One of my favorite vintage blogs is Lottie Loves, run by Brit-turned-California super-mom Lottie. One regular feature of her blog is Finishing School, where she alphabetically runs through goals and post challenges for her followers to complete. Since I'm late to the game, I am going to start posting backwards from the latest, starting with O and then try to catch up. She posts them one a month so if I'm on the ball I will catch up in no time!

Your Challenge:

I have offered up so much to think about this week that I am going to make the challenge simple. All you need to do is think and give a little thought to being ladylike.

- Think about your own behaviour. Are you ladylike all the time? Do you have a lady like image? If you don’t, what can you change to improve that?

- Think of a woman from the past or present that you admire. What do you admire about her? Is she ladylike? If so, what makes her ladylike? What is it about her behaviour and look that you like?

By reflecting on the image of others and looking at yourself you can see where improvements need to be made. None of us are pefect and we are all a work in progress but working towards being ‘ladylike’ is a move that will stand you in good stead.

Just remember, ‘Ladies’ command respect without even trying. Being respected makes an enormous difference to every woman’s life.

Throughout the A-Z I repeat key themes that I feel can hugely make a difference to how you feel about yourself, your confidence and self esteem, as I have tried and tested. This exercise is merely an over view of being lady like. You will find that the course to date has already covered certain elements of this post in more detail, other elements will be covered in detail later.

Like Lottie said, Ladylike is the whole theme of Finishing School, so in theory if I'm doing well in the rest of the posts, this post should be a breeze. I think I have a fairly ladylike image. I dress well, I try to look my best and I'm working on my posture (it's so hard!).

I think my major fault, however, is my behaviour. Not that there is any excuse for unladylike behaviour, but as a young girl who grew up on a farm and is now a journalist, I have a very foul mouth. Just yesterday I think every other word I said (in the office, to my editor or other co-workers) was a swear. I'm so bad!

I don't really swear around sources but I'm sure it will slip out and that will be horribly embarrassing and I will crawl into a hole and die.

As for women I admire for being ladylike, I'd have to say my Grandmothers, Joyce Callsen & Marion Marchant.

Grandma and Grandpa Marchant, June 2008

Grandma and Grandpa Marchant, Remembrance Day 2008.

It would be a rare occasion to ever hear my Grandmothers swear or look anything but their best. They are always so lovely, both inside and out. I'm proud to have them as ladies in my life.

In fact, I love every lady in my life - they're all strong role models.

We all clean up very nicely too, if I do say so myself!

xo Laurie