Believe it or not, I have a terrible taste in shoes. Even my mother told me as a teenager how old-fashioned my shoe choices were. Which is why I challenge myself and pay attention to shoe fashion. These black sandals with block heel would not be the kind I’d normally choose. My natural choice would be stiletto pumps, perhaps even with a little flower on them. Nothing wrong with that but they age me, they make my outfits look outdated. Shoes can make or break an outfit.

Then there is another problem: in summer I get blisters in nearly every shoe. Only fabric shoes are comfortable, however, they give little support and they are bad for my knee. Hopeless. So I put my money on these block heels. So far they are great to walk on but still give me blisters. Early days though, I haven’t worn them much yet. Perhaps they will get better when they are broken in. Bought them at LAB Women’s Clothing in Haarlem.The brand of the sandals is A.F.VANDEVORST, a Belgian designer.

Loes was my photographer and we headed to Amsterdam. Completely oblivious of the fact there were major road works on the motor way around Amsterdam during the weekend. Luckily I know the town quite well, and managed to avoid part of the traffic jam.

Below: On the Blauwbrug (blue bridge) across the Amstel.

Below: The Blauwbrug is near the Stopera, which houses the city council, the opera and ballet.

Below: Detail of the Blauwbrug.

Below: Across the Stopera are terraces. Well, really, in Amsterdam there are terraces everywhere, so no big deal.

Below: And just around the corner we found this lovely doorway with roses.

Below: I took a picture of Loes with the roses as well. She had put together a fab outfit.

Below: We moved on to the Walter Süskindbrug, a drawbridge.

Below: The bridge from across the water (the Amstel).

Below: I loved the white house near the bridge. Those flowers and plants make it even prettier.

Over the Walter Süskindbrug you will find The Hermitage, a beautiful building with great exhibitions. They are linked to the State Hermitage in St.Petersburg and often exchange art collections. Of course I will not show you anything of it as we were far too busy taking pictures of the outfit. You know me.

Below: In the courtyard of the Hermitage. The necklace is last year’s by Essentiel Antwerp, also a Belgian brand. Worn before with my white top. I don’t care that there isn’t any bright red in the necklace to match the trousers. Think it looks good anyway.

Below: Close-up of the black sandals.

Below: I changed into sneakers and switched necklace plus bracelet.

Below: Outfit items: the jumper is a couple of years old, first seen with jeans and cream booties; the red trousers are last year’s, first seen with a white top, the sneakers are by Essentiel Antwerp and worn many times. Black bag is the Marcie mini crossbody bag by Chloé.

Below: Holding my hand in a strange way, to show the bracelets together with the necklace. I bought them from Klára Földi, the woman who creates lovely bags and jewellery with her company Strawberry. The red triangle is detachable and can be replaced by any other colour, The golden triangle underneath comes in many other colours. I also ordered these two bracelets which she custom-made. Modern, light-weight and not expensive. If you click on the link to her Facebook page, you can see how versatile the items are.

Below: Close-up of the sneakers. There is a brass piece on the front of the sneakers.

Below: I am getting rather skinny. Well, at least in this outfit.

Below: Time for lunch. We walked away from the main squares as they are too touristy. Bad quality and high prices. In the Utrechtsestraat we found Zuivere Koffie (Pure coffee). What a lovely place.

Below: It is a small restaurant with a small garden at the back where the leaves of the tree make a roof. Love it. The sun was shining bright at that moment.

Below: If you didn’t know better, you’d think you were in Italy or France.

After a thoroughly enjoyable lunch, we took some photos of Amsterdam. A shame the sun was hiding.

Below: Fun on the water. I think there was a hen party going on as I spotted a “bride’. This boat is for 40 people, so it says on the back. There are 21 people on board plus an employee. How would they fit the other 18? All standing up like beans in a pot?

Below: Another drawbridge, this time across the Amstel. It is called Magere Brug (Skinny Bridge).

Below: No matter how small the boat is, if it doesn’t sink, it will be used.

Below: One last shot of the beautiful buildings before we went back home. Where is the sun when you need it?

What happened in my life this week

Saturday was a relaxed morning on the beach. While Ron was playing with Watson at the waterfront, I was on a terrace enjoying the beautiful weather. After our lunch there we quickly went home as I had to bring some trousers for alterations to my seamstress. And I had to visit my hair dresser to cut my fringe. Luckily there was also time to meet Sylvia for coffee.

Below: Sylvia of 40PlusStyle. Taken with my iPhone 10. She looks lovely and the camera did her justice.

Below: I was casually dressed but the shirt is silk. Wearing my suede yellow pumps from Marks and Spencer. You will get a good view of them in another post.

Sunday… hot hot hot weather in the Netherlands. We invited our neighbours and friends Froukje and Petro and went for a little cruise on the water with Ron’s boat. We had to put the sun roof up as the sun was really killing. Especially for puppy Watson that is dangerous. He was very good on board, although I did hold on to his leash tightly when he was very interested in a duck. When we arrived in a small town outside of Amsterdam, called Muiden at 16h35, we were 5 minutes too late for the bridge to open. Dinner break, we had to wait for an hour. Simple solution: get ashore and have a meal.

Monday after work I went to the movie Rocket Man (life of Elton John) with a couple of colleagues and people from our advertising agency. A video we made for the recent advertising campaign turned out so well, we decided to run it in the cinema. So we had to see it.

Tuesday was a normal day at work. Very hot outside and freezing in the office. I had put on a summer dress and was forced to wear my coat. That cold! At the end of the day when I went outside I took the coat off. The world upside down. In the late evening we had horrendous rain, wind and lightning. The water even came up in the shower upstairs. Eeeek. Luckily it didn’t last long.

Wednesday Loes and I had planned to do another photoshoot but the bad weather spoiled it, so we cancelled. Sure enough, 2 hours later it was dry and the sun came out. Did some blogging instead, visited Anja, went to the physiotherapist and the seamstress. And… did a tax thing. Something I had been putting off.

Thursday was an enjoyable day as things went smoothly for a change. My holiday is coming up and there is still a lot to sort out. Also booked a short trip to Turin at the end of August to see Daniela, my Italian blogger friend.

Friday was a quiet day at work. In the afternoon I went to see my niece who had some lovely T-shirts for me. She and her husband have a company designing and producing T-shirts in a very sustainable way. Yay for my new T-shirts.

Greetje

Linking up with Patti of Not Dead Yet Style who shows how put-together (and still casual) clothes of natural fibers can be.