It’s been a hot minute since I last posted here. Life has been busy–mostly in a great way. My parents were visiting us from Pakistan in April and we indulged in a fair bit of euro traveling during their stay. I was seeing them after over a year, so it only made sense to maximize our time with them by putting other commitments on hold.
The weather turned out surprisingly pleasant the first few days that they were here. This was just before we hopped on an Amsterdam open boat canal tour. Highly recommend every visitor to do one.
As if their visit wasn’t keeping us busy enough, we finalized purchase of an apartment that checks off 99.99999 percent of the priorities on our checklist! I still have to pinch myself to believe that the purchase is real because it has taken us over a year to find a place. For those of you not familiar with the Amsterdam housing market, it’s darn difficult to buy a place you love because of limited supply, skyrocketing prices, and the bidding wars that ensue these conditions.
Part of the living room at our new apartment. The sellers will take all their furniture, of course. Since our current home came furnished, we’ve to buy everything for the new home. It’s nerve-wrecking as the waiting times to get a bed delivered are as long as 10 weeks–atrocious!
Anyhow–point being that the meetings regarding the purchase have completely consumed my time. There is another good news that too has taken up many full days in the last few months, but since it hasn’t yet become official on paper, I’ll hold off on sharing.
So it’s unquestionable that I’ve been on my toes since February, but life will not stop or slow down so I could blog. I realized that I’ve to do the best I can with the time I’ve while reading The Courage To Be Disliked on my way back from London tonight. More on this book later.
I flew to London yesterday morning for work and decided to take a couple of shots of my travel outfit. The photo quality is quite terrible, I must say, but that’s the best I could do when I finally reached the hotel after an eighteen hour day (flight delays, flight, train, meetings, more meetings, drinks, late dinner, tube, and finally hotel).
Even though the flight to London is hardly an hour, I still opt for comfort. A dress with ballerina flats is my outfit of choice when I fly for work. I got these Tory Burch Claire Ballerina Flats for fifty percent off when I was in the states in February. They took time to break in but have now become my go-to everyday flat!
The dress is from J. Crew. I got it last year, but a few sizes are still available here. I absolutely love the fit of this dress. It’s not figure-hugging, but still gives enough shape and structure. I particularly love the pussy bow collar. Like all old trends making a comeback, pussy bow is having a moment too. And I’m all for it!
My accessories are always the bare minimum regardless of whether or not I’m traveling. The usual Diamond Point pearl studs, DW watch (available in 28 mm which is perfect for petite wrists), and Linjer Crossbody Purse (review here). I must say the crossbody purse is excellent for traveling. I keep the zipper open to have easy access to my passport, credit cards, phone, and such. Also, the bag has no weight of its own therefore I experience zero discomfort on the shoulder.
I completed this travel for work outfit with my Kensington Trench from Burberry. I’ve not had the chance to share the details of this purchase from last year. A lot of thought went into it, so it deserves a post of its own. All I’ll say today is that the trench has become my everyday spring jacket rain or shine.
That’s all for this post. I’ve been big on shopping secondhand / pre-loved as part of my drive to live sustainably. Most of my recent purchases, including the Burberry trench, have been from pre-loved marketplaces. I’m thinking of putting together a post that sheds more light on my motivation behind this shift and my experience of it. Hopefully, that will be value-adding for those of you still reading the blog! x