WHAT I WORE LAST WEEKEND/BOHO VIBE

 G'day my dear readers, hope you are well

It was a lovely Sunday morning and we had another nice outing planned but as we reached the door, all of a sudden the weather changed and it started to rain heavily.  That was rather annoying because I was hoping to have a photo shoot en plein air but since I was wearing my planned outfit anyway, I decided not to waste the opportunity and instead had the photos taken indoors.

I was going for a boho vibe and for that I chose to wear my "gypsy skirt", a maxi voluptuous skirt made out of crinkled light Indian cotton that I bought last year at the Avoca Markets, a monthly market run at Avoca Beach in a very pretty coastal town about 1.5 hours drive from where we live in Sydney.  The skirt is very light and breezy and does not need to be ironed.  The lady who sold it to me showed me how to keep its shape and folds.  All I need to do when I take it off is to fold it lengthways and while holding it at the top with one hand, start twisting it until it looks like a very thick curled rope that you can fold and put away which makes it perfect for travelling.

To continue with my boho vibe, I am wearing a cotton loose fit V-neck jumper with a plain white t-shirt underneath and my white Converse shoes.

Some of you might be wondering about the painting of a huge upright standing cat behind me.  This painting was our gift to ourselves to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.  The enormous demonic cat in the painting is called Behemoth, it serves as a member of Satan's retinue in Michail Bulgakov's (Russian and Soviet novelist and playwright) classic novel Master and Margarita.  It was published posthumously and has been called one of the masterpieces of the 20th century. 

The reason that we bought it was a homage to my Russian roots and my love of his book.  Once we brought it home, my South African English speaking husband found the book on line in English, read it and loved it too.  

On this happy note, bye for now 😄

Anna

xoxoxo

WHAT I WORE LAST WEEKEND

G'day my dear readers.

Now the tables have turned and once again, spring has come to us and with it an opportunity to wear lighter and brighter clothes.  If you read my previous post, you would notice that my working wardrobe is mostly in a grey scale, that's why comes the weekend, you would find me wearing something colourful yet stylish and comfortable.

Case in point, this outfit.  It was a lovely sunny day of an early spring day when the sun feels nice and warm on your skin without doing any damage.  However, I still apply SPF 50+ to my face as I had quite a few cancer scares in the last few years.

For the outing, I chose to wear my wide-leg red denim pants, black thick sole sneakers and a black denim jacket.  Nice and casual.  I woild never leave a house without a handbag, no matter the occasion, and my old red LV handbag seemed to fit the colour sceme so I grabbed it.

It was a perfect day for being outdoors and we decided to make a trip to one of the historical places called Strickland Estate, a 19th century heritage-listed treasure that boasts one of the best picnic spots with a harbour view anywhere in Sydney.

Truth be told, I have been living in this part of Sydney for the last 30 years, yet this was my first visit.  The moment we stepped through the gates, we were taken by the beauty of the grounds, the greenery of manicured lawns and the serenity of the gardens.  But the main attraction for me was the view.

We spent a couple of blissful hours surrounded by nature and beauty and returned home rested and relaxed.

Hope your weekend was as blissful as ours.

Until then,

Anna

xoxoxo

PS  This outifit was featured on I do declaire blog and Style-Splash

THREE KEY PIECES YOU SHOULD HAVE IN YOUR OFFICE WARDROBE

G'day my dear readers, hope you are all well.

I am slowly working my way back to blog regularly.  I have been out of it for almost a year, for no reason whatsoever, just wasn't feeling like it.

The reason I return to blogging was our recent trip to London followed by a tour of Scandinavia.  I just felt that I wanted to share this beautiful part of the world with those who haven't seen it.  The other reason being that my memory is not that sharp anymore and I wanted to document this trip for posterity.  I have to admit that it was the first time in my life that I used Google Lens as I couldn't recall the names and places we've been and seen.  I find this tool very helpful and 99% accurate.  It took me quite some time from start to finish but I was really enjoying the process, it brought back lovely memories and experiences and made me happy.  Hope that by following my story about our Scandinavian adventure, would inspire you to do the same.  

Now it is time to talk about clothes.  About 2 years ago I lost a job for which I worked for ten years.  I only worked for two days in an accounting department, spending the other 3 helping my daughter with her two kids and going to the gym.  It was a perfect life/work balance. It was a construction company situated in the industrial area where nobody cares about fashion.  I drove there and back, saw nobody and no one saw me.  That suited me fine and I hardly bought anything new while working there, which saved me a lot of money😊.

But then the boss retired and sold the business to a younger guy who within a year ran it down to the ground and we all, including him, lost our jobs.  I was over sixty then which means that I became virtually unemployable unless I agreed to stock the shelves in the supermarket.  

