Thirtyonethirteen.net Shop!

I love an eco-friendly gift! I also love a handmade gift AND supporting a small business!

My good friend Angela has been selling on Etsy for a while and now has opened her own online shop called Thirtyone:thirteen

I have loved crafting all my life - sewing, knitting, papercrafts, embroidery and more. And I admit to being a hoarder- collecting the scraps that other people discard and turning them into beautiful and useful things.  

Now I'm retired, and living in a beautiful part of the country, I have more time to sit and stitch, and I want to share my creativity with others, at an affordable price.

My grandmother taught me crafting skills when I was a child, and she was a woman of faith. My shop is called 31:13 because there is a verse in the bible (Proverbs chapter 31 verse 13) , about a woman who "finds wool and fine linen and works with eager hands" My shop's logo is a play on those numbers - the butterfly reflects the idea of metamorphosis into a new, beautiful life.

In her shop, Thirtyone:thirteen, she has made a variety of beautiful present ideas , most of which are made from reclaimed and reused materials

There's some beautiful items on there.

I have picked one of two favourites to share:

Handwarmers

I love these little handwarmers.  These would be perfect for my way home from school to tuck into my pocket when I am stuck on the train platform waiting for a train! They are an absolute bargain too at £1.50 a pair! They only need a little microwaving to warm them up!

Bird decorations

I bought one of these bird decorations from Ang  a couple of years ago when we met and they are so cute and pretty! I have a work colleague (and a husband, mum) who love birds and would love these! She also does colourful brooch versions of these.

Pencil roll

These handmade pencil rolls with coloured pencils would make a really nice gift for a child or if you wanted to include them in an Operation Christmas Child Shoebox .

Juggling bags

These 'Bags of fun' juggling bags are so cute. I can imagine the kids at school loving these!

Do go and have a look at her lovely website! You might find something you like.  She also has lovely paper flower kit which is a super idea!

xxx

TARDIS Tuesday- Ace McShane from Survival

Hi there!

TARDIS Tuesday is back! Well, it's Tuesday, isn't it?!

Today, I am featuring a Classic Who companion who recently made a reappearance in The Power of the Doctor.  ACE! She was my companion as a child and back in the 1990's, my sister bought me a black bomber jacket which I adorned with my Blue Peter badge and a few other pins to be like her!  I met her in 1998 at the one and only Doctor Who Convention I went to- Panopticon 1998 which was held in Coventry. I booked myself a coach to Coventry and went by myself.  I met Sophie Aldred, the actor who played her, she admired my turquoise nail varnish!

The outfit I am featuring is from her final on-screen episode with Sylvester McCoy, the last episode before Doctor Who went off the TV for another 18 years or so.

Image borrowed from:
https://bradleybasement.wordpress.com/sci-fi/doctor-who/doctor-who-timelines/the-doctors-timelines-index/the-seventh-doctors-timeline/survival-tv/

It features her ubiquitous black bomber jacket, adorned with patches and pins and the back has an applique patch of her nickname, Ace.  She wears a dark pink v neck top, black trousers and boots, a school tie round her waist, dangly earrings and her hair worn with the sides up.

And over to my version:

I started with a pink top. Admittedly the wrong colour and material but I was going with what I had. I did have better coloured tops but this one is a more similar shape. It's my top from my Peri, Attack of the Cyberman, cosplay.

It's the black ASOS trousers that are my most hardworking TARDIS Tuesday item (getting very tight!) - they need no other introduction.  Clarks men's boots. I wore a pair of dangly dalek earrings which I embarassingly found the other day. My work colleague Tracy bought them for me for my 40th birthday and the Etsy seller sent them but somehow I didn't realise that this envelope hadn't ever been opened- I thought it was an old one and I was going through some old envelopes, which I keep to reuse, and there they were!!!

I didn't have a stripy tie. I thought I had one but I couldn't find it so I admit it, I was taking some stuff round to the charity shop and I found this one for 50p and thought I'd buy it to add to this outfit when I wore it on Friday!

My black bomber jacket was bought around a year ago from the same charity shop and cost me the princely sum of £2.25.  Well, it recently had a makeover from the wonderful Ang!!!!

