What I wore on my trip to Paris

As you might know, my husband Ron gives me a very nice birthday present each year since 2008. He gives me a generous budget to spend time with Lia, (one of) my (two) best girlfriend(s) on a trip to.... where ever we choose. So far we have been to Paris, London, Milan, Kopenhagen, Rome and this year again to Paris.

I know Lia since we were 16 and we are very harmonious together. Neither of us dominate the other and neither of us get annoyed with the other. Which can happen when you are together 24 hours a day for 3 to 4 days. And we also share the same humour. You can imagine the fun we have.

As the weather forecast was not very good for our days in Paris, I had to pack more than I wanted. An umbrella, a coat and boots that could withstand rain, lots of different shoes for walking, meaning they had to be right for my support soles (we are getting older...). Layers of clothing, socks etc.
Fortunately the weather forecast was too pessimistic. We had half an hour of drizzle the first day and 1 hour the last day. So just 1 1/2 hours in three days.

On our second evening, Ron texted me: "Here is another budget for you and Lia. Go crazy!"
.... We did.

At the Jardin du Luxembourg. Wearing boots as it drizzled.

Ordering a crèpe (pancake). Wearing my leather coat which is excellent for spring weather. 

I left my handbag in the hotel as this Camper bag is super light and can hold more things.

Below: sewing on a button on Lia's coat in the hotel. It had come off and I don't mind sewing. She does. What are friend for..... 

This is what I was wearing when we came on the train. Similar in this post but in Paris with a sweater.

Below: The Louvre

Below: look what Lia's camera did with the above photo!! Amazing isn't it?

Below: in the garden of The Louvre: Les Tuileries. Wearing my new brogues. Which of course, made my feet hurt after 8 hours walking.

Below: having one of our many coffee breaks.

Below: the striped jacket was on tour as well. This time with an orange top.

Below: Lia and I, again on a terrace, waiting for the pina colada and the mojito.

It was great fun and I bought too much stuff, amongst others a top and jacket by Kenzo.
You will be hearing more of this in another post.
Greetje

A little white dress

(I am off to Paris until Sunday, so I cannot publish your comments. As soon as I am back I will attend to it.)

At 40+Style.com there was a challenge called: wearing a dress over trousers. Although I submitted 2 photos for this challenge, it is not really my thing. The new challenge is going to be: Wearing White.
White on white or white with a fierce bright. (Everybody can send in 2 (or more) photos for the challenge. Deadline is May 25. Details are in this article.)

Now I find white as easy as black and remembered I had a Little White Dress in my wardrobe which I hardly wore. The brand is SportMax and bought in Milan two years ago. Time to see whether I had learned something from my fellow bloggers (should be about time....).

I threw the dress on the bed and added all sort of tops, belts, scarfs and cardigans. And tried one after another, after another, after another. I tell you... blogging and fashion can be hard work LOL.

The hard work was rewarded. I had the same, marvellous result as with my brown sheer skirt (here, here and here). Remember I had nothing to wear with that skirt and ended up with so many fabulous combinations? Well... this white dress offers the same opportunities and I will show you only a two of them in this post (so I have some photos left for another post... saves me another photo shoot haha). I did not even try jewellery.

Above and below: I was so proud of myself for adding a yellow belt with green and white. 

Before my blogging days I would never have thought of this.

Below: this is cheating a bit. I would NEVER wear this dress without my arms covered.

The photos are fortunately bad enough so you don't see how old and wrinkled they are.

 The dog is very keen on having her photograph taken.

Above: with white slingbacks

Below: with black peeptoes

Photographic skills are still not up to scratch. Sorry.
Greetje

Fuchsia, orange and red...all together in one cardigan

Anja and I went to a "try and fitting"-session by LaDress. This brand specializes in dresses which make every woman look good. They sell online but also offer "trying-on" sessions at different locations across the country. This time it was in a lovely hotel in Amsterdam, called The College Hotel.
"The hotel is housed in a stylish 19th-century building, which began life in 1895 as a school. Today the hotel and restaurant are continuing the tradition of developing talent, as the staff are students at various hotel management schools, managed by experienced professionals.", so they say.
And indeed it is a lovely place. Even loved the toilets.

We had a look at the LaDress clothes. Beautiful, but I already knew their collection and did not need anything, so we went for coffee and lunch. Anja was so kind to take pictures. Lunch was nice. As was her company.

