told the other day that I have a great womenly shape…made my day after shedding 30kg of it

So shorts are out for me I will stick to knee length leggings and Tshirts and thank god the gym I use is aircinditioned