Didn't she do an amazing job making this applique patch for the back of it! Even better, she used materials from her great stash! She has made me some amazing custom cosplay pieces over the years but this one is one of her finest! I love it!

I don't really want to add lots of patches and pins to the jacket because I like it plain, and also it becomes an extremely costly endeavour. I'd be worried I'd lose pins and I want to be able to wear it regularly, though I may try and afix a new pin back to my Blue Peter competition winner's badge so I can add that. Yes, I legitimately have a Blue Peter badge. I enterered a competition to design a new character for Oscar's Orchestra and whilst I didn't win, my characters earnt me the position of one of 100 runners up out of 28,900 entries!  Much as I would have liked my characters, Frederica Flugal Horn and Cassius the Contrabassoon to appear in the cartoon, I was still incredibly proud of my badge!

I love wearing my hair like this, particularly when it is this length but I can't always wear it like this when cycling and I only do my hair at the start of the day, not through the day, ending up looking like I've been through a hedge backwards, so there's no chance of me redoing my hair at school!

I really like this outfit and if I had a slightly less tight pair of trousers (I HAVE SOME SOMEWHERE!!!), I would really enjoy wearing this!

What do you think?

Big thank to Ang for another brilliant TARDIS Tuesday collaboration!!! And, do go and check out her hilarious blog post today about lozenges which I prompted!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday - Sarah Jane Smith from The Hand of Fear

This week, for TARDIS Tuesday, I am going with a Classic Who look again and it's the FIRST time for this outfit!  It comes from iconic companion, Sarah Jane Smith from her final Classic Who episode- The Hand of Fear.  Let's look at the inspiration:

Images borrowed from:
https://theultimateguidetothefashionofdoctorwho.wordpress.com/2017/10/25/sarah-jane-smith-the-hand-of-fear/

Elisabeth Sladen wore:

Red and white striped dungarees with side ties, red piping and 3 stars.

Red long-sleeved top

Red sneakers with white shoe laces

Red and white striped socks.

Before I go onto my outfit, I read this article with explains why this outfit was adopted! Did YOU know about the vicious, biting ladybirds???

Sarah Jane's iconic "Andy Pandy" dungarees in "The Hand of Fear" — a style of dress adopted by women in Summer 1976 as a result of a freak heatwave and an invasion of vicious, biting ladybirds, requiring breezy but full-body coverage (really. In particular, note the drawstrings around Sarah's ankles, keeping the trouser legs sealed from insects that would have been able to get up bell-bottoms). The heat, the ladybirds and the fashion trend were all swept away by a sudden downpour of rain that swamped Britain just as the first episode of "The Masque of Mandragora", the story immediately preceding "The Hand of Fear", was being broadcast on television.

 

Source: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FashionDissonance  

And here is my version:

Firstly, I have the wonderful Ang Almond to thank for this outfit, as mentioned in my previous post.  She, her imagination, adaptability and sewing skills plus her wonderful, whizzy embroidery machine, are responsible for this outfit.  She talks about how she adapted these in her post at the link above- do show your appreciation by visiting her post!

I found a red and white striped lightweight jumpsuit on Vinted. It was originally £3 when I looked but by the time I'd gone to buy it, it had been reduced twice to £2 plus £2.89 postage.  It originally had wide legs, no piping and skinny tie-top straps.  Ang repositioned the shoulder ties to the sides and used some incredibly well-matching binding to make new straps with buckles.  She then added the piping and used her whizzy embroidery machine to make the stars and then hand-sewed them on as well as adding elastic to the ankles. I am truly astounded by how amazing they are!  She also sent me detailed instructions via Whatsapp of how to adjust the straps as I wasn't sure how!

I realised that I don't have a long-sleeved, red cotton top to wear underneath it but what I DID have was a red jumper I first used for a Yaz Khan outfit that I could wear underneath.  Love a bit of a cosplay reuse!  In terms of the shoes and stripy socks, again, I realised that I could use a couple of Clara items.  I had a pair of high-top cut out trainers from New Look that I used for her Oswin outfit and the socks that go with those.  They're not super accurate but I am not bothered!

I decided to try and make an alternative, Summer-version from what I had too so I wore a red Clement Ribiero pointelle sweater instead which also works!

Had a go at recreating the picture above.

