Hello, hello! Today I am taking part in Style Imitating Art again, for the first time in a while. I keep forgetting about it but for once I remembered.
This time Salazar chose a sculpture/installation from a series called “Ciclotrama“. This particular installation is “Ciclotrama 36“.
She said she chose it because she “liked the contrast between the strong gold frames and the delicate black strands of ropes”.
As soon as I saw the photograph I knew at least part of what I wanted to wear. I own a skirt that is perfect. Here is my final outfit:
As you can see, I combined the skirt with a black jumper. Mustard coloured tights and a gold necklace were an attempt to bring in the gold tones from the frames.
The skirt is from a Dutch brand called Superstition. I bought it in around 2014, I think. The black jumper (sweater) was purchased during my year abroad – so end of 2003/beginning of 2004 – when I realised I hadn’t brought enough winter clothes with me. The tights are H&M, purchased last year. And the necklace was a gift. It’s featured in other SIA outfits so you can see a close up of it here.
Hello friends! For the first time in a while I remembered Style Imitating Art exists so I’m joining in. This time the inspiration is a gorgeous teapot made by the British Royal Worcester Porcelain Company. My outfit’s connection with the prompt is a bit of a stretch, but allow me to explain…
First, let’s take a look at the inspiration.
As soon as I saw the teapot, my first thoughts was that the pale blue/green colour on the left reminded me of a dress I own. Other than one colour the dress and teapot don’t have much in common though…
So I added accessories to try and make it look more like the art. It’s difficult to tell from the photo, but I am wearing a necklace, earrings and a bracelet.
The necklace (which has featured in an outfit post before) and bracelet reminded me of the teapot’s handle. The earrings feature birds. Nothing like the actual birds on the teapot, but still birds!
Since we were going outside, I needed a hat so I grabbed one that had patterns that vaguely reminded me of the right-hand side of the teapot and parts of the handle. The band around the hat also reminded me of how the teapot is split into strips of colour.
Finally, my shoes (which I didn’t take an extra close-up of) are black because of the black on the teapot.
As for where the items in my outfit came from… for the most part I can’t really tell you. The dress was ordered online years ago but I don’t remember where from. I purchased the hat in Spain (exactly a year ago today, actually) on arriving there only to find I had forgotten to pack a hat. And all the jewellery was gifts. The shoes are a brand called Rieker and I like them a lot. They’re comfortable.
I actually had Jan around to take a photo of me this time, so no awkward attempts at selfies. Instead you get my weird facial expression of “how does one smile for an outfit post, exactly?”.
I’m quite late to the game, but if you wanted to spontaneously rustle up an outfit you have until tomorrow (Tuesday, 18 May 2020) to submit it to Danael on livingoutsidethestacks@gmail.com – you don’t have to take a photo of yourself wearing it, a flat lay of what you would wear is fine – then check out her blog Living Outside the Stacks on Wednesday to see everyone else’s submissions.
Kezzie has put together a challenge with some questions about what people will do when all the restrictions are lifted and we can safely go about our lives again. I thought it would be a fun thing to ponder so here are my answers.
1. Restaurant you would go out to.
We usually go to a vegetarian/vegan restaurant called Tibits whenever I’ve had to go into the office in Germany. We haven’t been since the beginning of March and I’m actually starting to miss it! Or I might like to try a restaurant that we haven’t been to yet.
2. Friend you would meet up with first.
As I mentioned in this post, I don’t really see many friends at the best of times, but I had been planning to meet up with my friend who lives Karlsruhe and her boyfriend once the weather got warmer so hopefully we will get to do that before the summer is over!
3. Place you would go.
Realistically it will probably be Germany to work since I’ve now missed 3 of my regular trips there 😅. But if we’re talking fantasy answers I would love a weekend away somewhere. Maybe up a mountain somewhere in Switzerland.
4. Shop you would go to.
I don’t really do much shopping outside if supermarkets – Switzerland is too expensive! So it would probably just be the department store Manor to buy stickers (I use them on the envelopes when I send cards for Post Pals or letters to my pen pals). Or I would go to the bookshop, wistfully read all the synopses then leave without buying anything because they’re sooo expensive. I can honestly order a book from Waterstones in the UK and pay less for it including postage to Switzerland!
5. Food item you would buy/eat.
The only thing I haven’t been able to buy is yeast and since I planned to make hot cross buns with it I feel like that ship has sailed!
6. Cake you would eat.
If I want cake I can make it (as long as if doesn’t involve yeast!) but I do love the chocolate, pear and hazelnut cake from the restaurant at Papiermühle so I would have to say that.
