Monday and mood-lifting jeans

Yesterday was Sunday, a rather bleak, rainy and boring Sunday. Dark clouds and blue skies were constantly fighting but the threatening clouds definitely had the upper hand.

There was nothing else to do than to make sweet buns, snuggle and play with Little H, watch “So you think you can dance” (I love it!) on TV and knit ferociously on a present for Little Cousin L due to arrive in a few weeks. As if I am going to complete my “knit-work” it in time. Poor time-management yet again.
Brought the knitting on the train this morning, and I’m sure the ladies around were scrutinizing every knot and thinking what an amateur, and the young trendies thinking what a sad almost-middle -aged housewife. Tomorrow it is back to reading books with impressive titles (important for the image amongst the fellow commuters).
Well, this week I am going to wear and write about some of my favorite items. Yesterday, as I did not leave the house and was constantly close to snot, spit, spaghetti and other stain-makers I lounged around in my comfy trousers, t-shirt and cardigan. Nothing worth mentioning here really.

So today it was back to business, but since my carefully beloved item of clothing required extensive ironing, it was never going to happen. I had to opt for a newly acquired favorite. My dark, even suitable for work jeans got worn patches on their knees after my maternity leave, where I spent a lot of time crawling around on the floor. Good fitting jeans are not easy to find, especially if you do not want / can afford to spend an arm and a leg on them.

THE jeans (on a model of course)

The jeans should not be too tight fitting,but have a little bit of stretch for comfort, not too low on the waist, not too tight around the tummy as not to leave too much flab “hanging over”. The fabric should be soft, but still firm. They should fit nicely, but again not too tight over the bum. The list of requirements are endless.

Well, I have found (until now), the most perfect jeans I have ever owned. They tick most of the boxes above and has cool pockets at the back too.

These jeans are another item I love and they certainly cheered me up on a grey Monday. I even got a compliment from one of my colleagues, so those jeans made my day!

Do you have an item of clothing that makes you happy?

Dressed to kill… sheeps

Going back to work provides many new challenges. For example you cannot dress on autopilot in the mornings any more. Neither can you make noise when picking out your outfit and sneaking out of the bedroom and past Little H’s room. Everything needs to be prepared in advance. And when it isn’t – too bad.
Not long ago this happened:

I had a lunch meeting outside the office and when I prepared to leave work by putting on my jacket and boots, I realized that instead of a young professional office working lady I looked more like a horse manure mucking English lady of the countryside.

I left the office around noon wearing a black hooded parka, jeans and black wellington boots. This had not been so bad if the skies had been filled with rain-bearing clouds, and that I could see others in similar outfits out there. But the sun was shining; smart well-dressed ladies were putting on their designer sunglasses and smugly unbuttoning their fitted suit-jackets to reveal crisp and delicate shirts in this season’s bright colors, whereas if I took of my parka I would reveal a faded H&M brown-blackish tunic. The shame!

I had gone to work wearing a mummy outfit!

Sooooo last season

Typical Basques ;-)

According to the inhabitants of the fashion capital of Spain, Elorrio, Hanna and her pram is sooooo last season. There’s a new pram in town and it is owned by everyone who’s anyone in this little Basque town. It’s called a Baby Jogger City Mini (no more, no less) and is the only pram which works with the latest hiking boots, fleece jackets, Lycra hill walking trousers and mullets, as displayed by the local fashionistas (for more Basque Fashion).

One of the biggest and most important fashion statements a yummy mummy can have is the pram. So I did not take lightly on researching the most practical, durable and ehrmmm fashionable pram I could find (and afford) before the arrival of Little H. And as Pappa Kas is a man of method and thoroughness he scouted the internet, interviewed friends and read consumer tests. We were talking about an investment buy here, more often used than a Mulberry Bayswater, so we needed to make sure that we took the right choice. And so we thought…

International as we are, we did not end up with one of the Swedish sturdy, solid and snow compatible prams with footbags (whatever that is) but proudly bought a Central European design winner- the Bugaboo.

Overall I am very happy with the pram. It is light, easy to assemble, practical, and if you have to take the bus, it is so small that you can enter at the front of the bus rather than having to shout to the driver: “Open the back door please”, only to be ignored and left at the bus stop. The easiness of pushing it in the snow is not to be discussed here, but I can now understand why Scandinavian Design is for Scandinavians and adapted to their (winter)-needs.

The color of the Buggie was a blip though as we bought a chocolate brown one, despite me knowing that it did not match my wellies, my winter parka, my hundred black tunics or cardigans or any other item of clothing a yummy mummy is supposed to have. Well, the Chocolate color works with jeans and my hair-color, so I am one of those trying hard- getting nearly there- but oh so wrong. This seasons gray nail-polish? Don’t go there.




Me, Little H in the buggie, Amama and Aitxitxe