Oooh, I almost forgot, in the duo picture, I am holding a labradorite pendant in place of Eldrad's ring which is part of the plot in the story. "Eldrad must live!"

I am really so excited to have these dungarees. I didn't think this would be an outfit I'd ever be able to recreate and these will be perfect to wear at my Music Camp too- practical for camp yet chic and light! Last Summer, in tribute to the organiser of music camp, who died last year, loads of people wore dungarees for a photo. Loads of people own them but were asked to bring some to wear, if they had any, as he always used to wear dungarees around camp! Green or claret ones usually!

I hope all is well with you!

Are you a fan of dungarees? Do you own any? Have you ever worn any? What are yours like?

This is my 2nd pair as I bought lilac linen ones last Summer but apart from that, I haven't worn them since I was about 6. I had a pink corduroy pair and I got told off in Infant assembly at school for an honest mistake, so I've associated dungarees for most of my life, with getting told off!

x

16 Happy Things

It's been a while since I did one of the posts where I list things that have made me happy. There have been numerous things in the last week or so and I thought it would be nice to list them! 

1.  The Genius of Ang Almond:  I count myself as so lucky to have so many friends through this blog community we have here. I value each and everyone of you.  Ang is someone I am lucky enough to be in touch with outside of the blog and she has been so generous over the years to be an enthusiastic help in some of my cosplay adventures.  In the past, I have sent her cosplay projects which she has done a marvellous job of.  However, I sent her a couple of cosplay projects based Classic who characters which she absolutely surpassed all expectations with her sheer genius and dedication!  The parcel arrived back last week and I am astounded, humbled and grateful for her efforts.  Look forward to seeing this, and another project at some point soon!

2.  Wordle.  Since last Summer when CBC's family went on holiday to the South of France, I have been in a Wordle Whatsapp group with his siblings and mum (he's not in it!). I LOVE the daily interactions with them over it and over friendly, but definite competitiveness over it.  We had the most hilarious interaction last week over the word ENNUI which was the word on 5th June.

Here follows the conversation in the chat.

J1 and I had completed it in 3 guesses.  T had completed it in 4. J2 had not completed it at all.

T:The word I convinced myself it must be turned out to not even be a valid word

J1: Well, when I got 4 different yellow in the first two guesses, I just went for a wild stab at the maddet word it could have been.  They seem to swing from tricky niche words to really easy ones, but with multiple different possibilities....

T: This one seemed like a tricky niche word but it turned out to be very boring.

J: [Laughing face emoji]

J2: I'm stuck.  can't think of any boring words (or tricky niche words) that fit.

T: Maybe it's both [head exploding emoji]

Me: Yawn! You lot need to find something better to do with your time.

T: Oh Kezzie, you sound weary and dissatisfied!

Me: Whatever PEASANT!!!

J1: Why don't people sort out their boredom by just brushing up their French? Just to fill in the time!

T:  Or play some games to allevaite the boredom? Perhaps on Wii?

Me: yes, my preferred games console [Grinning and laughing emojis]  J2 hates us right now, if she could summon up the effort to feel that intense an emotion.

J2: [Intense Crying emoji]

Me: Fun fact: I know a song that includes this word! [Grinning face]

Soon after

J2: ENNUI!!!! [aghast emoji and WHAT? emoji] I've never heard of that b*** word!

J1: Clues: French: boredom: On Wii.  (very clever T)

J2: I wouldn't even know how it is pronounced!!! [Angry and crying emojis]

J1: Brush up your French!

J2: My French never advanced beyond 'le chat est sur la table'

J1: You're a disgrace to your clan!

J2: Or 'ou est la piscine'?

T: CLUESSS? In here????!

T: [Insert Carry on meme saying 'I'M SHOCKED! SHOCKED I TELL YOU!"

J2: Stupid b**** word.  Looking forward to it going back to TABLE!

J1:  Ah, but then you get the other sort-sometimes more trouble... table, fable, sable, cable, label.  FAIL!

Me: Where are your squares J?

J2: I didn't post them because I couldn't think of a valid answer so I cheated and googled it.

Me: I knew Ennui as it is in a song in one of my favourite childhood movies, The Slipper and the Rose!

J2: It wasn't in the Argos catalogue. [Sad face]

The whole thing was utterly hilarious!!!!

