June has been a very mixed month for Family Contomichalos. This month has seen us have to say goodbye to a really dear friend, a truly brilliant and talented photographer who was taken far too early. I went to her funeral with all the children (I know that Lu would’ve been looking down and laughing), I always seemed to have a babe in arms or a child in tow whenever we did our shoots so it seemed only right for us to say goodbye en masse….she will be missed.

Exciting other news, I am freelancing for a new client, a fabulous company in the fashion world. The owner is wonderful, charming and witty and gets the very best out of her staff….she has worked incredibly hard, has a charmed life and counts the Duchess of Cambridge, Pippa and Carole Middleton as regular customers and was put on the fashion map by Princess Diana. I’m going to leave you to comment and see if you can guess who she is and what she does!

When I go for meetings, I do my absolute best to look well –groomed. This is almost impossible as I nearly always have nothing to wear (this reminds me…I must check out next online and stock up). It involves hours of getting ready, throwing clothes around the room, slapping on make-up and most importantly trying to find shoes that look dainty and not too big (I have large feet…my Dad used to say we could save money on holiday’s if we could sail to Spain in one of my shoes…yes I know…confidence boosting)!

Antonis is usually watching in disbelief as his mummy becomes like Wonder Woman spinning round the room but never quite getting there into the alternative ‘costume’….clean hair is a must and this morning I had a nightmare. My dress was still not dry which meant I had to go ‘casual’ –big mistake unless you can pull it off like Kate Moss….my hair was not clean and I resorted to dry shampoo-ing it…which didn’t go unnoticed…’Jessie darling, have you been decorating…it looks like you’ve got something in your hair’…out in the bright light of day, my hair looked like I’d puffed talc all over it…

I sort of managed to pull it off – thinking she might think I was a bit Bo-Ho – I actually realised when I got home that I just looked Ho-Bo…not a good look, on any level… still never mind, I just about got away with it…

Oooh, I forgot to tell you my most exciting news – I am doing some ‘getting ready for summer’ beauty treatments for my website, that’s yummy mummy.net, I tried to do the Dukan Diet (in my house now known as the Jesscan’t Diet) – I just couldn’t stick to it. It is brilliant but I can’t survive without wine – it is one of life’s staples when you have four children, freelance and need to meet your deadlines.

I’ve had my brows shaped, my beard and moustache plucked and waxed -seriously more facial hair than my husband sometimes – (why when you hit your forties do you get chin bristles and adolescent spots mixed with a new crop of wrinkles almost daily? Which brings me nicely to my next point…..BOTOX! Yup! I had it! Can you believe it? My friend from The Good Skin Clinic is the most amazing skin doctor and we decided to do a before and after on me from the website! I was absolutely terrified and worried all night that I would come home looking like Tim Allen in Christmas with the Kranks. Like a startled owl or someone who’d sat on a hot poker – you know the look?

Anyway, I didn’t realise it takes 10 days to kick in, so I came home and didn’t look any different….7 days later (today), I have a sort of refreshed, ironed look! My eyes are more hooded (not so squinty, hung dog and Charlotte Ramplingesque) and my laughter lines are diminishing and hysterically I can’t frown very well – just pull a stupid face where a frown used to be! Amazing!

So, next treatment is laser hair removal…this is brilliant fun, if a little self indulgent. My husband emailed me the other day after I listed my ‘appointments’…he said I sounded like Surrey’s answer to Jordan and then more enthusiastically asked if I could find someone to give me a freebie boob job and some thigh liposuction – the cheek of it! It did get me thinking though, if you had all the money she does – where would you stop…it is addictive. I am really quite getting into it – a little late in life but nevertheless….My husband has started calling me ‘the only way is Jessie’ after I bought him a bit of a blinging D&G watch for Father’s Day! I think next month I better do something worthy and charitable…but until then I say ‘Bring it on babe!’ (see what I mean?!)