Although bright colours like red and yellow suit me best, I have a weak spot for cream. And this cream jumper has buttons on the sleeves! Fun. The photos were made on the 3rd of September when it was a particularly cold and rainy day.
My friend Helena and I had agreed to meet in Amsterdam for cappuccinos, chats and sitting in the sun on a terrace. Instead we ducked into Magna Plaza to be out of the rain. Magna Plaza is an indoor shopping centre, located in the former post office of Amsterdam, built in 1895-1899 and it is a fantastic building. Unfortunately the shops… it just never worked. The shops are not interesting enough (in my opinion) and because of Covid, all food places were closed, so we couldn’t even get a cup of coffee.
Below: Magna Plaza. I pinched this photo from the internet.
Helena and I ran through the rain to the nearest restaurant, ‘t Nieuwe Kafé, which is situated in the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church).
Below: Helena and I just before our cappuccinos and delicious cakes arrived.
We contemplated what to do afterwards and decided to go to the Amsterdam Museum. That is what people do when they are sightseeing and it is raining cats and dogs.
The very old Amsterdam items are supported with new technical stuff. Both tell you the hisory of Amsterdam. Very interesting actually.
Below: Goliath (nearly 5 metres high) and, to the far right, David. The figure in the middle is Goliath’s shield-bearer. They were made in 1650 for an amusement park (??!!) and have been installed around Amsterdam in various places. Goliath’s eyes could roll and his head could turn which was really scary in those days.
Below: A very typical musical instrument of the old days, a barrel organ or street organ. Sometimes you run into one in the street, but there are only a few left. Hard work, low pay. They clink with a collecting-tray to get coins, while these days, people have less and less cash/coins on them.
Below: The knight’s suits of armour. You can see them from inside the museum and outside.
You just have to visit the museum yourself. It kept us interested for quite a while and lo and behold, the rain had stopped when we got out. PHOTOS!!
Below: It was cold for the time of year but not wintery cold and I was wearing my warm cream jumper. My leopard summer coat by Weekend Max Mara was the right choice.
Below: The courtyard of the Amsterdam Museum.
Below: It would have been so nice to sit in the sun on this terrace in the other courtyard…Alas.
Below: My friend Helena, sensibly dressed for the weather and still stylish.
Below: We turned a corner…
Below: A very good head to toe shot by Helena. The brand of the jumper is Notshy, bought at one of my favourite shops in Haarlem: Lab Women’s Clothing (excellent clothes, styling and service). Boyfriend jeans by G-Star Raw, cream boots by a Dutch company called Paul Noyen. The ancient leopard belt is from Etsy and growing very weary (to be replaced by a similar one please). The bag is from the Max Mara outlet in Turin. Often, when I am there, I grab a bag just before I have to pay for everything and so far they have all been lucky grabs. This bag doesn’t get much use, but I do like it.
Below: We headed towards a lunch place, passing through the cute narrow streets of Amsterdam.
Below: It was still dry and Helena was able to take this photo while I was getting a wet tushy. No idea why that little plastic bag was hanging on the fence or what was in it. Amsterdam mystery.
Below: A view from the back. Remember, they are boyfriend jeans, they are supposed to be slouchy.
Below: And because this was such a pretty street, another photo with more street and less me. My hair was giving up.
Below: Beautiful canals but without the sun, it isn’t such a nice picture.
Below: Honestly, any building, sight or pretty place is ruined by these bicycles. They are everywhere and there are so many of them.
Below: Going home by train, looking like this. My hair and damp weather, they are so bad together.
Below: As soon as I got home, I fixed it and sent Helena a photo of the improved hair.
What happened in my life this week
Let me start by showing you a photo of our friend Marla, who finally went to the hairdresser. Remember she had her hair in a ponytail last time I showed her photo? I have added that photo so you can compare. I say Good Job.
The weekend was very quiet and very rainy so no fun. With the exception of Sunday when Sylvia (40+Style) and I had our farewell lunch. Sylvia has gone back to Portugal.
I put on this in-between outfit which husband Ron thought was too summery. Sylvia and I totally disagreed. Just because the weather is dark outside, doesn’t mean you cannot wear something bright and cheerful. Quite the contrary: let’s brighten up the day.
Below: The head to toe shot. You can see that my eye is still black but it is rapidly getting better. I wore a blue/white striped top underneath the red/white striped jacket. I thought of it myself, but was very much inspired by Misja (MisjaB). Link to original post where I am still wearing a plain blue top underneath.
Just because you have nothing to do, doesn’t mean you should dress in jogging trousers and old T-shirts (although admittedly very tempting). Below one of my outfits on an otherwise boring day. Link to original post.