3.  Happy thing no.3 leads from that.... yesterday, I GOT WORDLE IN 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Never thought that day would happen! To be fair, glancing at my MiL's squares did help me to make my first choice of word. Never did I expect it to be right though!!!!

4.  I left my waterbottle at my Gamelan rehearsal on Thursday. This is a lovely 750ml stainless steel bottle that I won in an Insta competition a few years ago. I really am fond of it and have taken good care of it. They cost £20 new. I was so sad as I'd left it on the floor in a seating area outside the Gamelan room and it was likely that a) it would just get chucked away or b) someone would pinch it. I realised as I was on the way home so I speculatively emailed the university, guessing a generic email address and enquired if someone was able to look for it and put it in the gamelan room, not really expecting a response  to be positive.  I received the following last night after school:

Hi K,,

Sadly I don’t have a key to access the Gamelan room, but if you look to the left directly below the tap in point you’ll see it tucked away there.

Best wishes,

David

Thank you to whoever David is!!! I will hopefully find it next Thursday!

5.  Gamelan:  Ah, it has been a delight going back to it these past 2 weeks.  We have been learning a new piece called Tabuh Aras Arum (Fragrant Forest) from a wonderful teacher called Pak Dewa who is here with his lovely wife and daughter for a few months.  His style of teaching is really helpful and his pace is great.  It has been super satisfying to learn a new piece. It's not too hard but it is interesting and I was able to to do some 'working out' of the Sangsi part (everyone learns Polos first- this is the ON BEAT part... Sangsi then slots in between this) which was satisfying. It is from an older type of Gamelan called Semar Pegulingan which I LOVE and so has taken me back to my time in Bali when I learnt this.  This week, we revised it (I forgot most of it but then got it!) and then revised a dance piece called Margapati which I THINK I had learnt about 17 years ago but I'm not sure. It was so satisying to revise it and again, I was able to work out the sangsi and remember it!

6.  My Peri cosplay:

This week, I wore this outfit for TARDIS Tuesday and in my Insta post ,I had mentioned the Actress, Nicola Bryant in my post as I had gained the idea of this adaptation of the cosplay from her.  To my utter delight, she came and looked at my post and left me a comment!!!! I couldn't believe it! It was so nice of her!

7.  Last Sunday, I attempted to make a pea hummus from the Anna Jones recipe book.  It uses peas, mint, basil, olive oil, lemon zest and lemon juice.  I had 105g of fresh peas (I think frozen are better now) and a small avocado- this made it up to 205g- the recipe called for 300g. I didn't have any Basil but I did have mint. I used all the the other ingredient plus poppy seeds.  Rather than faff with the blender, I tried the stick blender... Anna mentions you can use a handblender...are these the same thing??? It went everywhere so I then attempted to mash it with a potato masher and then a pestle and mortar.  It wasn't really working so in the, I had this pea, avocadoey stodge which I put in a box with a large quantity of grated carrot.  It has been a lovely fresh-tasting ingredient to eat with either bread or left over Naan this week for lunch...even if I have had some funny looks!

8. I cover Teacher PPA in tandem with S, our sports coach.  We've got to know each other better this year.  We are very different and didn't really have so much to do with each other in the past but we've been getting on well this year. He's a complete joker.  Yesterday, he mentioned how hot it was and I said, "You need to have a bucket of water chucked over you!" and he laughed and said, "Yes, maybe I'll turn the hose on later.  Later on, I was filling my temporary 1litre plastic water bottle (a reusable, I hasten to add...) and I remembered out conversation.  I knew he'd be tidying the sports room so I called to him.. he came into the playground towards me and as he came towards me, I lobbed the entire bottle of water at him!  He was stunned for about 2 seconds as I instantly ran away and then I heard him laughing raucously, the entire way I ran across the playground.  Haven't seen him since but I know it will have made him laugh a lot!

9.  In Choir, I have been teaching them, Me ol Bamboo from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for a festival we are taking part in and they practised the routine I've taught them and it's starting to look really good!

10. In drumming club, I have 3  children this term who have a SEND statement (special need) and who usually all have 1:1 TAs.  It's really lovely having them in it and seeing them doing really well. They don't always join my clubs and it's nice that all 3 of them are there and able to do well without any additional support.

