Right, another shopping with friends post. This time with my ex colleagues, whom you have seen many times before (here, here, here, here.) We visited Claudia, who lives near the old and beautiful town of Zwolle. After coffee, cake and lunch, we drove to town for some serious shopping. Apparently I choose my friends on their eagerness to shop. Very few of my friends don’t like shopping.
Above: on Claudia’s terrace with windswept hair. Wearing my trusted skinnies (Denham) and a checked vest by “The Masai Clothing Company”. It is cotton/viscose. The jeans blue top underneath is by Eve in paradise. My silver pumps (Dune) are the ones I bought when in Eindhoven with my Shopping Saturday friends. They are very comfortable.
Below: Jilske on the left and Marijke on the right. As I said, we always start with coffee and cake. Claudia had made me a gluten free carrot cake, the sweetheart.
Below: there are serious things to discuss as well. Not all laughter and fun.
Below: Marianne, wearing a lovely cardigan. I told her not to dress for spring as there was a fierce wind blowing.
Below: Claudia and Marianne. Claudia was bending over and had her legs nearly in a split. She is very supple.
Below: full picture of Jilske
Below: Marijke. This photo is a miracle. That woman is so hard to photograph. Her face is in constant motion. And when she knows the camera is pointing at her, she makes faces. Drives me up the wall.
Below: Marijke was wearing a lovely dress with cardigan.
The above picture was taken after a lot of goofing around (hoisting her dress up to her behind).
Below: this was the least revealing photo of her hoisting. See what I mean? Nothing but mischief.
Below: we went into the garden to do a few shots of my outfit. Those heels are so much more comfortable than a stiletto heel.
Below: Claudia put on her tan sneakers and away we went.
Below: Zwolle is a very, very old town. People were living on this spot since the bronze age.
Below: a few more pictures of Zwolle to set the scene.
Below: when I see lovely old buildings like this, I always think they are defiled by these shop logos.
Below: right…. back to the shopping. Into the first shop…
Below: Claudia checking out this shirt.
Below: I loved this outfit in the window. Three reasons not to buy it: 1) it doesn’t fit my daily life, 2) camel is the worst colour for me near my face and 3) I was still on a strict no-spending budget.
In hindsight: this jacket would have really suited me. It is tailored, casual chic, it has lapels. What if I wore an orange top underneath?? Wouldn’t that have been nice?
Below: a couple of shots of Marijke, trying on this dress with different jackets and in another colour. She will be your mannequin. Her question mark face said: what shoes to wear with it?
Below: with a lightweight black jacket for cooler nights.
Below: or a white jacket for lunch. Although her face says something else, she really liked this.
Below: on her way to the dressing room she started to undress…. Claudia is holding up the dress in another colour.
Below: is blue better?
Below: of course we are all gathered around her to give our honest opinion. And believe me… the Dutch are brutally honest. No sugar coating…: “this makes you look fat”, “take that off immediately”, “no, I wouldn’t do it if I were you”… That kind of thing. All meant in a loving way, but to anybody else but the Dutch we are rude, impolite and offensive.
Below: Marianne in her lovely teal coat sometimes gets burried in our bags and clothes, which we hang on her wheelchair or dump on her lap. She is our keeper.
Below: the old town of Zwolle is surrounded by a moat. Too bad there weren’t any leaves on the trees yet.
Below: museum de Fundatie in Zwolle. The new addition on the roof of this old building, in the shape of an ellipse, is called the Eye (if you click on this link to the building, you know why) or the cloud. Of course people have given it their own names like space ship, egg, zeppelin. I quite like this addition.
Below: at the end of the day we all went for a coffee at Bagles and Beans. Such a warm hospitality there and a great cappuccino. As you can see I switched the pumps for sneakers. Just as nice and far better for a day down town.
Below: oh look.. there is Marijke goofing again.
Below: she is not the only nutcase ….
Below: some flowers for our hostess Claudia.
Back to Claudia’s place to eat her Indonesian fried rice dish (nasi), which was delicious.
Next week: visiting a museum in Groningen with Ron.
Greetje
Linking to both hostesses of a link-up, called “How I wear my…”. This time the subject was Greenery.
- Adrienne’s The Rich Life in Wine Country
- Jill’s Everything Just So
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