I’m taking part in Living Well Wednesday – a fun, weekly blogging meme, focusing on achieving our new year goals ONE WEEK AT A TIME!

Diet & Fitness progress for this week:

• I’m now firmly back in the healthy BMI range, having lost half a stone (7 lbs)  in just one week!  Yay!
• I’ve started using an i.Fit machine to top up the workouts I’ve been doing.

i.Fit is the latest state of the artWhole Body Vibration machine, using BOTH oscillation AND vibration.

• I’ve being attending a Zumba class, as well as doing Zumba Fitness Wii workouts at home.
• I’ve been doing daily yoga workouts on Wii Fitness Plus.
• I’d been doing Tony Horton’s 10-minute workout DVDs until my DVD player blew up!!  Thankfully, my clever Hubby managed to rescue my treasured fave workout DVD, but sadly the DVD player was beyond help and has had to be replaced.

You can join in with Living Well Wednesday over at Natalie Collinson’s blog.

Last year I spent the entire summer in my fabulous white Avon Fitflops!  I LOVED them!!  They were soooo comfy!!

Fitflops help to stabilise feet to improve posture and enhance your natural walking motion.  They have shock absorption soles to cushion feet.  These shoes retail at around £18 from Avon, which is less than half the price of similar products on the market.

This year, Avon have launched black sequinned fitflops, and I intend to buy them and spend the entire summer wearing them.

What about YOU?  What is YOUR favourite item of summer clothing?

You can join in the Girls Talk fun over at the Beauty Queen Gene.

This week’s Girl’s Talk has another Shopaholic theme, and this time it’s all about housewares / homewares.  What items of homeaware do I like to browse and buy?

Last week, when the shopaholic question was about health and beauty items, I told you that, as a Vie At Home consultant, I tend to purchase the bulk of my health and beauty products from there. Well, Vie At Home also do a homeware range, so I like to purchase bedding, cushions, throws and table linen from there.

I am a cushion junkie!! I *heart* cushions soooooooooooooo much!! I have LOTS of cushions (8) on my bed (too much, according to Hubby!) and several cushions on my sofas in the livingroom!

I also love throws, and have three (yes, THREE) for our bed, plus a spare couple for the sofas, which I tend to only use as blankets for cuddling up on the couch in the winter!  In the summer, I only use two light throws over our duvet, and it’s more for decoration than warmth.  However, in the winter, I bring out a huge kingsize throw which completely covers the bed, and makes it feel sooooo cosy!!

While I’m talking about my bedroom, I’ll fess up to having three changes of bedlinen for our bed, and I’m thinking of buying another set!

What I really need to stock up on are crockery and glasses.  Over the years, we’ve had a lot of breakages and so we’re due for a replenishment!…  This is so apparent when we have guests over for dinner and/or drinks.

What about you?  What homewares do you enjoy browsing and/or buying?

You can join in the Girls Talk fun over at The Beauty Queen Gene.

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Now it’s time for a shameless plug…

November Bedding Offers

Tuesday 2 November – Wednesday 1 December 2010 (whilst stocks last)

We’ve got a fab bedding offer to keep you snuggled up inside this winter, with 50% off and a free Elegance Throw this is sure to be a hit so get in quick!

SINGLE OFFER

Buy the La Belle VIE Single Duvet, Single Fitted Sheet and Single Standard Pillowcase and get 50% off AND a free Elegance Throw! Offer price just £40.75/€51.00. Save £105.75/€132.20. RRP £146.50/€183.20

To order please quote: LBVSINGLE

DOUBLE OFFER

Buy the La Belle VIE Double Duvet, Double Fitted Sheet and 2 Double Standard Pillowcases and get 50% off AND a free Elegance Throw! Offer price just £57.75/€72.20. Save £122.75/€153.50. RRP £180.50/€225.70

You can order online here.

To order please quote: LBVDOUBLE

Guidelines

1.    Items are whilst stocks last and are subject to change.

2.    Offer includes La Belle VIE Single and Double bedding only.

3.    Offer available between Tuesday 2 November – Wednesday 1 December

4.    This offer is not part of the Hostess Gift Programme.

Spend £25 and choose from the following items for £5.00:

This week’s Girl’s Talk asks:

As a shopaholic, what do you usually fill in your grocery basket from the health and beauty section?

