Promises, promises

... that's all we're getting really. I've told you once, but I will tell you again: those pesky weather gods are having a laugh at our expense, big tears of mirth rolling down their ugly cheeks. And surely the equally pesky weather forecasters must have struck a deal with them? Honestly, if I did as bad a job as they generally do, I would have been kicked out years ago.

One minute, we get a tantalizing few rays of sunshine, but it doesn't take long for the devious deities to change their minds, and send a few more of those big black rain clouds our way.

And how is one supposed to get dressed in the mornings if one of those smiley creatures on the telly, with their weather maps and high and low pressure systems, keep insisting it'll be dry and we'll get to see the sun that day, only to be treated to the mother of all downpours before I even reach my bus stop?

So, in the week before last, it was once again up to me to provide some sunshine. Well , somebody's got to do it!  Not that I'm complaining, mind you.  I can't for the life of me understand why people choose to add to the overall bleakness by wearing clothes which are drained of all colour.

One day, I wore this long-sleeved blue and white dress which I bought at Episode, a shop which is part of a chain of vintage shops, back in 2015.
I don’t think I ever wore it with any other colour than yellow and in fact I’m pretty sure I’ve worn this very same combination on the blog before.

The belt with its round buckle is an old retail buy, while the necklace, which has shades of yellow, orange and white, came from a vintage shop that has stopped trading.

It is almost a given that I’m wearing yellow opaques and a yellow cardigan, as I think they are the perfect companions.

The brooch I pinned to my cardigan might be familiar too, as this certainly isn't is debut on the blog.  I’ve got several of these oval-shaped plastic brooches, either with a flower design or a portrait of a lady, all picked up for a song at flea markets and charity shops. They are among my most worn brooches.

Speaking of brooches, I’ve been doing some rearranging and sorting by type, which should make it  easier to find the ones I want to wear. Not that they were just stored willy-nilly, but any new acquisitions do have a tendency to end up wherever there’s some available space.

I’m quite pleased with this drawer of butterflies, dragonflies and creepy crawlies, even if at the time of writing another butterfly brooch has joined my collection.

Outfit photos were limited that week, as more often than not it was pouring with rain when I got home. Soon it will be too dark for outfit photos after work anyway, unless we find somewhere suitable and with sufficient lighting inside Dove Cottage.

The day I was wearing this double Paisley outfit, the weather was on its best behaviour.

Both my woollen skirt, which proudly carries a label from a shop in Vienna, and my Diolen blouse, came from Think Twice and have been wardrobe staples for years. It took several attempts to get a reasonable close-up of the skirt's pattern, which kept confusing my camera.

Here's my yellow cardigan again, which had been doing overtime that week. And look, I'm wearing my beloved burnt orange opaques!

I think the brooch was a flea market find, while both the belt and the necklace were charity shopped.

Taking advantage of that day's sunny weather, I went for a walk during lunch break, and as I happened to pass one of Antwerp's Think Twice shops (there are 4!), I couldn't resist popping in.

This time, the weather gods and the charity shop godesses were aligned, as I found a couple of things waiting for me. Arriving at the till, the guy in charge called me "Polyester Princess".  I'd given him my blog calling card (yes, I have one of those) when I'd just started blogging and as I hadn't seen him in a long time, I was totally chuffed that he'd remembered. I've started practising my autograph but alas no other fans have crossed my path since!

Now, without further ado, these are the items I found.

First up is this knife-pleated skirt with a wild Autumnal print of flowers interrupted by rows of berries and paisley. Angelica is wearing it here with a light grey blouse sprinkled with tiny red flowers and a wide brown leather belt.

Another wild, and almost unphotographable print for this blue, pink, orange and yellow dream of a blouse, which fastens with pearly orange buttons and a self-fabric tie belt. Angelica is wearing a blue textured polyester maxi skirt with it. 

Let's move on to Saturday's outfit. I was determined to wear this vintage woollen skirt with its lovely black, blue, yellow and white tartan pattern. Scanning my wardrobe's shelves for a perfect companion, I spotted this yellow and black retro print top I found in a charity shop back in August. 

I added a wide, black and white woven belt, black and white checkered chunky ring, a yellow Bakelite bangle and a bracelet with alternating black and white metal triangles.

To the top's black collar, I pinned a vintage white plastic cat brooch.

However, apart from Jos (and now you!) nobody saw me in this outfit. It rained on and off that Saturday and we spent most of the day inside Dove Cottage. 

We even gave the yearly Day of the Charity Shops, or to give it its proper Flemish name, Dag van de Kringloopwinkel, a miss. As there's usually lots of vintage on sale on that day, this might sound very unlike us, but we weren't really in the mood, especially as it was now Jos's turn to be somewhat under the weather. Plus, we had a birthday party to go to that night, for which we wanted to save our strength. 

So, while Jos spent most of his time lying on the couch, I did some therapeutical pottering upstairs. 

After doing my shoe swap-over and reacquanting myself with my favourite boots, I played around with my jewellery displays. 

The rack holding the majority of my necklaces was bought in a vintage shop called Expo 58 back in December 2017, after spending its former life displaying zips in a haberdashery shop.

This party serving dish is just perfect to house my collection of chunky rings.

And finally, here is the drawer unit which houses a huge part (though not all) of my brooch collection.

As their number kept increasing and thus outgrowing the storage units they were in, we were excited to spot this antique, glass-fronted wooden drawer unit. Again, a haberdashery shop was its former habitat, where it was put to work displaying sewing threads.

Then it was time to get dressed and go out to that party. It was the 75th birthday party of one of Jos's friends, but for various reasons we weren't much in the mood for it.

In the end, it turned out to be quite alright, and we met a few nice people too.

Needless to say, I did dress up for the event. But what was I wearing? That, my friends, you'll get to see in my next post!