It was challenging and stressful as I expected and I was just about to give up, when out of the blue came a phone call from my employment agent who apparently found me a job.  Two days a week in an accounts department in a hair and beauty retail/wholesale shop - everything I was looking for but then came the icing on the cake,  the shop was within 400 meters of where I live and I walk past it almost every day on my way to the gym.

As I mentioned earlier, in my previous job nobody gave two straws to care about who wore what and frankly, I saved quite a bit of money on not buying new clothes.  However, this new job got me thinking.  Let me explain.

My husband and I live in a lovely part in Sydney that is geographically known as Sydney's Eastern Suburbs that as the name suggests, consists of up to 40 suburbs.  It is a home to many mansiond with manicured lawns, olympic size pools and stunning views over the Harbour Bridge and iconic beaches.  The suburb where we live is one of the few major commercial and transport hubs in the Eastern Suburbs called Bondi Junction which blends high-density urban living and premier retail shopping mainly congregated in 2 Westfield buildings sitting across the road from each other and which we can see from our apartment.   

The Eastern Suburbs are demographically diverse and although over 50% of the population are born in Australia, there is a big diaspora of the jews from Hungary that settled here after they escaped the Nazis and the horrors of WWII and later were joined by Jews from the former USSR and other countries from the Eastern Block running from pogroms and antisemitism.  There is also a significant presence of South Africans jews who where looking for a safe place to live.

As it happens everywhere in the world, each ethnic group are very close withing their own communities, they had known each other way before they came to live in Australia, they share the same traditions, food, culture and through marriages and other relations.   

As it happens, the majority of Russian jews, present company included, came from the city of Odessa, a beautiful town on Black Sea.   So if you are going shopping in Westfield Bondi Junction or seeing your dentist or going to the gym, chances are you bump into someone you know.  And since I re-married a South African jew, my chances of bumping into someone I know have doubled up.

The reason I am telling you all this is that although Australians tend to dress very casually and love to wear shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops all year around, the Europeans and South Africans approached their outfits with great care and style and I do the same.  You would never see me wearing leisurewear on the streets no matter how comfortable it might feel.

After I accepted my new job, it dawned on me that since I will be walking to and from my new office passing smartly dressed men and women on the way to their jobs, I probably should update my wardrobe.  I wasn't going to buy business suits or high heel pumps, just a few key pieces that I could mix and match with my existing outfits that make me look smart with ease.

The key item #1 on my list was to buy a smart blazer.  I didn't want it to be conservative and forego the classic black colour for light grey double-breasted wool blazer that I found at Reiss, one of my favorite brands.  It was sold as a part of the suit but could also be purchased as a single item which I preferred.

Despite its classic cut, it looks great with jeans or in this case with my dark grey patterned flared pants from Zara just for fun.  In warmer months I would wear a nice white t-shirt underneath but in a cooler month it's a white crisp shirt that I pair it with.

This white oversized shirt from Cos is my key piece #2.  You must have at least one dress shirt in pure white colour in your wardrobe.  there is something magical about this colour that would update and refresh your outfit in a flash.  It could be fitted or loose, tucked away or worn over the pants, of soft or stiff fabric - the choice is totally yours.  It also depends whether shirt in question is for casual or dress up wear.

I already have a white linen shirt in my wardrobe that goes well with causal slacks or jeans but since I wanted a shirt suit for the office, I chose a crisp white fabric.

And the last but not least the key piece #3 is a pair of good shoes.  I stopped wearing heals a long time ago and was on a hunt for a pair of comfortable yet a statement pair of shoes and settled for black loafers.  This shoe style has been on my fashion radar for years thanks to a pair of iconic casual loafers from Tod's.  These days every fashion house has its own modern representation.  

While the suede loafers are a perfect accessory for casual attire, a black shiny leather shoes with the solid leather sole gives your outfit a polish look.  I chose mine from Maje and have become my "go to" shoes for many occasions.

I love wearing a scarf with my outfits.  One - they add a touch of sophistication and a point of interest, two - they cover wrinkles on my neck 😊.  The other accessory that I added to my otherwise monochromatic outfit is a brooch from the label called Parisian Cool that I discovered on the net.

I like to wear multiple rings on one hand but never more then three.  The ones I am wearing now have been bought over the years from Tiffany &Co by my husband (his favourite gift shop)😃 to signify various occasions (my birthday, our wedding anniversary etc).   The band and the Bone Ring are by Elsa Peretti for Tiffany  as are my oversized High Tide earrings.  The Loving Heart ring in the middle finger was designed by Paloma Picasso for Tiffany.  

The black Armani bag was purchased in Venice on our honeymoon back in 2007 but it still looks great, a testimony to a true craftsmanship.

And that is all for now.

Until then,

Anna

xoxoxo

HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR SCANDINAVIAN TOUR: BERGEN, NORWAY DAY 4 (Last day of the tour)

 Hello everyone.