Toblerone cheesecake
7. Show you would/will go to see
We didn’t have any planned so I would have to see what’s on once events are allowed again. I’m hoping for another good comedian to come to Switzerland. Bill Bailey would be nice!
8. Concert you will go to watch.
Jan is still hoping a project he’s involved in will go ahead in October so most likely that.
9. Relative you will hug first.
My mum had been planning to come over in June so if we can rearrange that it will be her. But honestly I don’t even know when I will see any member of my family again. Flights probably won’t be going for a long time 😦
10. Holiday you would go on.
It would be great if we could rearrange the Poland trip we had to cancel. Or maybe I’ll take a trip to the UK and hug all my family!
11. Other activity you would take part in.
I had been planning to sign up for a beginner’s crochet course at the end of March so if that’s repeated when things open again it will most likely be that.
12. Thing you would do at work.
I am still working as normal and I already worked from home apart from on two days a month, so there’s no task that I need isolation to be over to be able to do. However, things were really slow this week so I am hoping our customers will get back to work so they can send us things to translate!
13. Item you would buy.
I don’t think there is anything I want/need that I couldn’t just order now. Maybe we will finally get round to buying balcony furniture?
That’s it. I really enjoyed thinking up these answers. Hopefully I will get to actually do some of them this year! If you want to answer them too I would love to see your answers and please also link to Kezzie’s post and stop by to say hi/let her know you’ve done it.
These are trying times (especially given that, today, I called my fertility clinic to find that – as expected – they’re closed and all treatments are cancelled until the government lifts its restrictions, so who knows when I will be able to even try another embryo transfer), but I still have a lot to be thankful, so I thought I would make a list. This post is about things I am grateful to have in my personal life, so it won’t mention the “key workers” who are keeping society running – and I hope it goes without saying that I am grateful to the medical professionals/care workers who risk their lives every single day to help people in need (a shout out to my mum who is a nurse here – hi mam!). This post was inspired by Kezzie, who always manages to find reasons to be grateful even in the darkest times <3.
1. I am not in isolation alone. As much as I am fine with being alone – most of my hobbies are solitary – not seeing anybody at all for weeks on end would be too much even for me! I still don’t see a great deal of Jan – it seems like without a commute he works even longer hours – but at least I know he is here, albeit locked in the spare room on his computer most of the time 😉
2. I love my flat. There are definitely people out there who don’t like where they’re living and I can’t imagine being stuck there for the foreseeable future would be much fun!
3. We have a balcony! Obviously I would prefer a nice big garden, but our old flat in Germany didn’t even have a balcony! Even if I can’t properly go out I can at least get some fresh air.
4. My employer is being very transparent about what measures our company will be taking and there’s a plan in place to make sure nobody has to stop work entirely and we can hold out on full pay for as long as possible. We will be applying for “short-time work” from April but the hope is that our customers will rally sooner rather than later and things won’t end up being as bad as they seem. Also grateful that – as of right now – I have enough work to last me until the end of next week before I even need to start using my overtime. (And this is all I’m going to say about work because I don’t really like to talk about it here).
5. Spring is here! The days are lighter and warmer and even though I can’t see any flowers from my flat I know they’re out there. (And I can see the trees that are budding and growing new leaves – hard times are so much easier when it’s light outside and everything looks alive.)
6. Books. I am always grateful for books, but I’m even more grateful now that I enjoy reading and have plenty of unread books that have been waiting on the shelves for far too long.
7. Solitary hobbies. Cross stitch and card-making are things I can do without even leaving the house, so really I haven’t even lost anything. (Other than the ability to go for hikes before it gets too hot. And, of course, we had to cancel our holiday but this is supposed to be a positive post so enough about that.)
8. That we went to the UK for Christmas. If we hadn’t, I have no idea when I would have got to see any of my family again. Before Christmas, the last time I had seen my dad and grandma was very briefly in February 2019!
9. That we have so much technology for keeping in touch these days. My dad called me via WhatsApp the other day, the boss addressed us all via Skype today, my mum is in constant touch via WhatsApp, and people have even messaged me on Facebook… and of course I’m constantly in contact with blogging friends via Instagram, Twitter and – naturally – their actual blogs. I may not be able to physically see anybody, but honestly I’m probably in touch more now than I would be if I actually lived in the same country as my friends and family!