We made a trip to the notary to have our wills adapted which was an excellent reason to get all dolled up, see below. Link to original post, when I wore the top over the skirt. I think that looks better, only I hadn’t checked the post and forgot it was styled this way…duh.
The notary was very good and gave us excellent advice.
Last week I started with lessons in Instagram given by the girl next-door. She is 14 and has got very good didactic skills. It is not that I don’t know anything of Instagram, but I haven’t kept up with the new features as I thought they were rather uninteresting. The only thing is, new features are built with 80% old features. If you keep up, you only have to learn 20%. If you don’t keep up, you will find yourself out of touch one day and then it will be far more difficult to get familiar with the new technology. I want to keep up with all the technical stuff. She pops over for an hour a week or so and I get to ask her all the dumb questions. So nice.
Another thing that kept me busy is checking a site of a new friend who sells jewellery. She is updating her content and I am the hawk’s eye trying to find the things that need improvement. Quite a lot of work but I am very much the person for this sort of work and we are having a jolly good time.
For ten weeks to come, Wednesday nights, I will be following a course on stand-up comedy. My idea was to be dressed comfortably (see below). Link to original post, although I am wearing a different belt and necklace this week.
The evening was indeed very funny and I enjoyed it. I am rather apprehensive though as we have to write our own jokes and on average there has to be a laugh every 12 seconds. I doubt whether I am that creative. The other thing is, that I do not find it Covid proof. It is quite a large and high hall, but we are with 14 people. Masks would make it impossible to judge a face or to hear each other properly. So I am still thinking What shall I do?
On Thursday I had a little bit of a sore throat and headache. I took no risks and cancelled an appointment with a woman who perhaps wants to ‘hire’ me to assist on some days in an art gallery. Seems like fun but we have to meet each other next week. I also cancelled dinner with our friends Georg and Marla. Just cannot chance it. But the next day, around noon, I felt much better, so it was probably false alarm.
Greetje
A museum is God’s gift for rainy, cold days.
Love the white top with the white boots!! Same for the beautiful skirt and top. I think for you, keeping the top out will give you a better proportion!! Your friends look charming.
Thank you Daniella. I always think that when it rains, nature and museum directors are content. The top is actually cream, not white. Next week you will see a white top haha.
And I agree that the top out is much better with the pleated skirt. It is so easy to just check my own Outfit Gallery to see what the outfit was like when I really thought it through. Don’t know why I didn’t.
I would not have even noticed your black eye if you hadn’t pointed it out, Greetje! It’s looking so much better!
Amazing pictures, as always – gosh, it is so pretty there! The bikes are better than the same amount of space taken up by homeless people, which is what we see here – it’s becoming a little scary, there are so many! I’d rather have bikes…
Love your boyfriend jeans – a style I cannot wear (curvy me + baggy = extra visual size). I am pleased that you matched your leopard coat and mask – well done! I’m really surprised that more people aren’t embracing the fun of masks (may as well, they aren’t going anywhere).
Marla’s haircut is fabulous – so chic! I love seeing pictures of your stylish friends, including Sylvia! Oh, Ron, don’t you know we can wear what we want, when we want? Good thing he has you to fill him in (hee hee).
I would be terrified (but also strangely interested in) doing stand-up comedy! You are so brave! I hope you are feeling better soon, Greetje.
Indeed, there aren’t many homeless people in the street. Of course there are homeless people; our country isn’t perfect, but usually they can find shelter.
Being tall and an inverted triangle, boyfriend jeans look good on me, IF they are the right shape. G-Star Raw has provided me with the second pair (the first pair I have worn to threads).
Masks are becoming more popular now that the measures are stricter (since Wednesday this week), but in the streets there still aren’t that many.
My friends are rather stylish, aren’t they? I hope I haven’t chosen them for that reason as that would be so shallow. (No, I haven’t.)
Ron often is my stylist and a good one, which is why he sometimes comments. I cherry-pick. If I think he has a point, I will follow it up. If not, too bad.
The stand-up comedy course has come to an end. Partly because I didn’t think it was Covid-proof and partly because I already discovered after the first lesson, that it is way out of my reach. Performing on stage is not what scares me, but having to write your own material/jokes is something I cannot do. So I quit. I am not brave, I am a quitter.
Greetje
The boyfriend jeans and cream sweater look so spiffy. Good look for you. Enjoyed your photos from the museum. How nice they were. I think you could do comedy. Your blog always makes me smile. Thanks for sharing.