I am wearing an oranje top with matching cardigan from Claudia Sträter (sorry girls from abroad, this is a Dutch brand that only ships within the Benelux). The wrap cardigan is fuchsia at the top, orange in the middle and red at the bottom. The top is longer than the cardigan which is why you see some orange at the bottom. The trousers are by LaDress and the sand-coulered booties were my lucky find in the sale last week. Although pretty high heeled, they are very comfortable.

Above and below: see how long and skinny my arms are??? No wonder people think I am a size zero. 

I am not (a Large), just have ridiculously long and skinny arms.

If you want to see some of my LaDress clothes, have a look at my yellow tunic, my olive green dress, my red dress with polka dot sash and the same red dress with two different jackets.
Greetje

Black and white spring jacket

This is going to be an elaborate article. Not so much for text, but for the many photos.

The jacket is about 3 years old and very up to date, being black and white. I saw my fellow blogger Trina wearing such a jacket in a fun way with polka dot tights. As copying is the best compliment you can give the creator ..... I went ahead and did just that. Unfortunately my copy was not as good at the original by Trina (Teatime with Trina).

So I decided to go back to my original combination with trousers. You will see the jacket with cream trousers and with white trousers. And with:

• a long (double) black belt
• a small black belt
• a yellow belt
• no belt 

After looking at the photos I decided that the double belt is not really good for this jacket. Especially not seen from the back. But I cannot decide between a small belt and no belt.
Obviously it does not matter what colour top you wear underneath it.

Below you see the back of the jacket, on the left with the double belt and on the right without one. 

                    

Below: my Trina "imitation".

                    
Below: just for fun and variation, sitting in a chair: on the left with cream trousers, on the right with white trousers.
                    

Below: with red top and yellow belt (very daring for me).

Below: with a small black belt.

Below: no belt

They say you should kill your darlings. Meaning you should choose and limit the number of photos.
I am afraid I was not very successful at that this time.
Greetje

Black and white striped jacket

Guys, this was hell... photographing in bright sunlight with a lot of wind.... I tried several spots.
The lovely lady who was taking care of Anja's cat, took the first photos with the arch of green behind me. And we chose to set the camera on automatic. I ask you.... what good is "automatic" when all photos turn out over-exposed???? I could adjust some of them with Picmonkey but only some.
The setting was so nice... what a bummer.
(Note:... been to the camera shop... now I know what I did wrong...It is always the person behind the machine who is wrong. Not the machine itself.)

So I got into the car and went to a park. Could not park at the park.....
Along the canal was a parking spot. Hurray. There I went with all the gear...tripod and all. To find out that the remote was dead. Of course no spare batteries.

After being blown away and freezing, I gave up and shot a couple of photos a week later in our trusted garden.
The striped jacket was a terrific find in a small shop in Zwolle, a nice old town in the east of our country. The shop is called Lev Fashion. After a first glance I thought I was going to walk out with all of my money still in my pocket. Hahaha... I drew my credit card three times! Such good clothes, such different brands, such good staff. And to top it all...they are not very expensive for the quality they provide. I am a fan.

The next two photos below are for the view....

And below two pictures which provide a better look at the jacket.

I feel very much "Jean Paul Gaultier" with this jacket.

If you want to see some interesting shoes, then have a look at the post "Shoe Shine" by Bella (The Citizen Rosebud). She hosts numerous bloggers and their shoes.

Greetje

Flower skirt with red cardigan and black jacket

In these photos you will see another part of the streets around my house. So funny when you put your tripod in the middle of the street and all your neighbours cycle past. All passing comments. As I have very nice neighbours it is a lot of laughs. They all mean well.

This flower skirt is quite old and by Tommy Hilfiger. As flowers are popular again, out comes this skirt.
The top is lime green, one of the many I own.

I have tried the skirt with red and black shoes. They are the same.
On a trip to Gent in Belgium I saw the red shoes first. Fell in love staring at them in the window. Coming home after this purchase, I could smack myself for not buying them in black as well. An error which has been corrected haha.

Personally I think the black shoes are better with this outfit. The red shoes make it a bit too red in my opinion. What do you think? As far as the cardigan and the jacket go: I like them both.

The photo below shows a number of bicycles, nicely in a rack. We are a country of cyclists.

Below: my hair is looking rather strange.... (notice the garden chairs are out?).

Below: the same outfit with red shoes instead of black shoes. 

Below: with a black jacket and red shoes.

Below: the jacket with black shoes. 

Trying out the camera and the settings for different light. Difficult stuff.
And with this link to other blogs on Visible Monday you can enjoy more.
Greetje