10. We have plenty of food and our local supermarkets (mostly) do too. When I’ve noticed something missing it has usually been available again the next time I went in – so last Friday I couldn’t get tinned tomatoes but yesterday I managed. (The only loo roll available yesterday was the scented kind but luckily we currently have plenty ;-)).
Okay, that’s it. ten seems like a good number. I hope you all have a good weekend despite everything!
Tell me something you’re grateful for in the comments.
Good morning! I’ve kind of been neglecting this space recently so I thought I’d do this as something fun that’s also quick and easy. Shamelessly stolen from Audrey.
Three things I liked about February
1. Our trip to St Gallen
2. Pancake day!
3. Watching Good Omens
Three things I’m looking forward to in March
1. Poland. We’re meeting my family in Krakow for a few days then Jan and I are going to Wroclaw.
2. Lighter evenings so I can leave the house after work without having to worry about people lurking around corners.
3. …I cant actually think of a third thing. Clearly I need to male some plans for March.
Three vegetables I eat the most
1. Carrots
2. Courgettes
3. Chick peas
Three grocery items I buy every week
1. Milk
2. Bread (for toast)
3. Chicken
Three things we go through like crazy in my house
1. Teabags
2. Dishwasher tabs. I seriously don’t understand how we got through so many with just the two of us living here.
3. Margarine
Three things I always have time for
1. Reading
2. Sending birthday cards
3. Catching up with other people’s blog posts
Three things I never have time for
1. Writing posts for my own blog
2. Housework (you may think I exaggerate but you haven’t seen the absolute state of my flat!)
3. Cooking anything that takes longer than 45 minutes total (including prep). I want to but I just can’t!
That’s it. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. (P.S. The photo at the top has nothing to do with anything – I just needed something to put there.)
Happy Monday friends. Jan came back from Italy late yesterday and then proceeded to snore and grind his teeth all night, so I’m tired today. Early night definitely in order tonight! Anyway, for the first time in ages, I actually remembered to check the inspiration for Style Imitating Art, and here it is (chosen by Kim from Fierce Fashion Blog):
My first thought on looking at the poster was “I don’t have anything in those colours!”. Then I went beyond the colours and for some reason the way the grapes are laid out reminded me of a top I own, even though neither the colours nor the pattern match? Here is my outfit… let me know if you can see what I mean:
Here is a closer look at the top… with apologies for my utter uselessness at selfie taking! It’s mainly something about the way the green leaves are just kind of splodged on that reminds me of the grapes. (Splodged… technical term don’tcha know 🤣)
Finally, for those who are interested, these are my shoes, although those have very little to do with the inspiration. I just shoved them on because they kind of match the outfit. They have red and purple though, so they are at least vaguely similar to the colours in the poster.
Since this is an outfit post, the obligatory “where stuff came from”. The top is from Sainsburys, apparently (as in the supermarket) – I had no idea they even did clothes! My aunt bought it and didn’t like it, so she gave it to my mum who didn’t want it either and promptly passed it on to me! Skirt: Don’t remember. It’s about 9 years old and the label is gone. Shoes: Primark, about 5 years ago. (And the socks are H&M, although I’m sure no-one cares about those!).
So, what do you think? Am I completely crazy for thinking this is even vaguely reminiscent of the inspiration?
If you would like to join in, you have until tomorrow (Tuesday, 10 September) to send a photo of your outfit to Kim at fiercefashionblog@gmail.com (worn or just a flat lay), then check her blog on Wednesday for the full round up of outfits.
As you will know if you read my last post, we recently came back from holiday. The final few days of our trip were spent in Lisbon, Portugal. Since we were travelling to hot countries, I had obviously taken summer clothes with me, but it wasn’t until I was actually walking around Lisbon that I realised the dress I had put on that day had a pattern that would have been perfect for one of the beautiful tiles that adorn many Portuguese houses. So, for your viewing pleasure, here is a selection of photos of Portuguese tiles and me blending in so well you’d think I’d done it on purpose…
(I was wearing blue and that seems to be the most popular colour, but not all the tiles in the photos below are blue.)
I’m not really sure how to end this post so uhh, just I guess that’s all folks?
I wasn’t planning on doing another outfit post so soon, but then I saw the SIA inspiration and instantly had an idea for what I could wear, so here we are.
The inspiration for this round is a photo that host Daenel took herself. How cool is that?
I owned every item I’m wearing in my outfit before we moved to Switzerland, which means they’re at least four years old. Also, two of the items have already featured in past SIA’s – the brown skirt just last week and the brown long-sleeved top back in November. But without further ado, I shall show you what I came up with:
I can’t remember where the skirt is from, the long-sleeved top I think is C&A (or maybe H&M) and the blue top is Primark. The boots are from a shop called Humanic and are Marc O’Polo brand (they were half price and I adore them!).