Oh I love that word: spiffy. I always thought it was an English word, but it is American, so I learned. One of the reason why I follow the stand-up comedy course is because I love to make people laugh.
Such a cute sweater and I’m sure you’ll get lots of wear from it! It rained a lot when we visited Amsterdam, and I’d love to visit again when there are at least a few clear days. I love those pretty little streets!
I’d love to find an Instagram tutor who could get me caught up with all of the latest bells and whistles. So much to keep up with!!
Yes it was so unfortunate that it rained when you were here. I would have loved to pick up the picnic basket from the house boat. Now Ron has sold his boat so even if it is nice weather. Although… we could always rent one.
Finding an Instagram tutor is easy. Scout the neighbourhood for a 13 or 14 year old person.
I like all the leopard details, especially the boots! Very fun.
Ah.. you are a leopard fan. Well, there were three outfits with leopard print in this post, so “you got a treat” haha.
I love photos. I love your casual look of jeans and white sweater, the quintessential basic look. Of course, I love your close-ups. I also like your pink jacket, it is very pretty. The skirt and animal print look is fantastic.
Glad you like so many of my outfits in this post. It is going to be hard for me to be elegant in Covid/Corona times I think. But I will try.
I love that red striped jacket and adding more stripes with the t-shirt was brilliant! That ‘dolled up’ outfit is lovely on you, too. I’m just in awe of how you get dressed up everyday. I fix my hair and add a tiny bit of makeup and earrings, but the outfits are another matter entirely. I wear knit pants, just a little nicer than joggers, and often a men’s long sleeve t-shirt. I do try for bright colored tops, mostly to keep my spirits up! I think one of our differences is that I live in the ‘boonies’, out in the country, where there is truly zero chance of a friend or neighbor showing up at my door. I guess I’d have to up my game if I lived in a city!
Thanks, as always, for brightening my Sunday!
You are right Wendy. I don’t know what I would be wearing if nobody ever saw me. Well, I do try to be nice for my husband as well. The thing is, because I love outfits and dressing up so much, I also love living in a city. So I looked for a house in a city. Fortunately my husband agreed. And indeed, living in a city, makes you dress differently than living in the countryside.
Dag Greetje!
Leuk dat je Insta les krijgt!
Zo benieuwd wat je geleerd hebt !
Ik leer de dingen die jij allang weet. Zoals stories en boomerang en video’s. De gebruikelijke dingen. Ik heb me er nooit in verdiept omdat ik stories vrij vervelend vond (en vind). Maar ik wil wel bij blijven.
Hi Greetje,
We love to see all the Dutch bikes! It wouldn’t be Holland without them. I always talk about what amazing bicyclists you are, you all ride as easily as walking.
When we were in Amersfoort in 2018 with our neighbors they were looking for bicycle souvenirs, nobody there had any. One shop owner even made a face wondering why they would want them.
Here in California, the government would love to see us all out of cars and on bikes. It just doesn’t work here, distances are too far apart and we have very few bike paths to feel safe.
Embrace the Dutch bikes! It is fascinating to see a “sea of bikes.”
I loved the leopard top and skirt outfit, very smart. 😄
Glad to see your eye is better.
We do learn how to ride a bike at the age of 5 or so. Because a lot of things are nearby and parking your car in the centres of these old towns is murder and costly, a bike makes sense. Bicycle souvenirs? Gosh there is an unexplored market! I suppose when you see rows of bikes every day, they get annoying. My eye is completely better. Yay.
Hi Greetje
So glad the eye is improving, you were lucky! Love the cream jumper and the handbag is divine. Marlas haircut makes her look wonderful too!x
Yes, today it is almost impossible to see I have had a black eye. There are purple circles underneath my eyes anyway (no idea why). With a bit of make-up, it is gone. That cream jumper is indeed pretty darned good right? And the bag.. I really should use it more.
Stand-up comedy! Wow!! That is brilliant — hope you can work out the Covid concerns. I look forward to your posts, which are always full of style and scenery. Your friends each have their great individual style too. Love your outfit with the cream sweater and boots. Your bag is gorgeous.
I decided I cannot work out the Covid concerns with my stand-up comedy course, so I will stop. Unfortunate but too risky. Instead I will do my best even more to amuse you haha.
And you are right, my friends do all have their individual style. Fortunately. Otherwise it would be rather dull. Thanks for all your compliments. Much obliged.
Hi – Lots of great outfits in this post. The cream jumper really suits you! I also love the patchwork carpeting (?) in the museum. Have a good week.
Thanks for the compliments. The patchwork in the museum is a rug I think. And a good week to you too.