Amanda had always thought her name should be Jane, 'plain' Jane in fact. She had suddenly reached 35 years of age and she realised that she was invisible. During school and her twenties it was always her friends that were noticed by the men that she liked. She had endured many evenings out where handsome men had walked passed to chat to her friends. Her brief marriage to Carl was a convenience rather than a love affair with rom-com like qualities. Yes, he was nice at times, but he too 'noticed' one of her friends and that lead to a long and slow divorce. She felt that she had settled for what she could get rather than what she desired and needed.
At 35 she felt more confident in herself and less worried about making mistakes. While blowing out the candles on her cake she made herself a promise rather than making the traditional wish that had always seemed fruitless in the last 34 years. She pledged to be more outgoing, vivacious and demanding. The days of the doormouse were gone.
As a reasonably pretty, long haired brunette at 5'5 and nine stone she considered herself as slightly above average. She thought her admin job at the law firm was average. Her two bed flat in Bromley, fair. The Ford Fiesta, common. Her dress sense, humdrum. Her love-life non existent and her sex life extinct!
A recent course at work had made her rethink her life. The facilitator, a reasonably attractive successful law firm partner, was discussing decision making with her group. He suggested the simple decision making process of deciding upon pros and cons. He said that you should write down the plus points and negative points and then make your decision. A simple way of deciding upon future actions. He suggested asking a question such as-
Does this person have enough experience and charisma/personality for the promotion that they are applying for?
YesNo
5 years in roleManagement experience
ConfidentColleagues don't respect him
Presentations- GoodPresentation/Dress
Budget experience
He also said that sometimes the cons can outweigh the pros or vice versa despite the added numbers and as we can see above that this person would not fit the role. He also stated that finding a simple action plan following this process can make huge differences. It opened her eyes as she liked the simplicity.
Amanda decided to apply this process to her life and to some of her future decisions. Simple she thought.
It was a cold November Saturday morning. Amanda sat at home in her office, catching up with some paperwork. It popped into her head, what were her new priorities? She listed them.
New job
New man
New hobby
Holiday/s
Sex
Image/health
She started to think about how she would prioritise the topics on her list. After a long deliberation she decided that in order to achieve them all she would improve her image and health as a starting point.
Amanda decided that her savings were less important than her happiness and her first steps to success were a serious shopping trip and a visit to the salon for a makeover. She also researched a number of the female makeover and fashion magazines and while doing this she could not help but noticed that they had a variety of other chapters and articles. Many of these articles caught her eye especially certain sexy ones. The overriding message that she was getting that everyone was having more sex than her!!
The articles had titles such as- How to be better in bed. How to have better orgasms. Is one enough? Is two too many?. An orgy, is it for me? He opened my eyes and then my legs!
She read them all and enjoyed the openness of the articles, their questioning, and the responses from the people involved. She was impressed and a little surprised at some of the things that she read about. It seemed that normal, ordinary people were having wild and exciting sex behind closed doors. It turned her on. She spent ten minutes looking at the suggestive images and reading the comments of other women (similar to her). Her right hand had strayed beneath her skirt to her thighs and even higher to the waistband of her panties. Soon she found herself lying back and imagining herself in some of the scenes that she had read about. Her hand slipped below her waistband and lower passed her soft pubic hair and to her surprisingly wet clit. Her fingers lingered there stroking herself for what seemed like ages. A montage of images were running though her head as she played with herself. She felt liberated as this was not something she usually did. The wetness felt amazing and she noticed that her stroking was increasing in speed. She also found herself moaning loudly as she repeatedly touched highly sensitive areas of herself. An orgasm was rising. She came very strongly and she did not want the feeling to end. Not only that, she wanted it to become far more regular.
Amanda looked at the clock, 10 am. Lots of time to get things done!! A few phone calls later and the hair and make-up appointment was made. She also went a step further and booked a personal shopper session in the local well regarded department store. The newly found confidence was kicking in!
The shopping trip felt great. Amanda realised that she, for the first time in a long time was open to suggestion. She sat in the hairdresser's chair and the well experienced stylist asked 'what are we doing today?'
Amanda's response was 'Give me a few options. What do you think would suit me?'
Amanda felt nervous as hell when saying this, she really didn't fancy spikes or a skinhead! The stylist showed her a picture of a well manicured bob. Adventurous but not crazy. Amanda agreed, zealously.
It looked great. Never before had she had the courage to look slightly cutting edge. This certainly did. It would be the first time that her friends noticed that she had changed her hair since the bowl cut in primary school!!
Next stop, the personal shopper. Never having done this before, she had no idea what to expect. Surprisingly, she was met by a man, his name was Phillip. He was well dressed in a navy Tom Ford suit, well polished shoes and a smart Omega watch. He greeted her with a slight Italian accent, not due to heritage but due to many a year there researching fashion.
They chatted and after a while she realised that Phillip was amazing at his job. She felt like she had known him for a long time even though their paths had never crossed.
The consultation had included a number of questions and a couple of glasses of champagne-
Is this your first personal shopping experience?
What kind of image are you trying to portray?
Which outfits do you require?
Is this a complete experience?
The visited a variety of departments, Armani, Mary Portas, Pied A Terre, Biba, Hobbs, Phase Eight and many more. Amanda could not believe how good this man was at finding things that suited her. Almost everything he picked out looked good, some looked stunning. She purchased a number of things-
Hobbs- Gemma Dress- Β£99
Hobbs- Sequin Jasmine Dress- Β£89
Ralph Lauren- Lauren Dress- Β£154
Jaeger- Boots- Β£115
Karen Millen- Fun Colourful Court- Β£70