Fashion Swap

On sunday evening I went to a Fashion Swap at The Vulcan on Salisbury road.

Set up in a side room were vintage stalls and a cake stand and rails of clothes to swap!

I had a great time with a few friends picking out new outfits from the selection of clothes people had brought in. I myself got rid of 9 items that I just never wore anymore, so I cleared my wardrobe a bit and was quite pleased to come home with 3 lovely dresses.

I hope there is another one soon!

Next time I will take jewellery and shoes I no longer want as I didnt realise these could be swapped also. And I will try to get some boys to come along as there wasnt anything really for men.

The other nice thing is anything that doesnt get swapped goes to the Oxfam Boutique on St Marys street.

KATY PERRY 2011

HOLY MOLY!

Katy Perry last night was INCREDIBLE!

We drove down to Birmingham for the California dreams tour, (it took ages we got stuck between Newport and Cardiff for an hour!)

When we all eventually got to the NIA we had missed the support band, I actually have no idea who it was because we didnt ask and I couldnt see any merch except for Katys. Maybe you know?

Nevermind! The show was great it had everything! A cute back story of a Wizard of Oz/Alice in Wonderland/Cinderella style (which I hope comes out on dvd) It had dancers, flying clouds, mimes and sweets!!

We stood for the show and were towards the back in the hope we could see better and dnace more, but there wasnt the best view for most of the show until Katy came out on a cloud over the audience to sing 'Thinking of You' and look how close we were!

My favourite performances from the concert were Firework que pyrotechnics, Teenage Dream and E.T because it had a fantastic laser lights throughout.

but all of it was amazing.

Her costumes were great especially her peacock outfit there were more sequins on that stage than a sequin factory. During 'Hot and Cold' she even did a quick change routine like you see on Britains got talent which was pretty entertaining.

Me and my friends all decided to dress like katy for the show, you may have seen my post about the dice dress I was making

So here we are
No one else really dressed up which suprised me! There were a lot of blue wigs and I saw one Kathy Beth Terry but thats abou it!



All photos were taken by me except the one of me and my friends that was taken by my lovely boyfriend Ben.

Vintage Shops

We found a few great vintage shops in Amsterdam purely by accident!

I had completely forgotten to look before we had gone away, probably because we had so much planned already.

Episode vintage:

There are 2 shops in Amsterdam both are big shops full of reworked vintage clothes, lots of skirts made from older pieces (I bought one myself)

Episode offers a huge range for both guys and girls which is a nice change, my boyfriend got a hawaiian shirt.

They also stock a lot of scarves, sports t-shirts and jumpers.
This is what I bought:


I love this skirt its on trend, its comfy and despite the bold pattern it goes with most things!

and I also bought this pretty scarf.

you will find Episode at Waterlooplien and Berenstraat

http://www.episode.eu/index.jsp?USMID=30

a look at the website informs me this chain also has a shop in Camden (maybe youve been?)

Laura Dols Vintage:

http://www.lauradols.nl/uk/_footer/contact/

Mainly for women there is a huge downstairs room full of occaisionwear, lots of taffeta and net!

Also a lot of older vintage clothing and lovely gloves and bags

find it on Wolvenstraat

Zipper:

Very retro, plenty for men and women here, lots of dresses from the 70s good fun!

Niewe Hoog Straat

http://www.zipperstore.nl/

Waterlooplien Market

A busy market by the canal. Expect to find souvenirs, smoking paraphernalia and second hand clothing.

Ben bought a fab levis denim jacket for cheaper than they were in Episode next door.
He was really happy with this because he had his levi jacket stolen from a club back home recently.

The tour guides say its open Monday - Friday 9-5.30pm and Saturday 8.30-5.30pm however we turned up at 11am and found most stalls werent open yet.



The best things about vinatge shopping in Amsterdam - the euro/pound is very similar atm so you know roughly what an item is selling for and you can work out if its worth the price or not, generally I found the vintage shops quite resonable but the more you can get from a market the better :)

The best things to do in Amsterdam

In no real order just as I remember them!

1. Canal boat ride: perfect way to see the city and learn some fun facts about Amsterdams history. Even nicer when the weather is bad as its warm and dry inside!

2.Try some local food. on our trip we tried dutch pancakes, chips and mayo, Bitterballen (mince in crispy breadcrumbs), FEBO (fast food from a vending machine).

3.Van Gogh museum - the biggest collection of the artists work, beautiful paintings as well as sketches and copies Gogh had made of other paintings by artists he admired.

4.Vintage shops and flea markets. A must vivit is the Waterlooplein market and Episode vintage which is near by. http://www.episode.eu/index.jsp?USMID=49

5. Anne Frankhuis - everyone has heard the story of Anne Frank this museum is in the building where Anne her family and some close friends hid from the Nazis during the second world war. This museum is a mix of videos, exerts from Annes diary and pictures of the family and friends that leads you round the whole building. Get there early to avoid queues and having to shuffle slowly round behind groups of school children!

6.Red Light district - you have to see it, you dont have to stay!

7.The Heineken Experience- I wasnt looking forward to this one I must admit! This was Ben's main must see, however...it was fun, interactive and with free drinks at the end it was definitely worth the money as well. Like a Cadburys world for adults ;)

8.Go off the beaten track! Find cute shops, cafes, bridges, canals and normal life just beyond the centre I suggest a visit to the Jordaan district. Enjoy getting lost looking at maps and not knowing what you will find!(picture here of a really thin house!)

9. Sex museum, this was so funny there is lots of erotic artwork and some suprisingly old artifacts!

10.Get on a tram! Easy to use and they get you pretty much everywhere. single ticket is 2.60euros and a 24hour pass is 7euros. We got 24hour passes because we used them so often (our hotel was quite far out of town)


We did lots of other great things in Amsterdam also, I will try post something about them all, these were my highlights, Ben might disagree!!

(all photos by me except van gogh bedroom,anne frank house and episode vintage, the photos with me in were taken by ben)

Wow!

Home from a great 5 days in Amsterdam.

It feels like Ive been everywhere and done everything! A post with pictures etc will follow.

Im trying to chill before I go back to work sunday, but my suitcase is niggling at me to unpack and wash clothes!

expect museum reviews, clogs, cheese, trams, canals, picturesque houses, bridges, bikes and pancakes!

I said this post would be about the outfits I'm taking to Amsterdam truth be told I havent had time to do such a post and Im packing in a hurry now for thomorrow morning.


Our flight is at 6am! I told you how much I liked vintage travel posters and look what I found with a bit of searching

Vinatge Postcards

I love vintage postcards especially 1920/30s travel ones that they used to encourage the use of the trains and underground.

I have framed some for my living room :)



my next post will be all about packing and planning for my Amsterdam holiday on Sunday!!

Happy Family

Me and ben got Terrapins :)

we named them Terrance and Shelby