Apparently, the clothes I am wearing are called: trousers and top co-ord. If I hadn’t heard Trinny Woodall mention this term ‘co-ord’ a lot, I would never have known what it was. Cambridge dictionary says: co-ord is short for coordinates: clothes, especially for women, that are made in matching colours or styles so that they can be worn together. It is as close as I will ever get to a jumpsuit as they look horrible on me. The top of this ensemble covers my bum and the slanting sides give nothing away about my hips. They could be big or small, who is to know.
Stylish friend Misja ‘approved’ of my choice of necklace but advised to use a pink top instead of a white one. That gave me the idea of the fuchsia bag because pink and green is a good combination.
My friend Sylvia of 40PlusStyle is in the Netherlands again (yay) and we had a day in the lovely town of Alkmaar. She kindly offered to take photos.
Below: Sylvia on a terrace in the centre of Alkmaar.
Below: As Alkmaar is famous for its cheese markets, we thought it was appropriate to pose in front of a cheese store. My cross-over mini bag won’t hold a camera so I took a shopper with me (brand Obag).
Alkmaar has tiny streets with lots of little shops, a heaven for shoppers. Nevertheless neither of us bought anything this time.
Below: This old town has beautiful houses.
Below: Canals, churches, terraces…the lot.
Below: Sylvia.
Below: The trousers have a fancy seam at the sides.
Below: The back of the co-ord.
Below: We had lunch on a terrace and later stopped for a drink on another terrace. Sylvia enjoying the sun. Look at her cool boots.
Below: Of course we also took a head to toe shot.
Then a woman sat next to us, looking so good in her dress that I asked her to pose for the blog. Her daughter encouraged her and I am so glad for that.
Below: This is Monique in a green corduroy shirt dress. (If it shows up grey on your screen, I am sorry, it is green.)
Doesn’t she look good? Great dress, so well fitted, beautifully combined with the fashionable sneakers.
Below: For those of you who are in lock-down or have to walk the streets with a mask, it must be bizarre to see these photos. As if nothing is the matter. Well there is and the virus cases are rapidly increasing again in the Netherlands. Mostly in the big cities, which is why I chose Alkmaar to go to. In this area there are less cases. Smart as that may have been, a Saturday wasn’t the best choice. Next time I will not go to town again in the weekend. Too busy.
Below: See how busy it is? Luckily when we had lunch there, it wasn’t this busy.
Below: Close-up of the necklace and the pink top. The slashed sleeves close with two golden buttons.
Below: A similar photo as the first one for the details. You can see the side seam very well in this photo. Trousers and top co-ord: Dante, fuchsia bag: Manoukian, pearl necklace: from a friend of a friend, sneakers: Pavement, plastic ring: present from Tiffany, a fellow Instagrammer. Haircut: my hairdressing salon Rob Peetoom.
If you want to see more of Alkmaar, check this post of a previous visit to this city, also with Sylvia.
What happened in my life this week
The weekend was fine, starting on Saturday morning with coffee and a chat at Loes (across the road) who had her garden done. I can do that all day and week as you know. The visit to Alkmaar with Sylvia is described above and on Sunday Ron and I visited my mum. We brought food to eat together, saving mum from having to cook and left an extra portion in her freezer.
The week began with a visit to the hairdresser which I love. The pampering, the looking good afterwards: top. After that, my agenda was empty, which scared me. I have never had nothing to do for a whole week.
Having nothing to do is dangerous for me, as that leaves me a lot of time to shop. Luckily this time I visited a second-hand shop, called Appel & Ei, fairly new to this town. Translated it is Apple and Egg and it comes from a Dutch saying: when you get something for next to nothing, you have bought it for ‘an apple and an egg’. Clever to use that as the name for the shop. The shop was like a luxury shop: spacious, everything hung nicely colour by colour, nice fitting rooms (click the link to see). Nothing like the second-hand shops I am used to. Nevertheless I couldn’t find anything until a pair of golden slingbacks caught my eye. My size, exactly the shape I am after, metal gold (although I prefer silver) and the price was 12 euro, which is indeed nothing. I wore them the next day and they even carried me to town and back (litmus test). Great find.
The next day was a glorious day and I wanted to sit in the sun on a terrace but couldn’t find a friend to join me. Ron stepped in and we wandered to town, me wearing those golden slingbacks. I bought a hat, Ron bought very warm slippers, we chatted with shop owners and indeed sat on a terrace in the sun. And who was also on that terrace? My successor in my old job, the lovely Astrid. She has a couple of weeks holiday and visited a friend in Haarlem, saying: “Who knows, I might see Greetje”. The odds that we’d actually meet were pretty slim, but there you go. She took an usie to show to the colleagues.
Another lunch with Sylvia, making the most of her short stay here. We chose a fancy estate to have lunch: Plantage Rococo which is a hotel and a restaurant with organic and sustainable food. The dishes were delicious and the ambiance superb.
As you didn’t mind the six photos of the passageway two weeks ago, I am sure you won’t mind a couple of photos of this estate.
Below: The house on the estate, converted into hotel and restaurant.
Below: I wore my baby blue pane checked trousers with the jumper which is the nicest on it. Everything Essentiel Antwerp.
Below: Sylvia, wearing a silver jumper, talking to the waiter.
Below: The restaurant we were in. Posh, right?
Below: The hall.
Below: The stairs to the rooms of the hotel.
Below: The sitting room of the hotel (I presume).
It was really lovely and not even very expensive. I think I will go there again. My friend Anja spent her wedding night here.
Further in the week Loes and I did a photo shoot. I like having enough photos in stock. If the rain and cold hit us again, there might not be many options to shoot. Loes is doing most of the photography as Kitty had computer problems and has to catch up on a lot of work. Better not to bother her too much.
Ron and I visited the hat shop again as he was keen on a particular hat and his size had to be ordered. He came away with the first one he put on his head. Ron loves hats and in particular caps. I hate caps on him. The pork pie hat he chose this time is quite all right. Makes him look like a musician, which he is. He was a singer in a band one time as he has a very good singing voice.
Ending the week wearing this. Ron was very appreciative of that. He likes it.
See you next week.
Greetje
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