What I've been wearing lately

As tomorrow is the day of Jos's surgery I'm taking a couple of days off work to be with him and share as much of the burden as I can. In the meantime, in order to reduce the nail-biting stress of waiting for the hospital's call telling us the exact time we need to be there, I thought I'd pen a little post to tide me over.

I won't be taking you on a single outing but I've still got a number of outfits to share.

The first one is taking me back to Friday the 7th of February. 

Gloomy, with a cold North East wind and temperatures barely reaching 3°C, this wool-blend dress with its vibrant watercolour print seemed the perfect choice to combat the elements.

I love its dreamy pattern, its dropped pleats and its V-neck collar, although it was its self-fabric belt with pink plastic buckle which helped cinch the deal when I came across it in a charity shop many moons ago. Much as I love the belt - and in particular the buckle - though, it wouldn't be me if I didn't swap it for a contrasting one from my extensive collection. The sage green pleated one I opted for matched the colour of my opaques almost exactly.

In its turn, my burgundy long-line cardigan found its colour match in my ankle boots. 

After playing around with a couple of possible contenders, this necklace with its chunky geometric beads was found to be most up to the task of competing with the dress's pattern.

Everything I was wearing was charity shopped, except for the Miracle brooch, which I picked up from a flea market in November 2018.

With the weather forecast for the week ahead being pretty dire, it was with some trepidation that I  started packing for our upcoming trip to Bruges. To add insult to injury, Jos wasn't feeling his best and had been down in the dumps for a couple of days. What with the increasing number of people falling victim to the flu I wasn't really keen on walking the city streets in the pouring rain or mingle with the inevitable crowds in one of the city's indoor options. We  broached the subject of cancelling once or twice but managed to convince ourselves that a couple of days away would be beneficial for our mental health.

So far, so good.

Initially, Saturday's weather seemed to be a repeat of Friday's, albeit minus the wind. But then there were some sunny spells in the afternoon, with the mercury eventually climbing to 10°C. 

I was adamant to wear the frilly collared Sonia Rykiel jumper offered by the gods of the charity shops for a mere € 5,90 just over a year ago. Its companion for the day was a tartan 100% wool skirt in shades of black, yellow, blue and white, found at Think Twice back in the mists of time.

My enamelled butterfly brooch was a flea market find, while both the Celtic knot belt and the ring were found on the high street. Oh, and my snake print ankle boots were a retail buy as well. They were a sales bargain from New Look when they closed down all of their Belgian shops back in 2019.

It was another bad day for Jos, who kept feeling out of sorts. Putting it down to nerves, we thought a rummage at the charity shop would be just ticket. 

My loot: a vintage striped polo neck jumper, a caramel suedette elasticated belt, a pair of teal, wide legged floral trousers and a cobalt blue fuzzy cardigan. Everything has been worn already except for the trousers, which are lightweight and need a balmy Spring day at the very least.

I've omitted showing you some things I found in the January sales, so here goes. The Op-Art print blouse was 80% off at Zara at the tail end of the sales, while I pounced on the button through denim maxi skirt from LolaLiza at its very beginning. There was no way I would be taking the risk of waiting for it to be reduced a bit more as I'd been looking for a medium-weight denim skirt for ages. This one simply ticked all the boxes.

Sunday was spent unpacking after we were obliged to cancel our trip, which I already told you about in a previous post. I didn't know whether to feel disappointed or relieved but in the end common sense prevailed. It would have been too much of a risk!

Nevertheless, I didn't go outside at all, and just lounged around in my PJ's all day. Don't be fooled by Bess's sad looking little face, though. I'm sure she was secretly overjoyed that we wouldn't be leaving her side!

The working week ahead was just a short one. I'd initially booked a couple of days off for our trip but instead of cancelling the whole thing I decided to stick to Thursday to enjoy an extra long weekend. This was kind of a double blessing as there was a strike involving public transport that day which might have severely disrupted my commute.

Thursday was another dry yet bitterly cold day courtesy of an eye-stinging wind. Its only outings were the weekly food shop in the morning followed by a mid-afternoon walk into town to run a couple of errands. 

The weather wasn't conductive to making outfit photos, either inside or out, so Angelica did the honours the next day. 

The heavy-weight knit polyester dress was found at Think Twice last Winter. It's a tiny bit baggy so I cinched it at the waist with the belt I charity shopped on the Saturday. The mustard long-line cardigan was charity shopped as well, while the groovy mushroom brooch was a flea market find in February 2024. Finally, my necklace with its cluster of tiny beads was a high street Summer sales bargain in 2023.

And here's proof that I actually wore the dress! I couldn't help noticing it matched the cover of the book I was reading. Sarah Perry's The Essex Serpent - picked up in a Shropshire charity shop last year - is my favourite read so far this year. 

Set in the Victorian era, in the year 1893, it tells the tale of Cora Seaborne, a woman relishing her recent freedom from an abusive husband — she moves from London to a small village in Essex and becomes intrigued by the idea that it might be haunted by a mythological sea serpent.

Friday was Valentine's Day, and while we do not celebrate this, being of the idea that each day should be Valentine's Day, I wanted to keep to the spirit of the day by showing you the heart-shaped wreath which has been hanging on our bedroom door for at least twenty years. The fabric heart was actually made by moi!

I've added this quick peek at what's behind our bedroom door. Never mind minimalism, we are thoroughly embracing the opposite!

After a rather fitfull night full of strange dreams, it was a delight to be greeted by sunshine on Friday morning. It was still bitterly cold, particularly after Mme. Soleil did another one of her disappearing acts.

For a day of food shopping and pottering, I wore a brown patterned wool skirt I'd picked up from Think Twice in the Autumn. The blue jumper, with its three rows of openwork flowers caught between two rows of tiny red hearted daisies, is vintage and has been in my wardrobe for so long that I don't remember its origins. 

My accessories had a common faux-tortoiseshell theme: the necklace, belt and brooch were all charity shopped at one time or another.

We were actually treated with some decent weather, which allowed us to go for walks on both Saturday and Sunday. But that, dear friends and readers, will be for my next post!

See you soon!

(EDIT) We've just heard back from the hospital and were told to be there tomorrow morning at 10. Please do keep Jos in your thoughts!