TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES

The popular charity shop in the Netherlands is the Salvation Army (Leger des Heils) but for us locals we call it the ‘Kringloopwinkel’. Every city, town and a big enough village has a kringloopwinkel. In Utrecht there are several kringloopwinkels but perhaps the most famous that gets a lot of popularity mileage is the one at the Oudegracht in the centre of the city. Mainly because of its location. The Kringloopwinkel in Oudegracht is huge, they are in several buildings on street and wharf levels with each having its own department of specialty items. The sober mentality of the Dutch The Netherlands is a country that is sober when it comes to materialism and showing off money and power. From where I come from (Philippines) and I guess from most places outside the Netherlands and moreover outside Europe, people are often critically attached to status and power, and equating one’s worth based on the signature brands they wear, the type of car they drive and how big their house i...

Many women are crazy about bags and some would go to great lengths making a personal collection of luxury bags at home. I find this quite preposterous but that is just me. But yeah, whatever rocks our boat right. I do like having nice, quality and sometimes expensive bags but it’s not something that occupies my mind the whole time. The whole idea behind collecting is just macabre actually. Because this means the person has an object of desire. When someone collects things, there is bound to be an emotional attachment (of course to varying degrees) and a sense of fulfillment in acquiring the object(s) and having these in a safe place. I find it daunting to be chained to this sentimental fascination with a material thing. But I have to admit that it did cross my mind to buy these luxurious babies. Chanel 2.55 bag and Chanel No. 5 parfum. Coco Chanel was a kept woman, to two rich men who are friends (Balsan, a French ex-military and wealthy socialite and Capel, an English man with...

Back in April I went out for a high tea meet up with Blondine and her gorgeous mom at the Museum of Purses and Bags. But there is actually more than that and it’s what I call hitting three birds with one stone visit event: (1) We checked out the museum (which I will have to post separately after this as I took loads of pictures, as usual). (2) Had (fashion) high tea, which in essence is an afternoon tea but the Dutch love to call anything fancy and tea—High Tea, thus. You can only have high tea or lunch here though if you buy a ticket to the museum. And they really have fashion high tea here which includes Chanel and Dior bags as chocolates in the menu. (3) And this is a bonus: Saw Barbie celebrating its 50th anniversary at the purse museum this year! Well, this was last spring. Can you say you just love this period style tea room? Let’s start with Barbie I can’t really remember playing with Barbie in the 70’s although my younger sister did in the 80’s. What I can remem...