Close ups of my jewellery:
The necklace was a gift from Jan years ago. The earrings were also a gift – I think from my dad. They’re Tiger’s Eye, which I was always under the impression was the birthstone for Leo (does anyone remember those zodiac birthstone birthday cards you used to get? Leo was always Tiger’s Eye), although the Internet seems to be under the impression that Tiger’s Eye is Gemini. I don’t care – I shall continue to claim it for Leo.
If it weren’t for this link up, it would never have occurred to me to combine brown and blue, but I actually think it looks good together. Thanks for the inspiration, Daenel!
What would you wear for this challenge? If you would like to take part, send a photo of your outfit to livingoutsidethestacks@gmail.com by Tuesday, 29 January. You don’t have to have a blog and you can also just send a photo of the clothes if you prefer not to appear in the picture yourself. There will be a round-up of all submissions on Wednesday, 20 January on Daenels’s blog.
Well, this has been the weirdest (attempt at a) working day ever. I went to log on early this morning only to get an error message. At 8 o’clock, when I thought somebody might be in the office, I called to find out it was a general problem. All our work is done remotely now – even those who are actually in the office log on to a server – and there was a problem with said server. So I spent most of the day waiting around to see whether the problem would be fixed, punctuated by having my project management colleagues send the things that needed doing to my private email address so I could download them, do the work, and then email them back for delivery to the customers (or in one case to be uploaded to our own website – sometimes I do internal translations as well). Luckily I didn’t have too much left to do today, but it means I only did around 3 hours of actual work between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. The rest of the time I was just sitting around. I couldn’t go anywhere or do anything just in case things started working again and I could actually log on and work properly. Fun times. However, I took tomorrow off because I have several appointments and working in between them would just be silly, and from Monday we’re closed so I am now freeeeeee until the New Year. I mean, I still have all the cleaning to do before Monday because I like the flat to be properly cleaned and tidied for a change before Christmas Eve so that I can spend Christmas itself doing absolutely nothing (well, almost nothing… obviously we still have to eat so I will be cooking and dealing with the dishes from that, but I don’t want to be hoovering or cleaning ovens during that time). But from work, I am free! That makes it sound like I hate work… to clarify, I do not. I’m just exhausted. I have honestly never been more in need of the Christmas break than I am this year.
And I have no idea what the point in this post was so I’m going to stop here and go actually do some of that cleaning I keep going on about!
So, funny story about my entry for this round of Style Imitating Art… I had my outfit all picked out, put it in the suitcase when we went away for a night, then we promptly left the suitcase on the train. Doh! On the plus side, when we went to buy a few necessary bits we found out that the supermarket in Yverdon les Bains sells bamboo tooth brushes. I had been planning for a while to look into ordering one (our branch of the same supermarket does not have them) but never got around to it. Silver linings. And the suitcase has been found – we can pick it up tomorrow. But anyway, I digress… with my original outfit gone, I had to think of something else to wear. Here is the inspiration art, chosen by Danael.
It’s called Pocket Flask. I love the colours… so appropriate for autumn! And the patterns on the bottles are so interesting. Since we went out for the day today, I got Jan to take a photo of me with all the autumn colours of nature in the background, also so fitting for the inspiration. Here’s what I chose to wear:
This owl dress is by “Miss Style London”. I believe I bought it from DaWanda, which was the German version of Etsy (but stopped hosting shops recently and is now just a craft site). I’ve had it for about 8 years though so I’m not 100% sure! I thought the colours were really fitting and the patterns at the bottom and on the owls were a good imitation of the patterns on the the flasks. I’m also wearing green tights (not visible, but never mind) and a brown cardigan from Primark (purchased before our move to Basel, so three years ago at least). Some close ups of the owls:
I added some earrings to the outfit, both because the colours fit and they’re kind of glassy looking (although I think they’re actually plastic), which seemed appropriate. Below a photo of me that actually shows one of them plus one of just the earrings. They came from a clothes shop… no idea which one.
It’s already pretty late, but if you fancy joining in and can cobble together an outfit at short notice please do, and then send it to Danael at livingoutsidethestacks@gmail.com by tomorrow (Tuesday 6 November). A round up will go up on her blog on Wednesday and it’s well worth checking out what outfits other people came up with inspired by the art. There are always some amazing contributions!
Confuzzledom 