With Summer approaching lots of us are thinking about getting into shape and magazines start giving you tips on getting that 'bikini body' I don't buy into the whole bikini body thing, surely you just have a body and put a bikini on it, bikini body. Right? Anyway I digress...

A few bloggers got the opportunity to try out a gym local  for a month, courtesy of MoneySupermarket.com in order to see whether they feel like it's worth the expense as part of the Gym for the Win initiative.

Living a healthy lifestyle means eating the right foods AND exercising as party of your weekly routine. I have the food bit covered (apart from gin and cake on weekends) and have charted my struggles with this on my other blog Where Are My Knees. I'm close to -6 stone since the beginning of my journey with Weight Watchers but I hit a bit of a plateau at the end of 2012 and haven't lost any weight since.

I had always been put off by the gym, I tried it at uni and quickly became bored and stopped going. Also my weight loss motivation was never to look super athletic, I just wanted to be size 14/16 so I didn't have to shop solely at Evans or ASOS Curve anymore. Now I'm a little older I'm far less worried about clothes much more health focused and I know that I really do need to dedicate a little bit of team each week to getting into shape.

The price of the gym had always put me off too, gyms near work in Cardiff can cost around £50+ a month and have lots of fancy features that I would never use and always seemed like a waste of money. £50 is a new dress, a big night out and a new nail polish or £50 towards my buying a flat fund. I found that my local council run gym offered gym, pool use and classes for just £30 a month and it's less than a 5 minute walk from my house so I was sold.

I hope you're all feeling refreshed after a long weekend. I spent it with friends drinking cider and eating cake which is one of the best ways to spend a Bank Holiday don't you think? I also managed to watch Mulan, Hugo and Matilda on Saturday in my pajamas whilst eating ice lollies, 25 going on 5.

I wore my new Kelly Brook for New Look dress to the pub on Sunday and I love it! It's perfect with my denim jacket for a casual look and I can wear this with sandals in the summer or heels on a night out. I bought it when it was full price but it went down by £20 in the sale so I returned it and bought it at the cheaper price. The £20 covered my night at the pub on the weekend so well worth the effort returning it.

Do you work in a corporate environment? Do you have a more laid back work place? Do you live in fear that your trousers will get covered in book dust (maybe just us library workers), or do you get to work from home and force yourself out of pyjamas?

I never really know what I should be wearing to work. I'm a lot younger than the rest of the full time staff at the library who like to wear black trousers and a blouse. Most staff my age work part time because they are still students and they obviously dress like students. I feel stuck in the middle, I want to look professional but also not age myself prematurely by wearing smart but dull clothing. I find myself wearing a smart dress one day then my converse and Fred Perry dress the next. I try and tell students to be quiet during exam time and want to have a bit of authority but don't feel I can when I'm wearing a Horrors band t-shirt.

I do a fair amount of lifting and I'm always under the desk pulling cables and things to fix computers but I also work at the information desk and attend conferences. It really is very tricky. There is a great blog where you can check out all the cool things that librarians and library professionals wear here and I've even submitted an outfit myself but I'm still stuck.

I've had a bit of a search and started to put together a capsule wardrobe for work, what do you think?







Dress: Reiss Shoes: bonprix Jacket : Dorothy Perkins Skirt: Warehouse Bag: Zatchels Shirt: eBay

I would probably add a a nice bright coloured t-shirt to this to wear with a cardigan and the skirt and I already have a few block coloured dresses I can wear with a blazer. I think the key thing I need to do is add some print and colour so my personality comes through and I wont end up looking like a corporate bore.

Hours of googling 'workwear' and 'What should a twenty-someting wear to work?' have led me to believe that the following are office necessities:

• A dark suit - Great for interviews and meetings or those days when you have important visitors at your work place.
• A white shirt - You can wear this with some smart jeans to dress down on a Friday or pair it with a pencil skirt for a super smart look.
• Black trousers - You can never have too many of these and cropped ones look great in the summer with some heels.
• Smart shoes -  The shoes I picked from bonprix (above) are perfect for work; smart, practical and a great price. If you stand a lot during the day or walk around a big building then you might want to stick to a low, chunky heels or flats. 
• Structured handbag - You need a nice big hangbag to fit your diary in, lunch and and files or folders that you take home with you at the end of the day. A shabby tote bag isn't going to give off a good impression but you can really have some fun with your bag and go for bold colours.

I picked up this dress on the weekend when Dorothy Perkins had a 20% off sale (they always seem to have them don't they?) and I love it. It comes in all different colours so I had a hard time choosing but I thought the stripes were nice and summery/nautical. I love the shape on this dress, the neckline is very flattering and it fits very well. I may invest in another colour too as this dress is pretty versatile. The thick straps are great, I hate it when you can see my bra straps underneath which isn't classy at all.