Hi sweet Fabbers,

As Angie mentioned on her Trip Pics thread, she and I had a blast in Arnhem yesterday. We yakked and yakked while exploring all the shops, eating gelato and fries, and walking all over the city.

I was hoping to find (layering) tops/knitwear to go with bottoms and maxi cardigans already in my closet, and really wanted a new pair of on-trend jeans too. I also wanted new white sneakers to replace my Skechers that are pretty much finished, and was not going to say no to a pair of purple shoes to complement the eggplant Tumi crossbody that Angie very kindly brought with her from the US (it's going to be sooo versatile for my lifestye).

But I'm always open to trying on other things too during our shopping expeditions because you never know when you might run into a wild card item or something else that would work well with the rest of my wardrobe.

Angie suggested I bring with the 3 pairs of bottoms I needed tops for most so I could try everything on together. Very glad I did!

I found lots of fantastic things, and having Angie to guide me and give advice makes it all so easy (and fun). This is a big haul, but these days I really do 90% of my shopping with Angie in Arnhem with an additional purchase here and there in between, so it works out about equally, and I very much enjoy this "method".

This is what I brought home:

- Striped sweater: the mint green is completely up my alley, the earthy cinnamon is completely new for me, but I'm loving the combination of cool and warm colours and am excited to wear it.

- Matching scarf.

- Mint lightweight sweater with subtle sparkle

- Mint blazer. I'd been looking for a topper like this at the beginning of Spring without luck, and when we happened upon it yesterday I only hesitated for a second. For some this might be a Spring/Summer colour only, but I'm happy to wear it year round + it matches the new green tops perfectly making it extra versatile.

- Darker green sweater with subtle self-pattern

- High-rise straight leg jeans that fit great. They can be worn as shown in the pic with big cuff, but also with just a short turn-up or even completely full-length. It all looked great.

- Periwinkle wrap sweater. I love this style, and it works nicely with a larger bust. Will be pairing it with a white cami for starters, but will experiment with other colours and other styles of tops underneath too.

(all the sweaters are welted, which works wonderfully with the higher-rise bottoms I needed tops for).

- Turquoise COS sweater. I love the slight A-line style, and the bright turquoise.

> This was SO interesting: Angie and I both tried it on. The colour looked fresh and as bright on me as on the model, while it looked a lot darker and not as crisp on Angie. Goes to show how the same colour can look wildly different on people with different complexions and hair colours.

- Blue and white striped lyocell shirt. Lovely soft fabric, and a great shirt to layer under my cardigans. I like the idea of wearing it with my burgundy cropped kick flares and burgundy maxi cardigan.

- I found white sneaks to replace my old ones, yay! At first I wasn't sure about the two-tone, but that quickly grew on me. The holes in the side of the soles are a fun design detail.

- And yay, I also found purple sneaks to complement the Tumi bag!! Thrilled about that!

I love how many of the new items go together even though they're not all from the same store, and how everything works perfectly with the rest of my wardrobe. VERY excited to start wearing my loot (as soon as it cools down a bit:-)

All thoughts and comments welcome.