11.  It was my Year 1 final Spring lesson this week and it's one of those 'let's choose an instrument' and compose a class piece lessons which can be really chaotic- I've finally cracked how to teach this really well without it being stressful!  Success!

12.  I may be getting actually be getting my music room back in September if the builder complete the work on time and in addition, my Headteacher may be getting me an interactive whiteboard for it!

13.  I've been really enjoying the Kate Shackleton books by Frances Brodie. They've been on my shelves for ages but I am working my way through them. Death of an Avid reader, which I finished last night, is the best book so far!

14. I ordered a limited edition Hungry Caterpillar necklace (inspired by Eric Carle's famous book). It came on Wednesday and I AM IN LOVE!!!!

15. It was my Gamelan friend D's birthday on Wednesday. She paints her nails with Nail art and posts them every few days and she posted that she had painted them with Ladybirds just because she loves them. I was seeing her the next day for Gamelan and I realised that I had a tiny pair of Ladybird studs in my present stash so I thought I'd surprise her with them! When she saw them, she was so excited and surprised! It made made really happy!

16. I  will be seeing my family today for my sister and Dad's birthday!

Is there any particular thing making you happy this week?

TARDIS Tuesday- Ang's Handiwork- Clara from The Magician's Apprentice

Hello there!

I am back from holidays and have had a really great time off. This holiday, I really have been busy the entire holiday. I only had 3 full days at home-one of those spent packing, one doing housework and recovering from horrid late night plane delay and one doing school work- today in fact- it's not enough, now having a bit of a panic about school work! I started writing my Pennine Way post but it's an epic and taking ages so I thought I'd post the TARDIS Tuesday I forgot to post last week.

It is a special one because it features one of the wonderful Ang Almond's fantastic adaptations and it's been quite a while since I last wore it. In fact,since June 2019 worn here (worn without jacket)! I am totally shocked!

Here's the outfit:

https://wornontv.net/51844/ 

It features a green satin pearl-print dress (with collar) from &Other Stories.  She pairs it curiously with a grey merino wool jumper from J Crew, a black leather jacket from &Other Stories also, purple/navy tights, black socks and black lace up boots from Topshop.  It's apparently a school outfit though I'm mystified why you'd wear a satin dress for school!!

Here's my latest version with some side-by-sides with Clara!

The main star of the outfit is, of course, the aforementioned satin dress.  &Other stories also made a version of this dress that was shorter and without a collar with longer sleeves. I bought the alt version of the dress and Ang adapted it for me by adding a collar made from the sleeves and with backing from another piece she had adapted for me.

The dress rarely gets seen without the jumper and jacket so I actually thought I'd share it here in its various forms so you can admire her work. In fact, I wore it without the jumper for church on Easter Sunday with a belt to give it a less sack-like shape (not flattering on me). I really like it on its own belted as did CBC who admired it (and didn't realise it was a Clara piece). 

I do not own the correct leather jacket and to be honest, I won't do- I don't have use for more than one jacket of this type. Instead, I wore her All Saints Axelle black denim jacket which is close enough for Jazz.

I added an alternative grey Clara jumper (she has 3!) which was a cropped marled one from Topshop and it looks quite nice I think, better than the J Crew one.

I added some very old but nice Oasis purple tights (purchased at least 10 years ago and to my dismay, laddered them!) and either the same or similar Topshop boots.

You'll notice the hair cut I presume? I had it cut for the Pennine Way as could not be faffing with long hair!

You may notice that I am wearing a different sweater in this photo! It is the J Crew sweater but in a biscuit colour. Bought in error but I think the short grey looks better!

I really liked this iteration of this outfit, it's my favorite so far and it made me keen to give the dress a show again soon! Probably not for school though...however, I could try it and see what reaction I get!?

Hope you are well and stay tuned for Pennine Way updates soon!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Sleep no More and Series 9 promo Clara

Hi there!

I thought I'd take a break from my Summer spins on Classic Doctor outfits (mainly because I haven't thought about one!) 

Today, I am sharing a Clara outfit. Most of it was from an episode entitled "Sleep No More" but actually, the version I am doing here today was from the Series 9 promotional images featuring Jenna Coleman and Peter Capaldi.

I had a few previous goes at this outfit.  Back in May 2019, was the last time I wore it. 

