So it’s been awhile since I last updated you on my love life. So it has been going fairly swimmingly. We have now been on a few dates and I have been invited to a very dressy, very serious 'work do'.

Now any girl knows that a ‘work do’ is actually a trial. Will his friends approve? Do you compliment each other as a couple? Are you a couple? All these questions will be answered by attending a 'work do' successfully.

So this is a nerve wracking, and terrifying experience to prepare for. Thankfully my soup eating, star jumping, walking instead of taxis routine has been paying off, and I’m looking as svelte as ever. But after my sample sale disaster last week I cannot afford to go shopping for a show stopping gown.

Yes, ok, so I do have some nice eveningwear, but this is a VERY special occasion and I need to look spectacular. It’s time to draft in the friends. It was Kate, Rebecca and Zoe at the ready and the first stop was a vintage market.

We scoured the stalls, I tried everything on with Zoe promising me that she could take in anything. But still nothing was quite right, everything was too frilly, too moth eaten, too blah… nothing that said “I am a goddess, love me forever, worship me, laugh at my sparkling wit, admire my intelligent conversation…” you get the picture. But what do you do when you can’t afford a new dress?

The second stop was rental. There are some fabulous sites out there where you just rent a dress, a new season one! But of course the one I want and the one I can afford isn’t in stock in my size. Nothing is ever simple is it?! So Rebecca’s input was to head to a swishing party. I was by this point so panicked that I agreed.

This swishing party was quite the event, I took a some of my old pieces that I couldn’t bear to bin, and prepared to scrounge. I found it all a bit much, and left my friends to tackle the bargainistas. But then I spotted it, across the room, a Temperley gown. I ran towards it, my heart was pumping I knew that this was the one.

I grabbed it, the owner appeared, she had bought it for an event and wouldn’t wear it again. But then someone else eyed it, and if there’s a struggle then it goes to an auction, I couldn’t risk it. I begged, I cried and I pleaded, thankfully my lack of pride paid off and I got the dress. Zoe had to take it in a little but it was perfect.

So with a spritz of hairspray, a few hair pins and lashing of mascara. I was good to go in my free designer frock. I glided into that ‘work do’ and had my first Cinderella moment. There was a spring in my step knowing that I hadn’t bankrupted myself to be there. And I can safely say that I passed the work trial with flying colours.

I think I could get into this swishing malarkey more often. I’m loving getting rid of old clothes and getting new ones. I am also loving the fact that where as once upon a time I would have walked into a store picked up the first dress I liked, I had to work to find the perfect gown. I love the fact that my dress tells a story and I will pass it onto someone else, and they too will be the belle of the ball and have the most wonderful memory. Who knew clothes swapping could be chic?