If you read my previous post, you would remember that yesterday we left Oslo on a  Norway in a Nutshell ® tour and arrived in Bergen, Norwegian's second-largest city after Oslo known as "a gateway to the fjord".  

It is the our last stop and also a last day of our Scandinavian Tour so we wanted to see and learn as much of this city as possible.  If you missed any of  my previous posts, you will find them here.

This morning we are meeting a local tour guide who will take us on a walking tour of the historic centre of Bergen so we could experience first-hand the beauty and storied past of this city.  

This famous Bergen Cathedral is dedicated to Saint Olaf, and dates back to as early as 1181.  Its tower is a prominent medieval feature and can be seen from far away.

The tour started with a short walk toward Bryggen, the medieval part of the city listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site featuring colourful wooden buildings along the old wharf.  Some of them are now occupied by workshops, cafes and other interesting stores.  

Walking along these narrow streets with wooden façades felt like going back in time.

The tour ended near historic Kjøpmannstuen (the Merchant's House) where we said goodbye to our very knowledgeable local tour guide and together with our tour hostess, Zdenka, took a short walk to Floibanen funicular which would take us to the top of Mount Floyen .

It is one of the one of the "seven city mountains" that surround the city centre of Bergen.  It's highest point is 400 meters and the Floibanen funicular goes almost to the the top but stops at 320 m. From this viewpoint, we got a stunning panoramic view over the city of Bergen and the surrounding fjords.  

Over the years Floibanen has cemented its position as Bergen's most popular tourist attraction which we witnessed with our own eyes.  The edge of the viewing platform was absolutely packed with people and it was very difficult to take a photo with a full view of the city below.

It was around midday and since we had no group activities except the farewell dinner, the afternoon was left for us to explore the city on our own.  There were few lunch options available on Mount Floyen but it was so busy with tourists and we all know that the food here like everywhere else in the world would be very ordinary.  So with this in mind, we headed to the funicular to take us back to the city. 

 We started thinking about lunch but were not sure where to go so we just kept on walking hoping to find a place that would attract our attention.  Meanwhile we came across this cute little house that is actually called "the little red house".  We didn't know anything about it back then, it's just looked so pretty and charming but when we got back and I looked it up, turns out this traditional wooden Norwegian house nestled in a steep historic hillside lane is a famous viral photo spot.

We continued walking downhill towards the city centre when we spotted a bright yellow sign hanging over an iconic Trekroneren hot dog stand.  Trekroneren translates Three Crowns or three krone which was famously the price charged for the wiener sausage when the new owner took over in 1978.  However, it first opened its doors back in 1946 and has become a major food attraction for tourists and locals alike for high quality and exotic sausages such as lamb, reindeer and wild game options paired with toppings like lingonberry jam and crispy onions.

There were a lot of tourists milling around but the queue moved really fast and soon we were holding our hotdogs.  I tried reindeer meat before and found it rather dry and too gamey for my palette so we opted for something more traditional and ordered lamb sausages with the lingonberry jam and crispy onions.

There were no tables but we managed to score two milk crates to sit on and tucked in.  The sausages tasted delicious, the onion rings were as crispy as promised, the bread rolls were freshly baked and the lingonberry jam was a spot-on condiment to cut through the richness of the lamb and balance the sweetness of the onions. 

Our hotel was just a few blocks away and it didn't take us too long to find our way back stopping here and there to take in the beat of the city, it's people and the way they live.

We wanted to re-repack our bags and be ready for next morning's early check out and flight from Bergen to Oslo and from Oslo to Sydney.  The packing didn't take long and soon we were out at reception waiting for our fellow travelers to go out for our farewell dinner.  We had a lovely time reminiscing about our trip, sharing stories and swapping up our phone numbers and Instagram handles.

Here is a group photo of all of us.  The woman between my husband and myself is our tour hostess Zdenka to whom we are very grateful for her kindness, willingness to help in a difficult situation, her excessive knowledge of this part of the world that she was so keen to share with us.  We enjoyed being in the company with our fellow travelers and forges some new freindships.  We have never travelled with a group before and were slightly apprehensive of being in close proximity with other people for a long period of time but we needn't worry, it was a perfect match.

PS.  Back in February in the middle of our Australian summer, out of the blue I received a phone call from Zdenka.  She and her boyfriend were in Australia on a surfing tour and were in Sydney for a couple of days and wanted to meet with us.  We were happy to see them and asked them to join us for dinner dinner at our local pub overlooking iconic Bondi Beach.  Where else?

On this happy note, I conclude my narrative about our Scandinavian tour.  Apologies for taking too long to finish but as we all know sometimes the things step in the way that require your time and attention.

Until then

Anna

xoxoxo

PS  If you like what you learn about this part of the world, please do not hesitate to ask me any questions, I will be very happy to help