The photos for this blog post were taken by Helena. We agreed to meet at the Noordermarkt in Amsterdam where I did another photo shoot in April.

Below: Meet Helena. Some of you already know her from previous posts.

Below: We were sitting right at the foot of the Noorderkerk (church).

Below: I envisioned the outfit like this, with focus on the colourful necklace I bought in Aix-en-Provence. But the morning of our shoot it was suddenly warm and sunny. The jumper in the photo below is warm and meant for winter. As soon as I put it on, I knew I needed to change the top.

Below: The replacement top is too long for these trousers and tucking it in at the front of the high-rise trousers didn’t work.
I had no time left, I needed to catch the train, so not the best outfit this week. But the Noordermarkt was as delightful as it always is.

Below: Such an enchanting market, certainly on a sunny day.

Below: The salesman of the bags stall wanted to be in on the photo. He put his arm around me and suddenly let me go again. I nearly fell over. Funny.

Below: We wandered around and complimented this saleslady with her outfit. It is a vintage suit (with vest) that she customized herself (Melanie of Bag and a Beret would say “farked”). Fun outfit.

Below: These red sunglasses are now in my possession. In hindsight I doubt whether they really suit me. You can see Helena in the mirror behind me, taking my photo.

Below: We used a bunch of blue dresses as background to get a sharp picture of the necklace. The saleslady was not pleased and hurried us on as “we were blocking the view of her sales ware”. Pffff
I liked the colours of the necklace, especially the green/chartreuse. Which is why I have other stuff in that colour too. When you like it, you tend to buy more items in a specific colour. So earrings and bag were already in my wardrobe.
(Accessories and shoes don’t count for the 10 items challenge; just saying. And I didn’t make that up.)

I also bought a spring jacket in Aix-en-Provence, which was on my list of desirable clothes and if I found the right one, definitely worth of being one of the 10 items I am “allowed” to buy this year. However, I prefer the jacket to close at the neck instead of having a deep V-neck, so I needed a third button (and a tailor for an extra buttonhole).

Below: I bought the buttons below at the Noordermarkt, only to decide they were no good when I came home. A different button at the top of the jacket, spoils the elegance. Three the same subdued buttons would be better, so the hunt was still on.

Below: I found this fox brooch and it is so over the top that I really liked it. Brands like Essentiel Antwerp sell such brooches for €65 to €85. I paid €10. It is quite heavy, but I will put it high up, near my shoulder and attach it to my bra strap. That will keep it in place.

Below: Initially Helena wasn’t fan of the brooches, but she caught the fever too and ended up with three brooches for €25. Imagine one of those on her blue cardigan. Definitely a conversation piece.

We had lunch and strolled along. In one of the little side streets I decided to take a head-to-toe shot of Helena.
I was standing in the street and didn’t notice a big truck pulling up behind me. He honked his horn and scared me so much that I screamed. Three ladies further down the street killed themselves laughing.

I was now ready to take the photo, but the camera didn’t work anymore. I tried several buttons but had no idea what was wrong. One of the three ladies came up to me and offered to have a look, as she knew a thing or two about cameras. Alas, she couldn’t solve the problem either.

Solution??? I took the lens cap off. Really…how thick can you get? It did makes us laugh though.

Below: Helena, relaxed in her blue suit.

Below: We walked to a little restaurant with excellent cappuccino and Helena took a photo of me sitting down. It could have been a perfect photo, only she wanted the flower in the foreground in it as well. Not possible.

Below: Right…that’s better. Cream suede booties are by EIJK.

As we walked back, we looked at some shops in Haarlemmerdijk, where I had been with the Shopping Saturday girls but we didn’t buy anything. It concluded the wonderful day.

What happened in my life this week

Saturday Ron and I went to Amsterdam again. And again to Noordermarkt where we met a friend of Ron. We decided to sit on the terrace of Café Winkel where they have the best apple pie. Only we didn’t have apple pie. When it was time for another round of coffee we saw this queue (below):

Thank you Tripadvisor and Lonely Planet. We decided to move to Café Hegeraad further down, where I had been with Helena as well.

After walking round the market we drove to the Knopenwinkel (button shop) to get the right buttons for the jacket. Found them. Of course I found them. This shop is the best.
Below: A little drink on a terrace again. Celebrating the gorgeous weather that had suddenly arrived.

Below: Saturday evening Georg and Marla invited us for a cold fish dinner at their place. Look at that table setting.

Sunday we took mum for an outing along the harbour and the big canal in her village. Again, celebrating the sun.
Below: I was wearing my orange and cream summer dress. (Link to original post.)

Below: It is bliss to have a coffee and a strawberry cake in the morning, sitting in the garden.

I was a good girl and also did my fitness exercises.

Tuesday our friend Arine came for the day and we chatted in the garden the whole day. So much to catch up. Forgot to take her photo and she looked so good. I asked her to take a photo herself when she got home. Below: she complied but it was indoors and already evening, which creates a vague photo. I love the relaxed summer look she created by wearing the dress as a jacket.

One gorgeous morning Ron asked me to come with him to walk our dog Watson at the beach. Below: my outfit for that occasion. I am not as tanned as the photo makes you believe; that was due to the light.
The beach is the only place where I would wear shorts.

Thursday Marjolein and I had another photo shoot and of course, a thoroughly enjoyable day. Below: Marjolein.

Not much further to report. Just a last note…my English editor is on holiday so you might find some little spelling mistakes here and there.

Greetje