Weekend haul

What a weekend we've had! About 6 hours of walking on Saturday, divided between the Albert Cuypmarkt and the Overtoom, a long, busy avenue in the west of the city that runs parallel to the Vondelpark. Then even more walking on Sunday—this time to Ikea for a few things for the guest bedroom, the last frontier of mess in this house. 

It's Monday afternoon already and I still feel exhausted. I remember that after our lemonade Saturday spent exploring the city, Marlon said: "It's like we're on vacation every weekend." True... because I only seem to get this tired on vacation! But it's a good kind of tired, one that comes from hurling yourself into a new home and a new life. I'm not complaining. 

On long, busy weekends like this you tend to pick up a few things along the way. Please agree with me! I can't be the only shopaholic around here. Some of my favorite finds from the weekend:

A brand spankin' new leather jacket! Since the sun has been coming out more these days, I've been hankering to put my heavy wool coat away and switch to something lighter. I was in love with this blush-colored leather jacket on Net-a-porter, but after shopping around a bit, I realized I could get four leather jackets for the price of this one!

 On Saturday morning I stepped into the leather shop at Albert Cuypmarkt and found this soft tan beauty, which not only looked great and fit perfectly, but was reasonably priced as well. I ditched my wool coat at home and changed into it for our afternoon outing at the Overtoom (more on that later). I love it!

Also from Albert Cuypmarkt, I found gray linen lampshades to replace the white lampshades we use in the living room. The lamps are actually ex-hotel lamps, and used to be in our bedroom. The white lampshades had started to look really grotty and we almost left the lamps in Singapore! It's a good thing we didn't; I guess all they needed were some new shades.

From a dirt-cheap thrift shop on the Overtoom, two huge old woven sacks that were once mailbags from Hungary. How random is that? I love that I can find stuff like that here! I still have to figure out what to do with them though: maybe new covers for the big pillows on the daybed, or even upholstery for a chair. 

Pantone box from Friday Next along the Overtoom, for my many files and papers. They had other colors in stock, but I liked this Honeysuckle one.

From Ikea, a small lamp with a clear glass base for the hallway. Marlon actually hated it... until we put it on top of the hallway cabinet and switched the light on. "I was wrong, you were right, it looks great," he admitted. Ah, victory. Maybe that was the best part of the weekend right there.