Let's have a look at it!

https://troughtonismydoctor.com/2016/01/20/doctor-who-series-9-review/

It features an expensive outfit:

It had a skirt and a top from French brand, Claudie Pierlot, a Merino wool jumper from Gap (not featured in the Promo images), a necklace from River Island or H&M, some black tights and some very painful-looking black leather monk-style shoes from &Other Stories.

Here's my version of it:

I started with the top which the lovely Ang customised for me to look like the Screen accurate one.  Mine was a charity-shopped top from M&S with a pleated collar made from another charity-shopped top.  Ang was clever-enough to make it look really similar.

Ang also customised a skirt for me to look similar by adding scalloping!).  However, it's lost its colour in the wash (after my paintstaking painting job!) and looks very odd and patchy so needs a repaint. Quite a while back, I found a Claudie Pierlot dress in the same material for a reasonable price (and thanks to lovely Alison, Dormouse for sending it to me from France!) and  ended up buying it.  You can see it below- The scalloping is around the arms instead of the hem.

I wore it under the top and added my identical triangle necklace.

The final item is the Monk shoes. They are the same brand and almost identical to the Screen-accurate ones but for one difference.  The screen accurate ones are the most ridiculously high 

YUCK! However, they also made a flat version of the shoes and I was fortunate enough to get them back in late 2019.  They were a bit small so I had them stretched (before our lovely cobbler retired). They are super quality leather and I was lucky to get them for about £14compared to the RRP of over £100

I very much like this outfit.  The t-shirt is in a more practical material (i.e. cotton) than the screen accurate one which is in synthetics. Whilst the dress lacks the scalloping (which is round the sleeves instead...I suppose it might be possible to reposition it though I quite like the sleeeves), I do like it.

With the exception of the tights (which are light), it is quite a good Summer oufit.

What do you think?

xx

Antwerp Day 3- Chocolate, churches and charity shops!

It's been a while since my last post on our Antwerp holiday!  I finally managed to get some photos copied across.

On our Monday in Antwerp, we woke up fairly late and after a lazy breakfast, had to hotfoot it across town on the Velo hire bikes to near the railway station. We had booked to go to Antwerp's Chocolate Museum. Having been to, and loved the Bruges Chocolate museum in 2019, I was excited for this one.

We arrived and put our bags in lockers.  They told us that the whole exhibit was Covid safe with nothing we needed to touch and was timed with all doors to sections so that people in groups didn't have to have any contact with other people. It was very clever.

The whole museum was really interesting with a detailed history of chocolate from bean to processing, to wrapping to all the different types and important Chocolatiers. It was hugely informative and fun to see.

One part of the exhibition showed you a vintage Belgium chocolatier and you got to hear from the woman who ran it (a reenaction)

One part showed some of the most iconic individual chocolates and their shapes in massive form

and introduced you to the great innovators in chocolate.  Here above is the Guylian shell.  Apparently, the most recent innovation was a truly new type of chocolate- Ruby Chocolate!

There were a few sections where you could see chocolatiers decorating and making chocolates.  There are opportunities to join demonstrations but sadly there were none when we were there which was sad as I ADORED this part of the Bruge chocolate museum!

This section here was where they introduced us to the ethical side of chocolate making and how the Chocolate Line is trying to support the communities who harvest and grow cocoa for them.

There were many 'instagram photo' type locations for you to take your picture.

As we progressed through, I became more and more disappointed at the lack of opportunities to TRY any chocolate.  At the Bruges one, there were chocolate button dispensers in various places.

 

It was only in the last room (before the shop), that we FINALLY got to try some chocolate. We were met by a lady who handed us a spoon each and showed us how to operate these melted chocolate machines.  They would dispense a sample of melted chocolate of all the different blends and combinations onto your spoon.  We started with those blends with a really large cocoa content and progressed to lots of different ones including the aforementioned ruby chocolate.

The warm liquid chocolate was delicious!!  We even managed a couple of samples of a few of them as the lady just left you to it!

We went into the shop where CBC chose some presents and some treats.

We then made a hasty stampede towards St Charles Borromeo church where I would be meeting one of my favourite Belgium blogger, the wonderful Ann!