As an Independent Consultant for Vie At Home, I actually buy most of my health and beauty products from there. (Makes sense, huh?) I buy practically all my makeup and skincare from Vie At Home.

However, I frequently pop the following health and beauty items into my basket / trolley, when shopping at the supermarket:

• TRESemme Shampoo & Conditioner (For Colour Treated Hair)
• VO5 Styling Wax
• Silvrikin Hairspray (Natural Hold)
• Dove Deodorant
• Carex Handwash
• Johnson’s Baby Wipes
• Nivea Lip Salve

Unlike me, Hubby does not have brand loyalty.  His preference for male grooming products are cost-orientated!  He tends to be more interested in BOGOF offers than particular scents or ranges.

I buy my daughters’ shampoo, bubble bath, bodywash and detangle spray from Avon, as their kids range is far superior to anything I can find at the supermarket.

You can join in the Girls Talk at The Beauty Queen Gene.

1. Out of the Shadows
2. Correct & Perfect
3. One Step Face Base
4. Blush Gloss
5. Necker Gel
6. Vitamin C Skin Fix Day Cream
7. Skin Dew
8. Lip Plumping Treatment
9. Arlene Phillips Dancing With Colour
10. Honey Bath Treat

Aren’t they gorgeous?  They are Vintage Chinese Eternity Lantern Tassel Earrings.  I’ve just bagged the last pair from Jocelyn’s fantastic Etsy shop.  I can’t wait to get them!  :)

You should visit the shop and have a browse.  She’s got lots of other delightful goodies.  Jocelyn designs and creates handmade jewellery with semi-precious gemstones, Swarovski crystals and pearls.

This has been due, in part,  to technical problems in early summer, when I was without my laptop for a while.  I then went on holiday to sunny Florida and had the school holidays to keep me busy!  Recently I have been occupied with working on a new project – my brand new Mamma Kerr blog.

Mamma Kerr – www.mammakerr.com – is a mommy blog, where I will write about many different topics, including parenting, health, home & garden and beauty.  I will be reviewing products and services, providing useful hints and tips, as well as having a general rant about topical news items and pet peeves.

I will continue to update this Beauty Spot blog, which now feeds into my main Mamma Kerr blog.  Therefore, you can continue to follow me here or you can subscribe to Mamma Kerr and get regular updates on all topics.

The official launch is of my new blog is Monday 28th September, and I will be holding competitions every week for the first month.

Please visit Mamma Kerr blog for more information this weekend.

My class was absolutely mobbed on Thursday night!  It was queued out the door when I arrived sharply at 7pm for my weigh-in.  I asked a few of my fellow dieters in the queue, whether this was especially busy or not.  It was certainly the busiest I’ve seen it out of my three visits.  Everyone agreed that it was an exceptionally busy night. 

The fact that it is now less than 100 days to Christmas is no coincidence.  This is the time of year when many women start making preparations for Christmas, and part of those preparations include planning what to wear at the round of Christmas parties and celebrations.  Many women, myself included, would love to fit into an outfit in a smaller dress size for the party season.  Some women might simply want to ensure that they fit comfortably into their favourite LBD. If you start your diet and exercise regime just now, there should be plenty of time to achieve that.

One of my goals, when joining my slimming class, was to lose a stone (14lbs) by the Christmas party season.  Just two weeks into the diet and I’m half way there already!  I’m now confident that I’ll surpass my original goal, and I am thrilled at the prospect.

I attend my local Slimming World class, and I’m following their new Extra Easy diet.  To find out more visit the Slimming World website here.

I gingerly mounted the scales last night and held my breath…

“You’ve lost four and a half pounds.  Well done!”

I’m so pleased.  It’s a good start on my diet and I am still full of enthusiasm for the weeks and months ahead.

“I will reach my target weight!”

One real advantage of attending a slimming class, rather than just doing a diet on your own, is that you really do feel part of a team.  All the other slimmers in the class are going through similar ups and downs in their quest to lose weight.  Their stories and achievements are awe-inspiring.  It really gave me a boost to hear how much weight some of the ladies had already lost (some in a short space of time!).