BLACK AND WHITE BLOUSE STYLED TWO WAYS

 Hello dear readers, hope you are all well.

First of all, I would like to share with you exciting news - last week my middle step-son (I had three step-children from my husband's first marriage and he has two step-daughters from me😄) and his partner had a baby boy👦. She is originally from Japan so the baby has her almond shape eyes and thick mob of jet-black hair on his tiny head and looks absolutely gorgeous.  No name yet, though.  In Australia you have 60 days to name your newborn and after that the name will be assigned by some Government body.  Hopefully, it will not come to that.

Another not so exciting but still very important news is that after five months of looking for a job, I finally got one.  Back in September last year, the owners of the company I worked for 10 years decided to retire and sold the business to a company based in Melbourne.  I didn't not see it coming, I was hoping to stay there until I chose to retire in a few years time but that was not meant to be.  The job that I was doing was transferred to their Melbourne head office thus rendering my position redundant.  I was devasted.  

It was a small bookkeeping job, just two days a week which suited me perfectly.  It left me with enough time to help my older daughter with her two kids twice a week, and attend yoga, pilates and barre classes in my gym.  It gave me a reason to leave the house in the morning, dressed in clothes other than the gym gear, talk to people outside of my usual circle of friends and acquaintances, give my brain something  to do and earn some money.  Not that my husband ever denied giving me as much as I want, I still wanted to have my own funds.

It took me almost five months to find a replacement and it was an absolute struggle.  Sadly, my old bosses were literally old and not big friends of modern technology. Once I started viewing job ads, it hit me how far the technology has moved on in the past few years.  And it not only applies to accounting software but how much the technology has become an integral part of all aspects of the business.  I don't want to bore you with the details but if you imagine that you have been using the rotary phone and then one day someone hands you the latest model of an IPhone and tells you that this what you will have to use from now on and you have to figure it out all by yourself.  It was not enough that I have over 10 years of accounting experience, in the eyes of the recruiter I was a ignorant neanderthal.  Which is not far off, giving that I am turning 64 this year and probably was the oldest job seeker on the market.  there were days when I felt stupid, useless, hopeless and frustrated.

I was just about to give up, when a recruitment agent who saw my profile on Seek (Australian job seeking site) and offered me a role in a small company, doing exactly what I was doing for two days per week.  Sounded good to me, so I asked him to set am an interview with the MD.  During the interview, I realised how many similarities this company shares with my old workplace.  The software that they were using was about 20 years old, every document is printed on paper and either filed in the old fashion manila folders or piled high on the desks and tables or along the walls.  The MD himself is a man in his seventies so my age didn't bother him in the slightest. All he cares about is that the job is well done.  And here comes the best part - the office is literally 500 meters away from my home and I walk there in under 5 minutes.  So all and all, it worked out in the end for me, fingers crossed.  I sincerely hope, it will last🤞.

Now that my mind is in a better place, let's talk about fashion.  For today's outfit, I chose a monochromatic black and white colour scheme.  I do love bright colours and wear them quite but today  we were going to see a French movie called "The Taste of Things" which was a part of French Film Festival and I wanted to wear the colours that are so popular amongst Parisian women.

The blouse is a new addition to my wardrobe.  My younger daughter bought it for me when she was working at Country Road retail store over the Christmas break.  In fact, I was just wandering among the racks and this print caught my attention.  I also liked the fact that the blouse is cropped so I don't need to tuck it in which comes very handy when you are wearing a silk pencil skirt and you can't tuck anything inside it as it will ruined the smooth look of the fabric. 

I asked my daughter if she can apply her staff discount but she generously just paid for it.  

My cropped unhemmed pants are so old that I don't care to remember how long it is since I bought them but I like their style, they look trendy, I can still fit into them and that is good enough for me.

The movie was an absolute joy to watch. The lead roles are played by Juliette Binoche, who plays Eugenie ( a renowned cook with no equal) and her ex-husband Benoit Magimel playing Dodin, "an epicure whose ideas for recipes combined with Eugenie's talent, combined culinary magic" .It's brilliantly filmed, both actors are on top of their game and if you haven't seen it yet, I strongly recommend.

The other night we were going to the Opera House to listen to a classical concert and I was wearing this same blouse but this time instead of white jeans, I put on black pants adorned with pearl buttons running along the bottom part of the pants;  the sneakers were replaced with black patent cup-toe shoes (worn here) with a pearl clasp and swapped silver chains hanging around my neck with a long string of pearls linking all the elements of my outfit together.  

I like this blouse when I just saw it hanging on the rack and now knowing how adaptable it could be, makes me feel even better.

Until then,

Anna

xoxoxo