We were pretty hungry and went into a nearby cafe where we ordered some food, hoping it would arrive quickly (which it didn't!).  Luckily, Ann was lovely enough to come and join us whilst we ate out lunch!

It was SOOOOO exciting to see Ann in real life after seeing her in beautiful pictures for so long! She is just as beautiful and stylish  in real life as she is in her photos!  She's also so incredibly kind and friendly! I've often been incredulous over Ann's writing- there is no way I could write in a language other than my native one in such an idiomatic way than Ann does and she is JUST the perfect person to chat to! It's so nice to be able to be able to natter and talk about those things you can't when typing.

Once we'd eaten our lunch, we headed to St Charles Borromeo- a well known Baroque church. It was built in the 1600's.  Sadly, the original 39 ceiling paintings by Rubens and lots of other works were destroyed, around about 100 years after it was built, in a fire.

It looks fairly undecorative from the outside, but the inside is WONDERFUL!

There is a wonderful Rubens altar painting.

The church is crammed full of things to look at- marblework, wood carvings, paintings and decorative floors. The organ is pretty exciting too!

There were confession booths here- so intricate!

After this, We headed off to......yes.....THINK TWICE!  For anyone who does not read Ann's blog, Think Twice is the most incredible Secondhand clothing chain in Belgium who have a very vast array of vintage clothes at reasonable prices.  They then have sale days where items get progressively cheaper until the final day where EVERYTHING is 1Euro! Ann is the Think Twice queen!

I was fortunate enough to be there with Ann on the penultimate 2 Euro day!  Because of Covid measures, we had to queue outside. At which point, CBC took himself off to go and seek a loo, which gave Ann and I an opportunity to have a proper chat which wouldn't bore him through not knowing all the things we were talking about!  Her we are in the T2 queue! You can see the T2 poster advertising the sale on the window!

We finally made it into the shop!   We walked around and realised we were very compatible shopping partners, showing each other things we though the other would like and giggling about things!  The selection was really good! 

We both ended up making purchases- Ann one skirt and me, a couple of items to add to my previous purchases from an alternative T2 I'd visited the previous day (there are FOUR in Antwerp!)

I was really sad when we had to leave so I walked with Ann to meet Jos, her husband, who was coming to pick her up in the car.  It was really lovely to meet him too!

We'd had SUCH  a jolly, easy time and I felt SO privileged to be able to meet someone who has become a good friend via blogland over the past few years! The nice thing was that we ended up texting each other all through my visit (and beyond) and it made my holiday that bit extra special that I had a friend who I could share my adventures with, who knew exactly what and where I was talking about! Ann had already given me lots of brilliant suggestions for places to visit!

That evening, CBC and I headed out to dinner to a bistro near Volkstraat which served some traditional Belgian dishes and I took the opportunity to choose the dish Ann had mentioned to be earlier when we asked about traditional Belgian dishes. I THINK it was called Endives au Jambon. Apparently endives or chicory was dicovered by a Belgian farmer in 1830.

CBC and I are HUGE Chicory fans so I was gleeful to try it.

As you can see, I was served the most ENORMOUS portion- that's my hand right next to it! It was IMMENSE.

A thick layer of bechamel cheese sauce with ham rolls and lots of endives plus mashed potato.

I discovered, after wadingt through one half, that all the MASHED potato was on the side I left till last and I'd eaten all the endives and ham on the left so my meal ended up being rather heavy-going on the mash at the end but it was a GREAT choice.  CBC had the beef stew. Yes, he forgo his veggie ways to try it. When in Belgium....

It had been a rather wonderful day and I wondered what would be next?

Oh...you want to see my T2 purchases????

Well, as well as the two skirts I showed in previous posts (the red daisy one and the blue/purple stripy glittery one, plus a woven leather belt), I bought the above.

Most useful were the navy camisole and the corduroy rose skirt which I wore whilst there. I've now worn everything except the rainbow dress and the teal top!

Oh...and here's an unheard of photo of me trying CBC's cherry beer. I think it was a La Chouffe beer.

I LOATHE and DETEST beer.  Watch me drink it and see what true horror and abject disgust looks like (apparently it's hilarious) but CBC insisted I try this and it was pleasant! I even took an extra sip when he went to the loo!

Hope you are having a lovely day!

xx